A Tribune reporter wrote the hit play ‘Chicago’ after covering Cook County murder trials. Decades later, we owe her an obituary.

In 1926, Maurine Watkins wrote the play “Chicago,” which today is a $2 billion entertainment franchise featuring A-list celebrities, a hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning movie. It’s likely the most financially successful piece of writing ever produced by a Chicago Tribune reporter in the paper’s more than 170 years of operation.

The content was pulled from the headlines — some of Watkins’ own. She was hired by the Tribune in early 1924 and reported on women inside Cook County Jail who were accused of murder. It was the only professional journalism job in her lifetime and she only held it for eight months.

Don’t be surprised if Watkins’ name is unfamiliar. A nine-line death notice in the Florida Times-Union on Aug. 12, 1969, was the only recognition of her passing. Like many newspapers around the country, the Chicago Tribune failed to run her obituary.

Time then, 50 years after her death, for Watkins to have it.

My role

Inspired by the New York Times’ Overlooked series, which presents overdue obituaries for underrepresented people, I decided to write one for Watkins.