Rachel Crothers
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Rachel Crothers (December 12, 1878 – July 5, 1958) was an American playwright and theater director known for her well-crafted plays that often dealt with feminist themes. Among theater historians, she is generally recognized as "the most successful and prolific woman dramatist writing in the first part of the twentieth century." One of her most famous plays was ''Susan and God'' (1937), which was made into a film by
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
in 1940 starring
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
and
Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...
.


Biography

Crothers was born on December 12, 1878 in
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...
, to Dr. Eli Kirk Crothers and Dr. Marie Louise (de Pew) Crothers. Crothers' mother, an independent-minded woman whose father had been friends with Abraham Lincoln, went to medical school at forty and became one of the first woman physicians in Illinois, encountering and eventually overcoming much opposition to her practice in Bloomington. Though her parents were religious and conservative, with no particular interest in theater, issues of money, equality, risk-taking, and a woman's place in the world were a part of Crothers' life from her earliest years. The family intended that their daughters should be educated, and Crothers graduated from
Illinois State University High School Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
in 1891, at the precocious age of thirteen. The following year, she attended the New England School of Dramatic Instruction in Boston, where her passion for the stage was nurtured. Her hopes of moving to New York to seek a career in theater were opposed by her parents, who insisted she return home to Illinois. Her interest in acting continued even there, however, and she was a founding member of the Bloomington Dramatic Club. (Her taste in plays was rather advanced for the time: Ibsen's still-scandalous ''
A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...
'' was one of her suggestions for a Club production.) By the age of nineteen, five years after her father's death, Crothers was allowed to realize her dream and move on her own to New York. "I knew no one in New York," she later recalled, "but I had heard of
David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...
and
Daniel Frohman Daniel Frohman (August 22, 1851 – December 26, 1940) was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer. Biography Frohman was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio. His parents were Henry (1826&nda ...
, and they were kind enough to answer my letters." That was encouragement enough and, though the famous producers' help ended there, she left Bloomington for Manhattan (with the financial backing of her mother), enrolled in acting classes, and found small parts in stock and touring companies. By 1899, Crothers was writing her own one-act plays, and over the next few years, as these plays received showcase productions and good notices, she gained a reputation as a young dramatist of serious potential with an interest in the Ibsen-style "social problem drama." Her big break came in 1906, at the age of twenty-eight, when her first full-length play, ''The Three of Us,'' was produced and enjoyed a 277-performance run at the
Madison Square Theatre ''The Madison Square Theatre'' was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, on the south side of 24th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway (which intersects Fifth Avenue near that point.) It was built in 1863, operated as a theater from 1865 to 1908, ...
in New York City. The play received its London premiere at
Terry's Theatre Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre in the Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923. History The theatre was built in 1887, near Fountain's Court, on the site of a ...
on June 10, 1908, with
Fannie Ward Fannie Ward (born Fannie Buchanan; February 22, 1872 – January 27, 1952), also credited as Fanny Ward, was an American actress of stage and screen. Known for performing in both comedic and dramatic roles, she was cast in '' The Cheat'', a sexu ...
playing the leading role. From that time on, through the 1940s, Crothers was a major name in the Broadway theater world. Her commercial record was erratic—hits and flops, equally mixed—but she was a productive and respected writer with a considerable body of work to her name by the time she was middle-aged. In 1917, during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Crothers founded and led the Stage Women’s Relief Fund. In 1932, she helped found the Stage Relief Fund, a response to the Great Depression, and remained a director until 1951. In 1940, she led in organizing the
American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...
, which operated the famed
Stage Door Canteen The Stage Door Canteen was an entertainment venue for American and Allied servicemen that operated in the Broadway theatre district of New York City throughout World War II. Founded by the American Theatre Wing (ATW) in 1942, the entertainers we ...
, and remained its executive director until 1950. She died on July 5, 1958 in
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
. She never married.


