Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-13
Books in Review
And Nov, Ben Hecht's Own Story
With Shout and Shock and Lit

A Child Of the Century
7 By Ben Hecht (Stmon & Schuster: So

Reviewed Dy
Back in the '20s, when
I was busy discovering things
like quadratic equations and
love, I also discovered a
writer. I'd never stumbled on
the likes Of him before. He
was a writer who made
words sing and shout and
burst from the page like sky
rockets. He was a poet-soul
who wrote, not Of daffodils
and skylarks, but Of men as
worried about woman and love
as I was myself.
I can still remember
phrases. She was "sewed to
his lapels." A woman who
pleased q man was "a sound
ing board, an acoustic" Her
eyes were ''the reckoning
hands Of dream" Those were
all in the novel. ERIK DORM"
by Ben Hecht. Hecht fasci-
mated me. I searched till I
found 1901 Afternoons in
Chicago" a collection Of
Hecht newspaper columns. I
especially admired one Of my
college professors because he'd
once been a reporter on the
Chicago Daily News and
worked at the desk next to
Ben Hecht.
Echoes of the '20s
Today, almost 80 years later.
I can recall the epigrammatic
lit Of Erik Dorm" in the same
way I recall the tune Of
melancholy Baby" or Girl
of My Dreams" The same Tilt
Is in Ben Hecht's autobi-
~ography. "A Child Of the Gen.
tury," Just OF the presses.
! In It's more than 600 pages
I've been able to rediscover
all the shout and shock with
which Ben Hecht first de-
lighted me. Perhaps your &C
quaintance with Mr.. Hecht
dates from his play. 1.-THE
Front Page" or from one or
another Of the movies he's
written at Hollywood'S top
writing wage. or perhaps from
Mr.. Hecht's activities as q
propaganda for Palestine.
In whatever form, Ben Hecht
may have crossed your path,
you have it in this book in
closeup.
Nor is "a Child Of the Cen
tury" simply the chronology Of
10 jet-powered man Of many
projects. It is full Of chunks Of
philosophy, both sacred and
profane. It ponders God. mar
riage, love, glamour girls. lust
and why the worlds becoming
effeminate. It offers lyrical
paeans to the family. to hon.
esty, courage and the whole
hearted virtues Of the spirited
heart. On the subject Of sex,
surely no one, with the pos
sible exception Of Frank Har-
ris, has been more candid.
A TireIess Man
Gradually, from an amazing
welter Of fact, incident, anec-
dote and opinion. is formed the
picture of an almost tireless
man and his adventures as
boy, lover, poet, husband,
newspaperman, father. foreign
corr espondent, philosopher,
short-story writer. novelist.
columnist, playwright. public
ity man, scenario writer and
propaganda. Energy? Not
even the prolific Alexander
Dumas ever essayed to write
q complete novel In two days.
Hecht did. He won a $4,000
bet by debating the whole Of
1.-THE Florentine Dagger" in
SO hours. He's always been
q feather-in-the-hat PERSONAL
ity. pen drawn like q sword,
cloak a-flutter. Perhaps re-
vealing Hecht's heroes would
best suggest the man. He tells
about them In this book:
Theodore Roosevelt and H. L.
Mencken.
With any volume as rich in
ianecdote as this one, there's q
great temptation to quote. The
trouble is. there're too many.
anecdotes. For instance, the
following are answered anec-
dotally, in "A Child of the
Century" some shockingly,
some tenderly. all excitingly.
. He Answers These
How did writing q poem
rAbout a bee and a bull get Ben
:Hecht his first newspaper job?
What was Hecht's reaction
when he discovered the place
where he'd been living was not
q rooming house but q brothel?
i What were the conditions
H. L. Mencken described as the
best under which he'd ever
read o poem?
. How did Hecht's violating all
his parents conceptions of de-
cency give him his happieSt
half hour with his mother and
father?
In 1919, when Hecht was o
foreign correspondent In Ber-
lin, why were the Germans
spreading rumors of q threat
ened invasion by Russia?
What's happened since the
'20s that now makes the
phrase. "a sophisticated New