Frankel, Doris, 1909-1994

Doris Frankel (1909-1994) was an Emmy Award-winning American dramatist who wrote for television, radio, and theater. Her work appeared on dozens of television and radio shows, and two of her plays, Don't Throw Glass Houses (1938) and Love Me Long (1949), appeared on Broadway.

Doris Frankel was born and raised in New York City and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1929. By the age of 20 her book of poetry, The Sun Beats Down, was published. During that time Frankel was working as the author, producer, and narrator for New York's WPCH radio show "The Poetry Recital," as well as writing and editing scripts for Universal and Warner Brothers.

Frankel's theater career started to take off in 1932 when her play, Never Sardines, debuted at the Yale Theater where Frankel was teaching and participating in the Yale School of Drama's '47 Workshop. It was then that she met her husband, Phillip W. Barber, who later became the regional director of the New York Project of the WPA Federal Theater. Both she and her husband were involved with the beginning stages of the Group Theatre, a New York-based theater collective. Frankel's career in theater continued through the 1930s and 1940s. Hail the Conqueror (with Ernest Truex) appeared at the Boulevard Theater in Jackson Heights, New York in 1933. Love in a Black Hat (with Osgood Perkins) was done in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1934, and her work Don't Throw Glass Houses debuted on Broadway in 1938. Love Me Long debuted in 1949 at the Playhouse in Wilmington and eventually made its way to the 48th Street Theater in New York City.

In the 1940s and 1950s, her career shifted focus to television and radio serials. Throughout the course of her career, Frankel wrote over fifty episodes for television and radio programs. For radio, she wrote scripts for Cavalcade of America, Harvest of Stars, The Listening Post, Sky-Blazers, Theater of Today, and The Guiding Light (for both television and radio). Frankel wrote scripts for many television programs, including Claudia, Suspense, Star Stage, Colgate Hour (Colgate Theater), Circle Theater, Cameo Theater, Westinghouse, Windows, and Playhouse 90. She also authored several episodes of Search for Tomorrow and All My Children.

In addition to theater, television, and radio, Frankel wrote for two World's Fair exhibitions, including the Electric Power & Light Exhibit with Alfred Stern for the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair; and the Century 21 Theme Show for the Seattle World's Fair with Gilbert Seldes in 1962. Throughout her career, Frankel also wrote several industrial commercials for radio.

Doris Frankel was awarded the Daytime Emmy Award in 1978 for her work on All My Children. She died in Manhattan in 1994.

From the guide to the Doris Frankel papers, 1922-1993, 1938-1973, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)