Work

Rachel Crothers' plays often dealt with contemporary social themes and moral problems affecting women, including the sexual double standard, trial marriage, "
free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...
," divorce, prostitution, and Freudian psychology. Though some of her plays are clear, provocative expressions of sympathy for the challenges twentieth-century women had to confront and present young female characters of boldness and originality, others involve an element of comedy, even parody, and an implied criticism of radical feminism; thus, her work cannot be easily characterized in a political sense. In some plays, her free-spirited young women revert to traditional roles at the end, especially when they are in danger of losing a man they love, and in other plays "Crothers records a sense of disillusionment with the women's movement and a tendency to blame it for deficiencies in women's emotional life." But Crothers wrote in period of rapid social change, as she well knew. "If you want to see the sign of the times, watch women," she commented in 1912. "Their evolution is the most important thing in modern life." When ''The Three of Us'' was written, the Nineteenth Amendment was fourteen years in the future and relatively few women questioned marital inequities; by the time she ceased writing plays in the late 1930s, the world, at least for middle-class women in the United States, had been altered in profound ways. Crothers' over thirty one-act and full-length plays reflect those changes, more subtly than she has sometimes been given credit for. '' He and She'' (1920), for example, illustrates Crothers' nuanced sense of the gender problems modern Americans were confronting in this period of change. Set in 1910, at about the time she originally drafted the play, ''He and She'' takes as its protagonists an appealing married couple, Tom and Ann Herford. They are a cosmopolitan pair with careers, a child, and a happy marriage. Tom supports women's rights and is pleased that his wife has demonstrated talent in his own field, sculpture. But when he loses an important sculptural commission to Ann, the family's beliefs are put to the test: Can Tom live with his wife's public success and his own very visible failure? Can Ann live with Tom's embarrassment and the effect it may have on their relationship? Will Ann's professional commitments now take her even further from her maternal duties to a teenaged daughter who is already feeling neglected because of her parents' busy work lives? Other characters include Tom's assistant, who is honest about expecting his fiancée to give up her career as a journalist and become a homemaker when they marry (not an agreeable prospect to the young woman); Ann's father, who is dismayed that his daughter would even consider jeopardizing her marriage in this way; and Tom's unmarried sister, who is self-supporting but has achieved this status by not having a husband and children, a loss she regrets. The play ends with Ann arguing that the decision to have children, for a woman, changes everything; motherhood must take precedence over a career. Yet ''He and She'' manages not to feel like a reactionary or anti-feminist tract. The inherent unfairness of the dilemma the Herfords confront has been well-established, leaving audiences food for thought. Ann's capacities and largeness of spirit have been ably displayed (she is one of the great female characters in American drama circa 1920). Most importantly, Crothers has situated her story in a real world of good intentions and hard facts: true equality is still a pretense, even among liberal men and women, and someone has to take care of the children. The values of the older generation for whom there is nothing to debate (represented by Ann's father) and the values of the New Woman (represented by the fiancée of Tom's assistant who has no intention of giving up her job when she marries) are also effectively noted. ''He and She'' was performed on Broadway in 1920 to critical approval (though not a strong box-office run) and was revived in New York, in a well-received production, in 1980 and again in 2005. Crothers worked in a context that was both timely and, in some ways, strikingly against the grain. In the years immediately before World War I, for instance, Broadway saw a vogue for plays about white slavery, sexually-transmitted disease, and brothels. Most of the writers were male, of course, and a borderline-legal but titillating Act I brothel or abduction scene was part of the pattern of these usually formulaic plays. Crothers' approach in ''Ourselves'' (1913) was different. She began work on the play in 1912 before the vogue was underway, visited the Bedford Street Reformatory for Women to talk to some imprisoned sex workers, and elected to adopt an entirely female-centered perspective. In what one theater historian has called "the best of all the white slave plays" of the era, ''Ourselves'' tells the story of a woman attempting to make a new life after being released from jail but confronted on all sides by people who want her to fall back into her old ways, don't believe that such a goal is possible for a "fallen woman," or profess a good-will that they cannot bring themselves to act on. Like George Bernard Shaw's ''Mrs. Warren's Profession,'' there is no brothel in the play to entertain a voyeuristic audience; there is a clear suggestion that male sexual appetites are the problem, not women's weakness or immorality; and the author expresses some skepticism about reformist intentions in a society wedded to its hypocrisy. Crothers goes further, though: one character (clearly echoing the writer's view) explicitly suggests that the men should be judged as harshly and readily by society as the offending women, while Crothers acknowledges that women's sexual urges are not entirely irrelevant to the predicament she is dramatizing. Reviews for the play were mixed, with many reviewers complaining that Crothers had written too few male parts (only four out of twenty-one characters are men) and focused too exclusively on "the feminine point of view." Other plays by Crothers that deal with female identity and societal pressures to conform include her first, ''The Three of Us'' (1906), in which the female protagonist, a Nevada mine owner, protests the idea that a woman's "honor" is something men should feel obliged to protect; ''A Man's World'' (1910), the story of a woman writer who publishes under a man's name in the hope of greater acceptance; and ''Young Wisdom'' (1914), a satire of the New Woman and the idea of trial marriages. '' Nice People'' (1921) and ''Mary the Third'' (1923) include comic portrayals of flappers (Tallulah Bankhead played one of the flappers in ''Nice People''), while ''As Husbands Go'' (1931) and ''When Ladies Meet'' (1933) explore Depression-era attitudes toward women's advancement since suffrage. Crothers' last professionally produced play ''Susan and God'' (1937) was her greatest commercial success. The play tells the story of a wealthy, spoiled, and restless woman who finds meaning for her aimless life in an evangelical movement and attempts to convert her Park Avenue friends. She plans to leave her alcoholic husband and daughter to assume a public role as an evangelist, for which she is ludicrously ill-equipped. In the end, Susan accepts that she has been deluded by her conversion, that faith and salvation are far more complex than she had acknowledged, and that a more loving and meaningful act would be to help her husband achieve a stable life. Crothers biographer Lois Gottlieb finds the portrayal of the title character "satirical yet ultimately sympathetic." Crothers was part of an "old girls' network" of theater professionals that took shape in the 1920s. Asked by
Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist liter ...
in a 1931 interview about how she had been able to make a successful career in a male-dominated field, Crothers answered: "For a woman, it is best to look to women for help; women are more daring, they are glad to take the most extraordinary chances...I think I should have been longer about my destiny if I had to battle with men alone." Actresses were especially appreciative of the strong roles she created for them, and leading parts in her plays were performed by
Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
,
Estelle Winwood Estelle Winwood (born Estelle Ruth Goodwin, 24 January 1883 – 20 June 1984) was an English actress who moved to the United States in mid-career and became celebrated for her wit and longevity. Early life and early career Born Estelle Ruth Go ...
, Katharine Cornell,
Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...
, and
Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born Gertr ...
.


