Leopold & Loeb

[quote] Never the Sinner, John Logan's 1988 play, was based on contemporary newspaper accounts of the case, and included an explicit portrayal of Leopold and Loeb's sexual relationship.

What in the hell was this all about?

By all accounts, they were both straight.

Loeb was the hot one, right?

My mom’s college friend married Nathan Leopold’s nephew. Super rich family in Chicago. He was out of jail by then. He got married late in life, though super gay in his youth. And obsessed with Loeb, who was killed in jail.

Their initial target was William Shawn. Had they killed him we would not have the New Yorker as we know it today, no Designated Mourner, and the Princess Bride would be far less memorable.

Seriously, R3? Any more info. about them?

[quote] In his autobiography, Life Plus 99 Years, Leopold ridiculed Day's claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him.

Why would Leopold "ridicule" that claim?

Initially I was thinking because Leopold was implying there's no way Loeb could be gay.

But could it be that he was implying that Loeb would never cheat on him?

Loeb was pretty good looking, but his crime was heinous.

Leopold looked like a fugly dickhead.

[quote] The two made a highly unusual pact: Loeb, who was gay, agreed to participate in Leopold's eccentric sexual practices in return for Leopold's cooperation with his criminal endeavors. Both were convinced that their intelligence and social privilege exempted them from the laws that bound other people.

Was the closet case the one who got away with it?

The Alfred Hitchcock film "Rope" (and the play that preceded it) are fictionalized versions of the Leopold & Loeb story. Jimmy Stewart, Farley Granger (gay in real life), and John Dall (also gay in real life, and who later played several fey characters on "Perry Mason") played the leads.

Multiple pop culture ripped-from-the-headlines versions of the story helped make the case a pop culture touchstone across the generations

First, Patrick Hamilton's 1929 play Rope, which became the Hitchcock film in 1948.

Then, Meyer Levin's 1956 doorstop bestseller, Compulsion, and the 1957 play and 1959 film adaptation of that.

The Never the Sinner play was 1985 and has been recently revived.

There was the pornish indie film Swoon in 1992.

What kind of education did you receive that you had not heard of this in the US?

OP, check PBS. The Leopold and Loeb documentary might still be on there. Worth watching.

They were legit brilliant, and both legit gay, no matter how assiduously Leopold went on to beard. The gay angle was part of the reason Darrow chose to eschew a jury trial for them; he figured if the jury heard about their sex life, it would torpedo any benefit of a doubt they'd be willing to give.

Loeb was, at the time, the youngest student to ever graduate from the University of Michigan, leading to the following legendary report of his death (after he was stabbed by a fellow inmate) in the Chicago Daily News: “Richard Loeb, despite his erudition, today ended his sentence with a proposition.”

R13 - Michigan or U of Chicago?

But yes - there was an amorous part of their relationship. Of course, we'll never know for sure as nobody was allowed to talk about that back then.

I saw the tail end of Compulsion on tv the other day. Dean Stockwell was absolutely gorgeous in it, I’d like to see the whole movie someday. I remember watching Swoon a bunch of times in the ‘90s. I really loved that movie, so stylish. The Leopold & Loeb true story is so fascinating.

I read that they're what Garland called her agents - the ones who fucked her and stole her money. Leopold and Loeb. That's pretty funny if she did.

R11, I was just going to say that. This is one of the most famous cases ever in the US with a million stories about it. And not have heard of Clarence Darrow? SMDH

Is this the Romper Room version of DL?

R15: The entire movie is on YouTube, under: Compulsion 1959.

It' seems that Leopold and Loeb aren't as popular as they once were. Hot sexy boys.

Swoon