Doris Frankel (March 20, 1909 – February 3, 1994) was an American playwright, poet, radio show writer, and television show writer. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1930, later writing for several productions.

Personal life

Frankel was the daughter of Benjamin Frankel, and was raised in New York City. She graduated from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1930, and from the Drama 47 Workshop at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1932. She married Philip W. Barber, a theatre professional, in 1933."Doris Frankel's Bridal"
''New York Times'' (May 18, 1933): 23. They had two sons before they divorced. One of her sons was political theorist

Benjamin Barber Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, ''Jihad vs. McWorld'', and for 2013's ''If Mayors Ruled the World''. His 1984 book of political t ...

. When she took a hiatus from her career in 1943, she and her two sons went to the Japanese internment camp at

Heart Mountain Relocation Center The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted d ...

, to join her husband who worked there.

Career

In the 1930s, Frankel wrote radio shows such as ''

Cavalcade of America ''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially ...

'', '' Counterspy'', and ''The Thin Man''. She wrote a volume of poetry in 1930, titled ''The Sun Beats Down''. She wrote the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

plays ''Don't Throw Glass Houses'' in 1938 and ''Love Me Long'' in 1949. In her 1943 play ''Journey for an Unknown Soldier'', she wrote about the racism against Japanese people at the time and how white Americans should accept them. It was written during a time when Japanese Americans were still interned in concentration camps and she was hopeful that White Americans could accept them. In the 1950s, she wrote drama television shows for ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...

'' and ''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...

''. The first daytime serial for which she wrote was ''

The Brighter Day ''The Brighter Day'' is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954, to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC Radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954&ndash ...

''. Frankel later wrote for the television shows ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'', ''

Search for Tomorrow ''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986. Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...

'', and ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...

''. In 1960, she wrote the musical ''One Little Girl'', performed at the

Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is gender inclusive, and its prog ...

annual convention in New York City.

Reception

Frankel won an Emmy for her work on ''All My Children'' in the 1970s. In a 1949 ''Billboard'' review, Broadway critic Bob Francis wrote a negative review of ''Love Me Long'', saying that Frankel's "little opus has neither originality or wit".

Death

Doris Frankel died in 1994 from a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, aged 84.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Doris 1909 births 1994 deaths American radio writers Women radio writers American television writers 20th-century American women writers Radcliffe College alumni Yale School of Drama alumni American women television writers 20th-century American screenwriters