A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago
It was a day in the spring of 1921. Dismal shadows, really Hechtian shadows, filled the editorial "coop" in The Chicago Daily News building. Outside the rain was slanting down in the way that Hecht's own rain always slants. In walked Hecht. He had been divorced from our staff for some weeks, and had married an overdressed, blatant creature called Publicity. Well, and how did he like Publicity? The answer was written in his sullen eyes; it was written on his furrowed brow, and in the savage way he stabbed the costly furniture with his cane. The alliance with Publicity was an unhappy one. Good pay? Oh yes, preposterous pay. Luncheons with prominent persons? Limitless luncheons. Easy work, short hours, plenteous taxis, hustling associates, glittering results. But-but he couldn't stand it, that was all. He just unaccountably, illogically, and damnably couldn't stand it. If he had to attend another luncheon and eat sweet-breads and peach melba and listen to some orator pronounce a speech he, Hecht, had written, and hear some Magnate outline a campaign which he, Hecht, had invented ... and that wasn't all, either.... Gentlemen, he just couldn't stand it. Well, the old job was open.
1100593387
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago
It was a day in the spring of 1921. Dismal shadows, really Hechtian shadows, filled the editorial "coop" in The Chicago Daily News building. Outside the rain was slanting down in the way that Hecht's own rain always slants. In walked Hecht. He had been divorced from our staff for some weeks, and had married an overdressed, blatant creature called Publicity. Well, and how did he like Publicity? The answer was written in his sullen eyes; it was written on his furrowed brow, and in the savage way he stabbed the costly furniture with his cane. The alliance with Publicity was an unhappy one. Good pay? Oh yes, preposterous pay. Luncheons with prominent persons? Limitless luncheons. Easy work, short hours, plenteous taxis, hustling associates, glittering results. But-but he couldn't stand it, that was all. He just unaccountably, illogically, and damnably couldn't stand it. If he had to attend another luncheon and eat sweet-breads and peach melba and listen to some orator pronounce a speech he, Hecht, had written, and hear some Magnate outline a campaign which he, Hecht, had invented ... and that wasn't all, either.... Gentlemen, he just couldn't stand it. Well, the old job was open.
16.89 In Stock
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago

A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago

by Ben Hecht
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago

A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago

by Ben Hecht

Paperback

$16.89 
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Overview

It was a day in the spring of 1921. Dismal shadows, really Hechtian shadows, filled the editorial "coop" in The Chicago Daily News building. Outside the rain was slanting down in the way that Hecht's own rain always slants. In walked Hecht. He had been divorced from our staff for some weeks, and had married an overdressed, blatant creature called Publicity. Well, and how did he like Publicity? The answer was written in his sullen eyes; it was written on his furrowed brow, and in the savage way he stabbed the costly furniture with his cane. The alliance with Publicity was an unhappy one. Good pay? Oh yes, preposterous pay. Luncheons with prominent persons? Limitless luncheons. Easy work, short hours, plenteous taxis, hustling associates, glittering results. But-but he couldn't stand it, that was all. He just unaccountably, illogically, and damnably couldn't stand it. If he had to attend another luncheon and eat sweet-breads and peach melba and listen to some orator pronounce a speech he, Hecht, had written, and hear some Magnate outline a campaign which he, Hecht, had invented ... and that wasn't all, either.... Gentlemen, he just couldn't stand it. Well, the old job was open.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781979012461
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date: 10/30/2017
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Ben Hecht (1894–1964) was a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Daily Journal and the Chicago Daily News as well as a playwright, novelist, short story writer, and scriptwriter.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

A Self-Made Man
An Iowa Humoresque
An Old Audience Speaks
Clocks and Owl Cars
Confessions
Coral, Amber and Jade
Coeur De Lion and The Soup and Fish
Dapper Pete and The Sucker Play
Dead Warrior
Don Quixote and His Last Windmill
"Fa'n Ta Mig!"
Fanny
Fantastic Lollypops
Fog Patterns
Grass Figures
Ill-Humoresque
Jazz Band Impressions
Letters
Meditation in E Minor
Michigan Avenue
Mishkin's Minyon
Mottka
Mr. Winkelberg
Mrs. Rodjezke's Last Job
Mrs. Sardotopolis' Evening Off
Night Diary
Nirvana
Notes For a Tragedy
On A Day Like This
Ornaments
Pandora's Box
Pitzela's Son
Queen Bess' Feast
Ripples
Satraps At Play
Schopenhauer's Son
Sergt. Kuzick's Waterloo
Sociable Gamblers
Ten-Cent Wedding Rings
The Auctioneer's Wife
The Dagger Venus
The Exile
The Great Traveler
The Indestructible Masterpiece
The Lake
The Little Fop
The Man From Yesterday
The Man Hunt
The Man With a Question
The Mother
The Pig
The Snob
The Soul of Sing Lee
The Sybarite
The Tattooer
The Thing In The Dark
The Watch Fixer
The Way Home
Thumbnail Lotharios
Thumbs Up and Down
To Bert Williams
Vagabondia
Waterfront Fancies
Where The "Blues" Sound
World Conquerors
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