Machinal
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Machinal is a 1928 play by American playwright and journalist Sophie Treadwell, inspired by the real-life case of convicted and executed murderer Ruth Snyder. Its Broadway premiere, directed by Arthur Hopkins, is considered one of the highpoints of Expressionist theatre in history of the American stage.
Zita Johann and Clark Gable in the original Broadway production of Machinal (1928)
Set design by Robert Edmond Jones for the court room in Machinal
Set design by Robert Edmond Jones for the condemned woman's cell in Machinal
Program cover for the 1993 Royal National Theatre production
Ruth Snyder
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May Ruth Snyder was an American murderer. Her execution in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison in 1928 for the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder, was recorded in a highly-publicized photograph.
Ruth Snyder between c. 1925–1928
Mugshot for her transfer to Sing Sing Prison in 1927
Ruth Snyder's mid-execution photo taken by Tom Howard and published the next day in the New York Daily News
Lorraine Snyder