Young, Rida Johnson (1869–1926)

American playwright, lyricist, and librettist. Born Rida Louise Johnson, Feb 28, 1869, in Baltimore, Maryland; died from breast cancer, May 8, 1926, at her home in Southfield Point, near Stamford, Connecticut; dau. of William A. Johnson and Emma (Stuart) Johnson; attended Wilson College, Chambersberg, Pennsylvania, and Radcliffe College; m. James Young (actor), 1898 (div., 1909 or 1910).

After a few unsuccessful years as an actress, took a job with Witmark music publishers, where for 2 years she wrote music; scored 1st true playwrighting success with Brown of Harvard (1906); next play, The Boys of Company B (1907), had 2 year run on Broadway, followed by another success, Glorious Betsy (1908); estimated that she wrote a total of 500 songs in her lifetime, including those that she later incorporated into her own plays, including "Mother Machree" from Barry of Ballymore (1911), "I'm Falling in Love with Someone" from Naughty Marietta (1910) and "Sweethearts" from Maytime (1917); other plays include Little Old New York (1920), Macushla (1920), The Front Seat (1921), (with Harold Atteridge) The Dream Girl (music by Victor Herbert, 1924), and Cock o' the Roost (1924); other songs include "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life," "'Neath the Southern Moon," "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!," "The Sweet Bye and Bye," "Italian Street Song," "Will You Remember?" and "The Road to Paradise."

See also Women in World History.