Elisabeth Cobb

Elisabeth Cobb (8 October 1902 – 26 May 1959) was an American writer. Her father was Irvin S. Cobb, a well-known humorist. One of her best known works was her 1934 novel She Was A Lady. She died in New York in May 1959.

Portrait of Elisabeth Cobb and her father Irvin S. Cobb by Wayman Elbridge Adams

Early life and career (1902-1927)

Cobb attended the Skerton Finishing School.^[1] Cobb worked in the editorial department of The Bookman^[1] in the early 1920s. In 1924, a manuscript of Cobb's was published in Liberty.^[2] Her first novel Falling Seeds was published in 1927^[3] by Doubleday, Page and Company, when she was 25. The novel deals with the marriage of a Southern belle to a Yankee.

Writing career (1927-1950s)

Cobb's second novel Minstrels in Satin was published in 1929.^[4] The novel is about a young divorced woman living in Italy who has three children. The mother would focus more on her social life than the wellbeing of her children, who learned to be self-sufficient.^[4] Critics had generally favorable opinions on the novel.

Cobb's third novel She Was A Lady was serialized in McCall's magazine before it was published in 1934.^[5] The novel would receive a film adaptation in 1934.

After her father's death in 1944, Cobb wrote a biography of her father titled My Wayward Parent, and part of it was serialized in the August 1945 issue of Cosmopolitan^[6] before it was published in late 1945. It reviewed well, and was a sales success.^[7]

In 1947–1948, a comedy play Cobb co-wrote with Herschel Williams was produced titled The Men We Marry. It was shown on Jan. 15, 1948 at the Mansfield Theatre.^[8]

In the early 1950s, Cobb would travel lecturing on various topics.^[9]

Personal life

Cobb first married singer Frank M. Chapman Jr on February 24, 1924, in Manhattan and divorced him on March 10, 1930, in Reno, Nevada.^[10] There was one child from the marriage, Buff Cobb, born in 1926.

Her next marriage was to Alton A. Brody, who worked in real estate, on September 4, 1930.^[11] She would divorce him on Feb. 16, 1938 in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[12] Her final marriage was to Cameron Rogers, a writer, on November 21, 1938.^[13]

Cobb converted to Catholicism in 1948.^[14]

Cobb died aged 56 on May 25, 1959, at a New York hospital and was survived by her mother and children. Her grave is at Oak Grove Cemetery, beside her father.^[15][16]

Works

• Falling Seeds, 1927 (novel, published by Doubleday, Page and Company)
• Minstrels in Satin, 1929 (novel, published by Doubleday Doran and Co.)
• She Was A Lady, 1934 (novel, published by Bobbs-Merrill Company)
• My Wayward Parent, 1945 (biography, published by Bobbs-Merrill Company)
• The Men We Marry, 1947 (play) with Herschel Williams