Nellise Child

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Nellise Child (died June 11, 1981) was an American novelist and playwright.

Biography[edit]

Born Lillian Gerard, she changed her name to Nellise Child in an homage to her mother (i.e. "Nelly's child").[1] Child published eight novels, including Murder Comes Home (1933), The Diamond Ransom Murders (1935), Wolf on the Fold (1941), and If I Come Home (1944).[2]

She also wrote plays, including Sister Oakes and After the Gleaners.[2] Her play Weep for the Virgins was produced by the Group Theatre in 1935, directed by Cheryl Crawford.[3] It was about three working-class sisters dreaming of a better life, and its setting was based on her own experiences working in a California fish cannery.[1] The New York Times called the production "humid and amorphous," and it ran for only nine performances.[1][3]

Come to the Dance, a comedy originally titled Happy Ending, was produced in Miami in 1959 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse. It starred Dennis King and Isobel Elsom and featured Irene Castle in a supporting role.[4] Happy Ending was then produced under its original title in 1960 at the Bucks County Playhouse. That production starred Ruth Chatterton and Conrad Nagel.[5]

She was married to Abner G. Rosenfeld, with whom she had one son, Frank Redfield.[2] Nellise Child died on June 11, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 79.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Chinoy, Helen Krich (2013-11-06). The Group Theatre: Passion, Politics, and Performance in the Depression Era. Springer. ISBN 9781137294609.
  2. ^ a b c d "Nellise Child". The New York Times. 1981-06-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  3. ^ a b Atkinson, Brooks (1935-12-02). "Group Theatre Offers 'Weep for the Virgins' -Opening of 'Stick-in-the-Mud.'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  4. ^ "'Come to Dance' Opens". The New York Times. 1959-12-31. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  5. ^ Zolotow, Sam (1960-08-05). "ELLIS LISTS STARS OF 'HAPPY ENDING'; Ruth Chatterton, Pert Kelton and Conrad Nagel to Head Cast at New Hope, Pa". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-28.