Already well known for his Death House play, The Last Mile (1931), John Wexley (1907-1985) turned his dramatic gifts to the Scottsboro Case. On February 21, 1934, the Theater Guild presented They Shall Not Die at the Royale Theater, New York City, in a production by Theresa Helburn and Lee Simonson, with the latter's settings. The cast included Ruth Gordon, Helen Westley, Dean Jagger, Claude Rains, and Ben Smith. Carefully following in detail the events of the arrests and trials, the play was a documentary of great force and eloquence. Brooks Atkinson wrote, "For once good works match the crusader's intentions." After fifty years one would take exception only to the hortatory agit-prop (agitative political propaganda) of the very ending.

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