Cushing started her literary career as an editor at ''
Harper's Bazaar, was a comedy that ran for sixty performances and starred Henrietta Crosman and Minnie Dupree. This was followed by her Widow by Proxy
(1913) with May Irwin, Kitty MacKay
(1914), Sari
(1914, book by Cushing and Eugene Percy Heath), Jerry (1914) starring Billie Burke, Pollyanna (1915, based on the book by Eleanor H. Porter), Glorianna'' (1918-1919, a musical based on Cushing's own
Widow by Proxy),
Lassie (1920, a musical version of
Kitty MacKay),
Marjolaine (1922),
Topsy and Eva (1924-1925, a burlesque based loosely on ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin), Edgar Allan Poe
(1925), and The Master of the Inn'' (1925-1926, based on a book by
Robert Herrick). Film adaptations of plays or stories by Cushing include
Kitty MacKay (1917),
Widow by Proxy (1919) starring
Marguerite Clark,
Pollyanna (1920) starring
Mary Pickford, ''
Don't Call Me Little Girl (1921) starring Mary Miles Minter, Topsy and Eva (1927) starring Rosetta Duncan and Vivian Duncan, and The Prince and the Pauper'' (1937, based on the book by
Mark Twain). Songs by Cushing included "L'amour, toujours, l'amour" (1922, music by
Rudolf Friml), which was on several film soundtracks, and ""Love's Own Sweet Song (Sari Waltz)" (1947). Her
Topsy and Eva was among the first American musicals adapted for early television; a one-hour version aired in July 1939. "Possibly because the program was so racist, history has chosen to forget this broadcast," commented one historian of television. ==Personal life==