Legacy

Crothers broke new ground by directing, staging, and casting most of her own plays. She also directed several plays written by others. Though little-known today, Crothers was regarded as the most successful woman to write for the stage in the decades before the rise of Lillian Hellman in the 1930s. Rachel Crothers opened doors for women in the theater before World War II. She was also known as a philanthropist and activist. She established a number of organizations to improve the welfare of her theatrical colleagues: the United Theatre Relief Committee, the Stage Relief Fund (director from 1932 to 1951), the Stage Women's War Relief Fund, and the
American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...
for War Relief, which operated the famed Stage Door Canteen, and remained its executive director until 1950. On April 25, 1939, Crothers was awarded the
Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chap ...
sorority national achievement award by Eleanor Roosevelt, a gold medal award given “to an American woman of notable accomplishments in the professions, public affairs, art, letters, business and finance, or education." According to her biography on Literature OnLine, Rachel Crothers "distinguished herself as one of the most significant American playwrights of the early twentieth century and as an influential force in the development of modern drama." A "genuine trailblazer" was Ethan Mordden's description of her in his history of Broadway, ''All That Glitters.'' Crothers, who never married, died in her
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
home in 1958 at age 79.


Major plays

*''Nora'' (1903) *''The Point of View'' (1904) *''Criss Cross'' (1904) *''Rector'' (1905) *''The Three of Us'' (1906) *''The Coming of Mrs. Patrick'' (1907) *''Myself Bettina'' (1908) *''Kiddies'' (1909) *''A Man's World'' (1910) *'' He and She'' (1911) *''The Herfords'' (1912) *''Ourselves'' (1913) *''Young Wisdom'' (1914) *''The Heart of Paddy Whack'' (1914) *''Old Lady 31'' (1916) *''Mother Carey's Chickens'' (1917) *''Once Upon a Time'' (1918) *''A Little Journey'' (1918) *''39 East'' (1919) * '' Nice People'' (1921) *''Everybody'' (1921) *''Mary the Third'' (1923) *''Expressing Willie'' (1924) *''A Lady's Virtue'' (1925) *''Venus'' (1927) *''Let Us Be Gay'' (1929) *''As Husbands Go'' (1931) *''When Ladies Meet'' (1932) *''Caught Wet'' (1932) *''Susan and God'' (1937)


