Cushing, Mary Watkins

Mary Watkins Cushing (born Mary Fitch Watkins; January 11, 1889 – October 4, 1974) was an American music and dance critic, covering the fields of opera and modern dance. Cushing maintained a close relationship with opera star Olive Fremstad (1871–1951), serving as her live-in secretary and "buffer" for seven years. Cushing was one of the first full-time newspaper dance critics in the United States, writing for the New York Herald Tribune from 1927 to 1934. Following her departure from the Herald Tribune, Cushing wrote about opera and dance on a freelance basis. Her 1930 short story "Stolen Thunder" was adapted into the film Oh, For a Man!, and later in life she wrote a biography of Fremstad, The Rainbow Bridge.