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Article: `Mary Phagan': A Yankee, a Jew And Above All An Outsider
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 24, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Producer George Stevens, Jr., sat pondering his latest effort.
It is the story of a little Southern girl's murder and the conviction
and lynching of a Northern Jew.
Why had he been drawn to "The Murder of Mary Phagan"?
"It has to do with my fascination with the outsider," he said,
"from my association with my dad in movies like `Alice Adams,' `A
Place in the Sun' and `Shane.'"
There are different kinds of outsiders. Sometimes they are like
Shane, the reluctant Western hero who rode into the valley one day
and saved the homesteaders. The right man at the right place at the
right time.
Then there are outsiders like Leo Frank. In 1913 he was in
Atlanta running a pencil factory. He was ...