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Oney noted it was a time with a “breakdown of verifiable facts.” Sounds familiar, eh? senator in 1920, went after Frank in his magazine, The Jeffersonian, calling him a “lecherous Jew.” His circulation skyrocketed. To rebut the Times’ coverage, Tom Watson, the incendiary populist who became a U.S. (Interestingly, a scathing Times review of the 1998 version of “Parade” helped quickly usher it from the Broadway stage.)

But during the trial, several girl employees testified that Frank leered at them and was not a person of “good character.” A Black employee named Jim Conley, first thought to be a suspect, pointed a finger at Frank and the case shifted forever.ĭuring the trial, jurors heard mobs outside shouting, “Hang the Jew!” He was convicted and sentenced to death.Īfter the conviction, The New York Times led a campaign to undo the conviction. I won’t dive deep into facts of the case: One could spend 17 years filling up a 700-page tome doing so. The day of her murder, Mary was headed to the Confederate Memorial Day parade, hence the name of Uhry’s play, “Parade.” Frank was a taciturn “outsider,” a Jew from Brooklyn. Phagan worked at the factory, as did scores of young teen girls. At the time, there was a movement in Georgia to exonerate Frank for the 1913 murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, whose strangled body was found in the dank basement of the downtown Atlanta pencil factory that Frank managed. The former Atlanta Journal-Constitution Magazine writer came to the case in 1985 when writing for Esquire magazine.

Oney’s book was a laborious process - 17 years to be precise. Our show was unfortunately written before Steve’s book came out. Uhry, the famed author of “Driving Miss Daisy,” paused before saying, “I’m a little gun shy to talk about it with Steve here. (The show was recorded just hours before Georgia Public Broadcasting announced its asinine decision to ax “Rewind” and send host Bill Nigut packing.)Īs the show warmed up, Nigut asked Uhry about the case. I recently read Oney’s book for the second time and thought I’d call him.ĭuring a recent episode of the radio show “Political Rewind,” Oney appeared with Uhry to talk about “Parade” and the Frank case.

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