Editing The Front Page

{{short description|1928 Broadway comedy}}
{{about|the stage play|other adaptations|The Front Page (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = The Front Page
| image      = The Front Page (1928) Second Edition.jpg
| image_size = 
| image_alt  = 
| caption    = Second edition, 1928
| writer     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Ben Hecht]]
* [[Charles MacArthur]]
}}
| chorus     = 
| characters = 
| mute       = 
| setting    = The Press Room of the [[Courthouse Place|Criminal Courts Building]] in Chicago, 1928
| premiere   = {{Start date|1928|08|14}}
| place      = [[Times Square Theater]]<br>[[New York City]]
| orig_lang  = English
| series     = 
| subject    = 
| genre      = Comedy
| web        = 
}}
'''''The Front Page''''' is a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[comedy]] about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former [[Chicago]] reporters [[Ben Hecht]] and [[Charles MacArthur]], it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times. The play entered the [[public domain]] in the United States in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2024/|title=Public Domain Day 2024 &#124; Duke University School of Law|website=web.law.duke.edu}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:The-Front-Page-1928-6.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Reporters play cards in the press room of the Criminal Courts Building in Act I of ''The Front Page'' (1928)]]
The play's single set is the dingy press room of [[Courthouse Place|Chicago's Criminal Courts Building]], overlooking the [[gallows]] behind the Cook County Jail. Reporters from most of the city's newspapers are passing the time with poker and pungent wisecracks about the news of the day. Soon they will witness the hanging of Earl Williams, a white man and supposed [[Communist]] revolutionary convicted of killing a black policeman. Hildy Johnson, cocky star reporter for the ''Examiner'', is late. He appears only to say goodbye; he is quitting to get a respectable job and be married. Suddenly the reporters hear that Earl Williams has escaped from the jail. All but Hildy stampede out for more information. As Hildy tries to decide how to react, Williams comes in through the window. He tells Hildy he is no revolutionary, and that he shot the police officer by accident. The reporter realizes this bewildered, harmless little man was railroaded &mdash; just to help the crooked mayor and sheriff pick up enough black votes to win re-election. It is the story of a lifetime. Hildy helps Williams hide inside a [[roll-top desk]]. His daunting challenge now is to get Williams out of the building to a safe place for an interview before rival reporters or trigger-happy policemen discover him. Hildy has no choice but to ask for help from Walter Burns, managing editor of the ''Examiner'' — a devious tyrant who would do just about anything to keep Hildy with the newspaper.

