Leo Frank - guilty or not?

Um, it's pretty clear cut in the musical that he didn't (and I seem to remember it coming under fire for that). Real life is more fuzzy.

---

He is not guilty. Conley did do it. A boy confessed to witnessing the murder but did not come forward until the 1950's when he was dying.

---

No it's clear that Leo is innocent. I mean they make him sympathetic and clearly show lying witnesses (Connelly). I think based on the actions of the other characters it's clear.

I saw Watertower Production on their first Saturday! I enjoyed it!

From the perspective that the writers of Parade were going, Leo is innocent, but that's only going from what they presented in the play.

That being said, I do believe that he was innocent.

Attendthetale is correct. In real life, there was a confession from a witness later on. Leo Frank was not guilty.

On a side note, the play has a very direct stance that Leo was innocent. If this version made it unclear I think they may have made some unauthorized changes.

---

Crime Library has a good entry on the case of Leo Frank and Mary Phagan:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/not_guilty/frank/1.html

im confused what u guys are talking about. HELP!?

The musical PARADE, which is based on the real life murder of Mary Phagan and the trial and hanging of Leo Frank, who was wrongly convicted of her murder.

---

The song at the end of act 1 (come down to my office) is supposed to just be a dramatization of how the girls are describing Leo Frank to the jury.

As far as not having enough on Mary Phagan, isn't that the point? According to the way the musical portrays her, she's just a little girl who ends up the victim. Nothing specific about her, she's innocent, and you get enough of her during that "let's go to the picture show" number.

Beyond that, I think they do a good job "foreshadowing" that Jim Conley, the african-american foreman at the factory who is in the chain gang at the end of the musical, is definitely lying and may be the one who killed her. I only found out after seeing the musical that he was.

Wikipedia's got some good info-ing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank

---

Updated On: 4/21/07 at 11:15 AM

maybe saying it wasn't clear wasn't totally accurate - i guess the thing is there was never a definitive answer for me.

like why did conley do it? why would people think leo did it (just b/c he was a northerner?)? and i agree that lucille accepts too easily leo's innocence without questioning.

the production at WaterTower here in Addison was good (not as horrible as recent "Into the Woods" or "LaMancha"), it really reminded me of "the cruciible" with the false conviction from the girls and the mob mentality. but the lack of scenery - it was all levels of scaffolding - really disappointed me. the lighting almost made up for it with vibrant colors, but too often singers were left in the dark. donald fowler's leo was the character i actually cared the least about, maybe due to the actor's flimsy, flitty, feminine portrayal. jennifer pasion's lucille, on the other hand, managed to ratchet up the emotional undertones of her character from the very first moment she stepped onstage until her final scene.

---

"donald fowler's leo was the character i actually cared the least about, maybe due to the actor's flimsy, flitty, feminine portrayal."

We finally agree on something.

---

You are just so funny.

Why don't you go back to personally insulting 16 year old girls?

---