This classic screwball comedy is in 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. The year is 1931. Walter Burns, a hard-boiled editor for The Morning Post who learns his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildegard "Hildy" Johnson is about to marry bland insurance man Bruce Baldwin and settle down to a quiet life as a wife and mother. Walter determines to sabotage these plans, enticing the reluctant Hildy to cover one last story, the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams!
Walter does everything he can to keep Hildy from leaving, including setting Bruce up so he gets arrested over and over again on trumped-up charges. He even kidnaps Hildy's stern mother-in-law-to-be. When Williams escapes from the bumbling sheriff, and practically falls into Hildy's lap, the lure of a big scoop proves too much for her. She is so consumed with writing the story that she hardly notices as Bruce realizes his cause is hopeless and leaves. The crooked mayor and sheriff need the publicity from the execution to keep their jobs in an upcoming election, so when a goofy country bumpkin messenger brings them a reprieve from the governor, they try to bribe the man to go away and return later, when it will be too late. Walter and Hildy find out just in time to save Walter from being arrested for kidnapping. Afterward, Walter offers to remarry Hildy, but she refuses at first.
The audience will love the twists and turns the play tales as every newsman wants to get on “the Front Page!” Call for details at (507) 359-9990. www.newulmact.com.