Original title
Chicago Stories
Released
10/9/2020
Origin country
US
Genre
Documentary
Status
Returning series
Number of seasons
4
Number of episodes
25
An original documentary series from Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW uncovering the city’s fascinating history. Each story presents an entertaining and intriguing tale about a person or event that shaped Chicago. The series reflects the rich diversity and breadth of human experience that shaped this great American city.
See how Marshall Field's plans and puts together its holiday windows, and learn the history of the beloved Christmastime tradition.
John Callaway narrates the story of "Francis O'Neill: The Police Chief Who Saved Irish Music," a turn-of-the-century Renaissance man and the wide-reaching effects of his life's work. Watch the 2002 video from our archives.
Just a few decades ago, Chicago was tearing many architectural landmarks, including the work of legendary architect Louis Sullivan. No one, it seemed, felt it was important to document and preserve them. No one, that is, except photographer Richard Nickel. This idealistic young crusader's passion to save Chicago's architectural treasures consumed his life and ultimately caused his untimely death.
Looking back at the World's Fair that celebrated a "Century of Progress" in Chicago.
Chicago Stories explores the luxurious Edgewater Beach Hotel, which hosted celebrities, big bands, weddings, and proms on its boardwalk and grand Marine Dining Room from 1916 to 1967. The iconic pink building had a radio station, six restaurants, a print shop, a chocolate factory, and a heliport, and was "the pride of Chicago."
WTTW's John Callaway hosts a Chicago Story about Riverview, the Chicago amusement park that from 1904-1967 delighted people with rides such as the Bobs roller coaster, Aladdin's Castle, a tunnel of love, and parachutes, all in the city at Western and Belmont.
On July 24, 1915, more than 800 people died in Chicago's deadliest disaster when the SS Eastland rolled onto its side in the Chicago River, only 20 feet from shore.
Among the most powerful - and most colorful - of America's 20th century labor leaders, James C. Petrillo served as president of the Chicago Federation of Musicians before going on to battle the music recording and broadcasting industries as president of the American Federation of Musicians. Features Petrillo's daughter and granddaughter, as well as archival footage of a 1954 trumpet-piano duet between Petrillo and former President Harry Truman.
A profile of blues queen Koko Taylor
A profile of grassroots political organizer Saul Alinsky produced by the Chicago Video Project.
A profile of WGN Channel 9 Cub producer Arne Harris. Includes many vintage Cubs moments as directed and produced by Harris.
Days before the 1960 election, the Cook County Democratic party bought a half-hour of prime time on the NBC television network for a coast-to-coast broadcast of a massive torchlight parade and rally for John F. Kennedy at the old Chicago Stadium involving more than 250,000 people and costing well over $100,000. This half-hour documentary features clips from a kinescope recording of the broadcast, as well as interviews with prominent Chicago Democrats Dan Rostenkowski, Seymour Simon, Newton Minow, and Howard Carroll.
A profile of legendary city parks man Daniel Burnham. John Callaway narrates the program, written and produced by architecture expert Judith Paine McBrien.
A profile of Ruth Page, whose work as a dancer and the choreographer of such Americana pieces as "Frankie and Johnny" and her version of "The Nutcracker" was based in Chicago. Brief archival appearances by Page are supplemented by performance footage, excerpts from her books and diaries, and interviews with her associates.
A profile of Studs Terkel - radio host, oral historian, and voice of bygone Chicago. Produced by Tom Weinberg.
Revisiting the 1985 Chicago Bears. Narrated by John Callaway, and produced by Mike Leiderman who is also the new producer for the "Chicago Stories" series.
Our People was the first televised weekly forum for Black issues - a program for Chicago Blacks, by Chicago Blacks that premiered in the wake of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. Jim Tilmon, host of Our People, presents excerpts including interviews with a young Harold Washington, then a newly-elected state Congressman; State Senator Richard Newhouse, who provides a fascinating perspective on racial profiling by police; and, as a coda, a lively performance by jazz vocalist Johnny Hartman. Another highlight: Three segments featuring controversial author James Baldwin, who shares his hopes and dreams for his family in the Black community, as well as some blunt assertions about whites.
