Betty Comden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Betty Comden
Comden circa 1939
Born	Basya Cohen (1917-05-03)May 3, 1917 Brooklyn, New York
Died	November 23, 2006(2006-11-23) (aged 89) New York City, New York
Occupation	Actress, librettist, lyricist, screenwriter
Years active	1944–2005

Betty Comden (born Basya Cohen, May 3, 1917 – November 23, 2006) was a famous American writer and performer. She was half of a creative team called Comden and Green. With her partner, Adolph Green, she wrote songs, stories for musicals (called libretti), and movie scripts (called screenplays). They created some of the most loved Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows in the mid-1900s.

Their writing partnership was very long, lasting for sixty years! People called it "the longest running creative partnership in theatre history." They worked with many other famous people like Arthur Freed, Jule Styne, and Leonard Bernstein. One of their most famous works is the movie musical Singin' in the Rain.

Early life and first steps in theatre

Betty Comden was born Basya Cohen in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Leo, was a lawyer, and her mother, Rebecca, was an English teacher. Both of her parents came from Russia. Betty went to Erasmus Hall High School and later studied drama at New York University, finishing in 1938.

In 1938, friends introduced her to Adolph Green, who also wanted to be an actor. Betty, Adolph, Judy Holliday, and Leonard Bernstein formed a group called The Revuers. They performed at a club in Greenwich Village called the Village Vanguard. Their act became popular, and they even appeared in the 1944 movie Greenwich Village. However, their parts were very small, so they went back to New York.

Comden and Green wrote their first Broadway show in 1944. It was called On the Town. This musical was about three sailors visiting New York City. It was based on a ballet called Fancy Free, which Bernstein and Jerome Robbins had created. Comden and Green wrote the story and the songs for On the Town. They even played parts in the show themselves! Their next musical, Billion Dollar Baby (1945), was not as successful. Another show they wrote in 1947, Bonanza Bound, never even made it to Broadway.

Hollywood and Broadway success

After their early shows, Comden and Green moved to California and started working for MGM, a big movie studio. They wrote movie scripts for films like Good News and The Barkleys of Broadway. Then, they adapted their own musical On the Town for a movie starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. For this movie, they had to change most of Bernstein's original music.

Their most famous project was Singin' in the Rain, which they worked on with Gene Kelly. This classic movie is about Hollywood during the time when silent films were changing to "talkies" (movies with sound). Comden and Green wrote the story and the script. The songs in the movie were older hits from the 1920s and 1930s.

They had another hit movie with The Band Wagon. In this film, two characters, Lester and Lily, were a husband-and-wife writing team, much like Betty and Adolph themselves. Comden and Green were nominated for an Oscar twice for their movie scripts: for The Band Wagon and It's Always Fair Weather. They also won Screen Writers Guild Awards for On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, and Bells Are Ringing.

In the 1950s, Comden and Green also wrote many successful Broadway shows. These included Two on the Aisle, Wonderful Town (which used music by Bernstein), and Bells Are Ringing. Bells Are Ringing brought them back together with Judy Holliday and had many popular songs like "Just in Time" and "The Party's Over".

They also added songs to the 1954 musical Peter Pan. In 1958, they performed on Broadway in their own show called A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It was a collection of their early comedy sketches and was very popular. They even brought an updated version of this show back to Broadway in 1977.

Comden and Green wrote the movie script for Auntie Mame in 1958. This movie was very popular and well-received.

In the 1960s, Comden and Green worked on four more musicals with Jule Styne. They wrote songs for Do Re Mi, and both the story and songs for Subways Are For Sleeping, Fade Out – Fade In, and Hallelujah, Baby!. Their work on Hallelujah, Baby! won a Tony Award.

They wrote the story for the 1970 musical Applause, which was based on the movie All About Eve. They also wrote the story and songs for On the Twentieth Century in 1978. Betty Comden even stepped in to act in On the Twentieth Century for a while. Their last big musical hit was The Will Rogers Follies in 1991, where they wrote the songs. One of their shows, A Doll's Life (1982), was not successful and only ran for five performances, but they still received Tony Award nominations for it.

Betty Comden was recognized for her amazing work. In 1980, she was added to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1981, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. In the early 1980s, Betty also acted in a play called Isn't It Romantic. She played the main character's mother.

In 1984, Betty Comden appeared in the movie Garbo Talks. She played a small but important role in the film. In 1991, Comden and Green received the Kennedy Center Honors, a very special award for artists. In 1994, they even made a guest appearance on the TV show "Frasier."

Family life

Betty Comden and Adolph Green were creative partners, but they were not a romantic couple. In 1942, Betty married Siegfried Schutzman, who later changed his name to Steven Kyle. He was a designer and businessman. Steven passed away in 1979. They had two children, a daughter named Susanna and a son named Alan, who sadly died in 1990. Betty never married again.

Death

Betty Comden passed away from heart failure on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2006, in Manhattan, New York. She was 89 years old. She was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, New York.

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Betty Comden para niños