Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology) [Hardcover]

John Theodore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2007 | Series: Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology

In 1924, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks was abducted while walking home from school, killed by a chisel blow to his head, and later found stuffed in a culvert in a marshy wasteland at the Illinois-Indiana state line. Acid had been poured over his naked body. Evil Summer examines the shocking kidnapping and murder of Franks by two University of Chicago students, Nathan “Babe” Leopold and Richard “Dickie” Loeb, both from families of privilege.

In this new examination of the crime, author John Theodore takes readers into the minds of the two criminals as he focuses on three months in 1924. Theodore covers the killing, the confessions, the defense, and the sentencing surrounding the horrific murder, placing the killers’ actions and Clarence Darrow’s historic defense into the context of 1920s Chicago.

Theodore deftly investigates the psychological dimensions of the crime, revealing the murderers’ fantasies, relationships, sexuality, and motives. The author examines the killers’ past, outlining Loeb’s obsession with detective fiction and crime and his editorial on random killing—written at age nine—and Leopold’s nightly master-slave fantasies and fascination with Nietzsche.

Evil Summer, which includes twenty-three illustrations, meticulously traces the murder from inception to confession, including such details as the special-delivery ransom letter sent to Jacob Franks and the discovery of Leopold’s horn-rimmed eyeglasses lying on a railroad embankment near Bobby’s dead body. Theodore re-creates such scenes as the convergence of hundreds of people in front of the Franks home, Bobby’s body lying in a small white casket in the library, and Loeb being voyeuristically drawn to the home while Bobby’s classmates carry the casket to the hearse.

Worldwide press coverage reflected the public fascination with the case in what was then called “the trial of the century.” The story became a media circus: Chicago’s six daily newspapers battled vigorously for readers, two Daily News cub reporters became part of the story, and the Chicago Tribune carried a voting ballot asking readers whether radio station WGN should broadcast the courtroom spectacle. The changing drama was delivered to Chicagoans every morning and evening, and the public feasted on every press run.

More than a crime story, Evil Summer illuminates the dark side of American life in the 1920s, including the excesses of privileged youth, the troubled childhoods, the random victimization, the anti-Semitism, and the sexuality.

(20080930)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In this gripping, informative page-turner, author John Theodore weaves the many threads of childhood fantasy, economic class, illicit desire, and the rise of popular culture into a novelistic tapestry that reveals Chicago, and America, at the height of the roaring twenties. The storytelling is rich and thrilling.”—Ted Anton, author of Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Professor Culianu

“John Theodore provides a narrative window in which to view the young minds of Babe Leopold and Dickie Loeb. This book will fascinate readers interested in the psychological makeup of the criminal mind.”—Larry L. Franklin, author of The Rita Nitz Story: A Life Without Parole

Before there was a John Gacy and a Jeffrey Dahmer, there were Leopold and Loeb. Synonymous with malevolence and dread, their familiar names roll off our tongues, much like the titles of our favorite classic movies. In the 83 years since Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb murdered their neighbor Bobby Franks for fun, the details of what became known as "the crime of the century" have grown fuzzy. Not to worry: John Theodore closes the time gap and refreshes our collective memories in Evil Summer. Theodore prefaces the narrative with his own childhood awareness of the two wealthy, privileged boys and details of their horrific deed, revealed to him in bits and pieces. The body of the book reads like a novel, set in the atmosphere of the affluent Hyde Park area where the boys lived and offers all sorts of revelations about the workings of their minds. It''s a compelling story with a generous selection of photographs. The eerie epilogue includes the fate of the killers, their shattered family members and the legend of the ghost of Clarence Darrow.

(Tamara Shaffer Chicago Life )

About the Author

John Theodore, a former reporter, editor, and television and radio producer, is the author of Baseball’s Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809327775
• ISBN-13: 978-0809327775
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Retired Chicago journalist John Theodore is the author of two non-fiction books. BASEBALL'S NATURAL: THE STORY OF EDDIE WAITKUS was named "one of the 12 best sports books of 2003" by Booklist. EVIL SUMMER: BABE LEOPOLD, DICKIE LOEB, AND THE KIDNAP-MURDER OF BOBBY FRANKS received an Illinois Historical Society award. In his latest book, BASEBALL...and OTHER ROMANTIC LIFE LESSONS, Theodore weaves fantasy and fact in a reflective and historical collection of essays, columns and short stories. In his blog, MID-CENTURY MUSING (midcenturymusing.com), fictitious Chicago newspaper columnist Sam Garfield gives readers a reflective and historical look at life in the 1950s.

