Ben Hecht is perhaps best known for coauthoring the Broadway play The Front Page (1928), which established a new tradition in American stage comedy with its irreverent attitude toward established values. Though he was prolific in the areas of fiction, journalism, and writing for the stage, Hecht's reputation may eventually rest upon his highly successful and critically acclaimed screenplays. With one or two notable exceptions, critical response to his stage plays was mixed, and his efforts at fiction provoked violent reactions from critics who called him everything from an iconoclast to a prophet. Although he was credited by some as having a natural talent for writing, he was accused of squandering his potential in a ranting, volcanic, "facilely negative" style which ultimately led him into cheapness and lack of critical taste.

Hecht was born in New York City in 1894, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, and brought up in Racine...