Adelaide Matthews

Adelaide Matthews (1876–1958) was an American playwright and Broadway performer born in Kenduskeag, Maine. Her career spanned both the stage and the page, encompassing work as a performer and as a prolific writer for the theater.

Matthews appeared on Broadway in 1906 in the play Old Lavender. Her stage career extended beyond performance into playwriting, where she produced a substantial body of work across several decades. She frequently collaborated with other writers, most notably Martha M. Stanley and Anne Nichols.

Among the plays Matthews wrote with Stanley are Scrambled Wives (1920), The Teaser (1921), Puppy Love (1926), and The First Mrs. Chiverick (1930), the last of which was published in New York and London as a comedy in three acts. Her collaborations with Nichols include Just Married (1921), Hearts Desire, and Nearly Married (1929). Matthews also authored works independently, including Nighty-Night (1919) and The Wasp's Nest (1927), the latter published in 1929. An additional work, First Night Out, is also credited to her.

Several of Matthews's plays were adapted for the screen. Scrambled Wives was produced as a film in 1921, The Teaser in 1925, and Just Married in 1928.