In 1863, when Chicago industrialist George Pullman began making his famous Pullman Cars for luxury rail travel, he needed highly trained porters who were skilled in service and willing to work for low wages. So he headed south, and found his porters among the legions of recently freed slaves. Soon, The Pullman Rail Car Company was the largest employer of blacks in the country, with the greatest concentration of Pullman porters living in Chicago. But soon, the porters were questioning their situation, and began to take on the enormously powerful company. Long before anyone was talking about rights for the black worker, the Pullman porters began a struggle that would be a forerunner of the civil rights movement. It is the story of the first attempt by black laborers to form a union and fight for workers rights and job security. A Network Chicago Production.
Celebrating the Swedish community. TV reporter Amy Jacobson and producer Rise Sanders serve up a surprising smorgasbord of historic and culinary delights as Jacobson returns to her family's roots in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood to interview her grandfather, John Jacobson, and a host of other colorful characters.
Encyclopedia Britannica Films and Coronet Films made Chicago "the Hollywood of instructional film" - those films that taught you social mores. Local TV historian J. Fred MacDonald presents a selection of such films from his vast archive, including such gems as Studs Terkel playing a character giving boys dating advice, and a young Dick York ("Bewitched") portraying "Shy Guy" and the reckless driver in a film about "teenicide."
Tracy Ullman's documentary reveals how Civil War blockades helped Chicago displace Cincinnati as the leading meat-processing city, and the Yards' vital role as an employer of immigrants, a maker of fortunes, and a symbol of a kind of regional brawn.
In the 1930s-60s the area of 47th Street now called the Bronzeville Cultural Utopia was a mecca of Black entertainment and culture. There were theaters, supper clubs, nightclubs and even juke joints. Celebrities such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, and Earl "Fatha" Hines could be seen and heard, particularly at the old Regal Theatre. Narrated by television personality Merri Dee
Bessie Coleman beat her contemporary Amelia Earhart to become the first American woman - and first Black American - with an international pilot's license. She wanted to inspire other Black people to reach for the skies.
Author David Gerrard Lowe joins host John Callaway to look at what's here and what's gone in the city's architecture.
On October 10, 1871, Chicago awoke to an unrecognizable landscape: where 48 hours earlier there had been a vibrant city, now there was nothing but rubble stretched for miles on end. The event is brought to life as never before, using vivid animations, elaborate re-creations, and interviews with historians and the descendants of eyewitnesses.
There are few Chicago historical figures whose life and work speak to the current moment more than Ida B. Wells, the 19th century investigative journalist, civil rights leader, and passionate suffragist.
Chicago’s greatest cultural export just might be improvised theater, which was born at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Great Depression and carried out into the world by the likes of Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Stephen Colbert. But while to most people improv might seem synonymous with comedy, the art form was devised by a woman named Viola Spolin who wasn’t out for laughs.
As a woman once again occupies the fifth floor of City Hall, Chicago Stories remembers the city’s first female mayor. After pulling off one of Chicago’s greatest political upsets, Jane Byrne found herself caught between the political machine that shaped her and the reformers who elected her.
Two very different disasters occurred in the heart of Chicago’s Loop 90 years apart. First, the deadliest building fire in U.S. history: the 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire. Then, the Great Loop Flood of 1992 which saw downtown buildings mysteriously flooded by the Chicago River, and the city searching for answers in a long-forgotten tunnel system.
The real Mad Men of Chicago became leaders of the advertising world, creating iconic figures like the Marlboro Man, Charlie the Tuna, and the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
At the end of the 19th century, Chicago completely transformed the way Americans eat, and the Union Stockyards on the South Side were the center of that revolution. Experience the sights, sounds, and awful smells of the Union Stockyards and the complex of meat factories next to it, known as Packingtown.
