Elaine Sterne Carrington (June 14, 1891 – May 4, 1958) was an American screenwriter, playwright, novelist and short story author who found her greatest success writing for

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. Carrington originated radio

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

in 1932, and wrote more than 12,000 daily dramas during her long career. At one time she wrote three separate shows — ''

Pepper Young's Family ''Pepper Young's Family'' is a daytime drama series, with various format and title changes during its long run from 1932 to 1959. It was created and written by short story author and playwright Elaine Sterne Carrington. History With Burgess Mered ...

'', ''

When a Girl Marries ''When a Girl Marries'' is an American daytime radio drama that was broadcast on three major radio networks from 1939 to 1957. Created by Elaine Sterne Carrington (who also was responsible for ''Pepper Young's Family'' and ''Rosemary''), it was th ...

'' and ''

Rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

'' — that each ran five times a week."Elaine Carrington Is Dead at 66; Originator of Radio Soap Opera"; ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', May 5, 1958

Life and career

Elaine Sterne was born in

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 ...

, New York City, the daughter of Marie Louise Henriques and Theodore Sterne, an importer of tobacco. Sterne was educated at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1920, she married attorney George Dart Carrington, whom she met in grade school. They lived in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...

with children, Patricia and Robert. George died in 1945.Elaine Carrington Papers
at

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

She began writing films in 1913, and her scenario for ''The Sins of the Mothers'' (1914) won first prize in a contest sponsored by '' The New York Evening Sun'' and

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

. By 1930 she had 50 screenwriting credits — including one for ''

Alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

'', the 1929 adaptation of her 1927 Broadway play, ''Nightstick'', which she wrote with J. C. Nugent,

Elliott Nugent Elliott Nugent (September 20, 1896 – August 9, 1980) was an American actor, playwright, writer, and film director. Biography Nugent was born in Dover, Ohio, the son of actor J.C. Nugent. He successfully made the transition from silent film ...

and John Wray. She also wrote several one-act vaudeville plays including ''A Good Provider'' (1928), ''The Red Hat'', ''Five Minutes from the Station'', and ''Fear''. Elaine Sterne's first published story, "The King of the Christmas Feast," appeared in the December 1914 issue of '' St. Nicholas Magazine''. By the time she was in her 20s her fiction appeared in popular magazines including ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

'', ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'', ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'', ''

Pictorial Review The ''Pictorial Review'' was an American women's magazine published from 1899 to 1939. Based in New York, the ''Pictorial Review'' was first published in September 1899. The magazine was originally designed to showcase dress patterns of German i ...

'', ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' and ''

Woman's Home Companion ''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...

''. She also wrote novels, including ''The Road to Ambition'' (1917) and ''The Gypsy Star'' (1936), and she collected some of her short fiction in the 1939 book, ''All Things Considered''. Carrington's writing career was transformed in 1932, when a friend persuaded her to approach the

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

about trying a dramatic serial on radio. Starring

Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...

, the 15-minute drama ''Red Adams'' ran three days a week (October 2, 1932 – January 22, 1933). When it found a new sponsor it was renamed ''Red Davis'' (October 2, 1933 – May 24, 1935). "It was put on five days a week and became an enormous hit with housewives whose attentions could be diverted from the tedium of housekeeping," wrote ''

'' in 1958. "The program changed sponsors again — this time to a soap company — and it became the famous ''

'', for which Mrs. Carrington at her death was still writing five fifteen-minute programs a week." Carrington created a second serial drama, ''

'' (1939–1957), and a third, ''

'' (1944–1955) — requiring her to produce about 38,000 words a week. In 1946 she was earning $200,000 a year. In 1946 she created ''The Carrington Playhouse'', a radio show that produced original plays that won its weekly contest. She also wrote patriotic scripts for the U.S. government during World War II, and after the war wrote dramas for ''

Robert Montgomery Presents ''Robert Montgomery Presents'' is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950, until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its eight-year run, and the title was altered to feature the ...

'' and other television programs."Radio: Queen's Plaything"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', August 26, 1946
Elaine Carrington Papers
at

Carrington's full-length plays include ''Remember Me?'' (1953), ''Maggie, Pack Your Bags'' (1954), and ''The Empress'', a 1955 comedy that was presented in Westport, Connecticut, with

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acade ...

Death

''Pepper Young's Family'' continued for a year after Carrington's death on May 4, 1958. She died at New York Hospital at age 66, after a brief illness. "No one ever came close to Mrs. Carrington's formidable output," reported ''

'', "and in the world of radio the plump, pleasant, mink-clad author was universally known as 'the Queen of the Soapers.'"

References

External links

* * *
Elaine Sterne Carrington papers, 1903-1959
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Elaine Sterne 1891 births 1958 deaths American women screenwriters American radio writers American women dramatists and playwrights American women short story writers American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Writers from Manhattan Columbia University alumni 20th-century American short story writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Novelists from New York (state) People from Brooklyn Heights American women film directors 20th-century American screenwriters Women radio writers