 During the 1930s, Howard Hawks (qv) was hosting a dinner party  when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of  "The Front Page" to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between  characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role  of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much  better with a female reading, and quickly secured the rights for the  film from Howard Hughes (I) (qv). Ben Hecht (I) (qv) (the author  of "The Front Page") approved the gender change and the screenplay  was put into production.