Customer Reviews

A Child of the Century

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Roger Ebert prints Hecht's Hollywood memories in his Book of Film anthology, so I bought CHILD OF THE CENTURY expecting to read more about his movie experiences. I had no idea that it was a short portion of the book or that Hecht had such an interesting life without his Hollywood experience. I certainly wasn't prepared for something so literary, adventurous and humorous. It's a rare autobiography in that a person who had never heard of Hecht could still enjoy the book all the way through.

Shorter attention spans might not want to spend the time to read all 600 pages, but luckily several sections can be enjoyed independently of the book as a whole. Besides Hollywood you can't miss his reflections as a young newsman in Chicago to his eventual foreign correspondent role in Germany during the early 1920s. He has enough stories in this ten year period that you'd think it took 30 years to live.

His shorter New York period and collaboration with Charles MacArthur are not to be missed either. The funniest part may be his involvement in a south Florida real estate scam. The book ends with his involvement with Zionism and the creation of Israel. He not only taught me history of the time, but I was surprised how controversial he was in places like Great Britain. If you read any of those sections first, I tend to think you'll go back to the beginning not to miss everything else.

CHILD OF THE CENTURY is the best autobiography of a Hollywood figure that I have ever read.

Ben Hecht is a virtually forgotten figure today. No matter. This is one of the best autobiographies ever written...EVER. You don't even have to be interested in the period or people he covers in order to be drawn into the story. For aspring writers: read this, and then try and figure out how he puts it all together. This is (a) a wonderful story; (b) a brilliant piece of writing; and (c) a marvelous read. Why in god's (gods'?) name is it out of print??????

Ben Hecht lived so many fascinating lives: a Chicago newspaperman in the wild days, a Hollywood screenwriter (check out his credits on IMDB -- its amazing), a flim-flammer during the Florida land boom, a foreign correspondent in Weimar Germany, and later, a figure in the creation of Israel. And he's a crisp, unsentimental writer who knows how to tell a story. This book should not be out of print. I've read it twice and won't loan my copy to anyone.

What is this book doing out of print? I know very little about Ben Hecht outside of what he's told me in this book, but I'm fascinated by his method and style in putting together his autobiography, including his early chapter excusing his lack of fame, and foretelling his own future anonymity! Get this book back into print and back in front of the readers! Hecht knew everyone and did everything, from 20's Chicago to 50's TV. What a guy!

This book is a surprise. It is so good , so filled with a spirit of adventure and humor. It is rich in speculation and thought, a true meditation on life, in many ways. Hecht was born and grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. He was especially close to his mother who owned a dress shop and was quite a formidable person herself. But he as a child and young person was difficult to hold down, an all- around lover of life, chasing women and engaging in all kinds of Huckleberry Finn- Tom Sawyer like adventures. At sixteen he goes to university which he leaves after a few days. He then goes on to Chicago where a relative gets him a job on a Chicago daily newspaper. There his spirit of adventure truly thrives as he has to at first go out and get sensational pictures about sensational happenings. He gradually works his way into writing and covers all aspects of the life of the city, low to high and back again. He will eventually make his real name in writing and become perhaps the most famous and legendary of all American screenwriters. The list of his credits ( He won the first screen- writing Oscar) is enormous and encompasses almost every genre of film-making. One of the greatest sections in this book is when he tells the story of the members of his extended family. He does this with great narrative skill, real humor and emotional strength. As he says he loved them all so much, and they gave him so much that when he later became a heroic fighter for the establishment of a Jewish State, it was more because of his love for them than for any purely political reason. This book actually feels a number of books in one as Hecht was a person who lived many different kinds of lives. He talks about this also, about the deaths of old selves and about his own lack of dread towards Death because of this having been something in a way he has experienced many times before. Hecht has a philosophical bent and the work is filled with meditations on many different subjects, with much emphasis on 'marriage'. Hecht himself was married twice, the second a long- term one which lasted to the end of his life. He had a daughter from each of his wives.
This book is if not wholly forgotten then certainly not given the kind of place and attention it deserves. In writing my Ph.D. thesis many years ago on 'The American- Jewish Novel' I did not read or really know about the work of Hecht. It is mistaken omission. This man could really write, and he had a character and personality worth getting to know, and admiring.

amazing guy and a straight talker... the Israel section is very very interesting!!! Dewey a good guy; FDR a bum! Wise no good; the Altalena incident...
wow!!! He was something else and played sports with Marlon Brando too! Funny... Hecht says he was not happy so this is also a tragic memoir... But I wish I could speak with him...

Thanks, Neal

Anyone expecting Ben Hecht to write a standard autobiography will be sadly disappointed. But anyone expecting Hecht to write like Hecht - which is to say with a sense of flair and style and an ability to capture the moments of his life - will be richly rewarded. My copy was, as promised, in fair condition, used. But it had a clipping pasted in the front cover with photos of Hecht and MacArthur and notice of the 1950's conversion of The Front Page to a musical. Have to find reviews of that!

A Child of The Century, The Autobiography of Ben Hecht; Simon & Schuster (1954)


Excellent; but it is absolutely unreviewable in detail, solely because of its enormous length (633 pages; with its highly appreciated index, 654 pages). What a superb & indispensable book it would become if a publisher wanted to revive its imprint with an abridged edition.

Two random thoughts: Hecht's version of the young Gene Fowler story - his escorting a dead body from Colorado through Chicago & then onto New York, having made a deal with a Denver mortician - is wildly & radically different from the other (& basically uniform) versions told by other authors.

And his "Obit For A Newspaperman" is a superb account of Chicago journalist & editor Sherman Reilly Duffy's career, talents, & touching circumstances of death. Written by Duffy's protégé, may it become & remain an immortal tale.

The book was received with no delay and is in very good condition. I am really pleased to have a copy of this out-of-print book.