The Front Page

The Front Page was originally a play written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Related Topics:
Ben Hecht - Charles MacArthur

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The play is set in the City News Bureau in Chicago, Illinois, a joint office/club house where reporters from all the city papers work. Hildy Johnson, one of the reporters, is about to get married and move to New York. His boss, newspaperman Walter Burns, is trying to keep him around. The two men respect each other, but continually spar. All the reporters are covering the scheduled hanging of Earl Williams. When Williams escapes, Burns and Johnson manage to put aside their differences and get the scoop.

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It has been adapted to film several times:

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• The 1931 film The Front Page was one of the first movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 1931. Its screenplay was written by Bartlett Cormack. Lewis Milestone directed, and it starred Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian, George E. Stone, Matt Moore and Edward Everett Horton. The movie is a "screwball comedy" about an investigative reporter (O'Brien) and his fiancee (Brian), who hope to cash in on a big story involving an escaped accused murderer (Stone), and hide him in a rolltop desk while everybody else tries to find him.
• In 1940, His Girl Friday starred Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.
• In 1974, The Front Page was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
• In 1988, Switching Channels starred Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner, with the newspaper reporters updated to television reporters.

His Girl Friday and Switching Channels took the unusual twist of changing the sex of a

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character, from a male Hildy Johnson to females

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Hildegaard 'Hildy' Johnson and Christy Colleran respectively.

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John Varley's 1991 science-fiction novel Steel Beach takes the story, and the change of sex, to another level by having the plot include a sex-change by a male reporter named "Hildy Johnson".

Related Topics:
John Varley - 1991 - Science-fiction - Steel Beach

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There have also been four television productions, all under the title The Front Page:

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• 1945, in the U.S.,
• 1948, in the U. K.,
• 1949-1950, in the U.S. as a series,
• 1970, in the U.S.

The musical Windy City (book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh, music by Tony Macaulay), which premiered at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, England on July 20, 1982 and ran there for 250 performances, is also based on The Front Page.

Related Topics:
Musical - Windy City - Dick Vosburgh - Tony Macaulay - Victoria Palace Theatre - London - England - July 20 - 1982

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For the real-life background to the settings, and for a character, of The Front Page, see City News Bureau of Chicago, where MacArthur had worked, and Chicago's American.

Related Topics:
City News Bureau of Chicago - Chicago's American

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