==Cast and characters==
'''Notable casts'''
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="1" |Character
! Broadway original <br/> <small> (1928) </small> 
! Broadway revival <br/> <small> (1986) </small> <ref>{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/production/the-front-page-vivian-beaumont-theatre-vault-0000011256|title= The Front Page (Broadway, 1986)|website= Playbill|accessdate= April 26, 2024}}</ref>
! Broadway revival <br/> <small> (2016) </small> <ref>{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000153-c23e-d547-a75b-fb7ee95d0000&type=cp#cc|title= The Front Page (Broadway, 2016)|website= Playbill|accessdate= April 26, 2024}}</ref>
|-
! Walter Burns
|align="center" , |[[Osgood Perkins]] || align="center" , |[[John Lithgow]] || align="center" , |[[Nathan Lane]]
|-
! Hildy Johnson 
|align="center" , |[[Lee Tracy]] || align="center" , |[[Richard Thomas (actor)|Richard Thomas]] || align="center" , |[[John Slattery]] 
|-
! Sheriff Hartman 
|align="center" , |[[Claude Cooper (actor)|Claude Cooper]] || align="center" , |[[Richard B. Shull]] || align="center" , |[[John Goodman]] 
|-
! Bensinger 
|align="center" , |[[Walter Baldwin]] || align="center" , |[[Jeff Weiss]] || align="center" , |[[Jefferson Mays]]
|-
! Mrs. Grant 
|align="center" , |Violet Barney || align="center" , |Anita Dangler || align="center" , |[[Holland Taylor]]
|-
! Mollie Malloy 
|align="center" , |[[Dorothy Stickney]] || align="center" , |Amanda Carlin || align="center" , |[[Sherie Rene Scott]] 
|-
! Mr. Pincus 
|align="center" , |Frank Conlan || align="center" , |Patrick Garner || align="center" , |[[Robert Morse]]
|-
! McCue 
|align="center" , |William Foran || align="center" , |Philip LeStrange || align="center" , |[[Dylan Baker]]
|-
! Jennie 
|align="center" , |Carrie Weller || align="center" , |Anita Dangler || align="center" , |[[Patricia Conolly]] 
|-
! Peggy Grant 
|align="center" , |[[Frances Fuller]] || align="center" , |Amanda Carlin || align="center" , |[[Halley Feiffer]]
|-
! The Mayor 
|align="center" , |[[George Barbier (actor)|George Barbier]] || align="center" , |Jerome Dempsey || align="center" , |[[Dann Florek]]
|-
! Earl Williams 
|align="center" , |George Leach || align="center" , |Paul Stolarsky || align="center" , |[[John Magaro]] 
|-
! Diamond Louis 
| align="center" , |[[Eduardo Ciannelli]] || align="center" , |Michael Rothhaar || align="center" , |Danny Mastrogiorgio 
|-
! Murphy 
| align="center" , |[[Willard Robertson]] || align="center" , |[[Ed Lauter]] || align="center" , |[[Christopher McDonald]] 
|-
! Schwartz 
| align="center" , |[[Tammany Young]] || align="center" , |[[Lee Wilkof]] || align="center" , |[[David Pittu]]
|-
! Wilson 
| align="center" , |Vincent York || align="center" , |Philip Le Strange || align="center" , |[[Joey Slotnick]]
|-
! Endicott 
|align="center" , |[[Allen Jenkins]] || align="center" , |[[Bernie McInerney]] || align="center" , | [[Lewis J. Stadlen]]
|-
! Woodenshoes Eichorn 
| align="center" , |Jay Wilson || align="center" , |[[Jack Wallace (actor)|Jack Wallace]] || align="center" , |[[Micah Stock]] 
|-
! Kruger 
|align="center" , |[[Joseph Calleia]] || align="center" , |Richard Peterson || align="center" , |Clarke Thorell
|-
! Frank
| align="center" , |Gene West || align="center" , |Philip LeStrange || align="center" , |Joe Forbich
|-
! Policeman  
| align="center" , |Larry Doyle || align="center" , |Patrick Garner || align="center" , |Michael X. Martin
|-
! Second Policeman 
| align="center" , |George T. Fleming || align="center" , |Richard Peterson || align="center" , |Jonathan Spivey
|-
! Carl 
| align="center" , |Matthew Crowley || align="center" , |Michael Rothhaar || align="center" , |Tony Ward 
|-
! Tony
|align="center" , | N/A || align="center" , |Richard Preston || align="center" , |Michael X. Martin
|-
|}

''The Front Page'' was produced by [[Jed Harris]] and directed by [[George S. Kaufman]], with settings by Raymond Sovey. It opened at the [[Times Square Theatre]], New York City, on August 14, 1928, and ran 278 performances before closing in April 1929.<ref name="IBDb">{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-front-page-10656 |title=The Front Page |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] |access-date=2016-09-29}}</ref><ref name="Playbill">{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/the-front-page-times-square-theatre-vault-0000010979 |title=The Front Page |website=Playbill Vault |publisher=[[Playbill]] |access-date=2016-09-30}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:The-Front-Page-1928-5-crop.jpg|The press room of the Chicago Criminal Courts Building
File:The-Front-Page-1928-4.jpg|[[Lee Tracy]] as Hildy Johnson
File:The-Front-Page-1928-1.jpg|[[George Barbier (actor)|George Barbier]] (The Mayor), [[Willard Robertson]] (Murphy), [[Claude Cooper (actor)|Claude Cooper]] (Sheriff Hartman), [[Allen Jenkins]] (Endicott), William Foran (McCue)
File:The-Front-Page-1928-3.jpg|George Leach (Earl Williams), Lee Tracy (Hildy Johnson)
File:The-Front-Page-1928-2.jpg|[[Osgood Perkins]] as Walter Burns
</gallery>

