100 years since Leopold and Loeb murdered bobby Franks

Guy in OP looks like Marco Rubio.

The real crime is unibrow.

More importantly, it’s been four years since KFC discontinued potato wedges. Bring back the fucking wedges!

r3 I guess that's the crime of the century for the 21st.

Figures it would take two men.

Thanks for bringing the centennial to our attention, OP. Fascinating story.

Meh.

[quote]Meh.

[quote]—The producers of "Compulsion" and "Rope."

A-hem!

I wish them well

So that’s where Frida Kahlo was inspired not to shave away her personality!

Crime of the 20s, perhaps.

Homosexuals!

Hitchcock's movie "Rope" is loosely based on murderers Leopold and Loeb, and delves into their narcissism and egoistic thrills. However, it features a very miscast James Stewart. It is my least favorite of all Hitchcock's movies.

For a couple of geniuses planning the perfect murder, they sure did some stupid shit. Starting with picking a neighbor for the victim and leaving the body unburied. Do better!

I think I mentioned this on a Leopold thread in the past--my mom went to college with a woman who married Nathan Leopold's brother. Very wealthy family--I think they owned Brunswick or some other bowling-related company. My mom met Nathan at their wedding in the late 50s or early 60s after he was out of prison. I think he was married at that point. She didn't have much to say apart from the fact that she thought it was odd her friends addressed him as "Uncle Nathan." She said someone who did what he did didn't deserve to be called uncle.

I read somewhere that Wallace Shawn was their original target for murder but they couldn't find him that day and nabbed Bobby Franks instead.

Lisa Loeb.

I’m R15…I meant married Nathan’s brother’s son…

If Freda Kalo and George Santos could have bred…

Wallace Shawn? Inconceivable!

What's the obsession with these two? They're fug and not very smart. Are they proto-Chris Watts for some of you shut-ins?

Do you think getting LOVED getting raped in Prison by all those "lower-class mens"?

All those dirty penises squirting deep inside their upper class ass?

Did the scream for Mummy and Dad, God I hope so!

[quote] I read somewhere that Wallace Shawn was their original target for murder but they couldn't find him that day and nabbed Bobby Franks instead

Wallace Shawn wasn't born until 1943.

You must mean William Shawn, Wallace's father, the former editor of The New Yorker. But that makes no sense because even though William Shawn (born William Chon) was from Chicago, he was not from a wealthy family--his father was a cutlery salesman.

[quote]But that makes no sense because even though William Shawn (born William Chon) was from Chicago, he was not from a wealthy family--his father was a cutlery salesman.

I was curious about that, but it turns out there's a reasonable explanation:

[quote]Born in August of 1907, William Chon (he later changed his last name to Shawn) was sixteen when Bobby Franks was kidnapped. He lived at 5030 Ellis Avenue, directly across the street from the Loeb house, and also attended the Harvard School for Boys.

[quote]The first time I’ve seen the Leopold-Loeb rumor in regards to him is the 1965 article ‘Tiny Mummies’ by Tom Wolfe, which mocks Shawn and claims his brush with death is partially why he’s so retiring: “[Leopold and Loeb] wanted a small and therefore manageable teenage boy, from the Harvard School, with wealthy parents who would be able to pay the ransom.

[quote]Lillian Ross, in her memoir "Here, But Not Here," also claimed that Shawn told her that he thought Leopold and Loeb considered kidnapping him: “Leopold and Loeb had stopped in at Bill’s house a short time before the murder. Bill told me about it. ‘I barely knew them when, for no apparent reason, they came to our kitchen and kept staring at me,’ he said. ‘They were, I imagine, looking me over as a candidate for what they were going to do.’”

There's more at the link. He either shared unfounded suspicions with writers who blabbed or he gave them enough thread from which to spin a yarn. There's no evidence he was considered as a possible victim.

R21, Since one was gay and the other bisexual, I doubt they were raped in prison but instead had plenty of consensual sex

Loeb was murdered in prison.

Reading Wikipedia, I never knew Wallace was such a talented and intellectual man.

He was killed first allegedly making advances to a fellow prisoner.

FAGGOT!!

Leopold should've been a mystery guest on What's My Line - Dorothy K would've orgasmed on the set.

My mentor was friends with the daughter of a woman who lived with Loeb’s cell mate. He used to drive them for play dates in Hyde Park in the late 40s. I lived down the block from Sam Giancana in Oak Park in the 60s. My sister played in the sprinklers at Tony “The Fish” Accordo’s front lawn in River Forest when she and her friends were in high school—the ground man gave them permission. Ah, Chicago—thou glittering bauble!

According to to a reporter who interviewed Leopold in the 60s a photo of Leob was prominently displayed in his home.

