Clara Rotter, born ca. 1910, arrived with her family from Europe at age eleven, and started working in the drama department of The New York Times in 1945. She developed a close professional relationship with Brooks Atkinson, drama critic of the Times, providing indispensable research and administrative assistance. Among her duties was the compilation of an annual list of Broadway and off Broadway productions, published under her byline for nine years. She became such an influential liaison between the drama staff and the theater world, that “Who is Clara Rotter?” was allegedly asked of those aspiring to join the theater press agents union.
Brooks Atkinson, who died in 1984, bequeathed $2,500 to Miss Rotter, who donated the money to the Brooks Atkinson Memorial Playwright Exchange of New Dramatists.
Miss Rotter lived in Woodside, Queens, and retired from the Times in 1980, when she was 70. After a long illness, she died at home on September 13,1992.
From the guide to the Clara Rotter papers, 1961-1984, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)
