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. . . Helen Hayes
By Megan McKinney
Sometimes the “and” following Charles MacArthur’s name served to connect him with his second wife, actress Helen Hayes, with whom he was captured above by the great Luxembourgish American photographer Edward Steichen. Or there might be an image of the “and” alone as there is below with Charles’ brother, John D. MacArthur, the immensely successful insurance magnate, real estate investor and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
John D. MacArthur
Or Humorist Robert Benchley, with whom Charles shared an apartment for a time during his bachelor years.
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Robert Benchley
Or maybe, it would be the bottom left Charles in the photo below with several fellow Algonquin Round Table members, clockwise from upper left, Art Samuels, Harpo Marx–one of the era’s legendary Marx brothers–Alexander Woolcott and Dorothy Parker. Although married, Charles was having an affair with Ms. Parker in 1922.
Or possibly the “and” would be Ben Hecht, the colleague with whom Charles was most frequently associated.
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“Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht Playing”, a photograph by Lusha Nelson
Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur are probably best known forThe Front Page, the play they wrote together and was first produced in 1928, but over the decades kept reappearing in various forms. This single work strongly influenced the public’s idea of the newspaper world, as well as the newspaperman’s idea of himself.
The first of many Hollywood versions of The Front Page was released in 1931 starring Adolphe Menjou, left, as Walter Burns, and Pat O’Brien, who appeared in the Hildy Johnson role. The name of the young actress is Mary Brian.
Walter Howey
The mean-looking fellow above is real-life early Chicago journalist Walter Howey, upon whom Hecht and MacArthur based Walter Burns. He was with the Chicago Inter Ocean, before becoming city editor of the Chicago Tribune in the early twentieth century. He later moved on to Boston and eventually New York.
The Chicago Tribune, Sunday, July 21, 1907 during Walter Howey’s editorship.
In 1940, everything aboutThe Front Page changed. It became a screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks and titled His Girl Friday. This time around mean-looking Walter Howey/Walter Burns was great looking Cary Grant.
In His Girl Friday, Hildy Johnson is a woman, and portrayed by one. Rosalind Russell. Furthermore, in this version, she is Walter/Cary’s ex-wife, newly engaged to another man. Cary suggests they cover one more story together as he desperately tries to win back her back as his wife.
All in all, this version’s a lot more fun than The Front Page !
Author photo: Robert F. Carl
