Ben Hecht
The fast-talking, hard-drinking newspaperman who rewrote the rules of Hollywood screenwriting, churning out classics with a typewriter's machine-gun rhythm.
1894–1964 (age 70)·American writer, director, and producer·Birthday: February 28·The Lost Generation
Biography
Ben Hecht didn't just write movies; he attacked them. A Chicago newspaper reporter with a nose for scandal and a taste for speed, he brought the city room's energy to a fledgling film industry. With his partner Charles MacArthur, he conquered Broadway with the gritty front-page drama "The Front Page," then took Hollywood by storm. Studios paid him fortunes for his ability to fix scripts, often in a single all-night session fueled by coffee and cynicism. He penned the whip-smart dialogue for screwball comedies, the grim poetry of gangster films, and sweeping epics, defining American cinema in the 1930s and 40s. His work on "Underworld" helped invent the gangster genre, and "Gone With the Wind" benefited from his uncredited polish. Yet he was perpetually at odds with the studio system, considering most of his output hack work. A fierce and early critic of the Nazis, he used his pen as a weapon for Zionist causes, proving his writing always had a sharp point of view.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Ben was born in 1894, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ben Was Born
The biggest hits of 1894
Ben's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1894Born
President: Grover Cleveland
1899Started school
President: William McKinley
1907Became a teenager
Financial panic grips Wall Street
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1910Could drive
Halley's Comet makes its closest approach
President: William Howard Taft
1912Could vote
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1915Turned 21
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1924Turned 30
First Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France
President: Calvin Coolidge"It Had to Be You" — Isham Jones
1934Turned 40
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
1944Turned 50
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1954Turned 60
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1964Turned 70
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
Key Achievements
- Won the first Academy Award for Best Original Story for "Underworld" (1927), helping to establish the gangster film genre.
- Co-wrote the classic play "The Front Page" with Charles MacArthur, which has been adapted into multiple films including "His Girl Friday."
- Received sole screenwriting credit for Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946), crafting one of cinema's most tense romantic thrillers.
- Wrote the screenplay for "Scarface" (1932), a defining and controversial film in the gangster canon.
Did You Know?
He claimed to have written or contributed to over 170 films, often without credit.
He was a founding member of the Broadway writers' social club, the Algonquin Round Table.
During World War II, he wrote passionate newspaper ads and plays to raise awareness and funds for the rescue of European Jews.
He directed several films, including the controversial anti-Nazi drama "The Specter of the Rose" (1946).
““Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.””