This is the story of pride and heartbreak in a close-knit South Side community. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Chicago’s first and oldest Mexican-American parish, lost 12 young men in the Vietnam War during a brutal five-year period.
Tracing the birth and growth of gospel music in Chicago in the 1930s. Thomas A. Dorsey, "The Father of Gospel", wrote one of gospel’s early hits while coping with his grief over the death of his wife and child.
On December 1, 1958, a devastating fire swept through Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, killing 92 children and three nuns. Survivors, their families, and community members share their harrowing memories of that day and the heartbreaking aftermath.
From the city’s earliest days, Chicago residents and businesses alike dumped their waste directly into the Chicago River, which flowed into Lake Michigan, contaminating the city’s drinking water and causing widespread disease and death. This film explores the various attempts to combat the problem and save the city, and one bold solution: reversing the flow of the river away from the lake.
In 1864, the powerful industrialist and engineer George Pullman brought luxury to overnight train travel with his revolutionary sleeping cars, where passengers were served by an army of former slaves who became known as Pullman Porters and Maids. Pullman soon established a company town for employees on Chicago’s South Side that gave him complete authority over every aspect of their lives.
Longtime Chicago mayor Richard J. “Boss” Daley had a lofty vision for Chicago’s downtown, and didn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way. Over the course of his 21 years in office, Daley’s ambitious urban renewal initiatives were the foundation of the city’s infrastructure and at the same time displaced the poor and people of color while perpetuating racial segregation.
Jane Addams, born into wealth and privilege, had been intrigued by social reform since a visit to a settlement house in London’s impoverished East End. An inheritance made it possible for her to bring that concept to Chicago with the creation of Hull House. Chicago Stories profiles this activist and the other women who joined her to enrich the lives of thousands of immigrant families.
Brach. Mars. Wrigley. These are just a few of the candy companies that have called Chicago home. At the time of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, more than 100 candy companies were in operation in the area, producing such familiar confections as Baby Ruth, Tootsie Roll, Lemonheads, and Juicy Fruit gum.
Danny Sotomayor was a man on a mission. The fiery openly gay AIDS activist, political cartoonist, and organizer took to the streets, using civil disobedience to wage war on city officials who marginalized the LGBTQ community and turned a blind eye to the AIDS crisis – all while fighting a losing battle with the disease himself.
In an age before online commerce and Amazon, the catalog was king – and two Chicago mail order giants were responsible for making goods and services accessible to the masses. Chicago Stories traces the histories of Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward and the fierce rivalry between the two bold innovators who founded them and forever changed the way we shop.
In 1924, after several months of meticulous planning, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of committing a "perfect crime."
It's the most notorious scandal in baseball history. Eight Chicago White Sox players are charged with throwing 1919's World Series--ruining the reputations and careers of some of the game's greatest players and breaking a nation's heart.
Dive into the history of Chicago’s amusement parks and the role the city played in shaping the amusement industry. Explore Riverview Park, Ravinia, Santa’s Village, Kiddieland, and more
Before Lincoln Park was known for its multimillion-dollar homes, the neighborhood was the beating heart of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords.
Playboy, a brand now synonymous with sex, was launched by Hugh Hefner in the 1950s in Chicago. Hefner bought the iconic Playboy mansion in Chicago’s Gold Coast where his raucous parties became the stuff of legend. He also opened the first of 30 Playboy clubs in Chicago, outfitting cocktail waitresses in heels and bunny tails.
In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, chaos erupted on Chicago’s West Side. Grief turned into anger as protests, riots, looting, and fires consumed some neighborhoods. Audio-narrated descriptions of key visual elements are available.
During Prohibition in Chicago, infamous mobster Al Capone built his empire. His gang became sprawling criminal empire, often embattled in bloody conflicts that would cement Capone as one of America’s most notorious gangsters.
Explore the origins of house music, which began in Chicago’s underground party scene as a safe space for gay people and people of color.
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