Claudia is an American literary character created by author Rose Franken. An article in '' Life magazine's'' March 31, 1941, issue said, "One of the oddest phenomena in the entertainment world is how a little idea like ''Claudia'' can grow into big business." The Claudia stories originated as serialized narratives in '' Redbook'' and '' Good Housekeeping'' magazines. The stories focused on the Naughton family: Claudia, David (her husband), Bobby and Matthew (their sons) and relatives of the family. A 1949 article in ''Radio Album'' magazine pointed out the similarity between author and character: "Knowing Rose Franken is having special insight into how Claudia got the way she is. ... People who should know claim that Miss Franken is Claudia." Franken's obituary in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described the Claudia works as follows:

Miss Franken's works displayed a steadfast conviction that marriage was a compound of gaiety and disaster, in which the partners matured as the result of shared experience. A woman, moreover, through fortitude understanding and perspective, could make marriage a happy estate.

That initial series of stories eventually grew into eight novels, two films, a play, a radio series, and a television series.

Books

Books in the ''Claudia'' series are as follows: ''Claudia'', ''Claudia and David'', ''Another Claudia'', ''Young Claudia'', ''The Marriage of Claudia'', ''From Claudia to David'', ''Those Fragile Years'', ''The Antic Years'', ''The Book of Claudia'', ''Return of Claudia'', and ''Complete Book Of Claudia''. The first eight books in the series were

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

s, with the rest involving revisions and compilations of those.

Play

'' Claudia'' ran 722 times on Broadway from 1941 to 1943, with Dorothy McGuire in the title role. Franken wrote and directed the play, which producer John Golden said was his favorite of his more than 100 Broadway productions.

Films

Adapting the play to film,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

produced '' Claudia'' in 1943, with McGuire again portraying Claudia and with Robert Young as David. The two reprised their roles in the sequel, ''

Claudia and David ''Claudia and David'' is a 1946 American comedy drama film directed by Walter Lang and starring.s Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young (actor), Robert Young and Mary Astor. Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young repeat their roles from the film Claudia (1943 ...

'' (1946).

Television

The series '' Claudia'' (also known as ''Claudia, the Story of a Marriage''), was broadcast in 1952, first on NBC and then on CBS. In 1956, Franken tried to launch a new version of the program. Several entities showed interest in the project, and two pilot episodes were made, but to no avail.

Radio

Two series featuring Claudia were heard on American radio. The first, titled ''Claudia and David'', was on CBS in 1941, and the second was syndicated in 1947.

References

{{Reflist Characters in American novels of the 20th century