Elaine Sterne Carrington
Encyclopedia
Elaine Sterne Carrington (June 14, 1891, New York City
– May 4, 1958, New York City) was an American
screenwriter, playwright, novelist and short story author who found her greatest success writing for radio
. The woman who originated radio soap opera
in 1932, Carrington wrote more than 12,000 daily dramas during her long career. At one time she wrote three separate shows — Pepper Young's Family
, When a Girl Marries
and Rosemary
— that each ran five times a week.
. In 1920, she married attorney George Dart Carrington, whom she had met in grade school. He died in 1945. They had two children, Patricia and Robert.
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
. By 1930 she had 50 screenwriting credits — including one for Alibi, the 1929 adaptation of her 1927 Broadway play, "Nightstick", which she wrote with J.C. Nugent
, Elliot Nugent 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
, Good Housekeeping
, Harper's Magazine
, Pictorial Review
, Redbook
, The Saturday Evening Post
and Woman's Home Companion
. 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
about trying a dramatic serial on radio. Starring Burgess Meredith
, 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 The New York Times
in 1958. "The program changed sponsors again — this time to a soap company
— and it became the famous Pepper Young's Family
, for which Mrs. Carrington at her death was still writing five fifteen-minute programs a week."
Carrington created a second serial drama, When a Girl Marries
(1939–1957), and a third, Rosemary
(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
and other television programs.
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
.
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 The New York Times
, "and in the world of radio the plump, pleasant, mink-clad author was universally known as 'the Queen of the Soapers.'"
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
– May 4, 1958, New York City) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter, playwright, novelist and short story author who found her greatest success writing for radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
. The woman who originated radio soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
in 1932, Carrington 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
Pepper Young's Family was one of radio's more popular daytime drama series, with various format and title changes during its long run from 1932 to 1959...
, When a Girl Marries
When a Girl Marries
When a Girl Marries was a daytime radio drama which was broadcast on three major radio networks from 1939 to 1957. Created by Elaine Sterne Carrington , it was the highest rated soap opera during the mid-1940s.The series premiered May 29, 1939 on CBS, moving to NBC on September 29, 1941 and then to...
and Rosemary
Rosemary (radio)
Rosemary is an American radio soap opera broadcast on NBC Radio from October 2, 1944 to March 23, 1945, and on CBS Radio from March 26, 1945 to July 1, 1955. Starring Betty Winkler as Rosemary Dawson Roberts, the program's only sponsor was Procter & Gamble, primarily for Ivory Snow dishwashing...
— that each ran five times a week.
Biography
Elaine Sterne was born in New York City, the daughter of Marie Louise Henriques and Theodore Sterne, an importer of tobacco. Sterne was educated at Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. In 1920, she married attorney George Dart Carrington, whom she had met in grade school. He died in 1945. They had two children, Patricia and Robert.
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
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
. By 1930 she had 50 screenwriting credits — including one for Alibi, the 1929 adaptation of her 1927 Broadway play, "Nightstick", which she wrote with J.C. Nugent
J.C. Nugent
J.C. Nugent , was an American actor. He appeared in 20 films between 1929 and 1943.He was the father of actor, writer and producer Elliot Nugent, with whom he sometimes wrote or acted. He was born in Niles, Ohio and died in New York, New York.-External links:...
, Elliot Nugent and John Wray
John Wray (actor)
John Wray was an American character actor of stage and screen.Wray was one of the many Broadway actors to descend on Hollywood in the aftermath of the sound revolution, and quickly made an indelible impression on the era in a variety of substantial character roles, such as the Arnold...
. 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
St. Nicholas Magazine
St. Nicholas Magazine was a popular children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by the country's best writers, including Louisa May Alcott, Francis Hodgson...
. By the time she was in her 20s her fiction appeared in popular magazines including Collier's
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
, Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, Pictorial Review
Pictorial Review
Pictorial Review is a magazine which first appeared in September, 1899. The magazine was originally designed to showcase dress patterns of William Paul Ahnelt's American Fashion Company. By the late 1920s it was one of the largest of the "women's magazines"....
, Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
, The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
and Woman's Home Companion
Woman's Home Companion
Woman's Home Companion was an American monthly publication, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s....
. 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
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
about trying a dramatic serial on radio. Starring Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, the 15-minute drama Red Adams ran three days a week (October 2, 1932–January 22, 1933). When it found a new sponsor
Beech-Nut
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation is a baby food company that is currently owned by the Swiss branded consumer-goods firm Hero Group.- History :...
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 The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in 1958. "The program changed sponsors again — this time to a soap company
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
— and it became the famous Pepper Young's Family
Pepper Young's Family
Pepper Young's Family was one of radio's more popular daytime drama series, with various format and title changes during its long run from 1932 to 1959...
, for which Mrs. Carrington at her death was still writing five fifteen-minute programs a week."
Carrington created a second serial drama, When a Girl Marries
When a Girl Marries
When a Girl Marries was a daytime radio drama which was broadcast on three major radio networks from 1939 to 1957. Created by Elaine Sterne Carrington , it was the highest rated soap opera during the mid-1940s.The series premiered May 29, 1939 on CBS, moving to NBC on September 29, 1941 and then to...
(1939–1957), and a third, Rosemary
Rosemary (radio)
Rosemary is an American radio soap opera broadcast on NBC Radio from October 2, 1944 to March 23, 1945, and on CBS Radio from March 26, 1945 to July 1, 1955. Starring Betty Winkler as Rosemary Dawson Roberts, the program's only sponsor was Procter & Gamble, primarily for Ivory Snow dishwashing...
(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
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 seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...
and other television programs.
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 Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
.
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 The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "and in the world of radio the plump, pleasant, mink-clad author was universally known as 'the Queen of the Soapers.'"
External links
- Works by Elaine Sterne at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Finding aid, Elaine Carrington Papers 1903–1959, New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...