They Made Us Happy

Betty Comden & Adolph Green's Musicals & Movies

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by Andy Propst

Type: Biographies
Subject: Others persons > Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Keywords: Betty Comden, Adolph Green, scriptwriting, musicals
Publishing date: 2019
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 288 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-19-063093-5

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Book Presentation:
• First book to tell the full story of the extraordinary careers and lives of one of Broadway's and Hollywood's most gifted writing teams
• Puts such classics as On the Town and Singin' in the Rain in a new context
• Reveals the story of drafts of works unproduced for both stage and screen

Betty Comden and Adolph Green were the writers behind such classic stage musicals as On the Town, Wonderful Town, and Bells Are Ringing, and they provided lyrics for such standards as "New York, New York," "Just in Time," "The Party's Over," and "Make Someone Happy," to name just a few. This remarkable duo, the longest-running partnership in theatrical history, also penned the screenplays for such cinematic gems as Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon. In the process they worked with such artists as Leonard Bernstein, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Holliday, and Jule Styne. They Made Us Happy is the first book to tell the full story of their careers, lives, and work, starting with their acclaimed appearances as part of the sketch troupe the Revuers and moving through their bi-coastal lives as a pair of Broadway's top writers and two of Hollywood's most valued scribes. The book takes readers on a trip through almost the entirety of the twentieth century, and along the way there are appearances by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Greta Garbo, and Charlie Chaplin. Author Andy Propst brings both their produced work to life as well as many of the projects that that never made it to the stage or the screen, including an aborted musical version of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, a bio-pic about director-choreographer Busby Berkeley, and their version of the book for Cole Porter's musical Out of This World. Comden and Green's wit and deft satire inspired laughs during their lives, and their musicals and movies have endured, amusing generation after generation. It's work that will always be making audiences happy.

About the Author:
Andy Propst, Independent Scholar Andy Propst is an arts journalist and the author of You Fascinate Me So: The Life & Times of Cy Coleman (2014). His career has encompassed work with New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joseph Papp and Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe, as well as five years as on-air talent at XM Satellite Radio's XM 28 On Broadway channel. His writing has appeared in The Village Voice, Time Out/NY, Back Stage, and The Sondheim Review, and online at the site he founded, AmericanTheaterWeb.com, as well as TheaterMania.com.

Press Reviews:
"Propst has clearly done his research, as evidenced by the lengthy listing of source materials at the end of the book. A particularly nice touch is his tendency to reference the sometimes different recollections of people involved in a specific incident, and then offer a theory of which account actually seems more plausible and why....the book offers very informative and entertaining read for both the serious musical (and musical theater) aficionado and one with only a passing familiarity with some of the duo's more famous works." - Judd Hollander, The Epoch Times

"The book dashes through Comden and Green's glory years writing for stage and screen. High-profile projects such as "The Band Wagon" or "Peter Pan" - as well as lesser-known efforts, such as the "On the Town" successor "It's Always Fair Weather" - are given comparable attention. Chapters are broken up with paragraph-long nuggets consisting of background information or anecdotes. Best of all is the chapter on "Singin' in the Rain." Said Comden about starting work on the movie: "All we knew was, that at some point in the film, someone would be out in the rain and singing about it."As this marvelous book reminds us, that's where Comden and Green came in." - Peter Tonguette, The Columbus Dispatch

"One of the strengths of Mr. Propst's book is his encyclopedic knowledge of virtually every move and shuffle, every last minute addition to and subtraction from shows and films... Mr. Propst tells us everything about how a show reached its final form, and in some cases its revivals.... One appreciates this book as a compendious reference work; its value lies in the theatrical history it provides.... Although [Comden and Green] now may be grist for the nostalgia mills, this book... shows how snappy, daring and brave they were. And what fun they had." - Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal

"What a lovingly researched journey through the duo-careers of two of our most talented wordsmiths. What good times they provided for us! Carefree, urbane, intelligent, tender hearted, playful - indeed they were 'a party of two.'" - Tommy Tune

"Andy Propst has done it again! His They Made Us Happy is a love letter to anyone who loves musical theatre, its history, and two of its greatest titans - Betty Comden and Adolph Green. He pulls back the curtain on the life and career of this once-in-a-generation pair of talents with humor, elegance, and grace. I read it in one sitting with Comden and Green's On the Town, Wonderful Town, Singin' in the Rain, Hallelujah Baby!, On the Twentieth Century, and The Will Rodgers Follies playing on my record player. Rest assured - if you don't have a record player, Andy's masterpiece is musical enough." - Will Nunziata, Director

"Thank you, Andy Propst, for the memories and for the history and revelations about these two remarkable artists and their time. They Made Us Happy made me so happy!" - Penny Fuller, Actor

See the publisher website: Oxford University Press

See the complete filmography of Betty Comden on the website: IMDB ...

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