Currently in manuscript, STREETCARS AND SPUTNIKS, historical fiction, provides a close-up, year-long look at the events that shaped a city and its people:

Sam Garfield couldn't look into the huge man's eyes. What do you ask a father who has lost all his kids in a fire?

It's January 1958, and a rash of tenement fires have killed 10 people in a Chicago slum belt. Garfield, a veteran newspaper columnist, interviews a man paralyzed by guilt because he was "on Forty-Seventh Street, catin' 'round, dancin' an' drinkin'" while pre-dawn flames engulfed his six children. Garfield understands all too well that this man will never outlive his past.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Garfield's fractured past continues to haunt his middle age melancholy: As a teenager, his mentally ill twin brother puts a shotgun to his throat while he sleeps; and when a secret illness is revealed, his major league baseball career ends abruptly. STREETCARS AND SPUTNIKS is a series of linked stories that tell the tales of Chicagoans whose lives intersect with Garfield: the lonely forty-year-old celebrity-crazed Andy Frain usher who lives with his infirmed mother and aunt, and spends his weekend nights on the roof of a North Shore hotel looking for Soviet planes; a young, talented photographer who Garfield takes under his wing but soon discovers he is sickened by his profession; a neighborhood destroyed by a December fire that kills 92 children at a Catholic grade school; a young girl who survives the fire by jumping out of her 2nd-floor classroom window, but must carry the guilt of survival when a nun tells her, "God has taken the good little angels, and left the bad children here."

STREETCARS AND SPUTNIKS is the year-long story of a myriad of heartbreaking urban voices, chronicled by the city's leading journalist, who stays detached from the people he covers, as well as those closest to him. Set in 1958 Chicago, fictitious characters move through a tapestry of historical events and themes. Sam Garfield's Chicago Mirror columns give STREETCARS AND SPUTNIKS its historical accuracy and integrity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Senseless Tragedy, November 28, 2007

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology) (Hardcover)

I have been aware of this heinous crime for several decades, but have never read a book about its specifics. Therefore, I am assuming this book is correct in its facts. It is certainly an interesting read. Two teen-agers, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, decide they are intellectually superior to anyone else, and decide to test their theory by murdering a child at random. By the grace of God they lost track of the first boy they spotted coming home from school, and finally settled on 14 year old Bobby Franks. One of the two murderers was playing tennis with him the day before, not knowing that Bobby would be the victim. Clarence Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb by introducing "three wise men from the east" to cast doubt on the sanity of the defendants. Besides the victim you really have to feel for the parents of Bobby Franks. His mother remained in denial repeating that "Bobby will be home soon." Several photographs are included to supplement the text. This despicable crime took place in Chicago in 1924 during the Capone and O'Banion beer wars, and it reminds me of a similar twosome, Robert Tulloch and James Parker, of Chelsea, Vermont, who murdered two Dartmouth professors in 2001 in a thrill killing. Both partners in crime most likely wouldn't have committed the crime without the support of the other, and both believed their intellectual superiority would prevent them from being arrested. Both are very tragic stories. Considering I don't have any other book on Leopold and Loeb to compare it to I would highly recommend this book.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a good book..., October 9, 2007

By 

Tamara A. Shaffer (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology) (Hardcover)

What would make two wealthy, seemingly well-raised teenagers gleefully kidnap and murder another neighborhood boy? Each generation has asked this question during the eighty-three years since this event became the "crime of the century," and John Theodore has, to the extent possible, provided an answer in Evil Summer. Theodore begins with his own childhood recollection of becoming aware of the murder, then recreates the 1920s and the atmosphere of wealthy Hyde Park, Chicago, always depicting the humanness of the parents of both victim and perpetrators. The story is interesting throughout; I especially enjoyed the informative and eerie epilogue.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EVIL SUMMER INDEED, May 21, 2009

By 

Ra Houston "Ra Houston" (West Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book, well written and researched. Much of it reads like a novel. I was of course, vaguely familiar with the names Leopold and Loeb, but I had only a superficial understanding of their historical significance. I stumbled upon this book quite inadvertently, however, upon reading the editorial review, I was intrigued and so I ordered it on impulse. The book arrived promptly, and I read it all in one sitting as I was completely immersed in the privileged, decadent, Jazz Age world of Leopold and Loeb.

