Ben Hecht, arguably one of the greatest screenwriters in Hollywood history, started his career in the (sometimes literally) cutthroat world of Jazz Age journalism at the Chicago Daily News. Throughout 1921 he wrote a series of remarkable vignettes collectively titled the
Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago: stories of drifters, fops, and artists from Michigan Avenue to Chinatown, but most of all a fond portrait of the city itself. Collected in book form and gorgeously illustrated, the
Thousand and One Afternoons are in the public domain and readily
available online. Each story is four or five short pages in length, and goes great with coffee.
posted by theodolite
on May 31, 2011 -
10 comments
Last week, the Chicago Reader
laid off four of its best journalists: John Conroy
(previously), Harold Henderson, Tori Marlan, and Steve Bogira. The cuts almost certainly mark the beginning of the end of the paper's role in Chicago as an investigative force and a corruption watchdog. The New York Times
responds with a salute to Conroy and a defense of muckraking's relevance.
[more inside]
posted by Iridic
on Dec 11, 2007 -
25 comments
