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Born: Elizabeth Cohen May 3, 1917, Brooklyn, New York
Died: Nov. 23, 2006 (age 89), New York City
Primary songwriting role: lyricist; also musical book and screenplay writer, singer, actor
Co-writers: chiefly Adolph Green as co-lyricist; Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein as composers. Click here to view a database of Betty Comden's co-writers.
Adolph Green:
born: Dec. 2, 1914, The Bronx, New York
died: Oct. 23, 2002 (age 87), New York City
Primary songwriting role: lyricist; also musical book and screenplay writer, singer, actor
Cafe Songbook
Record, book and Video Cabinet:
Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Betty Comden and Adolph Green intervied by Susan Haskins and Michael Riedel on "Theater Talk" WNET TV, New York, c. 1993-1997.
Courtesy of www.cuny.tv
Betty Comden and Adolph Green singing "Carried Away" (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Comden and Green) from the original Broadway production of On the Town, 1944. Here they perform it
on Art Ford's Greenwich Village Party (TV show, 1956) accompanied by Cy Coleman
A tribute to theatrical legend Betty Comden with her friend, lyricist Susan Birkenhead
(on "Theater Talk," presented by www.cuny.tv, taped 12/1/06,)
Comden and Green
interviewed by Barbaralee Diamonstein, 1979
Patti Lupone and Howard McGillen sing Comden and Green medley "Lyrics of Love" at the
1991 Kennedy Center Honors
Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The New York Musicals of Comden and Green. New York: Applause Books, 2000 (librettos for On the Town, Wonderful Town and Bells are Ringing, plus intros by the authors).
David Ewen. American Songwriters, An H. W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary. New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1987 (includes 146 bios of composers and lyricists). -- a wide selection of used copies is available at abebooks.com (entry--for Betty Comden and Adolph Green--pp. 100-104).
Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The New York Musicals of Comden and Green. New York: Applause Books, 2000 (librettos for On the Town, Wonderful Town and Bells are Ringing, plus intros by the authors).
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Cafe Songbook
Master List of Great American Songbook Songwriters
Names of songwriters who have written at least one song included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook are listed below.
Names of songwriters with two or more song credits in the catalog (with rare exceptions) are linked to their own Cafe Songbook pages, e.g. Fields, Dorothy.
Names of songwriters with only one song credit in the catalog are linked to the Cafe Songbook page for that song, on which may be found information about the songwriter or a link to an information source for him or her.
Please note: Cafe Songbook pages for songwriters are currently in various stages of development.
. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press, 1993)
, An H. W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary. New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1987 (includes 146 bios of composers and lyricists). -- a wide selection of used copies is available at