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Comden And Green
Comden and Green refers to the 60-year writing partnership of Betty Comden (1917–2006) and Adolph Green (1914–2002). They first met at the New York City nightclub Village Gate in 1941, writing the lyrics for a play titled ''The Revuers''. They debuted with the play '' On the Town'' (1944) as book writers and lyricists, as well as part of the Original Broadway Cast. Following their involvement with ''Billion Dollar Baby'' which premiered the following year, they signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; the agreement debuted with the film '' Good News'' (1947), for which they were screenwriters and additional lyricists. Comden and Green then continued their career with musical films: '' Singin' In The Rain'' (1952), ''The Band Wagon'' (1953), ''It's Always Fair Weather'' (1955), and ''The Barkleys of Broadway'' (1949). In 1949, they adapted ''On the Town'' into a film, also writing the lyrics. Comden and Green's role in the revue ''Two on the Aisle'' (1951) marked the beginning of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Comden
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 - November 23, 2006) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter who contributed to numerous Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green spanned six decades: "the longest running creative partnership in theatre history." The musical-comedy duo of Comden and Green collaborated most notably with composers Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein, as well enjoyed success with ''Singin' in the Rain'', as part of the famed " Freed unit" at MGM. Early life Betty Comden was born Basya Cohen in Brooklyn, New York in 1917, the younger child of Leo Cohen (originally Astershinsky), a lawyer, and Rebecca ( Sadvoransky) Cohen, an English teacher. Both were Russian immigrants and observant Jews. She had an older brother, Nathaniel ("Nat"), born . Basya "attended Erasmus Hall High School and studied drama at New York University, graduating in 1938," according to ''The New York Times''. In 1938, mutual f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) and the fourth largest in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. The library has branches in the boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the New York metropolitan area. The city's other two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, are not served by the New York Public Library system, but rather by their respective borough library systems: the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library. The branch libraries are open to the general public and consist of circulating libraries. The New York Public Library also has four research libraries, which are also open to the ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bells Are Ringing (film)
''Bells Are Ringing'' is a 1960 American romantic comedy- musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. Based on the successful 1956 Broadway production of the same name by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne, the film focuses on Ella Peterson, based on the life of Mary Printz, who works in the basement office of a telephone answering service. Plot Ella Peterson works as a switchboard operator at the Susanswerphone answering service. She can't help breaking the rules by becoming overly involved in the lives of the subscribers. Some of the more peculiar ones include a dentist who exuberantly composes song lyrics on an air hose, an actor who emulates Marlon Brando and a little boy for whom she pretends to be Santa Claus. Ella has a secret crush on the voice of subscriber Jeffrey Moss, a playwright for whom she plays a comforting motherly character. She finally meets him in person when she brings him a message under a false name, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress, comedian and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1965, p. 71. She began her career as part of a nightclub act before working in Broadway plays and musicals. Her success as Billie Dawn in the 1946 stage production of '' Born Yesterday'' led to her being cast in the 1950 film version for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She was known for her performance on Broadway in the musical '' Bells Are Ringing,'' winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and reprising her role in the 1960 film adaptation. In 1952, Holliday was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to answer claims she was associated with communism. Early life Holliday was born Judith Tuvim (she took her stage name from ''yom tovim'', which is Hebrew for "holidays") in New Yor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonderful Town
''Wonderful Town'' is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be a writer and actress respectively, seeking success from their basement apartment in New York City's Greenwich Village. It is based on Fields and Chodorov's 1940 play ''My Sister Eileen'', which in turn originated from autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney first published in ''The New Yorker'' in the late 1930s and later published in book form as ''My Sister Eileen''. Only the last two stories in McKenney's book were used, and they were heavily modified. After a pre-Broadway try-out at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, ''Wonderful Town'' premiered on Broadway in 1953, starring Rosalind Russell in the role of Ruth Sherwood, Edie Adams as Eileen Sherwood, and George Gaynes as Robert Baker. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
''Bells Are Ringing'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service, and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering service. Three of the show's tunes, "Long Before I Knew You", " Just in Time", and " The Party's Over", became standards. Judy Holliday reprised her Broadway starring role in the 1960 film of the same name, also starring Dean Martin. Productions The original Broadway production, directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, opened on November 29, 1956 at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than two years before transferring to the Alvin Theatre, for a total run of 924 performances. It starred Judy Holliday as Ella and Sydney Chaplin as Jeff Moss. It also featured Jean Stapleton as Sue Summers, Eddie Lawrence as Sandor, George S. Irving, Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hallelujah, Baby!
