Occupation Playwright and author Role Playwright Name Gertrude Friedberg | Nationality United States Language English Books The Revolving Boy | |
Born Gertrude Tonkonogy17 March 1908New York City, New York ( 1908-03-17 ) Died September 17, 1989, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States | ||
Gertrude Tonkonogy Friedberg (died September 17, 1989, aged 81) was an American playwright and author.
Life and career
Gertrude Tonkonogy was born in New York in 1908 as one of 11 children. Her siblings included Eugene Tonkonogy; George T. Delacorte, Jr. was a half-brother.
After graduating 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.
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, appeared in 1948. It was based on stories by John Cheever, and directed by George S. Kaufman.
She wrote several short stories through the 1950s, publishing in the magazines New World Writing, Esquire and The Atlantic. 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.
Between 1958 and 1972, Freidberg published three science fiction stories, and one science fiction novel, The Revolving Boy (1966). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction characterizes the novel as a "minor classic in the field." It would be Freidberg's only novel.
Friedberg had two children, Richard and Barbara. She died of cancer in her Manhattan home, aged 81.