Parade

By Jason Robert Brown

Parade is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry with music and lyrics by Jason
Robert Brown. The musical is a dramatization of the 1913 trial, imprisonment
and lynching, of Jewish American Leo Frank in Georgia. The first performance
of ‘Parade’ was done on the 17th of December 1998. The musical has won
multiple awards, it has had a total of 6 Tony Nominations. In June of 2023 it
won a Tony Award for “Best Revival of a Musical”. In the past it won ‘Best
Musical Score’ and ‘Best Book’.

Director Harold Prince turned to Jason Robert Brown to write the score
after Stephen Sondheim turned the project down. Prince's daughter, Daisy, had
brought Brown to her father's attention. Book writer Alfred Uhry, who grew up
in Atlanta, had personal knowledge of the Frank story, as his great-uncle owned
the pencil factory run by Leo Frank.

Why is it called ‘Parade’? Well, the show is, in many ways, a celebration of Leo
Frank’s life and how deserving he is of his own parade. The musical is based on
the true story of Leo Frank, who was falsely accused of killing 13-year-old Mary
Phagen in Atlanta 110 years ago. She was found in the basement of the pencil
factory Leo Frank worked in, he was quickly turned away and blamed by the
towns people. The story of Parade explores the endurance of love and hope
against all the odds. It is truly a heart-breaking musical.
Ravitz, Jessica (November 2, 2009). "Murder case, Leo Frank lynching live on". CNN. Archived from the original on November 3, 2009.
Retrieved March 19, 2023.

What we know about Leo Frank

Leo Frank, a Jewish-American born in Cuero, Texas on the 17th of April 1884 to
Randolph Frank and Rachael Jacobs. He was raised in New York and earned a
degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University before moving to
Atlanta in 1908 and then marrying Lucille Selig in 1910. Then in 1913 Frank was
accused of strangling Mary Phagen in the factory he worked in and in 1915 the
U.S. Supreme Court eventually rejects Frank’s final appeal, before being
abducted by a mob of men and lynched near Marietta in Georgia.
Dinnerstein 1987, pp. 7–8.
He was hanged from a tree. Frank conducted himself with dignity, calmly
proclaiming his innocence. Townsfolk were proudly photographed beneath
Frank’s swinging corpse, pictures still valued today by their descendants.

NOW A BIG TRIGGER WARNING, as I will now show a picture that was taken so
if you want to look away do so now.

The Crime and Arrest

Confederate Memorial Day fell on Saturday, April 26, 1913. The National Pencil
Company in Atlanta, Georgia, was closed, but superintendent Leo Frank was in
the office working on a financial report and handing out wages. Thirteen-year-
old employee Mary Phagan collected her pay around noon; she did not return
home.

In the early hours of April 27, African American night watchman Newt Lee
discovered Phagan’s body in the factory basement and immediately called the
police. Phagan had been strangled and dragged across the floor. Initial
suspicion fell on Lee. When Leo Frank was contacted about the murder, the
police noted he was very nervous. But when he was brought in for questioning,
Frank denied knowledge of the crime. On May 8th, Frank and Lee were held by
a coroner’s jury. Several female employees claimed Frank often made sexual
advances towards them.

The National Pencil Company’s sweeper, an African American man named Jim
Conley, was discovered washing a bloody shirt and was also questioned by
police. He denied any involvement, claiming he could not read or write. But
after intense interrogation, Conley’s story changed. He admitted writing the
notes but claimed that he did so upon orders from Leo Frank. Despite the
inconsistencies in Conley’s story (which changed four times), the police and
solicitor general Hugh M. Dorsey believed him.

On May 16th, Jim Conley gave one of many different stories about his
whereabouts on the day Mary Phagan died. He said on the day of her murder,
he had left his house around 10:30 a.m. and then went to a few bars.
Afterward, he claimed to have stayed at home for the rest of the day.

Conley, however, admitted to writing the two notes found next to Mary’s
body. He called them Murder notes. He blamed the crime on Leo Frank. Here is
what Conley said: On Friday April the 25th before Mary’s murder, he said Frank
asked for him to stop by his office and write the notes.
The police believed Conley had written the two notes but were surprised he
had mentioned Frank’s name. Conley’s admission to writing the notes wasn’t
shared with the grand jury. This could have either exonerated Frank or made
Conley an accomplice.

