The Front Page
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The Front Page is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times. The play entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
Second edition, 1928
Reporters play cards in the press room of the Criminal Courts Building in Act I of The Front Page (1928)
The press room of the Chicago Criminal Courts Building
Lee Tracy as Hildy Johnson
Ben Hecht
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Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films.
Hecht in 1945
Hecht in 1919
Caricature of Ben Hecht in 1923, drawn by fellow Chicago reporter (and later screenwriter) Gene Markey
New York City opening of A Flag is Born at the Alvin Playhouse