A 21st century update to "Rope" was made featuring Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt as the Leopold-Loeb-like murderers -- Murder by Numbers. It was rather forgettable except for Sandra Bullock getting attacked by a baboon.

[quote]Since one was gay and the other bisexual, I doubt they were raped in prison but instead had plenty of consensual sex

Historically, being gay greatly increased your risk of prison rape.

33 replies and no speculation as to who was the bottom and who was the top?

Loeb, despite his erudition, ended his sentence with a proposition.

Loeb was the one who "initiated " their sexual contact.

I remember reading a book about this when I was a teenager in 1974. I remarked to myself that it was only 50 years prior. There were lots of pictures of Leopold and Loeb, Franks and the crime scenes. I felt immensely sorry for Bobby Franks. I wished I was able to protect him, he seemed so much like me. I was troubled by it. How could they do this to an innocent boy who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

There are all these straight guys on her Facebook page hitting on her and they’re under their legal names. You’d think they’d be ashamed

R22, yes, you’re right—it was William Shawn—not Wallace. Here’s an article that spotlights all potential victims, including Shawn.

Franks was the second cousin of one of the killers.

Poor Bobby Franks's kidnapping and murder were still not as horrific and sickening, though, as those of Marion Parker in Los Angeles three years later, which the Leopold and Loeb case directly inspired. The murderer in that case, William Hickman, wanted to become as notorious as they were.

Sorry--wrong link. This is better.

the Marion Parker kidnapping is the worst I’ve ever read about.

I had to warn a friend to not listen to a Marion Parker podcast episode after I had listened to it - horrifying is right.

When it happened, was it covered by Nancy Grace?

[quote] They began their sexual relationship that night, Loeb joining Leopold in his bunk in their private train compartment. Leopold recalled this event with psychiatrists as the most thrilling experience of his life: “He found it gave him more pleasure than anything else he had ever done.” The psychiatrists were skeptical as their first sex act did not involve penetration, just Leopold putting his penis between Loeb’s thighs, but this was to become his favorite and almost exclusive sex act with him. The rest of the vacation would be spent attempting and failing to cheat the Loeb family at cards between rounds of mutual masturbation and sexual exploration.

r34 Loeb was apparently the reluctant bottom in return for an accomplice

[quote]Leopold should've been a mystery guest on What's My Line - Dorothy K would've orgasmed on the set.

And this is something you'd want to witness?

Rope, which I just finished watching is a very good movie. And Jimmy was very good in it. Considered by many , at least by Jimmy, to be the best of the Hitchcock Stewart movies.

Compulsion is far better than Rope.

R49

Thank you it’s now on my list

Hitchcock’s fixation on gay men was not only present with “Rope”’s retelling of this story, but also “Strangers on a Train” where Robert Walker’s crush on Farley Granger is readily apparent from the get-go.

You've got to admit Bobby Franks was a snotty kid.

R13, couldn’t agree more about Stewart. Who would you cast?

R53 Jems Messon.

I really loved Swoon. I had a huge crush on Craig Chester

What makes Rope unique is that it is an experiment - filmed like a play. No cuts, just run the reel, and zoom in for closer shots when needed. It's the anthesis of what filmmaking is all about, it's the anthesis of what Hitchcock movies are all about. That's what makes Rope fail for me and most people. If Hitchcock had made it like a normal movie of his, and in B&W, it would have been much different.

[quote] I really loved Swoon. I had a huge crush on Craig Chester

He has had an odd life. He wound up homeless for a while.

Craig Chester was homeless?

I'm not R57 but here's Craig Chester's explanation of his housing issues.

So much for his friends…^

R46, you are correct that Loeb was the "reluctant" one although ironically it was he who was killed in prison for supposedly making advances. His accuser's story was full of holes and generally unbelievable, although he was acquitted for killing Loeb by using a self-defense defense.

Further, eventually the boys settled on a barter system, where for each crime that Leopold participated in (they got thrills from committing petty crimes) Loeb would agree to have sex with him.

Hang it.

I love Rope and now will have to watch Compulsion. Thanks r49. The guy @ OP looks like Pete Davidson.

The movie Compulsion is superior to Rope, but beware of Orson Welles hammy supporting performance in the trial.

Dean Stockwell was great as the Leopold character

"Rope" has the benefit of having gay actors portraying the deadly duo.

"Swoon" makes it look like Leopold was the mastermind behind the kidnapping/murder, but actually it was Loeb who was.

I had no idea Craig Chester was homeless. I would have gladly accommodated him

Farley Granger always seemed to play the same trapped, near-hysterical character caught in something beyond his control. Was he ever happy and carefree in a movie?

Being Arthur Laurents' lover will do that to a person

But he had his own room at Van Johnson’s house.

CBS Sunday Morning did a segment on the centennial of the crime.