Off Stage [Paperback]

Betty Comden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

In this incandescent autobiographical collage, lyricist, playwright and performer Betty Comden takes an exuberant and rueful look back on a lifetime of celebrated triumphs and private sorrow. With her lifelong collaborator Adolph Green, she has achieved glorious success on stage in such musical milestones as On the Town, Wonderful Town and Bells Are Ringing and on screen in the unforgettable Singing in the Rain and The Band Wagon. But this very intimate memoir takes us behind her experiences in theatre and film to her childhood in Brooklyn, her determined exodus to Manhattan and Broadway, her courtship and marriage and the lessons she has learned as a wife and mother. Off Stage is, then, not only of special interest to theatre and movie buffs. It is also the poignant and inspirational story of a woman of many talents and interests who tried to have it all - and very nearly succeeded.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's hard to believe that Betty Comden is still out there writing musicals more than 50 years after she helped pen the immortal words, "New York, New York, a helluva town . . ." for Leonard Bernstein's On the Town. In her new memoir the distaff half of the team of Comden & Green ("Betty & Adolph" to insiders) looks back on a life that took her from tart Greenwich Village revues in the 1930s, through her early Broadway successes in the 1940s, her Oscar for Singing in the Rain and a long Broadway songwriting career that has included Peter Pan, Bells Are Ringing, Wonderful Town, On the Twentieth Century, The Will Rogers Follies and more projects currently underway. Backstage stories about the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Mary Martin and Kevin Kline are mixed with lessons learned as a working woman and wife. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Betty Comden and Adolph Green together have written musicals for the theater and scripts for the movies over an astonishing seven decades, including titles from Bells Are Ringing and The Will Rogers Follies to Singin' in the Rain and Band Wagon. Now Comden has written a memoir of her private life. She barely mentions her successes as a writer for stage and screen; even her collaborator, Green, is passed over. Instead, she recalls her Brooklyn childhood and her successful marriage to Steven Kyle, an artist, who died of pancreatitis in 1979. They had two children. Son Alan's addiction to drugs led to his death from AIDS. Comden's sorrow and guilt permeate this memoir. It is ungracious to ask for what a writer is not offering us, but there is not enough in the domestic joys and tragedies of Comden's private life to justify this account. There are tidbits for her fans and information about famous friends, including Lauren Bacall, James Jones, Penelope Gilliat and Charles Chaplin, but little is added to our understanding of what combination of talents and chemistry fueled this brilliant and creative half of the legendary Comden-Green partnership. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Limelight Editions; 1st Limelight ed edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879100842
• ISBN-13: 978-0879100841
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,568,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read, a wonderful person, December 9, 1999

By 

R. W. Holliston (Victoria, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Off Stage (Paperback)

If Betty Comden had done nothing more than collaborate on the great musical On The Town, she'd be a star in my personal pantheon. But she's had a wonderfully varied career, as creator and performer, and she has set high standards in all projects. Ms. Comden has lived long enough to have experienced many sadnesses, and she writes about them as openly as she does the happinesses. This book is a gift from a true Broadway original, and a genuine professional. Not to be missed, and bless you, Betty, for giving it to us!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHO WOULDN'T LOVE BETTY COMDEN?, April 30, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Off Stage (Paperback)

Even if she weren't one-half of the legendary theatrical writing team of Comden and Green, Betty Comden's life would be worth reading about. Collaborating with Adolph Green for some 70 years the brilliant duo gave us such blockbuster Broadway shows as "On The town," "Bells Are Ringing," "The Will Rogers Follies" and "Applause."

Alone, she was a doting wife, a mother who thought she could never master motherhood, and a woman left to mourn the death of her husband, son, and many dear friends.

Born in Brooklyn to Russian immigrant parents, the young Betty had a love for words and was intrigued by the theater. While her teaming with Green made theatrical history, her unprecedented success did not shield her from tragedies and disappointments. These, along with her joys and triumphs, she recounts with candor and humor.

- Gail Cooke

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bor-ing Whiny Book, March 23, 2003

By 

Howard Wexler (White Plains, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Off Stage (Paperback)

Maybe I shouldn't have bought the book in the first place. I have always liked Betty Comden on a professional basis. But after reading this boring and terribly self-indulgent book, my opinion of her has lowered drastically.

Quite frankly, her life growing up and all of her wonderful friends and aches and pains are not worth reading about. Now if this was more of a balanced autobiography that combined her professional and personal lives, the book would be much better. She grew up rich (she admits the Great Depression did not affect her much) and became quite successful. She admits to guilt about being a part-time mother and talks at embarrassing length about her son who died of HIV due to his years as a drug addict.

...