==Significance==
The authors' expert plotting and rapid-fire, streetwise dialogue delighted audiences and made their play an instant classic. Hecht and MacArthur strongly influenced many other American comic writers, especially in Hollywood. In the 1970s, film producer [[Dore Schary]] told film historian [[David Bordwell]] that ''The Front Page'' influenced studio writers and directors in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite AV media |last=Bordwell |first=David |date=2017 |title=Lighting Up with Hildy Johnson|work=His Girl Friday |medium=Blu-ray |publisher=[[The Criterion Collection]]}} Bordwell asserts this around 11:43 minutes through.</ref> The play popularized the image of American journalists as fast-talking, wisecracking  "hard-boiled" types, excessively fond of alcohol and hard living in general, who would go to any lengths to get a story on the front page of their newspapers.<ref name="The Front Page">{{cite web |title=The Front Page |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/front-page#C |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=28 March 2020}}</ref>

The newspapers are modeled on the [[City News Bureau of Chicago]] (where MacArthur had worked), ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'' (where Hecht was a reporter), and [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s ''[[Chicago's American]]''.  The character Earl Williams is loosely based on [[Tommy O'Connor (criminal)|"Terrible" Tommy O'Connor]].<ref>"Hecht, Ben (1894-1964)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale U.S. History In Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2012.</ref> The character of Williams also was at least partially based on the case of [[Thomas Mooney]], a radical leftist sentenced to death on the basis of questionable evidence. Walter Burns is a thinly disguised caricature of [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst]] editor [[Walter Howey]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792297,00.html|title=The Press: Will the Ice Age Return?|magazine=Time |date=13 August 1945|via=content.time.com}}</ref> The corrupt Mayor of Chicago seems to have been based on [[William Hale Thompson]], who, like the mayor in the play, depended in part upon black voters to stay in office.  Commenting on the play's seeming veracity, ''New York Times'' theater critic [[Brooks Atkinson]] wrote, "The authors and directors have packed an evening with loud, rapid, coarse and unfailing entertainment. No one who has ground his heels in the grime of a police headquarters press room will complain that this argot misrepresents the gentlemen of the press."<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|last1=Sheppard|first1=Richard K.|title=Brooks Atkinson, 89, Dead; Key Voice In Drama 31 Years |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/15/obituaries/brooks-atkinson-89-dead-key-voice-in-drama-31-years.html?|access-date=23 July 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 15, 1984}}</ref>

==Revivals==
The play was restaged four more times on Broadway. The 1969–70 revival was the most successful of these.  It was produced at the [[Ethel Barrymore Theatre]] and starred [[Robert Ryan]] and [[Bert Convy]] as Burns and Johnson, running for a total of 222 performances.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/2869 " ''The Front Page'', 1969"] Internet Broadway Database, accessed June 9, 2016</ref> The 1946 revival was directed by Charles MacArthur and ran for 79 performances. The 1986–87 revival was produced at the [[Vivian Beaumont]] at [[Lincoln Center]], directed by [[Jerry Zaks]] and starred [[Richard Thomas (actor)|Richard Thomas]] as Hildy and [[John Lithgow]] as Burns. This production ran for 57 performances.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/4432 " ''The Front Page'' 1986"] Internet Broadway Database, accessed June 9, 2016</ref>

