Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

84 years ago today, in the midst of the Great Depression, Chicago opened an extravagant World's Fair.

"It was another world," Pépin says of the American culinary scene when he first arrived here in 1959. “The cook used to be at the bottom of the social scale. Now we are genius.” 

40 years ago on May 25, the first Star Wars movie was released. Relive the excitement of the release of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi through a 1983 review and interviews with the director and C-3PO on WTTW's Sneak Previews. 

On Friday, May 26 at 10:00 pm, enjoy an American Masters film about Alice Waters, preceded by the premiere of Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft at 9:00 pm. Try some of Waters's fresh, ingredient-focused recipes here.

“I think Trump really likes the internal struggle between all of his people,” veteran Frontline producer Michael Kirk says. "I think the constant so far, that I’ve seen, is that this thing that we call Bannonism is alive and well."

In this season's finale of Call the Midwife, four characters encounter major turning points in life: marriage, birth, menopause, and the decision to have no more children. 

In a 1978 interview with WTTW's John Callaway, Julia Child discusses food snobs, nutrition freaks, and children in the kitchen. "My point is to make cooking easy for people so that they can enjoy it and do it, rather than making it a kind of art for the 'we happy few,'" she says.

The American Masters documentary James Beard: America's First Foodie explores the life of one of the most important figures in America's culinary revolution. A James Beard Award winner and nominee share Beard's influence on them and their favorite Beard recipe.

Enjoy recipes and witty quotes from James Beard: a pioneer of American cuisine and farm-to-table cooking, an influential teacher and cookbook author, the host of the first nationally televised cooking show, and a jovial, insatiable gourmand.

Masterpiece: Dark Angel follows the life of Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's first female serial killer. Chicago had its own "first": H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer, otherwise known as "The Devil in the White City." Learn about the disputed mythology surrounding this shady figure.

In the 1920s, homegrown American musicians recorded songs that became foundational in the development of American music, from country to blues to Cajun.The filmmaker of American Epic discusses those musicians and his documentary.

In honor of National Chocolate Chip Day, bake up some Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, and learn the entertaining history behind the invention of chocolate chips (and the chocolate chip cookie).

It's confirmed!

Forever Pure follows the story of Israel's most popular and controversial football team, the only club to never sign an Arab, when it signs two Muslim players from Chechnya. Filmmaker Maya Zinshtein discusses the documentary.

Prejudice in various forms causes trouble in this episode of Call the Midwife. It leads to a near-tragic accident, causes a rift in a family with a handicapped daughter, and threatens to end a budding romance.