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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2006 > November > 24 > Entry
Betty Comden, 1915-2006
MGM used to say that it had “more stars than there are in the heavens.” Well, one of those stars was added to heaven on Thursday with the passing of Betty Comden.
You wouldn’t recognize Comden from any of the old MGM footage, but if you know musicals, you certainly know her work. She and her partner, the late Adolph Green, were Broadway veterans who wrote sparkling screenplays for some of the lion’s greatest musical hits.
Had they written only “Singin’ in the Rain,” the very best of all Hollywood musicals, Comden and Green’s legacy would be assured. But Comden and Green also wrote the glorious “On the Town” and “The Band Wagon.” Even the least of their screenplays, which I would consider to be “The Barkleys of Broadway,” is still highly entertaining.
Although “Singin’ ” is certainly their best movie, I will watch “The Band Wagon” in tribute to these writers. That’s not only because it’s a movie about creating a stage show, it’s because the characters played by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray are delightful doppelgangers for Comden and Green.
Although Comden and Green didn’t write “That’s Entertainment,” the signature song from “The Band Wagon,” it’s the tune that’s running through my head as I think of Comden:
“This goodbye brings a tear to the eye
The world is a stage,
The stage is a world of entertainment.”
Goodnight, Betty. Give Adolph our regards.
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