Echt Hecht

I've been reading Adina Hoffman's book on the life of Ben Hecht (part of a series of short books on Jewish lives).

Hecht was a lot of things in his life, from journalist to novelist to Zionist.  But what he's remembered for is his work in Hollywood.  He came into town just as the studios were making the transition from silence to sound, and since he knew how to write quickly and effectively, soon became the top gun among screenwriters.

The irony is he (at least publicly) treated his work for the movies with contempt.  He wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, not a guy who came up with trashy scenarios.  But no one reads his novels or stories any more.  I certainly haven't, so I can't judge their quality--I'm not even sure if you could find them in the library.

But his movies!  He was the most important screenwriter of his era, maybe ever.  Here's a short list of films that he had a hand in (though it's always hard to tell exactly who wrote what in Hollywood):

Underworld, Scarface, Design For Living, Queen Christina, Twentieth Century, A Star Is Born, The Prisoner Of Zenda, Nothing Sacred, Wuthering Heights, Gone With The Wind, The Shop Around The Corner, His Girl Friday, Roxie Hart and Notorious.

Perhaps he saw movies as trivial, perhaps he thought screenwriting wasn't real writing.  But what he didn't see is what people would care about in the future.