A Broadway revival opened at the [[Broadhurst Theatre]], in a limited engagement, starting on September 20, 2016, in previews and officially on October 20. Directed by [[Jack O'Brien (director)|Jack O'Brien]], the cast starred [[Nathan Lane]] as Walter Burns, [[John Slattery]] as Hildy Johnson, [[John Goodman]] as Sheriff Hartman, [[Jefferson Mays]] as Bensinger, [[Holland Taylor]] as Mrs. Grant, [[Sherie Rene Scott]] as Mollie Malloy, [[Robert Morse]] as Silas Pinkus, and [[Christopher McDonald]] as Murphy. The production received generally good notices, especially for Lane, and became the first show of the season to recoup and turn a profit.<ref>Viagas, Robert and Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/article/extry-full-cast-and-theatre-announced-for-broadway-front-page# "Extra, Extra: Full Cast and Theatre Announced for Broadway 'Front Page'"] Playbill, June 9, 2016</ref><ref>Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/article/extry-full-cast-and-theatre-announced-for-broadway-front-page# "Starry 'Front Page' Revival Arrives on Broadway Tonight"] Playbill, September 20, 2016</ref><ref>Viagas, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/article/see-what-critics-thought-of-nathan-lanes-broadway-front-page# See What Critics Thought of Nathan Lane’s Broadway 'Front Page'"], Playbill, October 21, 2016</ref>  It received two Tony nominations: Best Featured Actor in a Play (Lane) and Best Scenic Design of a Play (Douglas W. Schmidt).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/theater/tony-awards-nominations-list.html|title=Tony Awards 2017: The Full List of Nominations|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Erik|last=Piepenburg|date=May 2, 2017|access-date=February 20, 2021}}</ref>

[[John Guare]]'s theatrical adaptation of the film ''[[His Girl Friday]]'' was produced at [[The La Jolla Playhouse]] in [[San Diego]], California, in 2013, directed by [[Christopher Ashley]].<ref>[https://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/press/His-Girl-Friday-Casting-Announcement.pdf " ''His Girl Friday'' Press Release] lajollaplayhouse.org, accessed June 9, 2016</ref>

==Adaptations==
''The Front Page'' has been adapted for film and radio a number of times:
* ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1931), directed by [[Lewis Milestone]], starring [[Adolphe Menjou]] and [[Pat O'Brien (actor)|Pat O'Brien]].<ref name=tcm>[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/64127 " ''The Front Page'', 1931"] tcm.com, accessed June 9, 2016</ref>
* The 1931 film was presented as a one-hour radio adaption on June 28, 1937,  by ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]'', starring [[Walter Winchell]] and [[James Gleason]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ck0bAAAAIBAJ&pg=2173%2C4018401 |title=Lux Radio Theatre (advertisement) |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |page=18 |date=1937-06-28 |access-date=2020-05-26 }}</ref>
* ''[[His Girl Friday]]'' (1940), directed by [[Howard Hawks]], starring [[Cary Grant]] as Walter and [[Rosalind Russell]] as Hildy, who in this version is a woman and Walter's ex-wife. A romantic element is added to the plot, as Walter is trying to win Hildy back both professionally and personally.<ref name=tcm/>
* In 1940 [[Lux Radio Theatre]] adapted ''His Girl Friday'' as a radio program starring [[Claudette Colbert]] (who turned down the film role) as Hildy and [[Fred MacMurray]] as Walter Burns. It was first broadcast on September 30, 1940.
* The 1931 film was adapted for radio on June 22, 1946, by ''[[Academy Award (radio)|Academy Award Theater]]'', with Menjou and O'Brien reprising their roles from the film.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/57726839/?terms=%22Academy+Award+Theater+Pat+OBrien+Adolph+Menjou%22 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Radio Programs |newspaper=The Brooklyn Eagle |page=11 |date=1946-06-22 |access-date=2020-05-26 }}</ref>
* A 1948 radio series titled ''The Front Page'' and based loosely on the play ran on the [[American Broadcasting Company]] (ABC) network.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |last=Dunning |first=John |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Front+Page,+lighthearted+crime+drama%22&pg=PA273 |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=273 |edition=Revised |access-date=2018-11-11}}</ref> It starred [[Dick Powell]] and [[William Conrad]].
* ''[[The Front Page (TV series)|The Front Page]]'' (1949), [[CBS Television]] series, starring [[John Charles Daly|John Daly]] and [[Mark Roberts (actor)|Mark Roberts]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Front+Page,+The%22&pg=PA508 |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows - 1946-Present |date=24 June 2009 | edition=2007 |page=508 |publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=978-0-345-49773-4 |access-date=2018-11-11 }}</ref>
* ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1974), directed by [[Billy Wilder]], starring [[Jack Lemmon]] and [[Walter Matthau]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Movie Review The Front Page (1974): Wilder's Uneven Film of 'Front Page'|author-link=Vincent Canby|first=Vincent|last=Canby|date=December 19, 1974|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/19/archives/wilders-uneven-film-of-front-pagethe-cast.html}}</ref>
* ''[[Switching Channels]]'' (1988), starring [[Burt Reynolds]] and [[Kathleen Turner]], with the newspaper reporters updated to television reporters and none of the original dialogue retained.<ref name=canby>Canby, Vincent. [https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/04/movies/film-turner-in-switching-channels.html?pagewanted= "Film: Turner in 'Switching Channels'"] ''The New York Times'', March 4, 1988</ref>