Richard A. Loeb (b.1905-d.1936) and Nathan F. Leopold, Jr.(b.1904-d.1971) were the pampered teenaged sons of the wealthy Chicago elite in the early decades of the 20th Century. They are responsible for one of the most senseless and despicable crimes of the 20th century, the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks,(b.1909-d.1924) the 14-year-old son of wealthy Chicago Industrialist Jacob Franks. On Wednesday, May 21, 1924, Leopold and Loeb kidnapped young Bobby Franks as he was walking home to have dinner with his family after participating in a after school baseball game. The boy was abducted only two blocks away from his home. Bobby Franks was then brutally assaulted with a chisel, strangled and murdered, his killers then removed his clothing, hiding his naked body underneath a railroad culvert at the Illinois/Indiana state border.

The youthful murderers were apprehended soon thereafter, and the ensuing media circus dubbed the sensational case the "Trial of the Century" which took place during the summer of 1924. Leopold and Loeb were represented by the famous Clarence Darrow,(b.1857-d.1938) aka "The Attorney of The Damned" and "damned" they were. The people of the City of Chicago were outraged and wanted the murderers hanged, but Darrow, through a series of legal maneuverings, managed to get both offenders' sentences commuted to "Life plus 99" i.e. life for the murder, and 99 years for the kidnapping.

By all the traditions of justice, Leopold and Loeb should have gone to the gallows in 1924. There was just nothing to offer in extenuation of their crime and Darrow offered nothing. He said that they were mere boys, and that pretty much saved them. Never mind that they were dangerous sociopaths devoid of empathy or remorse. The populace of Chicago had the right idea, the death penalty for Leopold and Loeb would have been the most appropriate expiation for their heinous deed. But that's just my opinion.

In my continued research of this particular case, I've discovered that much has been written about Leopold and Loeb, they've been lionized to a point that I find very disturbing while the victim, Bobby Franks, is often overlooked by history, thereby rendering him incidental within the context of his own story. Although all of these events took place long ago,(85 years) and far away, people ought to be remembered, especially victims such as young Franks. I'm sure that there is a special place in Hell for the likes of Leopold and Loeb. Indeed, while the names of the killers have achieved a sort of perverse immortality, Bobby Franks is a mere footnote in history, the eternal child, trapped on the ascent of the ladder of his life, a Peter Pan of sorts, and, like his fictional counterpart, he remains a young boy forever.

Robert Emanuel Franks

September 19, 1909-May 21, 1924

Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks

Author: John Theodore

232 Pages

Grade: A+

Recommended Viewing: Movies based explicitly or otherwise on the Leopold and Loeb crime, in chronological order.

1. "Rope" (1948) Directed by the Legendary Alfred Hitchcock.

2. "Compulsion"(1959) Starring Dean Stockwell, and Orson Welles portrays Clarence Darrow.

3. "Swoon"(1992) This film is the most historically accurate, however, the director did take some liberties for the sake of drama.

4. "Murder by Numbers" (2002) Directed by Barbet Schroeder, and starring Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt as Leopold and Loeb.

DOCUMENTARIES:

1. "In Search of History" Leopold and Loeb: Born Killers (1998)

2. "Perfect Crimes" (1999)

3. "Haunted History" "Haunted Chicago" (2000)

*Note: Visitors, groundskeepers, and curators of Chicago's Rosehill Memorial Cemetery where Bobby Franks is buried have reported sightings of a young boy dressed in early 20th Century clothing frolicking among the graves near his own crypt.

SEE ALSO: "A Grave for Bobby" by James Deakin, The Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Greenlease, Jesse James Hollywood ("Alpha Dog"), The Kidnap-Murder of Nicholas Markowitz, The Lindbergh Baby, George Weyerhaeuser, Charles Mattson