Betty Comden: 1917-2006

One of the few remaining greats of the golden age of Broadway and Hollywood is dead. Betty Comden, who wrote with her partner Adolph Green either the lyrics or the book (sometimes both) for the Broadway shows such as On the Town and Wonderful Town, and the screenplays for the films Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon, has died at the age of 89.

I was surprised that a lot of the obituaries of Comden seemed to concentrate solely on her work as a Broadway lyricist ("Betty Comden, Lyricist for Musicals, Dies at 89" was the headline in the New York Times), when she co-wrote the screenplays for two of the greatest movie musicals ever. Singin' in the Rain heads the list of the movie musicals loved even by people who don't like musicals (it's one of very few musicals to make the British Film Institute list of the greatest films of all time -- the critics poll in 2002 had it in the top ten), and The Band Wagon is one of Fred Astaire's best, a delicious satire on the hard slog of putting on a Broadway musical that was even more funny because it was written by two people who knew the process from the inside. It's also not generally known (except by films buffs) that Comden and her writing partner, Adolph Green, wrote the last film to co-star Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Barkleys of Broadway.

I was lucky enough to see the last show that Comden and Green worked on for Broadway, The Will Rogers Follies, and many years later I had a brief phone conversation with Ms. Comden at the time of the revival of Wonderful Town. Although in her late 80s and not in the best of health, she was clearly delighted that the show, which she said was Adolph Green's favorite of all the shows they worked on together (perhaps because they and Leonard Bernstein put together the entire score, music and lyrics, in a month -- I'd like to see someone do that today!) was receiving its first Broadway production since its premiere half a century earlier.

Betty Comden has left us with a rich and permanent legacy of classic work both on stage and on film. She will be missed.

Tom Moran