CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A new book tells the story Ben Hecht, the Chicago writer who helped create Hollywood.
"He really was one of the greatest American screenwriters of all time," says Adina Hoffman, author of “Ben Hecht: Fighting Words, Moving Pictures.”
Hecht’s professional career started in the wild news town of Chicago 100 years ago. His experiences formed the basis for the classic play, “The Front Page,” which Hecht wrote with newspaper competitor Charles MacArthur.
The work is “one of the great plays and movies of all time about the world of these old-time newspapers and these cynical, world-weary guys,” Hoffman said.
Hollywood beckoned, and Hecht had remarkable success in the movie industry, as it converted to sound.
"Even though people don't remember Ben Hecht, what he came up with is still around. Jean-Luc Godard, the French filmmaker, said (Hecht) was responsible for 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood today."
Hecht only spent about 14 years living in Chicago, but Hoffman said it was truly the place that gave him his creative voice.
“He called Chicago his 'Stockyard Athens!'"