[4] Gertrude grew up in Brooklyn with her siblings; Abraham, Mamie, Henrietta, Archibald, Elizabeth, Eugene,[5] and George.
Tonkonogy made her first professional sale with the play Three Cornered Moon which was produced on Broadway (opening March 16, 1933) and starred Ruth Gordon and Brian Donlevy.
It was a comedy about the shortage of housing, adapted for theater from stories published in New Yorker, by John Cheever, produced by Max Gordon, and directed by George S. Kaufman at the National Theatre, for twelve performances.
In the 1950s, Friedberg lived in Brooklyn, reviewed books on music, did editorial work on technical textbooks,[2] and did substitute teaching at Stuyvesant High School.
[17] According to the back page of an edition of The Revolving Boy published in 1980, Friedberg lived in New York, where she taught mathematics.