''His Girl Friday'' and ''Switching Channels'' changed the male lead Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson to women, Hildegaard "Hildy" Johnson and Christy Colleran respectively.<ref name=canby/> [[John Varley (author)|John Varley]]'s 1991 [[science fiction]] novel ''[[Steel Beach]]'' takes the story &mdash; and the change of sex &mdash; to another level; the plot includes a sex-change by a male reporter named Hildy Johnson.

There have also been four television productions, all under the title ''The Front Page'':
* 1945, in the US;
* 1948, in the UK;
* 1949&ndash;1950 (see above) in the US as a series on CBS;
* 1970, in the US

The [[musical theatre|musical]] ''[[Windy City (musical)|Windy City]]'' (book and lyrics by [[Dick Vosburgh]], music by [[Tony Macaulay]]) was also based on ''The Front Page''.<ref>Klein, Alvin. [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/20/nyregion/theater-the-front-page-as-a-musical.html?pagewanted= "Theater; 'The Front Page' As a Musical"] ''The New York Times'', October 20, 1985</ref> It premiered at the [[Victoria Palace Theatre]], [[London]], England on July 20, 1982 and ran for 250 performances.

Additionally, Hecht and MacArthur's story for the 1939 film ''[[Gunga Din (film)|Gunga Din]]'' recycles their basic plot of trying to dissuade someone from leaving his job, in this case [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]]'s character attempting to resign his post in the British army and comrades [[Cary Grant]] and [[Victor McLaglen]] conniving to prevent it.

Film critic [[Leonard Maltin]] describes the 1940 film ''[[Torrid Zone]]'' as a 3.5-out-of-4-star “variation on Front Page”.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F60TAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Torrid+Zone%22&pg=PA2427 |first=Leonard |last=Maltin |title=Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2015 edition) |edition=2015 |publisher=Signet (Penguin Group) |year=2014 | page=245 |isbn=978-0-698-18361-2 |access-date=2023-04-21 }}</ref> Set among the highly competitive banana plantations of Central America, it stars James Cagney as the invaluable employee, Pat O'Brien as the amoral boss who will stop at nothing to keep him from leaving, George Tobias as a revolutionary awaiting the firing squad, and Ann Sheridan as love interest, with snappy dialogue provided by Richard Macaulay and Jerry Wald.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Torrid Zone (1940) - Overview - TCM.com|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/3420/Torrid-Zone/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en}}</ref>

The 2013 graphic novel, ''Nemo: Heart of Ice'', by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, has a prose afterword purportedly written by Hildy Johnson, who visits Lincoln Island to write about the wedding of [[Captain Nemo]]'s granddaughter to the son of [[Robur the Conqueror]].