Jim Conley, however, changed his story for a fourth time. During a four-hour
interview with police, he said Frank took him to the body and confessed to
killing the girl. According to Conley, after Frank killed Mary, Conley helped
Frank load the body on the elevator. Conley then took the elevator to the first
floor while Frank used the trapdoor to return to the first floor. They both rode
the elevator to the second floor and went to Frank’s office where he told
Conley to write the notes.

Leo Frank went on trial Monday July 28, 1913. On April 26th, Conley told the
jury that Frank killed Mary Phagan after she rejected his sexual advances. He
said he then helped Frank cover up the murder. Conley also mentioned the
two notes were written to implicate Newt Lee.

During a cross examination, Conley admitted to having an extensive criminal

record and defecating in the elevator shaft before Mary’s death. Although
Conley offered several different stories, most people felt Conley wasn’t bright
enough to make up such a story unless it was true. Brett Milam 2023

Leo Frank was arrested and indicted for the murder of Mary Phagan. Jim
Conley was the primary witness.

Religion
Parade explores religion and antisemitism. In 1912, Frank was elected
president of the Atlanta chapter of the B'nai B'rith, a Jewish fraternal
organization. The Jewish community in Atlanta was the largest in the Southern
United States, and the Franks belonged to a cultured and philanthropic
community whose leisure pursuits included opera. Although the Southern
United States was not specifically known for its antisemitism, Frank's northern
culture and Jewish faith added to the sense that he was different. Michael Feldberg
2023
The degree of anti-Semitism involved in Frank’s conviction and subsequent
lynching was enough of a factor to have inspired Jews, and others, throughout
the country to protest the conviction of an innocent man.
Early on this year in 2023, the Parade revival opened on Broadway. That is
when Anti-Semites and Neo Nazi’s stole the show by protesting outside the
theatre, they were holding up signs with distressing messages on them that are
completely inappropriate and disrespectful.

Jews first immigrated to Atlanta in the 1840s, soon after the city was founded.
They came from Germany, and from coastal cities like Savannah and
Charleston. Savannah’s Jewish settlers had established the first congregation in
the South.

Most of Atlanta’s Jewish community was comprised of merchants, who

emblemized Henry W. Grady’s “New South” vision to stimulate Southern
industry by cooperating with Northern enterprises. As their businesses thrived,
the Jewish population in Atlanta grew from 26 to 4,000 between 1850 and
1910. And by 1910, Jews comprised 2.6 percent of Atlanta’s population.

Southern Jews occasionally found that economic and social changes

contributed to the rise of anti-Semitic rhetoric and attitudes that portrayed
them as outsiders. They were often held responsible for disappointments in
times of crisis and uncertainty, such as the loss of the Civil War and agricultural
depression in the late nineteenth century.

Such anti-Semitic resentment also appeared in the early twentieth century.

Fear of the technological and social changes brought about by industrialization
gave impetus to the Populist movement, which included its share of
spokespersons who blamed Jews for financially exploiting farmers and laborers.
Among those Populists was US senator and newspaper editor, Thomas E. (Tom)
Watson.

Rumours
Jim Conley died sometime in 1962. However, it’s been alleged he confessed on
his deathbed to killing Mary Phagan. But there is no evidence to support this
claim. However, it came out that Annie Maude Carter, Conley’s girlfriend at the
time, claimed Conley told her he had killed Mary Phagan. Carter also claimed
Conley stole Mary’s pay and wrote the two notes.

Many Years after Leo Frank had died, there was one final surprise about this
case. On March 4, 1982, an 83-year-old Tennessee man named Alonzo Mann
said he worked at the National Pencil Factory when he was 14. Mann needed
to clear his conscience. He said he saw Conley carrying Mary Phagan’s corpse
over his shoulder. He was alone and headed to the trapdoor that went into the
basement. Mann said Conley threatened to kill him if he said anything. But
there are those who don’t believe Mann. For instance, if you believed Mann,
then you had to believe a black man carried a dead white girl’s body across the
busiest sections of the factory without arousing any suspicion. This seemed
unlikely.

So, in conclusion it is still a mystery and one of the most controversial cases in
Atlanta’s history, did he do it or did he not?