Editing Ben Hecht (section)

==Early years==
Hecht was born in New York City, the son of [[Belarusian-Jewish]] immigrants.<ref name=TabletBDS>Medoff, Rafael (February 26, 2014). [http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/164020/bds-oscars-ben-hecht "BDS And the Oscars: How Screenwriter Ben Hecht Defied an Anti-Israel Boycott"]. ''[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]''.</ref> His father, Joseph Hecht, worked in the garment industry. His father and mother, Sarah Swernofsky Hecht, had emigrated to New York from [[Minsk]], Russian Empire. The Hechts married in 1892.<ref name=Sternlicht>Sternlicht, Sanford V. (2004). ''The Tenement Saga: The Lower East Side and Early Jewish American Writers'', Terrace Books.</ref>{{rp|107}}

The family moved to [[Racine, Wisconsin|Racine]], Wisconsin, where Ben attended high school. For his bar mitzvah, his parents bought him four crates full of the works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Twain.<ref name="denby">David Denby, [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/11/the-great-hollywood-screenwriter-who-hated-hollywood "The Great Hollywood Screenwriter who hated Hollywood"], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', February 4, 2019.</ref> When Hecht was in his early teens, he would spend the summers with an uncle in Chicago. On the road much of the time, his father did not have much effect on Hecht's childhood, and his mother was busy managing a store in downtown Racine. Film author Scott Siegal wrote, "He was considered a child prodigy at age ten, seemingly on his way to a career as a concert violinist, but two years later was performing as a circus acrobat".<ref name=Siegel>Siegel, Scott, and Siegel, Barbara. ''The Encyclopedia of Hollywood'', 2nd ed. (2004) Checkmark Books</ref>

After graduating from [[Racine High School]] in 1910, Hecht attended the [[University of Wisconsin]] for three days before leaving for Chicago at the age of 16 or 17.<ref name="denby"/> He lived with relatives, and started a career in journalism.<ref name=Clark>Clark, Randall. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography – American Screenwriters'' (1984) Gale Research</ref> He won a job with the ''[[Chicago Daily Journal]]'' after writing a profane poem for publisher John C. Eastman to entertain guests at a party. By age seventeen Hecht was a full-time reporter, first with the ''Daily Journal'', and later with the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]''.<ref name="denby"/> He was an excellent reporter who worked on several Chicago papers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/inductees/profile/ben-hecht |title=Ben Hecht |year=2013 |website=Chicago Literary Hall of Fame  |access-date=October 8, 2017}}</ref> In the aftermath of [[World War I]], Hecht was sent to cover [[Berlin]] for the ''Daily News''. While there he also wrote his first and most successful novel, ''Erik Dorn'' (1921).<ref name="gutenberg.org">{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22358|title=Erik Dorn by Ben Hecht|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=August 21, 2018}}</ref> It was a sensational debut for Hecht as a serious writer.<ref name=Sternlicht/>{{rp|108}}

The 1969 movie, ''[[Gaily, Gaily]]'', directed by [[Norman Jewison]] and starring [[Beau Bridges]] as "Ben Harvey", was based on Hecht's life during his early years working as a reporter in Chicago. The film was nominated for three Oscars. The story was taken from a portion of his autobiography, ''A Child of the Century''.