==Awards and nomination==
=== 1928 Broadway production ===
{| class="wikitable" width="95%"
|-
! width="5%"| Year
! width="30%"| Award
! width="35%"| Category
! width="20%"| Nominee
! width="10%"| Result
! class=unsortable|Ref. 
|- 
|rowspan=1|{{center|1928}} || colspan=2|[[Burns Mantle]]'s ''The Best Plays of 1928–29'' || ''The Front Page'' || {{won}} || <ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Mantle |editor-first=Burns |editor-link=Burns Mantle |date=1929 |title=The Best Plays of 1928–29 |location=New York |publisher=[[Dodd, Mead and Company|Dodd, Mead]] |oclc=9695298}}</ref>
|-
|}

=== 1986 Broadway revival ===
{| class="wikitable" width="95%"
|-
! width="5%"| Year
! width="30%"| Award
! width="35%"| Category
! width="20%"| Nominee
! width="10%"| Result
! class=unsortable|Ref. 
|- 
|rowspan=4|{{center|1987}} || rowspan=2|[[41st Tony Awards|Tony Awards]] || colspan=2|[[Tony Award for Best Revival|Best Revival]] || {{nom}} || rowspan=2|
|-
| [[Tony Award for Best Scenic Design|Best Scenic Design]] || rowspan=2|[[Tony Walton]] || {{nom}}  
|-
| [[Drama Desk Award]] || Outstanding Set Design || {{nom}} || <ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/4432#tabs-Awards ''Awards''] ibdb.com, accessed June 9, 2016</ref>
|-
|}

=== 2016 Broadway revival ===
{| class="wikitable" width="95%"
|-
! width="5%"| Year
! width="30%"| Award
! width="35%"| Category
! width="20%"| Nominee
! width="10%"| Result
! class=unsortable|Ref. 
|- 
|rowspan=10|{{center|2017}} || rowspan=2|[[71st Tony Awards|Tony Awards]] || [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play|Best Featured Actor in a Play]] || [[Nathan Lane]] || {{nom}} || rowspan=2|<ref>{{cite web|url= https://variety.com/2017/legit/awards/tony-awards-2017-winners-list-1202461975/|title= Tony Awards 2017: Complete Winners List|website= Variety|date= 11 June 2017|accessdate= April 26, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play|Best Scenic Design of a Play]] || Douglas W. Schmidt || {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan=4|[[Drama Desk Award]] || colspan=2|[[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play|Outstanding Revival of a Play]] || {{nom}} || rowspan=4|<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/drama-desk-awards-2017-meet-the-nominees|title= Drama Desk Awards 2017: Meet The Nominees|website= New York Theatre Guide|date= 19 October 2017|accessdate= April 26, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play|Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play]] || Nathan Lane || {{nom}} 
|-
| [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play|Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play]] || Douglas W. Schmidt || {{nom}} 
|-
| [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design of a Play|Outstanding Costume Design of a Play]] || [[Ann Roth]] || {{nom}} 
|-
|}

==See also==
* [[Chicago (play)|''Chicago'' (play)]], a contemporary play that also critiques the Chicago criminal justice system
* [[List of United States comedy films]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|The Front Page (play)}}
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.afw2331.0001.001&seq=7 Full text of ''The Front Page''] at HathiTrust Digital Library
* {{IBDB show|3740}}
* {{IBDB title|10656|The Front Page}}
* [https://www.imdb.com/find?q=The%20Front%20Page;s=all ''The Front Page''] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q1066714|title=His Girl Friday}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q788256|title=Switching Channels}}

{{The Front Page}}
{{Ben Hecht}}
{{Charles MacArthur}}
<!-- Belongs to the 1931 film -->
<!-- Adolphe Menjou; 1931 film -->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Front Page, The}}
[[Category:1928 plays]]
[[Category:American plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:Broadway plays]]
[[Category:Comedy plays]]
[[Category:Plays by Ben Hecht]]
[[Category:Plays by Charles MacArthur]]
[[Category:Plays set in Chicago]]