Film Forum

Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen’s It’s Always Fair Weather, starring Kelly, with music by André Previn and screenplay and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, will have a special screening at 8:15 pm at Film Forum on May 3, the 100th anniversary of Betty Comden’s birth. The screening will be introduced by Green’s daughter, actress, singer, and Tony-nominated lyricist/songwriter Amanda Green.

Born Basya Cohen to Russian immigrants in Brooklyn on May 3, 1917, Betty Comden first attracted attention as part of the Revuers, a theater troupe comprised of herself, Judy Holliday, Leonard Bernstein, and Adolph Green, which performed to acclaim at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village. Her first Broadway show was 1944’s On the Town with Green, Bernstein, and choreographer Jerome Robbins – besides writing the book and lyrics (including the iconic “New York, New York”), she and Green also co-starred in supporting roles. 

In the late 1940s, Comden and Green went Hollywood, where they wrote screenplays for classic films like Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon. Even after the move to Hollywood, the team continued to write lyrics for Broadway, teaming with many of American musical theater’s most important composers, including Bernstein (Wonderful Town), Jule Styne (Bells Are Ringing, Subways Are Sleeping, Fade Out – Fade In, Hallelujah, Baby!), and Cy Coleman (On the Twentieth Century, The Will Rogers Follies). Her final public appearance was at Film Forum. 

35mm. Approx. 102 Min. 

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