September 15, 1958-January 30, 1959 

This late night talk show aired on WABC television in New York. It's 25 minute time slot was 10:50pm to 11:15pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday evenings. On Wednesdays it would air for 15 minutes from 11:00pm to 11:15pm.

Ben Hecht, playwright, screen writer, novelist, presented this live 22 week nightly commentary show. The format included Hecht's airing his views on the world at large, chatting with guests from varied fields, including literature, politics, journalism. Topics covered included the influences of critics, the fate of the poet in America, and the Supreme Court. 

Host was author, journalist, screenwriter, director, and producer Ben Hecht.

His caustic comments would enrage some of the viewers while engaging others. In all, a total of 99 episodes were produced. 

NOTE: The four episodes of THE BEN HECHT SHOW, including the premiere (September 15, 1958) audio recorded at the time of the original broadcast and archived by Archival Television Audio, Inc. are the only extant examples in any broadcast form known representing this series with the exception of an audio air check  uploaded to you tube...a broadcast October 17, 1958 with Jack Kerouac.
 
No air checks exist in the Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media or UCLA Film & TV Archive. 

In this PREMIERE episode, host Ben Hecht talks to advertising executive Robert L. Foreman  about television commercials. 

NOTE: On February 15, 1958, writer Ben Hecht (1893-1964), a flamboyant and caustic social critic, appeared on
The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace and his producer, Ted Yates, agreed that Hecht's personality was provocative
enough to be the basis of a television show. The Ben Hecht Show was born. For 22 weeks, Ben Hecht held forth on
a variety of subjects, enraging some, engaging many, in this short-lived television show.                                                                                                                              

September 15, 1958-January 30, 1959 

This late night talk show aired on WABC television in New York. It's 25 minute time slot was 10:50pm to 11:15pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday evenings. On Wednesdays it would air for 15 minutes from 11:00pm to 11:15pm.

Ben Hecht, playwright, screen writer, novelist, presented this live 22 week nightly commentary show. The format included Hecht's airing his views on the world at large, chatting with guests from varied fields, including literature, politics, journalism. Topics covered included the influences of critics, the fate of the poet in America, and the Supreme Court. 

Host was author, journalist, screenwriter, director, and producer Ben Hecht.

His caustic comments would enrage some of the viewers while engaging others. In all, a total of 99 episodes were produced. 

NOTE: The four episodes of THE BEN HECHT SHOW, including the premiere (September 15, 1958) audio recorded at the time of the original broadcast and archived by Archival Television Audio, Inc. are the only extant examples in any broadcast form known representing this series with the exception of a you tube uploaded TV Audio Air Check...a broadcast October 17, 1958 with Jack Kerouac. 

No air checks exist in the Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media or UCLA Film & TV Archive. 

Ben Hecht welcomes guest Westbrook Pegler. American journalist and writer. a popular columnist in the 1930s and 1940s, famed for his opposition to the New Deal and labor unions.  Pegler viciously attacks the judiciary, accuses them of being politicians, immoral, brutally arrogant, drunk with power, and wear awesome black robes. He thinks the Supreme Court judges are a cut below "speed-trap judges." 

NOTE: On February 15, 1958, writer Ben Hecht (1893-1964), a flamboyant and caustic social critic, appeared on
The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace and his producer, Ted Yates, agreed that Hecht's personality was provocative
enough to be the basis of a television show. The Ben Hecht Show was born. For 22 weeks, Ben Hecht held forth on
a variety of subjects, enraging some, engaging many, in this short-lived television show.                                                                                                                            

September 15, 1958-january 30, 1959 

This short lived late night talk show aired on WABC Channel 7 television ONLY in New York. Produced by Mike Wallace. 

It occupied an unorthodox time slot, 25 minutes from 10:50pm to 11:15pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday evenings. On Wednesdays it would air for 15 minutes from 11:00pm to 11:15pm.

Ben Hecht, playwright, screen writer, novelist, presented this live 22 week nightly commentary show. The format included Hecht's airing his views on the world at large, chatting with guests from varied fields, including literature, politics, journalism. Topics covered included the influences of critics, the fate of the poet in America, and the Supreme Court. 

Host was author, journalist, screenwriter, director, and producer Ben Hecht.

His caustic comments would enrage some of the viewers while engaging others. In all, a total of 99 episodes were produced. 

NOTE: The four episodes of THE BEN HECHT SHOW, including the premiere (September 15, 1958) audio recorded at the time of the original broadcast and archived by Archival Television Audio, Inc. are the only extant examples in any broadcast form known representing this series with the exception of an uploaded to you tube audio only air check broadcast  October 17, 1958 with Jack Kerouac. 

No air checks exist in the Library of Congress, Paley Center for Media or UCLA Film & TV Archive. 

Ben Hecht welcomes guest Jimmy Durante in a two part broadcast, totaling 45 minutes combined, the first airing on January 19, and the second on January 20, 1959. Jimmy sits at the piano and converses with his old time pal Ben Hecht who interviews Durante who gives many anecdotes about his show business career and personal  life.

Jimmy plays many numbers he created over the decades. We feel we are in his parlor at home chatting and reminiscing with music, laughter and song. 

One of the most endearing, personal television appearances by Jimmy Durante.

A "lost" Television Broadcast. 
The only two part Ben Hecht Show broadcast in the series.   

NOTE: On February 15, 1958, writer Ben Hecht (1893-1964), a flamboyant and caustic social critic, appeared on
The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace and his producer, Ted Yates, agreed that Hecht's personality was provocative
enough to be the basis of a television show. The Ben Hecht Show was born. For 22 weeks, Ben Hecht held forth on
a variety of subjects, enraging some, engaging many, in this short-lived television show.                                                                                                                                         

   The Ben Hecht Show September 15, 1958 - February 6, 1959 

Slotted in a most unusual time period by ABC television 
(10:50pm - 11:15pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and 11:00pm - 11:15pm Wednesday nights) this series of 25 minute and 15 minute broadcasts with Ben Hecht, ran only for 22 weeks. 
A little over 100 broadcasts were telecast  of which only one known episode survives as a kinescope. 

Ben Hecht whose motion picture and journalistic career brought him in touch with scores of celebrities in films, television, politics and the social set. Many of his guests are personal friends and that relationship provides for a very informal wonderful discourse during most interviews when discussing  a variety of subjects; often enraging some, engaging many. His comments were often entertaining, defiant, realistic and iconoclastic. A rare approach to a commentary / talk show for even the late 1950's. 

Two back to back broadcasts with Jimmy Durante are included in this archived series. The first program aired on January 19, 1959 followed by a follow up broadcast airing the following night, January 20, 1959. This very revealing special interview by Ben Hecht of his long time friend Jimmy Durante is a treasure. 
Durante sits at that piano discussing his career and recalling a myriad of anecdotes related to his life and times, and  plays melody's that personify the music he has been associated with during his long history in show business. 

One of the rare jewels in the archive of Archival Television Audio.