Frieda Fishbein (born March 7, 1886, Romania — died September 6, 1981, Brooklyn, New York) was a Romanian American theatrical, film, television and literary agent for writers including Elmer Rice, George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, and Colleen McCullough.
Personal life and education
Fishbein was born in Romania, the eldest daughter of Molly and Osias Fishbein. The family emigrated to the United States in 1901. She was educated in the New Orleans public school system, then spent the majority of her adult life in New York City, initially Manhattan, moving to Brooklyn in later life.
Work
Fishbein worked as a stenographer in New Orleans in 1903. After moving to New York City, her first job was as a secretary in a movie company. In 1910, she was again working as a stenographer.
In 1929, Fishbein established the Frieda Fishbein Agency, a literary and theatrical agency, in New York City. In the same year, the playwright, director and producer Dore Schary described her as having “a stable of young writers, none of whom she could support, except with praise and enthusiasm.” He credited Fishbein with helping to get him his first job in Hollywood as a “$100-a-week writer” by introducing him to Harry Cohn, “the maharajah of Columbia [studio]”.
By 1932, she was on the advisory board of the New York Stage Society. Her agency moved to the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1937.
During an interview in 1946 she made the observation that many writers who had returned from the war had bought back partly completed plays. She believed the war had given them stamina and that they were sticking to their craft "more tenaciously".
The following year, she made theatrical headlines across America by developing a new approach to selling shows. She would arrange for scripts to be acted out by semi-pros, filmed and the reel was submitted to prospective producers. According to an interview in 1954, she would receive "about ten plays a week". She would accept “about five a year, and would sell about 8-10 options a year.”
After Fishbein's death in 1981, her niece, Janice Fishbein, continued as the president of her agency.
Playwrights
Fishbein represented the following writers and plays: 1925 – Spencer Brodney's Rebel Smith 1929 – Elmer Rice's Street Scene (after it had been turned down by several Broadway producers; it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama) Wallace Thurman's HarlemElmer Rice's See Naples and Die 1930 – Moss Hart's No Retreat, Once In A Lifetime (Subsequently, Fishbein brought a lawsuit against Hart contending that she was entitled to a percentage of his royalties from plays produced by Sam Harris. The matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.) 1931 – I.J. Golden's Precedent 1934 – Jacques Deval's Prayer for the Living 1937 – Simon Gantillon & Harold Igo's Steel Sidney Shields's Marriage A La KingMartin Cumberland's ClimbingDr. Conrad K. Gale's Dr. Almighty 1938 – Miss Trent Patterson's The Lady Must EatRalph Holmes's The Travelling Salesman and the Farmer's DaughterIrving Ellman's Crime Doesn't PayMaria M. Coxe's If Ye Break Faith 1939 – Pamela Burr's The Odd ManWilson Starbuck's Sea Dogs 1941 – Frederick Schlick's None But The Wounded; Because I Am A Woman 1942 – E. Mawby Green and Edward Allen Feilbert's The House In Paris 1943 – Howard Buermann and Alfred Golden's Help Wanted – Female 1944 – George Taylor and George Savage's The Phoenix and the Dwarfs 1946 – Paul Bowles's translation of Sartre's The Respectful Prostitute & No ExitJohn E. Miller's The Search for Love (also producer) 1947 – Agent for Paul Bowles’s adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's The Flies 1949 – Madeline Davidson and Maurice Glucher's The Perfect PatternHoward Bluerman and Alfred Golden's A Lovely Time 1950 – John S. Gordan's For Each Man Kills 1951 – Jean-Paul Sartre's The Devil and God 1953 – John Sheffield's The Forgotten Land 1960 – Weldon Sheerer's California, Here I Come
Fishbein wrote at least one play herself, Pajama Tops, in 1963.
Authors
She represented authors Peter Kenna, Sherwood Anderson, Katherine Hoskins, Donald Burgett and Alice White.
Her biggest financial success came from representing Australian author Colleen McCullough. According to McCullough, she was making her sister a tuna fish casserole for her birthday and while looking through a list of agents she found Fishbein's name, which she took to be a sign. McCullough's first novel Tim (1974) was followed by the global hit The Thorn Birds (1977), selling over 33 million copies. As a "multi-million dollar product", Fishbein was able to retire on her share of the book.