For immediate release
Chicago, IL - August 20, 2024
The original true crime story of Leopold and Loeb. The Chicago White Sox players who fixed the 1919 World Series, ruining their careers and tainting the game of baseball. Warm memories of Chicago’s most legendary amusement parks. Notorious mobster Al Capone and his blood-soaked bootlegging empire. The untold story of Lincoln Park’s Puerto Rican community. Hugh Hefner and the creation of Playboy magazine. The violent 1968 uprising on Chicago’s West Side. The surprising local origins of the house music genre. These are the stories that will launch a new season of WTTW’s documentary series Chicago Stories. On Fridays at 8:00 pm beginning September 20, WTTW will premiere eight new CHICAGO STORIES, the only weekly documentary series dedicated to uncovering the sweeping history, rich diversity, and breadth of human experience that shaped this great American city.
“WTTW’s flagship documentary series Chicago Stories brings monumental moments in Chicago’s history to life,” said WTTW President & CEO Sandra Cordova Micek. “Viewers won’t want to miss even one of the stories in the new fall season – each reveals truths and context about the people, places, and events that shape our city and our lives today.”
Watch Chicago Stories on WTTW (11.1) on Fridays at 8:00 pm and streaming on the PBS app and at wttw.com/chicagostories. Visit wttw.com/events for upcoming community events and community engagement opportunities as we enrich lives, engage communities, and inspire exploration throughout the Chicago Stories season.
Friday, September 20, 8:00 pm
Deadly Alliance: Leopold and Loeb
On a spring afternoon 100 years ago, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were affluent teenagers living in Kenwood, blocks from the University of Chicago, when they challenged themselves to commit “the perfect crime.” Driving around the neighborhood, they abducted 14-year-old Bobby Franks, ruthlessly murdered him, and hid his body in a culvert. But the crime was far from perfect, and once convicted of the killing, only legendary defense attorney Clarence Darrow could save Leopold and Loeb from the gallows. The companion website includes an exclusive interview with one of Loeb’s descendants and a video tour of the scenes of the crime.
Friday, September 27, 8:00 pm
The Black Sox Scandal
It was the most notorious scandal in the history of professional sports: eight Chicago White Sox players were charged with throwing the World Series in 1919. Explore how and why these athletes, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, worked together to betray their teammates and fans for a payout; how their plot came to light and the events that followed; and the lingering effects on the game today. On the website, find more details about how the Sox players pulled off their scheme and dispel some myths about the team’s then-owner Charles Comiskey.
Friday, October 4, 8:00 pm
Amusement Parks
Riverview. Kiddieland. White City. These long-lost amusement parks and many more are fondly remembered by Chicagoans who enjoyed them as children. Take a nostalgic look back at the thrills, spills, and decadent treats at these parks, the innovative rides that were created for them, and the important role that Chicago played in the evolution of this classic summertime diversion where you and your family could “laugh your troubles away.” Extend the experience on the website with a slideshow of images from Riverview Park, a story about the World’s Fair’s Midway Plaisance, and a place to share your own Chicago amusement park memories.
Friday, October 11, 8:00 pm
The Young Lords of Lincoln Park
There was a time, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, when the now-upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood served as the beating heart of Chicago’s huge Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords. Follow this activist group that evolved from a social club to a street gang to a political force, banding together with the Black Panthers as the Rainbow Coalition to wage war against what they called Mayor Daley’s “urban removal of the poor” and the area’s eventual gentrification. The website reveals the Young Lords’ battle against displacement and the forming of the first Rainbow Coalition.
Friday, October 18, 8:00 pm
The Making of Playboy
Hyde Park native Hugh Hefner was a true Chicago original. In the conservative 1950s, he brought sex into the mainstream with the creation of his aspirational lifestyle magazine, Playboy – a glossy publication that paired risqué images and cartoons with thoughtful articles and newsmaking celebrity interviews. Its success led to the iconic Playboy Clubs with its “bunny”-clad cocktail waitresses and a television variety show hosted by Hefner himself. Trace Hefner’s life and career, the evolution of the Playboy brand, and how we view it today. On the website, read recollections from “bunnies” who worked at the Playboy Mansion and Clubs and from Hefner’s daughter Christie, and get a rundown of some famous writers who wrote for the magazine.
