CARPENTER, EDWARD CHILDS

(1872-1950)

The respected novelist and playwright Edward Childs Carpenter was born in Philadelphia. He began writing plays during his years with thePhiladelphia inquirer, 1905-1916, beginning withThe Dragon Fly(1905, with Luther Long), followed by a dramatization of his own 1906 novelCaptain Courtesy. His longest-running plays wereThe Cinderella Man(1916, 192 performances),The Bachelor Father(1928, 264 performances), andWhistling in the Dark(1932, with Laurence Gross, 144 performances). He was president of the Dramatists' Theatre Inc., 1924-1927, and of the Dramatists Guild, 1930-1935.