Author: Julien Gorbach
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612495958
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504
Book Description
2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Biography. Ben Hecht had seen his share of death-row psychopaths, crooked ward bosses, and Capone gun thugs by the time he had come of age as a crime reporter in gangland Chicago. His grim experience with what he called “the soul of man” gave him a kind of uncanny foresight a decade later, when a loose cannon named Adolf Hitler began to rise to power in central Europe. In 1932, Hecht solidified his legend as "the Shakespeare of Hollywood" with his thriller Scarface, the Howard Hughes epic considered the gangster movie to end all gangster movies. But Hecht rebelled against his Jewish bosses at the movie studios when they refused to make films about the Nazi menace. Leveraging his talents and celebrity connections to orchestrate a spectacular one-man publicity campaign, he mobilized pressure on the Roosevelt administration for an Allied plan to rescue Europe’s Jews. Then after the war, Hecht became notorious, embracing the labels “gangster” and “terrorist” in partnering with the mobster Mickey Cohen to smuggle weapons to Palestine in the fight for a Jewish state. The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist is a biography of a great twentieth-century writer that treats his activism during the 1940s as the central drama of his life. It details the story of how Hecht earned admiration as a humanitarian and vilification as an extremist at this pivotal moment in history, about the origins of his beliefs in his varied experiences in American media, and about the consequences. Who else but Hecht could have drawn the admiration of Ezra Pound, clowned around with Harpo Marx, written Notorious and Spellbound with Alfred Hitchcock, launched Marlon Brando’s career, ghosted Marilyn Monroe’s memoirs, hosted Jack Kerouac and Salvador Dalí on his television talk show, and plotted revolt with Menachem Begin? Any lover of modern history who follows this journey through the worlds of gangsters, reporters, Jazz Age artists, Hollywood stars, movie moguls, political radicals, and guerrilla fighters will never look at the twentieth century in the same way again.
The Notorious Ben Hecht
Author: Julien Gorbach
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612495958
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504
Book Description
2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Biography. Ben Hecht had seen his share of death-row psychopaths, crooked ward bosses, and Capone gun thugs by the time he had come of age as a crime reporter in gangland Chicago. His grim experience with what he called “the soul of man” gave him a kind of uncanny foresight a decade later, when a loose cannon named Adolf Hitler began to rise to power in central Europe. In 1932, Hecht solidified his legend as "the Shakespeare of Hollywood" with his thriller Scarface, the Howard Hughes epic considered the gangster movie to end all gangster movies. But Hecht rebelled against his Jewish bosses at the movie studios when they refused to make films about the Nazi menace. Leveraging his talents and celebrity connections to orchestrate a spectacular one-man publicity campaign, he mobilized pressure on the Roosevelt administration for an Allied plan to rescue Europe’s Jews. Then after the war, Hecht became notorious, embracing the labels “gangster” and “terrorist” in partnering with the mobster Mickey Cohen to smuggle weapons to Palestine in the fight for a Jewish state. The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist is a biography of a great twentieth-century writer that treats his activism during the 1940s as the central drama of his life. It details the story of how Hecht earned admiration as a humanitarian and vilification as an extremist at this pivotal moment in history, about the origins of his beliefs in his varied experiences in American media, and about the consequences. Who else but Hecht could have drawn the admiration of Ezra Pound, clowned around with Harpo Marx, written Notorious and Spellbound with Alfred Hitchcock, launched Marlon Brando’s career, ghosted Marilyn Monroe’s memoirs, hosted Jack Kerouac and Salvador Dalí on his television talk show, and plotted revolt with Menachem Begin? Any lover of modern history who follows this journey through the worlds of gangsters, reporters, Jazz Age artists, Hollywood stars, movie moguls, political radicals, and guerrilla fighters will never look at the twentieth century in the same way again.
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612495958
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504
Book Description
2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Biography. Ben Hecht had seen his share of death-row psychopaths, crooked ward bosses, and Capone gun thugs by the time he had come of age as a crime reporter in gangland Chicago. His grim experience with what he called “the soul of man” gave him a kind of uncanny foresight a decade later, when a loose cannon named Adolf Hitler began to rise to power in central Europe. In 1932, Hecht solidified his legend as "the Shakespeare of Hollywood" with his thriller Scarface, the Howard Hughes epic considered the gangster movie to end all gangster movies. But Hecht rebelled against his Jewish bosses at the movie studios when they refused to make films about the Nazi menace. Leveraging his talents and celebrity connections to orchestrate a spectacular one-man publicity campaign, he mobilized pressure on the Roosevelt administration for an Allied plan to rescue Europe’s Jews. Then after the war, Hecht became notorious, embracing the labels “gangster” and “terrorist” in partnering with the mobster Mickey Cohen to smuggle weapons to Palestine in the fight for a Jewish state. The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist is a biography of a great twentieth-century writer that treats his activism during the 1940s as the central drama of his life. It details the story of how Hecht earned admiration as a humanitarian and vilification as an extremist at this pivotal moment in history, about the origins of his beliefs in his varied experiences in American media, and about the consequences. Who else but Hecht could have drawn the admiration of Ezra Pound, clowned around with Harpo Marx, written Notorious and Spellbound with Alfred Hitchcock, launched Marlon Brando’s career, ghosted Marilyn Monroe’s memoirs, hosted Jack Kerouac and Salvador Dalí on his television talk show, and plotted revolt with Menachem Begin? Any lover of modern history who follows this journey through the worlds of gangsters, reporters, Jazz Age artists, Hollywood stars, movie moguls, political radicals, and guerrilla fighters will never look at the twentieth century in the same way again.
