Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Apthorp) McFadden

Elizabeth Apthorp McFadden was an American writer and playwright born in Newport, Kentucky, on May 17, 1875, and she died in Briarcliff Manor, New York, on July 16, 1961. Reliable film and publishing references identify her as the author of Why the Chimes Rang and Double Door, works that helped keep her name in print long after their first publication.

Before building her reputation as a dramatist, she worked as a librarian for the Cincinnati Public Library and later served as director of the Bureau of Publications for the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. Sources also note that she graduated from Smith College and studied playwriting under George Pierce Baker at Harvard, a strong foundation for the stage career that followed.

McFadden is especially remembered for Why the Chimes Rang, a one-act play published in 1915 and adapted from a story by Raymond MacDonald Alden. She was also credited with The Product of the Mill, which won the Craig Prize, and her play Double Door became the basis for the 1934 film of the same name. No suitable verified portrait image was confirmed from the sources I could access, so no profile image is included.