The Front Page

[Zeljka]

The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur was an immensely popular Broadway play that is the main reason for the stereotypical depiction of journalists and reporters as wisecracking, hard-drinking types living for their job, and capable of going to extremes for a big story.

It had many incarnations on TV and big screen too. Let us list some of them that you might check:

The Front Page (1931) - this is the first film adaptation, added to the US National Film Registry in 2010. You can stream it for free at Internet Archive.

His Girl Friday (1940) - Howard Hawks's adaptation starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, is also added to US National Film Registry, in 1993. The reporter character became a woman. That added the whole new level of comedy to the original play. It It is also available for free at Internet Archive.

The Front Page (1974) - Billy Wilder's adaptation with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon was a winning combo for the audience, and probably it is still today. While not available for free, I am sure you'll manage to find it somewhere.

Switching Channels (1988) - I think this is the latest known adaptation, following His Girl Friday's plotline changes, and adding their own by changing the set to TV news station. With Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds and Christopher Reeve in the main roles, it should be entertaining watch too.

I hope you'll like this quick read! I am not sure you'll all be able to track the original play in your libraries, but you can at least watch the movies. Freely share your thoughts with us!

I am myself curious to hear your perspective as modern-day viewers. As you can see, each adaptation I listed above is a product of their time. Some things surely didn't age well, while some might have withstood time surprisingly well. What do you think?

It is curious there is no adaptation after that 1988 one. At least I couldn't find one that was directly inspired by the play. What do you think why it is so? Would you care to see a new adaptation set today, with all this modern technology available to journalists? That would make for some interesting subplots too, like instant news, fake news etc, don't you think? If by some miraculous chance you are hired to produce a modern-day stage or movie adaptation of this play, how would you approach it? Who would you cast and what would be your big news story?

[Michael]

I finally got a copy of the script from my library. Having seen "His Girl Friday" multiple times, I was eager to read the source material. Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed since the magic happens when the actors get hold of the material and bring it to life. The rapid-fire banter keeps getting interrupted by the stage directions in the script. So the exercise of reading the play was a bit disappointing.

That being said, this is still a delightful piece of comedy\satire about the early 20th century American newspaper business. One thing we learn is that fake news is not a recent phenomenon. They were practicing that art at least 100 years ago. These cynical reporters have their eye on one thing: selling papers. And they'll write anything to accomplish that goal.