Betty Comden (May 3 1917ndash November 23 2006), along with Adolph Green (1914ndash 2002), was one-half of the musical duo Comden and Green, the writing team that penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM during the genre's heyday. They also collaborated on numerous Broadway productions. The pair were not married, although many thought they were. They did share a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that enabled them to forge a six-decades-long partnership that produced some of Hollywood and Broadway's greatest hits.

Betty Comden was born Elizabeth Cohen in New York City [1],[2], [3].
After high school, Green worked as a runner on Wall Street while he tried to make it as an actor. He met Comden, a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, through mutual friends in 1938 while she was studying drama at New York University. They formed a troupe called the Revuers, which performed at the Village Vanguard, a club in Greenwich Village.