Call Northside 777

Twentieth Century-Fox Film. Released Febuary 1st 1948. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Written by James P. McGuire, and Leonard Hoffman.

THE CAST:

James Stewart ... P.J. McNeal

Richard Conte ... Frank Wiecek

Lee J. Cobb ... Brian Kelly

Helen Walker ... Laura McNeal

Betty Garde ... Wanda Skutnik

Kasia Orzazewski ... Tillie Wiecek

Joanne De Bergh ... Helen Wiecek

Howard Smith ... K.L. Palmer

Moroni Olsen ... Parole Board Chairman

J.M. Kerrigan ... Sullivan

John McIntire ... Sam Faxon

Paul Harvey ... Martin J. Burns

George Tyne ... Tomek Zaleska

Michael Chapin ... Frank Wiecek Jr.

E.G. Marshall ... Rayska

In 1932, a policeman is killed and Frank Wiecek is sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother, Tillie leads Chicago reporter P.J. O'Neal to look into the case. For some time, O'Neal continues to believe Frank is guilty. When he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.

An incredible story of a mother's faith, of her love for her son. And what she was willing to do to prove he was innocent.

This movie is based on the true life story of Joseph Majczek.

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Joseph Majczek was born on Dec 10th 1908. He married Helen G. Lupina. He was injured in a car accident in 1979, suffered a stroke and subsequently was confined to a mental institution. After a long illness he died in May 1983. He was 73.

Here is his story.

Along with Ted Marcinkiewicz, Mr. Majczek, only 24 at the time was accused of murdering Chicago police officer William Lundy during the robbery of a delicatessen at 4312 S. Ashland Ave. on Dec. 9, 1932.

Stephen Majczek testified that his brother and he were at home at the time of the robbery. But the owner of the delicatessen, Vera Walush, pointed to Mr. Majczek and Marcinkiewicz as the robbers. They were convicted, and each was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Tillie Majczek was convinced of her son's innocence. She placed an ad in the Chicago Times, a predecessor of the Chicago Sun-Times, offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who could prove her son innocent. While her husband worked in the stockyards, Mrs. Majczek scrubbed floors at night for 11 years after the conviction to raise the reward money.

The ad, which ran Oct. 10, 1944, read, "$5,000 REWARD for killers of Officer Lundy on Dec. 9, 1932. Call GRO 1758, 12 to 7 p.m."
The phone number in the ad was changed to "Northside 777" in the movie and inspired its title.

Reporters Jack McPhaul and James McGuire picked up on the ad first as a human interest story.

The Chicago Times began a series on the case with a daily overline that read, "Is he guilty! Would you convict Joe Majczek?" In the course of the series, Mr. Majczek took a lie detector test administered by the developer of polygraph testing, Leonard Keeler, who reported, "After careful analysis of this subject's polygrams, it is the opinion of the examiner that [Mr. Majczek] is not guilty of the Vera Walush robbery or the William Lundy murder."

An interesting bit of trivia, The man administering the polygraph test to convict Richard Conte, was the actual inventor of the polygraph or lie detector machine, Leonard Keeler. He plays himself in the movie.

Mr. Majczek's innocence was established, however, by the discovery that the prosecution had suppressed an early statement by the leading witness. In it, the witness said she could not identify either of the men who robbed the store.
TEN MONTHS after the ad appeared, Gov. Dwight Green granted Mr. Majczek a full pardon. In 1950, Marcinkiewicz was released after Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch overturned his conviction.

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