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Ruth McKenney, 1911-1972, was an American author and journalist, best remembered for writing My Sister Eileen, an account of her experiences growing up in Ohio and then moving to Greenwich Village with her sister Eileen. This was later adapted as the musical Wonderful Town by Leonard Bernstein.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Private life 4 Books and other works 5 References 6 External links

McKenney was born November 18, 1911, in Mishawaka, Indiana. In 1919 her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she would live until adulthood.^[1] She attended East Cleveland Evangelical Church, though she was a young skeptic about such matters.^[2]

She attended East Cleveland and then Shaw High School, where she was two grades beyond her age. Among other subjects, she studied French. She was known as something of a tomboy, and was the only girl to play on the East Cleveland boys baseball team (She played first base.).^[3] She also joined the Northern Ohio Debating League. She described herself as "homely as a mud fence", especially compared to her sister Eileen, though she likely exaggerated for comic effect. She also stuttered. ^[4].

At a young age (14) she worked as a printer's devil,^[5] and joined the International Typographical Union. At 16, she got a job as a waitress (along with Eileen) working in the Harvey tea room at the Cleveland Union Station.^[6]

She attended Ohio State from 1928-1931, majoring in journalism. However, she did not graduate. She wrote for the student newspaper, the Ohio State Lantern. ^[7] and was the campus correspondent for the Columbus Dispatch.^[8]

While in college, McKenney worked part time for the Columbus Citizen. She also contributed to the International News Service. Following this, she became a full time reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal.

In 1934, McKenney moved to New Jersey, where she joined the staff of the Newark Ledger. From there, she and Eileen moved to New York City, specifically a moldy, one-room basement apartment above the Christopher Street subway station at 14 Gay Street in Greenwich Village for which she paid $45 a month.^[9] The apartment was burgled within the first week they lived there. They lived there for six months. This place would become the inspiration for a series of stories in The New Yorker, later republished in the book My Sister Eileen.

In 1939 McKenney published Industrial Valley, a then-controversial book about the Akron rubber strike from 1932-1936. She personally believed this was her best work.

In 1940, Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov adapted My Sister Eileen for Broadway, focusing mostly on the last two chapters of the book detailing Ruth and Eileen's experiences in New York City. (The book mostly concerns their childhood in East Cleveland.) It opened on December 26, 1940 and ran for 864 performances until January 16, 1943. In 1942, Alexander Hall directed a movie adaptation of this play that starred Rosalind Russell as Ruth Sherwood.

In the early 1950s, Leonard Bernstein adapted the play into the musical Wonderful Town (lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green). It opened on Broadway on February 25, 1953 and ran for 559 performances until July 3, 1954. It has been periodically revived, both on Broadway and off, since then. In 1955, Richard Quine directed a movie adaptation of this musical under the title My Sister Eileen. It starred Janet Leigh as Eileen Sherwood and Jack Lemmon as Robert 'Bob' Baker. Most of the original Broadway music was not used in the movie.

In 1956, John Boruff adapted her novel The Loud Red Patrick for Broadway. It ran for 93 performances from October 3 to December 22.

In 1960, My Sister Eileen was adapted once again, this time for television. It ran for 26 episodes through 1961.

In 1937 McKenney married fellow writer Richard Bransten (known by his pen name Bruce Minton). McKenney and Bransten were both Communists, though they were purged from the party in 1946. They had one son, Paul, and then one daughter, Eileen.^[10] The latter was named after McKenney's now-deceased sister.

On November 18, 1955, McKenney's 44th birthday, her husband Richard committed suicide in London. After this McKenney returned to New York, and stopped writing.

McKenney died in New York City on July 27, 1972.

McKenney authored ten fiction and non-fiction books. They are:

• My Sister Eileen (1938) about her experiences growing up in Ohio and then moving to New York City;

• Industrial Valley (1939) a novel about the Akron rubber strike from 1932-1936

• The McKenneys Carry On (1940) the sequel to My Sister Eileen

• Jake Home (1943)
• The Loud Red Patrick (1947) a novel about an Irish widower raising four daughters in Cleveland; based on her grandfather
• Love Story (1950) the story of her marriage to Richard Bransten
• Here's England, a Highly Informal Guide (1951) with husband Richard Bransten
• All About Eileen (1952) the second sequel to My Sister Eileen; a collection of previously published and new stories about her sister
• Far, Far From Home (1954) a humorous account of her family's visit to France
• Mirage (1956) a historical novel set in Napoleonic France and Egypt

She also wrote numerous short pieces for a variety of publications including Harper's, The New Yorker, the New York Post, Collier's, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Argosy, Woman's Journal, Encore, The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday Magazine, and New Masses.

She also wrote screenplays, including Margie with her husband and F. Hugh Herbert.

1. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 9
2. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 82
3. ^ Ruth McKenney and Richard Bransten, 1950, Here's England, pg. 58
4. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 95-97
5. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 114
6. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 118-122
7. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 167
8. ^ Ruth McKenney, 1938, My Sister Eileen, pg. 174
9. ^ My Sister Eileen, pg. 197
10. ^ Here's England, p. 107

• Ruth McKenney, 1911-1972 A biography for the Women's History Project of the Akron Area.

• Phrase-Mongers Time magazine discusses her expulsion from the CPUSA

• 'Sister Eileen' to Daughter, Eileen, a State Judge Ruth's daughter Eileen remembers her aunt

• Napoleonic Tour Review of Mirage