History Trivia / Chicago

* CreatorBacklash: The author of the original play, Maurine Dallas Watkins, was a devout Christian from a small town. She was so perturbed by the trials that led to the creation the play that she quit her job as a reporter covering murder trials to become a playwright, beginning with Chicago.

* FakeAmerican: Of the leads, Creator/CatherineZetaJones (Velma) is Welsh, Creator/ColmFeore (Martin Harrison) is Canadian and Creator/DominicWest (Fred Casely) is British.

* FakeAmerican: Welsh actress Creator/CatherineZetaJones plays Velma Kelly. Also, most of the minor and supporting roles are played by Canadians due to being filmed in Toronto.

* FakeAmerican: Welsh actress Creator/CatherineZetaJones as Velma Kelly.

* TroubledProduction: The original play took a while to find its feet; it didn't help that the lead actress Gwen Verdon, who played the first Roxie, inhaled a feather and needed surgery mid-season. Liza Minelli took over the part for a month, which kept the show from closing early and enabled it to run for over two years, though it wasn't until the second Broadway revival that it became a true blockbuster hit.

* TroubledProduction: The original play took a while to find its feet; it didn't help that the lead actress Gwen Verdon, who played the first Roxie, inhaled a feather and needed surgery mid-season. Liza Minelli stepped in and replaced her, which kept the show from closing early. It wasn't until the second Broadway revival, however, that the musical found an audience.

** Gwen Verdon was the first Roxie; if she hadn't inhaled a feather during a show, she would have kept the part.

* PromotedFanboy: Before getting the Amos role in the 1996 revival, Joel Grey used "Razzle Dazzle" in 1976 to teach [[Series/TheMuppetShow Gonzo the Great]] how to do a show-stopping act.

** She would later refuse to sell the play to Bob Fosse, whose wife had asked him to turn it into a musical. Some speculate that this is due to her reluctance to revisit it, likely because she feels guilty for getting the women acquitted due to her reporting. Fosse and his partners did not get the rights until she died, when her estate sold them to Fosse.

** The film rights were bought back in the 1970s, with Creator/BobFosse to direct. Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/LizaMinnelli and Music/FrankSinatra were announced as stars. Fosse's sudden death caused the project to be shelved.

* FakeNationality: Katalin Helinski (the Hunyak) is a ''Hungarian'' character with a ''Polish'' surname played by a ''Russian'' actress. She also speaks a line of Russian briefly in the film after saying the rest in Hungarian.

** There was indeed a woman convicted partially due to her inability to speak English. In reality, she was Italian, not Hungarian. She was later shown to be innocent thanks to a defense lawyer taking up her appeal and getting the case dismissed.

* CaliforniaDoubling: You'd think a movie named ''Chicago'' would be shot in [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} the eponymous city]], wouldn't you? Nope, it's mostly Ontario. Naturally, this annoyed many Chicago viewers. When asked what he thought of the movie ''Chicago'', then-Mayor Richard M. Daley replied, "I would have liked it better [[TakeThat if it had been filmed in Chicago]]!" To a Toronto viewer who didn't see it as a big deal, Chicago film critic Creator/RogerEbert retorted, "If a musical named 'O Canada' were currently being filmed in Chicago, how would that make you feel?"

* UsefulNotes/AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Songs:
*** #98, "All That Jazz"
** AFISGreatestMovieMusicals: #12

* AFIS100YearsSeries:

* SpoiledByTheCastListi: Some amateur versions make the mistake of listing Mary Sunshine's actor with a male name instead of with just the first initial of his name, spoiling the twist that Mary is, in fact, a cross dressing man.

SpoiledByTheCastListing: Some amateur versions make the mistake of listing Mary Sunshine's actor with a male name instead of with just the first initial of his name, spoiling the twist that Mary is, in fact, a cross dressing man.

* StarMakingRole: While he'd had plenty of experience in high profile films before, this was the movie that made Creator/JohnCReilly one of the most popular actors of the 2000s. Furthermore, it was this movie, along with ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' and ''Literature/TheHours'', that made him one of only two actors in the 21st century to star in three Best Picture Oscar-nominated films in one year as of 2020 (the other being Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg, who starred in ''Film/CallMeByYourName'', ''Film/ThePost'' and ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'').

** Creator/CatherineZetaJones was originally approached to play Roxie, but wanted to play Velma because of the song "All That Jazz".
** Music/BritneySpears was supposed to play the heiress in this movie. Mandy Moore likewise auditioned but was turned down for being too young.

** The musical wouldn't have been made, period, if Maurine's estate hadn't agreed to sell the rights to Ben Fosse after her death. It's interesting to ponder what would have changed if Maurine had sold it from the bat.

!![[Music/{{Chicago}} The band]]:
* ChannelHop: Started at Creator/ColumbiaRecords before signing with Full Moon/Warner Bros. Records (though their last two albums under their contract were released through Warner's Reprise label instead), then did a one-album deal with Giant Records before going indie. They later signed with Rhino (who had acquired the band's Columbia albums when the rights to the masters reverted to the band in 1995) for two albums before going indie again.
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: ''Stone of Sisyphus'' was originally Chicago XXII in 1994. It was eventually released in 2008 as Chicago XXXII, after a label change (the original label was [[ExecutiveMeddling one of the main reasons]] why it wasn't released in '94) and with one track missing.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: ''Chicago XIV'' was hit with this badly, as Columbia wasn't sure about the band's appeal after ''Hot Streets'' and ''Chicago 13'' failed to impress. They gave the album no advertising to speak of, refused to fund a concert tour, and declined to release any singles for it. Bear in mind, Columbia had re-upped the band to a ''million-dollar-per-album'' contract, so they lost a lot more money on ''XIV'' than normal. Columbia ultimately bought the band out of their contract, and the [[ContractualObligationProject legally-owed]] ''Greatest Hits: Volume II'' was dumped right up against Music/{{Queen}}'s own ''Greatest Hits'' compilation.
* ThrowItIn: On a lot of the early albums. Many fans got upset when the false start for "Happy Man" got removed from the Rhino remaster of ''Chicago VII''. Also, listen near the end of "Aire" for a more... humorous example.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: They had initially been signed to play at Woodstock, but they had a contract with concert promoter Bill Graham which allowed him to move their concerts at the Fillmore West. He rescheduled some of their dates to August 17, thus forcing them to back out of the concert. Graham did so to ensure that Santana would take their slot at the festival, as he managed them as well.

* StarMakingRole: While he'd had plenty of experience in high profile films before, this was the movie that made Creator/JohnCReilly one of the most popular actors of the 2000s. Furthermore, it was this movie, along with ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' and ''Literature/TheHours'', that made him one of only two actors in the 21st century to star in three Best Picture Oscar-nominated films in one year as of 2020 (the other being Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg).