Newberry Library - Rainey, Bob, Ben Hecht incoming correspondence, 1959

User-Contributed Transcription Wed. Dec. 2[[?]] '59
Arlington, Va.
Dear Ben Hecht,
This old world is a better place because of you. Completely oblivious to you, the things you have done as a reporter, screen writer & playwright, have been concrete inspirations to me for years, the literary end of it I mean.
Your books fascinate me, and certainly no less your plays. I regret so much I can't acquire a copy of "Count Bruga."
Your last play, I think, is "Front Page" and best movie play is "Crime Without Passion."
Because of a guy named Ben Hecht, I will promise never to commit the gross error of writing junk. Bad writing is work done in error, but junk work is crap, shoddy, and inexcusable. Your work stands as inspiration to work to better yourself in the field.
Three men out of the New York area - playwrights there - two were relatives and one a [[?]] friend I have always wanted to meet. Two of them have now "crossed the bar." - charles MacArthur and Ned Sheldon. You are the third man.
MacArthur once told a more unbound crew that it took courage to "put down on paper the things that lay tucked away in a man's heart." He was right, God bless him.
Ned Sheldon lay on his back and dreamed big dreams. "He heard beyond the reach of ears, he saw beyond the vale of years." Also that you wont believe in something. He did.
I wish for a Xmas present. A Classroom, whereby you are the professor, teaching aspiring playwrights the craft & art as you know it go be
I would be your best pupil. I would come early & stay late & soak up the craft like ink to a blotter, the way you would teach me.
Oh, how I wish I could meet you someday & not fancy the meeting as some "green room ghost."

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Archival Collection Title Ben Hecht papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, Society of Collectors

Link to Catalog View finding aid | View record

Call Number Midwest MS Hecht Box 61 Folder 1553

BibID 992595638805867

Rights Status Copyright Not Evaluated

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

IIIF Resource Type Canvas

Size 3207px × 5099px 93.61 MB

File Created 03/19/2024

Filename 992595638805867_midwest_ms_hecht_box_00061_fl_01553_000001.tif

Unique Identifier NL12867F

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