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Gertrude Friedberg

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Gertrude Tonkonogy Friedberg
BornGertrude Tonkonogy
(1908-03-17)17 March 1908
New York City, New York
Died17 September 1989(1989-09-17) (aged 81)
Manhattan, New York
OccupationPlaywright and writer
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican

Gertrude (née Tonkonogy) Friedberg (17 March 1908 – September 17, 1989) was an American playwright and writer.[1]

Life and career

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Gertrude Tonkonogy was born in Brooklyn,[2] New York in 1908 as one of 11 children.[3] to George Tonkonogy, Sr. and Sadie König, both Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.[4] Gertrude grew up in Brooklyn with her siblings; Abraham, Mamie, Henrietta, Archibald, Elizabeth, Eugene,[5] and George[6].[7][8][9]

Tonkonogy went to Wellesley College,[2] and after one year, transferred to and graduated from, Barnard College with a B.A. in 1929. Tonkonogy made her first professional sale with the play Three Cornered Moon which was produced on Broadway (opening March 16, 1933) and starred Ruth Gordon and Brian Donlevy. It was almost immediately made into a film of the same name starring Claudette Colbert; the film opened in August 1933.[1]

Shortly after her success with the play, Tonkonogy married Charles K. Friedberg, a doctor. She was thereafter credited as Gertrude Friedberg. Her second play, Town House, opened 23 September 1948. It was a comedy about the shortage of housing, adapted for theater from stories published in New Yorker, by John Cheever, produced by Max Gordon, and directed by George S. Kaufman at the National Theatre, for twelve performances.[10][11][12][13]

She wrote several short stories through the 1950s, publishing in the magazines New World Writing, Esquire, The Atlantic,[14] Story and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.[15] Friedberg's first—and only—collection was in 1959 in the new writer showcase Short Story 2; this volume featured five of her stories, as well as stories from three other authors including Michael Rumaker.[14] Between 1958 and 1972, Friedberg published three science fiction stories, and one science fiction novel, The Revolving Boy (1966).[1] The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction characterizes the novel as a "minor classic in the field."[16] It would be Friedberg's only novel.

In the 1950s, Friedberg lived in Brooklyn, reviewed books on music, did editorial work on technical textbooks,[2] and did substitute teaching at Stuyvesant High School. In the 1970s, she lived on Park Avenue.[17]

According to the back page of an edition of The Revolving Boy published in 1980, Friedberg lived in New York, where she taught mathematics.[15] Friedberg had two children, Richard and Barbara.[1][6] She died of cancer in her Manhattan home, aged 81.[1]

Works

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Plays

  • Three Cornered Moon. Samuel French. 1933 – via archive.org.
  • Town House (1948)[10][11]

Novels

Short Fiction

  • Where Moth and Rust (September 1957) ( in The Atlantic[2]) (in Short Story 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons; 1959)
  • The Wayward Cravat (1958) in: Tomorrows Children, editor: Isaac Asimov, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday 1966
  • Six Cases of Vladimir (1961)[18]
  • The Short and Happy Death of George Frumkin (1963)
  • For Whom the Girl Waits (1972)

Legacy

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Gertrude T. Friedberg, Playwright, 81". The New York Times. 20 September 1989. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Friedberg, Gertrude (1 September 1957). "Where Moth and Rust". The Atlantic. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  3. ^ New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Brooklyn; Year: 1893 Ancestry.com
  4. ^ National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, DC; NAI Title: Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906; NAI Number: 5700802; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: RG 21
  5. ^ Douglas, Martin (January 15, 2001). "Eugene Tonkonogy, Investor And Adventurer, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  6. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (January 15, 2001). "Eugene Tonkonogy, Investor And Adventurer, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  7. ^ New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 21 E.D. 12; City: Brooklyn; County: Kings; Page: 8
  8. ^ Year: 1910; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 26, Kings, New York; Roll: T624_976; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0735; FHL microfilm: 1374989
  9. ^ Year: 1900; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 26, Kings, New York; Roll: 1064; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 0453; FHL microfilm: 1241064
  10. ^ a b "The Theater: Four of a Kind". TIME. 4 October 1948. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  11. ^ a b Waldeland, Lynne (1979). French, Warren (ed.). John Cheever. Boston: Twayne Publishers, A Division of G. K. Hall & Co. ISBN 0-8057-7251-0. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  12. ^ "AT THE THEATRE; Gertrude Tonkonogy's 'Town House' Is Based on John Cheever's Short Stories in The New Yorker". The New York Times. 24 September 1948. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  13. ^ Calta, Louis (23 September 1948). "PREMIERE TONIGHT FOR 'TOWN HOUSE'; Max Gordon Production at the National of Tonkonogy Play Has Double-Decker Set". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  14. ^ a b Peden, William (October 18, 1959). "Writer to Watch". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  15. ^ a b Friedberg, Gertrude (1980). "About the Author". The Revolving Boy. Del Rey Books. ISBN 978-0345287700.
  16. ^ "Friedberg, Gertrude". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Dr. Charles K. Friedberg, 66, Heart Specialist, Dies in Crash". NY Times. July 16, 1972.
  18. ^ Friedberg, Gertrude (1 May 1961). "Six Cases of Vladimir". The Atlantic. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
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