AllMovie

The details of the murder trial were considered so sexy and lurid that for a time, by presidential order, news accounts of the scandal were forbidden to be carried in the U.S. mail. Originally televised as an installment of the award-winning PBS series The American Experience, this documentary chronicles the Thaw-White murder and trials of 1906-08. As this program shows, it was the first "trial of the century" of the 20th century. Stanford White, the playboy architect whose firm designed Madison Square Garden, was shot and killed in public by jealous husband Harry Thaw, heir to a railroad fortune. His wife was the beautiful showgirl, Evelyn Nesbit. The program offers a study of early 20th century New York and the full-blown arrival of sensationalized "tabloid journalism." Highlights include commentary by historians, archival photographs, and motion picture footage.