Born in 1885 to a father of Mexican heritage and a mother from Scotland, Sophie Treadwell exemplified the American “melting pot.” When she was still very small, her father left his wife and child for San Francisco. In her play Machinal, Treadwell mentions both Mexico and San Francisco as places where men can be free; the play also includes a single mother raising her daughter. As a young woman, Treadwell studied at the University of California at Berkeley earned her degree in French. While at Berkeley, she was an active member of the drama club and took an interest in journalism as well. These two interests would become the driving forces behind her career as a writer and actress.
After graduating, Treadwell became a teacher and a governess for a short time. During this period, she finished her first full-length drama Le Grand Prix (1907). Soon after, she was hired to type the memoirs of the famous actress Helena Modjeska. This job only lasted for a few months, and in 1908 Treadwell moved to San Francisco to help her sick mother. There she became a writer for the San Francisco Bulletin. Treadwell’s writing was intriguing and quickly became very popular. One assignment required her to go undercover as a homeless prostitute to investigate the kind of charity given to such women. In 1910, she married fellow journalist William O. McGeehan; however, their marriage was based on independence, and McGeehan was moved to New York shortly after they were married.
In 1915 during WWI, Treadwell was sent to France as a foreign war correspondent. Although she was barred from the front lines, she volunteered as a nurse and mainly wrote on the effect of the war on European women. She soon left Europe to be with her husband in New York. Unlike her protagonist in Machinal, Treadwell did not endure a miserable marriage, and was allowed many freedoms. In 1916, she began a short affair with Maynard Dixon, and perhaps this experience helped her in writing the affair in Machinal. Always taking an interest in her Mexican heritage, she concluded her coverage of the end of the Mexican Revolution for the New York Tribune in 1921. This remarkable highlight of her career in journalism even included a two-day interview with Pancho Villa. She used this research to supplement her first Broadway play, Gringo (1922).
Treadwell took an unofficial interest in the Snyder-Gray murder trials in 1927. Like much of New York, she became fascinated by the lovers plot to kill the husband. In early 1928, she began working on Machinal, basing her plot on the key concepts of the intriguing murder. It appeared on Broadway in September 1928, and was met with crowds still reeling from the events of the trials. Machinal was perhaps the pinnacle of her esteemed career. In 1933, Treadwell’s husband passed away while the couple was on vacation. Her life and career had been mostly independent of McGeehan and continued on the same course until the 1940’s when she then began writing fewer plays and more novels. In 1949, she adopted a young German boy, and in the 1960’s she retired to Tucson, Arizona. Sophie Treadwell passed away February 20, 1970.
The Sophie Treadwell Collection
The Norton Anthology of Drama
After graduating, Treadwell became a teacher and a governess for a short time. During this period, she finished her first full-length drama Le Grand Prix (1907). Soon after, she was hired to type the memoirs of the famous actress Helena Modjeska. This job only lasted for a few months, and in 1908 Treadwell moved to San Francisco to help her sick mother. There she became a writer for the San Francisco Bulletin. Treadwell’s writing was intriguing and quickly became very popular. One assignment required her to go undercover as a homeless prostitute to investigate the kind of charity given to such women. In 1910, she married fellow journalist William O. McGeehan; however, their marriage was based on independence, and McGeehan was moved to New York shortly after they were married.
In 1915 during WWI, Treadwell was sent to France as a foreign war correspondent. Although she was barred from the front lines, she volunteered as a nurse and mainly wrote on the effect of the war on European women. She soon left Europe to be with her husband in New York. Unlike her protagonist in Machinal, Treadwell did not endure a miserable marriage, and was allowed many freedoms. In 1916, she began a short affair with Maynard Dixon, and perhaps this experience helped her in writing the affair in Machinal. Always taking an interest in her Mexican heritage, she concluded her coverage of the end of the Mexican Revolution for the New York Tribune in 1921. This remarkable highlight of her career in journalism even included a two-day interview with Pancho Villa. She used this research to supplement her first Broadway play, Gringo (1922).
Treadwell took an unofficial interest in the Snyder-Gray murder trials in 1927. Like much of New York, she became fascinated by the lovers plot to kill the husband. In early 1928, she began working on Machinal, basing her plot on the key concepts of the intriguing murder. It appeared on Broadway in September 1928, and was met with crowds still reeling from the events of the trials. Machinal was perhaps the pinnacle of her esteemed career. In 1933, Treadwell’s husband passed away while the couple was on vacation. Her life and career had been mostly independent of McGeehan and continued on the same course until the 1940’s when she then began writing fewer plays and more novels. In 1949, she adopted a young German boy, and in the 1960’s she retired to Tucson, Arizona. Sophie Treadwell passed away February 20, 1970.
The Sophie Treadwell Collection
The Norton Anthology of Drama