This play is frequently performed, often by colleges, and I recieve quite a few emails from people researching either the roles they play, or who became interested in the case by seeing a production of the play.

   Logan tells his tale through vague newspapermen, through the two boys, through the doctors, and the lawyers. It's a play addressed to the audience, and not really a story in itself. Thus, we have a scene in which Dr Hulbert asks Leopold about his first words, and Loeb illustrates. "I am small, my heart is pure". I'm bringing this up because I've been emailed about this exact scene. "Didn't Leopold say that?" read the email. Yes, Leopold said that. One can only imagine how a writer must feel when what seems to be obvious is so easily missed. Yes, Leopold said that in reality. In the scene, Loeb was illustrating. Later, Leopold will illustrate examples of Loeb, and it is in this way that the play is directed to the audience.

Now, the technical stuff. Because this is a work of art, and in that way similar to Swoon, there are things that are incorrect. Obviously Logan knows this, he's simplifying the story. Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many alienists spoil the play. So, very much as in Swoon, the Doctors are simplified. In NtS, Dr White gets to spill the juicy dish about the homosexuality. In Swoon, it was Dr Bowman. In reality, it was Dr Healy.

Germaine Reinhardt did not testify. I have recieved several letters from girls cast as her, looking for photos, etc. Germaine Reinhardt was a young secretary/model who went to dances with Richard Loeb. She was supposed to testify, but she didn't. She did say she'd "stick by Dick" to a newspaper.

   The girl that testified was Lorraine Nathan, a girl from Loeb's neighborhood whom he'd known for years. They did date. She would go up to the University of Michigan for dances. They frequently wrote to each other. However, she broke off with him about two or so years beefore the crime, due to his strange erratic behavior and his friendship with Nathan. On the evening of Thursday, May 22, Richerd Loeb asked her to go driving with him- practically begged her, so she told the Chicago Tribune. She declined.

In Compulsion, the Ruth character is mostly Lorraine Nathan, although she's technically Susan Lurrie. But if you've seen Compulsion, pay attention to Ruth's outfit when she's on the stand. Thet's what Lorraine wore when she testified.

   In NtS, Germaine is used to show certain things. Show, don't tell. Remember? Germaine is used to show that Loeb bragged about sex, but probably didn't actually engage as frequently as he claimed. Loeb specifically bragged to Tribune reporters, that he had been out with two different girls in the days following the murder, and he'd been "intimate" with them. Loeb did indeed go dancing with Germaine, after which they stopped at a waffle shop. He then took her home.

   The bit about driving about being lonely, that comes from Loeb's pleading to Lorraine Nathan to go driving with him to which she turned him down.

Lorraine was not asked, as the Germaine character was, if she'd been intimate with Loeb. That just wouldn't have been done at all.

   The characters in NtS are historical figures. They are almost like wax dummies. This is not a story in the sense that Compulsion was a story. It's almost a teaser. It leads you in. It opens a door through which the curious may pass. But don't take everything for fact. Remember that Logan is also speaking through the voices of reporters, many of whom took their own creative liberties.

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