Ben Hecht
Author: Adina Hoffman
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300182406
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Book Description
A vibrant portrait of one of the most accomplished and prolific American screenwriters, by an award-winning biographer and essayist He was, according to Pauline Kael, “the greatest American screenwriter.” Jean-Luc Godard called him “a genius” who “invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.” Besides tossing off dozens of now-classic scripts—including Scarface, Twentieth Century, and Notorious—Ben Hecht was known in his day as ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During World War II, he also emerged as an outspoken crusader for the imperiled Jews of Europe, and later he became a fierce propagandist for pre-1948 Palestine’s Jewish terrorist underground. Whatever the outrage he stirred, this self-declared “child of the century” came to embody much that defined America—especially Jewish America—in his time.Hecht's fame has dimmed with the decades, but Adina Hoffman’s vivid portrait brings this charismatic and contradictory figure back to life on the page. Hecht was a renaissance man of dazzling sorts, and Hoffman—critically acclaimed biographer, former film critic, and eloquent commentator on Middle Eastern culture and politics—is uniquely suited to capture him in all his modes.
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300182406
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Book Description
A vibrant portrait of one of the most accomplished and prolific American screenwriters, by an award-winning biographer and essayist He was, according to Pauline Kael, “the greatest American screenwriter.” Jean-Luc Godard called him “a genius” who “invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.” Besides tossing off dozens of now-classic scripts—including Scarface, Twentieth Century, and Notorious—Ben Hecht was known in his day as ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During World War II, he also emerged as an outspoken crusader for the imperiled Jews of Europe, and later he became a fierce propagandist for pre-1948 Palestine’s Jewish terrorist underground. Whatever the outrage he stirred, this self-declared “child of the century” came to embody much that defined America—especially Jewish America—in his time.Hecht's fame has dimmed with the decades, but Adina Hoffman’s vivid portrait brings this charismatic and contradictory figure back to life on the page. Hecht was a renaissance man of dazzling sorts, and Hoffman—critically acclaimed biographer, former film critic, and eloquent commentator on Middle Eastern culture and politics—is uniquely suited to capture him in all his modes.
A Child of the Century
Author: Ben Hecht
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300253680
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
Ben Hecht’s critically acclaimed autobiographical memoir, first published in 1954, offers incomparably pungent evocations of Chicago in the 1910s and 1920s, Hollywood in the 1930s, and New York during the Second World War and after. “His manners are not always nice, but then nice manners do not always make interesting autobiographies, and this autobiography has the merit of being intensely interesting.”—Saul Bellow, New York Times Named to Time’s list of All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books, which deems it “the un-put-downable testament of the era’s great multimedia entertainer.”
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300253680
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
Ben Hecht’s critically acclaimed autobiographical memoir, first published in 1954, offers incomparably pungent evocations of Chicago in the 1910s and 1920s, Hollywood in the 1930s, and New York during the Second World War and after. “His manners are not always nice, but then nice manners do not always make interesting autobiographies, and this autobiography has the merit of being intensely interesting.”—Saul Bellow, New York Times Named to Time’s list of All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books, which deems it “the un-put-downable testament of the era’s great multimedia entertainer.”
