1001 AFTERNOONS IN CHICAGO by Ben...

1001 AFTERNOONS IN CHICAGO by Ben Hecht, illustrated by Herman Rosse (University of Chicago: $15.95). The 64 lively vignettes in this collection originally appeared in the Chicago Daily News in 1921: Hecht roamed the city, visiting courtrooms and opera houses, slums and mansions, describing what he saw with understated skill. He had a rare gift for the journalistic mot just that distills the essence of a subject: A woman young charged with soliciting is “red-cheeked and black-haired, vivid-eyed and like an ear of ripe corn dropped in the middle of State and Madison street.” Although he captures the anxiety of Sergei Prokofieff rehearsing for the world premiere of “The Love for Three Oranges” in a few deftly constructed sentences, Hecht is at his best poking around the seedier parts of Chicago. On a hot afternoon on South State Street, “Sodom mooches wearily along with a red nose dreaming in the sun, and Gommorah leans against an ash can”; during the autumn, “the rain mutters in the night and the pavements like dark mirrors are alive with impressionistic cartoons of the city.” Seven decades after their initial publication, Hecht’s essays retain their vitality--and eclipse the work of his numerous imitators.