Episode 28: Making a Murderess: Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan (feat. Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi)

History remembers them as beautiful booze-hounds. Hollywood turned them into fame-hungry starlets. But who were these murderesses, really?

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With Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, author of UGLY PREY: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago, we dive into the stories of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, the most infamous lady killers of 1920s Chicago. What did the press get wrong about them? What do we get wrong about them today? WHY WERE THEIR JURIES SO UTTERLY MAD? And honestly, was the whole thing just a gin-soaked joke, or were real crimes committed?  

Find Emilie on her website and Instagram. Buy her books here. And become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content! Follow the podcast on Instagram for more photos.

Sources:

Interview with Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, 6/14/19

UGLY PREY: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago, by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi

The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago, by Douglas Perry

Lady Killers, by Tori Telfer

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer

“Shake It and Break It” by Lanin's Southern Serenaders, licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License

“One Night Alone With You” via archive.org

Brief clips played for educational purposes: “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago and “Hula Lou” by Danny Kaye