Hecht and MacArthur strongly influenced many other American comic writers, especially those in Hollywood.  Both Hecht and MacArthur were working journalists when they wrote it.  Numerous versions of the play in theatres, on radio, television and in the movies have been made through the years, most notably "Gril Friday" which changed the sex of the star reporter and starred Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant.  In 1982 a musical, entitled "Windy City" played 250 performances in London. 

The play's single set is the dingy Press Room of Chicago's Criminal Courts Building, overlooking the gallows behind the Cook County Jail. Reporters from most of the city's newspapers are passing the time with poker and pungent wisecracks about the news of the day. Soon they'll witness the hanging of Earl Williams, a white man and (supposed) Communist revolutionary convicted of killing a black policeman. Hildy Johnson, cocky star reporter for the Examiner, is late. He appears only to say good-bye; he's quitting to get a respectable job and be married. Suddenly the reporters hear that Earl Williams has escaped from the jail. All but Hildy stampede out for more information. As Hildy tries to decide how to react Williams comes in through the window. He tells Hildy he's no revolutionary and shot the police officer by accident. The reporter realizes this bewildered, harmless little man was railroaded — just to help the crooked mayor and sheriff pick up enough black votes to win re-election. It's the story of a lifetime.

"A farce about a star reporter who is drawn into his own story."

"an air of youthful, ignorant high spirits that we cannot fail to find endearing."

Hecht and MacArthur are "like two literary Eliza's as they keep leaping from one shaky ice flow to another."

"'The Front Page' has endured as a powerful dramatic work that accurately captures the era it seeks to portray."