Fantazius Mallare
Author: Ben Hecht
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fantasy fiction, American
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fantasy fiction, American
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Perfidy [Illustrated Edition]
Author: Ben Hecht
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1787202135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 761
Book Description
An exploration of the Kastner affair: a conspiracy, a violation of conscience, criminal betrayal. Picture those early days when the new nation of Israel was being formed in the region of Palestine European Jews had just endured history’s ultimate holocaust. Allied governments such as Great Britain had refused to take action to block the trains from carrying thousands of them to certain death. In those final days before the end of the war, the epicenter of the Nazi extermination effort was Hungary. Jews had fled there from Germany and Poland, but they could not outrun the shadow of death. That is the obvious truth, but was there more? Was there collaboration with the enemy that resulted in these murderous acts? Can you really trust governments and leaders to do what is right and best for those they represent? As Edmund Burke declared, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." But what happens when those who are trusted as good join forces with evil? Underlying this story is a bizarre tapestry of deception at the highest levels of government with the lives of many innocents in the balance. The libel trial of Rudolf Kastner, a prominent journalist representing the new government and supported by its Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, establishes the outline of that hidden past, protected by the political interests of some of Israel’s early leaders. A true classic...History that reads like a mystery novel when villains parade themselves as heroes and the real heroes are targets of evil.-Print ed. Includes 204 photos, plans and maps illustrating The Holocaust
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1787202135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 761
Book Description
An exploration of the Kastner affair: a conspiracy, a violation of conscience, criminal betrayal. Picture those early days when the new nation of Israel was being formed in the region of Palestine European Jews had just endured history’s ultimate holocaust. Allied governments such as Great Britain had refused to take action to block the trains from carrying thousands of them to certain death. In those final days before the end of the war, the epicenter of the Nazi extermination effort was Hungary. Jews had fled there from Germany and Poland, but they could not outrun the shadow of death. That is the obvious truth, but was there more? Was there collaboration with the enemy that resulted in these murderous acts? Can you really trust governments and leaders to do what is right and best for those they represent? As Edmund Burke declared, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." But what happens when those who are trusted as good join forces with evil? Underlying this story is a bizarre tapestry of deception at the highest levels of government with the lives of many innocents in the balance. The libel trial of Rudolf Kastner, a prominent journalist representing the new government and supported by its Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, establishes the outline of that hidden past, protected by the political interests of some of Israel’s early leaders. A true classic...History that reads like a mystery novel when villains parade themselves as heroes and the real heroes are targets of evil.-Print ed. Includes 204 photos, plans and maps illustrating The Holocaust
Hitlerland
Author: Andrew Nagorski
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439191026
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
World War II historian Andrew Nagorski recounts Adolf Hitler’s rise to and consolidation of power, drawing on countless firsthand reports, letters, and diaries that narrate the creation of the Third Reich. “Hitlerland is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Reading about the Nazis is not supposed to be fun, but Nagorski manages to make it so. Readers new to this story will find it fascinating” (The Washington Post). Hitler’s rise to power, Germany’s march to the abyss, as seen through the eyes of Americans—diplomats, military officers, journalists, expats, visiting authors, Olympic athletes—who watched horrified and up close. “Engaging if chilling…a broader look at Americans who had a ringside seat to Hitler’s rise” (USA TODAY), Hitlerland offers a gripping narrative full of surprising twists—and a startlingly fresh perspective on this heavily dissected era.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439191026
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
World War II historian Andrew Nagorski recounts Adolf Hitler’s rise to and consolidation of power, drawing on countless firsthand reports, letters, and diaries that narrate the creation of the Third Reich. “Hitlerland is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Reading about the Nazis is not supposed to be fun, but Nagorski manages to make it so. Readers new to this story will find it fascinating” (The Washington Post). Hitler’s rise to power, Germany’s march to the abyss, as seen through the eyes of Americans—diplomats, military officers, journalists, expats, visiting authors, Olympic athletes—who watched horrified and up close. “Engaging if chilling…a broader look at Americans who had a ringside seat to Hitler’s rise” (USA TODAY), Hitlerland offers a gripping narrative full of surprising twists—and a startlingly fresh perspective on this heavily dissected era.
The Five Lives of Ben Hecht
Author: George Fetherling
Publisher: Lester & Orpen Dennys Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
As a writer, Ben Hecht (1894-1964) operated on many fronts and just as many levels. As a Chicago reporter in the wide-open 1920s, he created a frenetic and extravagant style of journalism. Later, he made his mark as a novelist of the bizarre, and was also one of the most popular playwrights of his day. Still later, as a screenwriter and sometime director in the golden age of Hollywood, he left a permanent stamp on films and on movie legend. Hecht was a prolific writer (35 books and twice as many films) and has come to seem just as prodigious in the combined folklore of Broadway, the movie industry and the newspaper business. But the fact that he worked in so many fields simultaneously has tended to blur his reputation. In this introduction to Hecht's personality and works, Doug Fetherling breaks Hecht's career into five overlapping "lives" or phases. First, there are the darlings of the avant garde, Hecht the Iconoclast and Hecht the Bohemian, at war with the ordinary, who brought about a new appreciation of the modern urban sensibility. Next was Hecht the Sophisticate, who mixed a unique concoction of sentiment and cynicism, a blend that remains a feature of his work and of popular culture between the wars. Then there was Hecht the Propagandist, who, in his work on behalf of the Jewish people, managed to alienate all sides of a bitterly fought series of political confrontations. Finally, there was Hecht the Memoirist who, drawing on previous selves, brought new vigor to what is often a stodgy literary form. While the Hollywood Hecht is best remembered today, Fetherling argues that the whole of his work must be viewed before we can gain insight into any of its parts. In so doing, he has written the first serious examination of a writer who, while at odds with his times, is one without whom they would not have been quite the same.--From publisher description.
