Ben Hecht’s invitation to Hollywood came from fellow writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, and read, “Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around.”

Hecht and MacArthur also wrote the screenplay for Wuthering Heights in 1939 and were nominated for Academy Awards; they lost out to Sydney Howard, for Gone with the Wind – a script which David O. Selznick had paid Hecht $10,000 to doctor.

Adolph Menjou was nominated for his role in The Front Page, the only time he received any recognition from the Academy in a career lasting from the silent era, right up to 1960.  He had the reputation of being Hollywood’s best dressed man.

Hecht and MacArthur also co-wrote Twentieth Century (1934), The Scoundrel (1935 - for which they did receive collaborative Oscars), Nothing Sacred (1937) and Gunga Din (1939).