''Hallelujah, Baby!'' is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and a book by Arthur Laurents. The show is "a chronicle of the African American struggle for equality during the irst half of the20th century."Chastang, Carol"Review: 'Say Hallelujah!'" seeingblack.com, January 7, 2005 The musical premiered on Broadway in 1967 and made a young Leslie Uggams a star. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Synopsis Georgina is a talented, beautiful and ambitious African American woman, determined to have a career. Overcoming many obstacles, she rises to stardom. She makes her way through the Great Depression, World War II, and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Her mother advises her to "keep her place" as a maid on a South Carolina estate, but Georgina negotiates the blocks to stardom from her negative and opportunistic mother. She encounters the racism that pervades society and show business. Two men vie for Georgina's attention. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fade Out – Fade In
''Fade Out – Fade In'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story involves the movie industry in the 1930s. It starred Carol Burnett, returning to the Broadway stage for the first time in four years. Comden and Green, who tackled the problems Hollywood players faced when the film industry transitioned from silent movies to sound films in ''Singin' in the Rain'', now turn to Hollywood in the 1930s. The show spoofs some of the great film stars of the era, such as Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and the character L.Z. Governor is based on MGM honcho Louis B. Mayer, known for his roving eye for pretty starlets and deep-seated nepotism. Productions The musical opened on Broadway on May 26, 1964 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, and closed on April 17, 1965, after 274 performances and six previews. Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Ernest Flatt, the cast included Carol Burnett as Hope Springf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subways Are For Sleeping
''Subways Are for Sleeping'' is a musical produced by David Merrick with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The original Broadway production played in 1961–62. The musical was inspired by an article about subway homelessness in the March 1956 issue of '' Harper's'' magazine and a subsequent 1957 book based on it, both by Edmund G. Love, who slept on subway trains throughout the 1950s and encountered many unique individuals. With the profits from his book, Love then embarked on a bizarre hobby: over the course of several years, he ate dinner at every restaurant listed in the Manhattan yellow pages directory, visiting them in alphabetical order. A previous adaptation of the ''Harper's'' article was aired August 3, 1956 on ''CBS Radio Workshop''. Synopsis Angie McKay is a magazine writer assigned to write a story about a group of well-dressed homeless people sleeping in the New York subway system. Their leader is Tom Bailey, a one-man employ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do Re Mi (musical)
''Do Re Mi'' is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Garson Kanin, who also directed the original 1960 Broadway production. The plot centers on a minor-league con man who decides to go (somewhat) straight by moving into the legitimate business of juke boxes and music promotion. The musical was headlined by the comedy couple of Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, both of whom were Tony nominated. Popular songs introduced included "Cry Like the Wind" and "Make Someone Happy". Synopsis Hubie Cram is "a loser endlessly scheming to win big." His long-suffering and patient wife Kay urges him to "Take a Job," while he plots. He finds three pals, Fatso O'Rear, Brains Berman and Skin Demopoulos, and they scheme to enter the juke-box business ("It's Legitimate"). Soon they have 300 juke-boxes, which they plan on selling to John Henry Wheeler, a record producer. Hubie discovers a naive singer, Tilda Mullen, and they plan their future ("Ambiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Say, Darling
''Say, Darling'' is a three-act comic play by Abe Burrows and Richard and Marian Bissell about the creation of a Broadway musical. Although the play featured nine original songs with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne, all of the songs were presented as either rehearsal or audition material and not as the thoughts or feelings of the characters. Background In a case of art imitating life not once, but twice, the show is an adaptation of Richard Bissell's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name which chronicled his experience adapting his novel '' 7½ Cents'' for ''The Pajama Game'', making it in essence a play of a book about a musical adaptation of a book. It focuses on Jack Jordan (David Wayne), who is brought to Broadway to help develop his best-seller into a musical for leading lady Irene Lovelle (Vivian Blaine). His journey provides him - and the audience - with an education about what goes on behind-the scenes on the Great White Way, from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Pan (1954 Musical)
''Peter Pan'' is a musical based on J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan'' and his 1911 novelization of it, ''Peter and Wendy''. The music is mostly by Moose Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original 1954 Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars. It was followed by NBC telecasts of it in 1955, 1956, and 1960 with the same stars, plus several rebroadcasts of the 1960 telecast. In 2014, the musical was broadcast on NBC featuring several new numbers, and starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken. The show has enjoyed several revivals onstage. Background and original 1954 production Several productions of Peter Pan were staged early in the 20th century, starting in London in 1904, starring Nina Boucicault as Peter and on Broadway in 1905, starring Maude Adams. In a nod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
