On February 15, 1958, writer Ben Hecht (1893-1964), a flamboyant and caustic social critic, appeared on The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace and his producer, Ted Yates, agreed that Hecht's personality was provocative enough to be the basis of a television show. The Ben Hecht Show was born. For 22 weeks, Ben Hecht held forth on a variety of subjects, enraging some, engaging many. Here is a sample of Hecht's stories and essays from his short-lived television show. Entertaining, defiant, realistic, and iconoclastic, these are the impolitic thoughts of a man who tried to awaken the public from the "optical opiate" of 1950s television.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more |
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"The Ben Hecht Show...is now immortalized in a book of the same name...Hecht at his most relaxed, about what you would get if you ever sat next to him on a plane" -- Movie Collector's World
"Hecht's shake-and-quake style is preserved [here] on paper" -- Chicago Tribune
"a compendium of pithy, powerful commentary" -- Booklist/RBB
"Hecht's shake-and-quake style is preserved [here] on paper" -- Chicago Tribune
"a compendium of pithy, powerful commentary" -- Booklist/RBB
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very entertaining and amusing stories from a great writer.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Ben Hecht Show: Impolitic Observations from the Freest Thinker of 1950s Television (Hardcover)
Hecht was quite a fellow, a screenwriter, playwright, novelist, newspaperman and propagandist on behalf of the dying Jews of Europe. At the end of his career, he had a tv show and this book details his quick rise and fall, on account of his outspoken views on everything from politics to sex to religion, things that just weren't talked about on tv in the late 50s.Highly recommended.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