Adaptations

* '' The Three of Us'' - 1914 silent film starring
Mabel Taliaferro Mabel Taliaferro (born Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro; May 21, 1887 – January 24, 1979) was an American stage and silent-screen actress, known as "the Sweetheart of American Movies." Early years Taliaferro was born as Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro i ...
,
Creighton Hale Creighton Hale (born Patrick Fitzgerald; May 24, 1882 – August 9, 1965) was an Irish-American theatre, film, and television actor whose career extended more than a half-century, from the early 1900s to the end of the 1950s. Career Born in Cou ...
, and Master Stuart. * '' A Man's World'' - 1918 silent film starring Emily Stevens, John Merkyl, and Frederick Truesdell. * ''
Old Lady 31 ''Old Lady 31'' is a 1920 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by Metro Pictures and directed by John Ince. It is based on a novel by Louise Forsslund that was turned into a play by Rachel Crothers. The film starred actre ...
'' - 1920 silent film starring
Emma Dunn Emma Dunn (26 February 1875 – 14 December 1966) was an English actress. After starting her acting career on stage in London, she became known for her works in numerous films and Broadway productions. Career Emma Dunn appeared onstage in ...
and Henry Harmon. Remade in 1941 as '' The Captain Is a Lady'', starring
Charles Coburn Charles Douville Coburn (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961) was an American actor and theatrical producer. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award three times – in ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941), '' The More the M ...
,
Beulah Bondi Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...
, and
Virginia Grey Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004) was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Biography Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, Calif ...
. * '' 39 East'' - 1920 silent film starring Constance Binney, Reginald Denny, and
Alison Skipworth Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress. Early years Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, an ...
. * '' Nice People'' - 1922 silent film starring Wallace Reid,
Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...
, and
Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1940 and ...
. * ''
Wine of Youth ''Wine of Youth'' is a 1924 American silent comedy drama film directed by King Vidor, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, shortly after the merger which created MGM in April 1924. Vidor did not consider it important enough to mention in his aut ...
'' - 1924 silent film, based on Crothers' play ''Mary the Third: a Comedy in Prologue and Three Acts'', starring
Eleanor Boardman Olive Eleanor Boardman (August 19, 1898 – December 12, 1991) was an American film actress of the silent era. Early life and career Olive Eleanor Boardman was born on August 19, 1898, the youngest child to George W. Boardman and Janice Merriam ...
, James Morrison,
Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sc ...
and
Pauline Garon Marie Pauline Garon (September 9, 1900 – August 30, 1965) was a Canadian American silent film, feature film, and stage actress. Early life Marie Pauline Garon was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on September 9, 1898, the daughter of Pierre-A ...
, directed by
King Vidor King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
. * ''
A Little Journey ''A Little Journey'' is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and featuring Claire Windsor, William Haines and Harry Carey. It is based on a play by Rachel Crothers. No prints are thought to survive of this film. It ...
'' - 1927 silent film starring
Claire Windsor Claire Windsor (born Clara Viola Cronk; April 14, 1892 – October 24, 1972) was an American film actress of the silent screen era. Early life Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk (nicknamed "Ola") in 1892 in Marvin, Phillips County, Kansas to ...
,
William Haines Charles William Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American actor and interior designer. Haines was discovered by a talent scout and signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. His career gained momentum when he received favo ...
, and
Harry Carey Harry Carey may refer to: *Harry Carey (actor) (1878–1947), American actor * Harry Carey Jr. (1921–2012), American actor * Harry Carey (footballer) (1916–1991), Australian rules footballer See also * Henry Carey (disambiguation) * Harry Car ...
. * ''
Let Us Be Gay ''Let Us Be Gay'' is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film produced and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and stars Norma Shearer. It was filmed concurrently with and based upon the 1929 play by Rachel Croth ...
'' - 1930 film starring
Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...
. The play was also filmed in a French language version in 1931, titled ''Soyons gais'', directed by
Arthur Robison Arthur Robison (June 25, 1883 – October 20, 1935) was a German film director and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 20 films between 1916 and 1935. Selected filmography * ''A Night of Horror'' (1916) * ''What Belongs to Darkness' ...
, and stars
Lili Damita Lili Damita (born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré; 10 July 1904 – 21 March 1994) was a French-American actress and singer who appeared in 33 films between 1922 and 1937. Early life and education Lili Damita was born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Car ...
. * ''
As Husbands Go ''As Husbands Go'' is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and written by S. N. Behrman and Sonya Levien. It is based on the 1931 play ''As Husbands Go'' by Rachel Crothers. The film stars Warner Baxter, Helen Vin ...
'' - 1933 film starring
Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
, Helen Vinson,and
Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...
. * '' When Ladies Meet'' - 1933 film starring
Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was ...
,
Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...
, Robert Montgomery,
Alice Brady Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady; November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in ...
, and
Frank Morgan Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound ...
. Remade in 1941, under the same title, starring
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
, Robert Taylor, and
Greer Garson Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was an English-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the hom ...
. * '' Mother Carey's Chickens'' - 1938 film starring
Anne Shirley Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel '' Anne of Green Gables'' by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolve around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edw ...
and
Ruby Keeler Ethel Ruby Keeler (August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was paired on-screen with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Bros., particularly ''42nd Street (film), 42nd Str ...
. * '' Susan and God'' - 1940 film starring
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
and
Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...
, directed by
George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of ...
.


