INTRODUCTION  Media Release
An adaptation of the screwball 1940s classic movie, His Girl Friday is a cynical satire of tabloid journalism, which still resonates today. A "clash of the pressroom titans" in the tradition of great divorced duos in comedy, it stars editor Walter Burns, "charming, suave, mischievous, irresistibly sly", determined to win back his ex-wife and best reporter, Hildy Johnson, by fair means or foul.

CHRONOLOGY
1928 - Former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur team up to write The Front Page, a Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat. The authors' expert plotting and rapid-fire, streetwise dialogue delighted audiences and made their play an instant classic. The play opened at the Times Square Theater (NYC) in 1929 and ran for 276 performances. The role of Walter Burns was created on the Broadway stage by Osgood Perkins, father of future Hollywood star Anthony Perkins.

1940 - US director Howard Hawks directs the movie His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell, for Columbia Pictures. The movie was originally supposed to be a straightforward adaptation of The Front Page, with both the editor and reporter being men. But during auditions, Howard Hawks's secretary read reporter Hildy Johnson's lines. Hawks liked the way the dialogue sounded coming from a woman, resulting in the script being rewritten - by Charles Lederer, with Ben Hecht's blessing - to make Hildy female and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns.

1972 - Michael Blakemore directs The Front Page at the Old Vic, produced by the National Theatre and starring Alan MacNaughtan and Denis Quilley.

1974 - Billy Wilder directs The Front Page, starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, for Universal Pictures. This is considered as the most successful screen adaptation of the original play, after a handful of other remakes released in the 40s and 50s.

2003 - London's National Theatre artistic director Nick Hytner hires playwright John Guare (1938 -) to write an adaptation of the original play and the 1940 movie. His Girl Friday, directed by American director Jack O'Brien, is performed at the Olivier Theatre from May to November 2003, starring Alex Jennings and Zoë Wanamaker.

THE PLOT
Chicago, August 31, 1939: days before Britain declares war on Germany, managing editor Walter Burns (Philip QUAST) is preoccupied by conflicts closer to home. A Jewish immigrant named Earl Holub sentenced to be hanged for shooting a police officer has escaped from police custody. Walter will do anything to scoop the competition; including manipulating police, politicians, reporters and civilians. At the same time, he uses every trick in the book to keep his ex-wife and former ace reporter, Hildy Johnson (Pamela RABE), at his side. But Hildy has had enough of the hustle, bustle and sleaze of the Chicago newspaper game. She's ready to throw it all away, catch the midnight train east and marry her fiancé Bruce Baldwin (Adam MURPHY), a handsome schlub with piles of dough. But lured back into the newsroom, she finds herself sitting on the biggest story of the year.

Philip Quast as Walter Burns
(click to enlarge)