Hellman v. McCarthy: Hellman v. McCarthy is a comedy based on the greatest literary feud of 20th Century America. On January 24, 1980, Mary McCarthy, famed novelist, critic and memoirist, appeared as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show and declared that “every word [Lillian Hellman] writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’” Hellman being Hellman, even her friends feared her venom, went ballistic and sued McCarthy for libel. The legal battles, between two warring lionesses, well past their prime, spanned four years, and was the scandal of the literary community.