The Notorious Ben Hecht is thus a welcome corrective.” More about Julien Gorbach “Yet until now-that is, until the publication of Julien Gorbach’s lively biographical study-Hecht has eluded the grasp of scholarship. “Hecht operated in so many genres that one life no matter how colorful, no matter how full–barely seems to have encompassed what he achieved, in journalism, in literature, on the screen and in polemics,” noted historian Stephen Whitfield. Through print advertisements, plays and spectacular pageants, he mobilized pressure on the Roosevelt administration for an Allied rescue plan and, after the war, financed armed struggle for a Jewish state in Palestine. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Hecht became involved in anti-Nazi activities in the 1930s, using his experience with the press and Hollywood to alert the American public to the rising emergency for the Jews of Europe. He later helped define the Golden Age of Hollywood with scripts such as Scarface, Gone with the Wind, Angels Over Broadway and Notorious. Hecht began his career as a crime reporter on the streets of Chicago before rising to fame with his classic newspaper comedy for Broadway, The Front Page. “Hecht’s background as a writer, and his coming of age during the advent of the mass communication era, enabled him to foresee with great clarity the rise of Hitler and the horror of the times.”
More significantly, he pierced the American media silence about the Holocaust, and soon thereafter became a fierce advocate for Jewish statehood,” said Gorbach. “Ben Hecht was a versatile modern writer, whose sharp wit and flair for storytelling led to lucrative careers as a journalist, foreign correspondent and literary figure.
Julien Gorbach, an assistant professor in the School of Communications in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Social Sciences, delves into the life of Ben Hecht in his book Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist. Editor’s Note: February 3, 2020-Gorbach has been selected as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Biography.Įditor’s Note: April 17, 2019- A review of the book appeared in the New York Times.Ī new book offers a rare look at all facets of one of Hollywood’s most legendary screenwriters.
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