Filmography

* '' The Perils of Divorce'' - Story for the 1916 silent film starring
Edna Wallace Hopper Edna Wallace Hopper (January 17, 1872 – December 14, 1959) was an American actress on stage and in silent films. She was known as the "eternal flapper". Biography Hopper was believed to have been born on January 17, 1872, as Edna Marga ...
, Frank Sheridan, and
Macey Harlam Macey Harlam (April 27, 1873 – June 17, 1923) was a stage and screen actor from New York. He performed on Broadway from 1901 to 1918 before switching to silent films. In films he appeared with Pauline Frederick, Douglas Fairbanks, Elsie Fergus ...
. * '' Splendor'' - Story and screenplay for the 1935 film starring
Miriam Hopkins Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930. Her best-known roles included a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' T ...
and
Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...
. * ''
No More Ladies ''No More Ladies'' is a 1935 American romantic comedy film directed by Edward H. Griffith. The film stars Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery, and co-stars Charlie Ruggles, Franchot Tone, and Edna May Oliver. The screenplay credited to Donald ...
'' - Adaptation for the 1935 film starring
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
and Robert Montgomery.


References


Sources

*Atkinson, Brooks. ''Broadway.'' New York: Atheneum, 1970. *Gottlieb, Lois, "Looking to Women: Rachel Crothers and the Feminist Heroine" (pp. 128–135) in Helen Krich Chonoy and Linda Walsh Jenskins (eds.), ''Women in American Theatre.'' New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2006. *Gottlieb, Lois. ''Rachel Crothers.'' New York: Twayne, 1979. *Koritz, Amy. "Consumption and Commitment: Rachel Crothers and the Flapper's Dilemma" (pp. 39–63) in ''Culture Makers: Urban Performance and Literature in the 1920s.'' Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2008. *Mordden, Ethan. ''All That Glittered: The Golden Age of Drama on Broadway, 1919-1959.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. *Murphy, Brenda (ed.). ''The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. * Radavich, David. "Living Fifty-Fifty: Gender Dynamics in the Plays of Rachel Crotherrs." ''MidAmerica'' XXXVIII (2011): 82-92.


External links

* * *
Rachel Crothers papers, 1882-1957
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the
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 ...

Rachel Crothers papers, 1898-1957 (bulk dates 1920-1950)
held by the
Museum of the City of New York A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

Rachel Crothers at Bloomington Public Library
(Bloomington, Illinois newspaper) {{DEFAULTSORT:Crothers, Rachel 1878 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Philanthropists from Illinois Writers from Bloomington, Illinois American theatre directors Women theatre directors Illinois State University alumni American women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters