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Out Of The Thousand Writers Huffing And Puffing Through Movieland There Are Scarcely Fifty Men And Women Of Wit Or Talent. The Rest Of The Fraternity Is Deadwood. Yet, In A Curious Way, There Is Not Much Difference Between The Product Of A Good Writer And A Bad One. They Both Have To Toe The Same Mark.

-Ben Hecht

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Out Of The Thousand

Ben Hecht

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Out Of The Thousand Writers Huffing And Puffing Through Movieland There Are Scarcely Fifty Men And Women Of Wit Or Talent. The Rest Of The Fraternity Is Deadwood. Yet, In A Curious Way, There Is Not Much Difference Between The Product Of A Good Writer And A Bad One. They Both Have To Toe The Same Mark.

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Love's The Only Thing I've Thought Of Or Read About Since I Was Knee-high. That's What I Always Dreamed Of, Of Meeting Somebody And Falling In Love. And When That Remarkable Thing Happened, I Was Going To Recite Poetry To Her For Hours About How Her Heart's An Angel's Wing And Her Hair The Strings Of A Heavenly Harp. Instead I Got Drunk And Hollered At Her And Called Her A Harpy.

A Movie Is Never Any Better Than The Stupidest Man Connected With It.

Of The Things Men Give Each Other The Greatest Is Loyalty.

Love Is A Hole In The Heart.

In Hollywood A Starlet Is The Name For Any Woman Under Thirty Who Is Not Actively Employed In A Brothel.

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The Movies Are One Of The Bad Habits That Corrupted Our Century.of Their Many Sins, I Offer As The Worst Their Effect On The Intellectual Side Of The Nation. It Is Chiefly From That Viewpoint I Write Of Them - As An Eruption Of Trash That Has Lamed The American Mind And Retarded Americans From Becoming A Cultured People.

The Writer Is A Definite Human Phenomenon. He Is Almost A Type - As Pugilists Are A Type. He May Be A Bad Writer - An Insipid One Or A Clumsy One - But There Is A Bug In Him That Keeps Spinning Yarns; And That Bulges His Brow A Bit, Narrows His Jaws, Weakens His Eyes And Gives Him Girl Children Instead Of Boys. Nobody But A Writer Can Write. People Who Hang Around Writers For Years - As Producers Did - Who Are Much Smarter And Have Much Better Taste, Never Learn To Write.

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In The Court Of The Movie Owner, None Criticized, None Doubted. And None Dared Speak Of Art. In The Owner's Mind Art Was A Synonym For Bankruptcy. The Movie Owners Are The Only Troupe In The History Of Entertainment That Has Never Been Seduced By The Adventure Of The Entertainment World.

Time Is A Circus, Always Packing Up And Moving Away.

I Discovered Early In My Movie Work That A Movies Never Any Better Than The Stupidest Man Connected With It. There Are Times When This Distinction May Be Given To The Writer Or Director. Most Often It Belongs To The Producer.

A Man Nearly Always Loves For Other Reasons Than He Thinks. A Lover Is Apt To Be As Full Of Secrets From Himself As Is The Object Of His Love From Him.

H.l.mencken's War Aims, According To The Handful Of Observers Who Deigned To Notice His Conflict, Were The Overthrow Of American Democracy, The Christian Religion, And The Ymca. He Was Also Credited With Trying To Wipe Out Poets And Luncheon Orators.

That God Has Managed To Survive The Inanities Of The Religions That Do Him Homage Is Truly A Miraculous Proof Of His Existence.

Criticism Can Never Instruct Or Benefit You. Its Chief Effect Is That Of A Telegram With Dubious News. Praise Leaves No Glow Behind, For It Is A Writer's Habit To Remember Nothing Good Of Himself. I Have Usually Forgotten Those Who Have Admired My Work, And Seldom Anyone Who Disliked It. Obviously, This Is Because Praise Is Never Enough And Censure Always Too Much.

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I'm A Hollywood Writer, So I Put On My Sports Jacket And Take Off My Brain.

Writing A Good Movie Brings A Writer About As Much Fame As Steering A Bicycle. It Gets Him, However, More Jobs. If His Movie Is Bad It Will Attract Only Critical Tut-tut For Him. The Producer, Director And Stars Are The Geniuses Who Get The Hosannas When It's A Hit. Theirs Are Also The Heads That Are Mounted On Spears When It's A Flop.

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Prejudice Is A Raft Onto Which The Shipwrecked Mind Clambers And Paddles To Safety.

Three Years Ago, The White Hope Of The Theatre. Today, A Mug. That's New York For You. Puts You On A Christmas Tree, And Then - The Alley.

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I Know That A Man Who Shows Me His Wealth Is Like The Beggar Who Shows Me His Poverty; They Are Both Looking For Alms From Me, The Rich Man For The Alms Of My Envy, The Poor Man For The Alms Of My Guilt.

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Television Excites Me Because It Seems To Be The Last Stamping Ground Of Poetry, The Last Place Where I Hear Women's Hair Rhapsodically Described, Women's Faces Acclaimed In Odelike Language.

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