Claudia is an American literary character created by author Rose Franken.[1] An article in Life magazine's March 31, 1941, issue said, "One of the oddest phenomena in the entertainment world is how a little idea like Claudia can grow into big business."[2]
The Claudia stories originated as serialized narratives in Redbook and Good Housekeeping magazines. The stories focused on the Naughton family: Claudia, David (her husband), Bobby and Matthew (their sons) and relatives of the family.[3] A 1949 article in Radio Album magazine pointed out the similarity between author and character: "Knowing Rose Franken is having special insight into how Claudia got the way she is. ... People who should know claim that Miss Franken is Claudia."[4]
Franken's obituary in The New York Times described the Claudia works as follows:
Miss Franken's works displayed a steadfast conviction that marriage was a compound of gaiety and disaster, in which the partners matured as the result of shared experience. A woman, moreover, through fortitude understanding and perspective, could make marriage a happy estate.[3]
That initial series of stories eventually grew into eight novels, two films, a play, a radio series, and a television series.[3]