Friday, October 25, 8:00 pm
When the West Side Burned
The tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968 triggered unrest across the country, but in Chicago, the rage and grief that erupted in the city’s Black community led to an unprecedented period of public mourning, looting, and destruction on the city’s West Side. Examine King’s close ties to Chicago and the hope he brought to residents, how his murder brought long-simmering resentment over segregation and discrimination to a boiling point, and how this still-recovering neighborhood struggles to move forward. The website includes local reminiscences and a gallery of images from the riots and their aftermath.
Friday, November 1, 8:00 pm
Al Capone’s Bloody Business
He was Chicago’s first celebrity gangster, a mob kingpin whose name is still synonymous with the city around the world. Southsider Al Capone took advantage of Prohibition to turn Chicago into a “bootlegger’s paradise,” making a fortune in the process and murdering anyone who got in his way. But for all the bloody mayhem he caused, the law eventually collared him for a surprisingly mundane crime: tax evasion. Follow Capone’s rise and ignominious fall, and meet the shadowy cast of characters that made up his “Chicago Outfit.” On the website, learn more about the violent St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that many believe Capone masterminded; read an interview with the owner of the Green Mill jazz club, one of Capone’s hangouts; and play a “Match the Mobster to His Nickname” interactive game.
Friday, November 8, 8:00 pm
House Music: A Cultural Revolution
Chicago has long been known for nurturing diverse music genres and also, infamously, as a place where one of them died – disco. But another musical form rose from its ashes: house music. To mark the 40th anniversary of its invention, celebrate the innovative and catchy electronic dance music that still inspires prominent artists today including Charli XCX, Peggy Gou, Beyoncé, and Fisher, its origins in Chicago’s underground Black and gay clubs, and house music producers and DJs such as Frankie Knuckles who welcomed the marginalized into these safe spaces. The website presents an archival interview with Knuckles and a look back at Disco Demolition night, and brings you a house music party in an immersive 360 video.
Leadership support for CHICAGO STORIES is provided by The Negaunee Foundation. Major support is provided by Gwen Cohen and the TAWANI Foundation.
CHICAGO STORIES Executive Producer: Anna Chadwick Gardner. VP, TV Original Content: Shelley Spencer. Produced and written by Tania Lindsay, Eddie Griffin, Michael Harvey, Rachel Pikelny, Rachel Ruiz, Peter Marks, Daniel Andries, John Owens, Heidi Zersen, Barbara E. Allen, and Gail F. Baker PhD. Directors of Photography: Brendan Walsh, Oral Berat User, Nikki Bramley, Eric Seals, Shuling Yong, Felix A. Méndez, Tim Boyd, and Joe Williams. Editors: David Fortney, Patty Kaniff, Michael Buhrow, Scott Holoubek, Brian Clark, Alanna Schmelter, and Barbara E. Allen. Narrator: Anthony Fleming III. Original score: Paul Brill and Orbert Davis. Website Content Producer/Editor: Meredith Francis. Website Video Editor: Sean Keenehan. Website Video Editors: Wayne Kumingo, Patty Kaniff, and Barbara E. Allen. Website Design/Development Lead: Justin Henderson. EVP Marketing & Digital: Anne Gleason.
WTTW is the PBS member station in Chicago, committed to creating and presenting unique media content across distinct television and digital channels – WTTW, WTTW Prime, WTTW Create, WTTW World, WTTW PBS Kids 24/7, wttw.com, and the PBS app. Recognized for award-winning journalism and local productions – such as Chicago Stories, Firsthand, Chicago Tonight, and Chicago By ‘L’ – WTTW presents the very best in public affairs, arts and culture, nature and science, history and documentary, and children’s public media content. Connect with WTTW on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
