Dorothy Rodgers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dorothy Rodgers (née Feiner; 1909–1992) was an American writer, inventor, businesswoman, and philanthropist.[1] She was married to the Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, of the famous duo Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Born in New York City to a Jewish family, Rodgers attended the Horace Mann School and Wellesley College in the late 1920s, where she studied art and interior design.[2] She married Richard Rodgers in 1930.[2]
She started her own business, Repairs Inc. in 1935 before she invented the Jonny Mop in 1945.[2] Rodgers was also the creator of the Basically Yours dress pattern and the Ideal Toy Company's Turn and Learn storybooks.[2]
She is the author of several books focusing on interior design and entertaining at home such as 1967's The House in My Head.[2] In 1970, Rodgers also co-wrote a self-help book with her daughter Mary Rodgers Guettel about mother-daughter relationships and housekeeping called A Word to the Wives.[2][3] This spawned a related radio show and a regular magazine column for McCall's Magazine, "Of Two Minds."[3]
Rodgers was also known as an activist, writing letters against antisemitism.[3] She likewise was a noted philanthropist who supported several Jewish cultural organizations.[3]
Dorothy Rodgers was portrayed by Janet Leigh in the 1948 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Words and Music, a semi-fictionalized depiction of the partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
