Claudia

by Rose Franken

Based on Rose Franken's 1939 novel, this premiered as a play on Broadway in 1941. The play was written and directed by Rose Franken and produced by John Golden. The show starred Dorothy McGuire as Claudia Naughton and Donald Cook as David Naughton. When it closed in 1943, it had run for a total of 722 performances.

Genres: Plays

152 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1942

About the author

Rose Dorothy Lewin Franken was born on December 28th 1895, in Gainesville, Texas and was one of the most popular and influential Jewish woman writers of her day. She was a celebrated Broadway playwright and director, a Hollywood screenwriter and a popular novelist whose fiction touched a sympathetic chord in American women. Franken's work reflects her personal struggle with traditional gender roles and her ambivalence about balancing domestic and career commitments.

Novelist and short story writer Rose Franken crossed over into the theater with the surprise hit of her play Another Language in 1932. Her sharp-eyed observations about the American family gave tang to her domestic dramas Claudia (1941) and The Hallams (1947). Social concerns such as antisemitism, homophobia, sexism, and war fueled her other plays such as Outrageous Fortune (1943), Doctors Disagree (1943), and Soldier’s Wife (1944).

Franken was married to William Brown Meloney who helped bring the Claudia stories to the radio. They had three sons.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot fathom how this play ran on Broadway for over 700 performances in the 1940s. At the time, 100 performances was considered good. The characters are all unlikable and the dialogue is, at best, pedestrian.