Betty Comden, 1917-2006
A writer leaves behind her indelible mark of excellence on numerous Broadway and film musicals
Betty Comden successful and much-honored lyricist, librettist, actress, screenwriter and Adolph Green's creative collaborator for six decades died on November 23 in Manhattan at the age of 89. The Comden-Green imprimatur was a mark of excellence for numerous Broadway and film musicals:
On the Town, Wonderful Town, Peter Pan, Bells Are Ringing, On the Twentieth Century and
The Will Rogers Follies are just some of the hit musicals for which they created memorable lyric scores;
Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, It's Always Fair Weather and
Good News are among the many Comden & Green classic screenplays. Over the course of their long partnership, Comden and Green worked with some of the leading composers of our time Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, Jule Styne, Andrι Previn and Cy Coleman.
Betty Comden was born Elizabeth Cohen in Brooklyn on May 3, 1917 into a family that prized education and culture. After graduating from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School, she attended New York University as a drama major, receiving her degree in 1938. While attending college, Comden joined a theatrical company known as the Washington Square Players whose members included Adolph Green and the future film comedienne, Judy Holliday. The three became good friends and, with two other actors, they formed a cabaret act known as the Revuers, which became a popular drawing card for the Greenwich Village club, the Village Vanguard. Adolph Green's friend, Leonard Bernstein, was an unofficial member of the group and his enthusiasm for the talents of Comden and Green would bring them to Broadway in 1944.
A ballet called
Fancy Free, written by Jerome Robbins and composed by Bernstein, had the makings, its creators believed, of a hit stage musical. Bernstein offered Comden and Green the opportunity to write the lyrics and libretto for the story of three sailors on leave in New York. The result was one of the alltime great musicals:
On the Town, which featured such soon-tobecome standards as "New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town)," "Some Other Time" and "Lonely Town." Comden and Green were among its stars.
On the Town would later become a smash movie musical starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Other Broadway shows followed, including
Billion Dollar Baby, Comden and Green's collaboration with future ASCAP President Morton Gould in 1945; and
Two on the Aisle, a revue written especially for Bert Lahr and Dolores Grey in 1951, with music by Jule Styne;
Wonderful Town, another collaboration with Leonard Bernstein which featured Rosalind Russell and Edie Adams in starring roles in 1953; and the 1956 smash,
Bells Are Ringing, written with Jule Styne and starring Comden and Green's dear friend, Judy Holliday.
Bells introduced the great standards, "The Party's Over" and "Just in Time." It should also be noted that Styne, Comden and Green contributed several songs to
Peter Pan, the 1954 musical starring Mary Martin, including the memorable song, "Neverland."
As the years went by, the Comden and Green collaboration continued, with the two getting together each day to work or just to throw ideas at each other. Many people assumed that Comden and Green were married they were, but not to each other. Betty Comden married businessman Steven Kyle in 1942 and they had two children, Alan and Susanna. Steven Kyle died in 1979 and Alan passed away in 1990. Comden wrote a very honest and absorbing account of her personal life in the book,
Off Stage, published in 1995.
Broadway saw four more Comden & Green musicals in the 1960s, all of them written with Jule Styne:
Do Re Mi, Subways Are for Sleeping, Fade Out Fade In and
Hallelujah Baby. Do Re Mi featured another major standard "Make Someone Happy." In 1970, Comden and Green wrote the "book" for the Charles Strouse Lee Adams musical,
Applause, another hit. And in 1978, Comden and Green worked with composer Cy Coleman to create a new smash show,
On the Twentieth Century. The team of Comden, Green and Coleman returned to Broadway acclaim in 1991 with
The Will Rogers Follies, a starring vehicle for film star Keith Carradine, introducing the song, "I Never Met a Man I Didn't Like."
During her career, Comden received seven Tony Awards and twelve Tony nominations, as well as a Grammy Award for
The Will Rogers Follies cast album. Her screenwriting efforts garnered her two Academy Award nominations. She and Adolph Green were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and, in 1991, Comden and Green were honored with the Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award. In 1997, they received the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.
— Jim Steinblatt
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