Publisher: Lester & Orpen Dennys Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
As a writer, Ben Hecht (1894-1964) operated on many fronts and just as many levels. As a Chicago reporter in the wide-open 1920s, he created a frenetic and extravagant style of journalism. Later, he made his mark as a novelist of the bizarre, and was also one of the most popular playwrights of his day. Still later, as a screenwriter and sometime director in the golden age of Hollywood, he left a permanent stamp on films and on movie legend. Hecht was a prolific writer (35 books and twice as many films) and has come to seem just as prodigious in the combined folklore of Broadway, the movie industry and the newspaper business. But the fact that he worked in so many fields simultaneously has tended to blur his reputation. In this introduction to Hecht's personality and works, Doug Fetherling breaks Hecht's career into five overlapping "lives" or phases. First, there are the darlings of the avant garde, Hecht the Iconoclast and Hecht the Bohemian, at war with the ordinary, who brought about a new appreciation of the modern urban sensibility. Next was Hecht the Sophisticate, who mixed a unique concoction of sentiment and cynicism, a blend that remains a feature of his work and of popular culture between the wars. Then there was Hecht the Propagandist, who, in his work on behalf of the Jewish people, managed to alienate all sides of a bitterly fought series of political confrontations. Finally, there was Hecht the Memoirist who, drawing on previous selves, brought new vigor to what is often a stodgy literary form. While the Hollywood Hecht is best remembered today, Fetherling argues that the whole of his work must be viewed before we can gain insight into any of its parts. In so doing, he has written the first serious examination of a writer who, while at odds with his times, is one without whom they would not have been quite the same.--From publisher description.
A Jew in Love
Author: Ben 1893-1964 Hecht
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
ISBN: 9781013741890
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
ISBN: 9781013741890
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Hot Type
Author: Joseph Flynn
Publisher: Stray Dog Press Inc
ISBN: 0976417057
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
TWO MEN ON THE RUN ... Newspaperman Dan Cameron gets a cool old typewriter for his 40th birthday. It once belonged to Ben Hecht, who used it to write the movie 'Notorious.' Dan uses it to write a best-seller. Then the Hecht estate says the typewriter was stolen and demands its return. As his lawyers fight in court, Dan and his wife, Erin, take off so he can get at least one more book out of the machine. Bank robber Fetch McDonald is three weeks away from parole when his father brings bad news. Fetch's ex-wife, Verene, who still holds title to his heart, is going to remarry - in two weeks. One week before Fetch's release. With the help of his cousin, Lerome, Fetch breaks out. But the car Lerome has stolen breaks down. Right outside of Dan and Erin's cabin in the woods. The two desperados steal the Cameron's SUV. And Lerome, a quirky sort, steals Dan's typewriter and the only copy of his new novel. Not long after that Fetch and an unlikely accomplice are duplicating the crimes described in Dan's novel. Dan and Erin have no choice but to join in the manhunt. If the court rules against Dan, what's he going to say? An escaped convict stole the typewriter? Yeah, right. Besides, Dan thinks there's a new book in tracking down the thieves.
Publisher: Stray Dog Press Inc
ISBN: 0976417057
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
TWO MEN ON THE RUN ... Newspaperman Dan Cameron gets a cool old typewriter for his 40th birthday. It once belonged to Ben Hecht, who used it to write the movie 'Notorious.' Dan uses it to write a best-seller. Then the Hecht estate says the typewriter was stolen and demands its return. As his lawyers fight in court, Dan and his wife, Erin, take off so he can get at least one more book out of the machine. Bank robber Fetch McDonald is three weeks away from parole when his father brings bad news. Fetch's ex-wife, Verene, who still holds title to his heart, is going to remarry - in two weeks. One week before Fetch's release. With the help of his cousin, Lerome, Fetch breaks out. But the car Lerome has stolen breaks down. Right outside of Dan and Erin's cabin in the woods. The two desperados steal the Cameron's SUV. And Lerome, a quirky sort, steals Dan's typewriter and the only copy of his new novel. Not long after that Fetch and an unlikely accomplice are duplicating the crimes described in Dan's novel. Dan and Erin have no choice but to join in the manhunt. If the court rules against Dan, what's he going to say? An escaped convict stole the typewriter? Yeah, right. Besides, Dan thinks there's a new book in tracking down the thieves.
Erik Dorn
Author: Ben Hecht
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Erik Dorn" by Ben Hecht. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Erik Dorn" by Ben Hecht. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.