by Ben Hecht

A book which is based on the author, Ben Hecht's sensational column, A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago, which he wrote for the Chicago Daily News. Hecht was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, even though he professed disdain for the motion picture industry. He was nominated six times for the Academy Award, winning twice, in 1929 and in 1936. Hecht eventually moved to Hollywood, where he scripted Josef von Sternberg's gangster story Underworld in 1927, and won an Oscar for his work at the first Academy Awards presentation. His plays include Twentieth Century and The Front Page, both of which he wrote with frequent collaborator Charles MacArthur. The latter was filmed four times, most notably as Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday in 1940. Much of Hecht's later work was uncredited, as he worked as a 'script doctor'.