Creator Bio

Ben Hecht

1894–1964

Screenwriter Ben Hecht was born in New York City and grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. Often uncredited, Hecht helped write some of the classics of American film including The Front Page (1931), Some Like It Hot (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939), and His Girl Friday (1940). His screenplay for Underworld (1927) received the award for best original story at the first Academy Awards in 1929. In addition to his work as a journalist, director, playwright, and novelist, Hecht was active in bringing the plight of European Jewry to the attention of the American public in the 1930s and 1940s and was a member of the so-called Bergson Group. His fundraising for the establishment of the State of Israel resulted in his being blacklisted by the British film industry.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

Primary Source

A Child of the Century

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The Readers Digest Magazine broke the American silence attending the massacre of the Jews in February, 1943. It printed my article called “Remember Us,” based on Dr. [Hayim] Greenberg’s data. Reading…