Betty Comden and Big Apple Musicals

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art kicks off its latest film series, “All Singing! All Dancing! All New York!,” Friday evening with two of the greatest musicals set in the Big Apple: 1949’s “On the Town” and 1960’s “Bells Are Ringing,” which was Judy Holliday’s last film.

Both musicals, which were also Broadway hits, were written by the enormously prolific, award-winning team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The series, which continues through April, also features another Comden-Green classic, 1955’s “It’s Always Fair Weather.” Other films in the LACMA series include “New York, New York,” “On the Avenue,” “I Love Melvin” and “My Sister Eileen.”

Comden, 80, recently talked by phone from her New York apartment about Big Apple musicals.

Question: Why is New York such a ripe subject for musicals?

Answer: New York is a hell of a town. It still is and always will be the most fascinating and diverse place--always new in many ways and always stimulating. I live here and I never wanted to live any place else. I was born in Brooklyn and my partner was born in the Bronx. We were very much a part of New York life all of our lives. It is a great place. A lot happens here.

Q: “On the Town” utilizes so much of what makes New York famous from Battery Park to the Empire State Building to the subways.

A: The opening number in the film is quite terrific. It was the first time [the studio] allowed them to come to New York to shoot, so it had a great feeling of authenticity. It is a terrific opening. But the rest of the picture was changed quite a bit from the play.

Q: Why did MGM get rid of so many of the original “On the Town” songs you and Adolph wrote with Leonard Bernstein?

A: It was an unhappy thing. They somehow felt the Bernstein score was, I don’t know, too difficult, too hard. I can’t quite make it out. We had signed to do the movie and, naturally, they wanted us and we wanted to do it. Then they said you can’t use any of this and we had to write new stuff. We had signed and we had to do it.

Q: Didn’t Roger Edens write the music to the new songs?

A: He was a terrific man. I loved him and he worked on all of our pictures in different capacities. He was invaluable to [producer] Arthur Freed. It was just unfortunate that we had to write a new score.

Q: But didn’t MGM take a chance on giving first-time directors Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly “On the Town” to direct?

A: Yes. It was so exciting when they got their first chance to direct and they came through so stunningly. The next one they did was “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Q: Did you write “Bells Are Ringing” for Judy Holliday?

A: That was our mission. We were going to write a show for Judy, who at that time was a big movie star and won an Academy Award. We thought it would be great if we could be reunited. We came up with it, but we also had to rehearse some of it and do some of the songs for her. Even though it was us, her old friends, she wanted to know what she was getting into. She loved it and Jule Styne’s music. We embarked on it and did the show and had a wonderful time.

Q: Did you insist that she should do the film version?

A: We felt she should. Other companies wanted it without her. One wanted Doris Day. But MGM said they would sign Judy and we went with them and very happily too. She was marvelous.

We started in a nightclub act called the Revuers. She was totally self-taught. She was just a natural. She was a very smart girl and had wonderful qualities. She knew how to act and sing without anybody telling her.

Q: Didn’t you, Adolph and Judy come to Hollywood in 1944 to perform in the movie “Greenwich Village,” only to have most of your scenes cut out?

A: They filmed two numbers with us--one of our old nightclub numbers and the other one was a new thing we wrote for a big production number. But we were totally cut out. The only thing left was me checking Don Ameche’s hat. I said, “Check your hat, sir?”--a line I wrote myself by the way. Judy was a cigarette girl and didn’t have any lines. It was a very bad experience.

Q: The LACMA New York festival is also showing 1955’s “It’s Always Fair Weather,” which is sort of the flip side to “On the Town.” It’s a great movie, but why wasn’t it successful when it was released?

A: It had a darker feeling to it. I’ll tell you, Gene wasn’t the star he had been, which was unfortunate, and musicals were kind of on their way out. Instead of opening first class in L.A., it opened in 11 drive-ins. So it was a big disappointment. It got very good reviews. The New York papers gave it wonderful reviews, but it was past the time when musicals meant what they had meant. We had originally thought of it as a Broadway show about three soldiers and then we mentioned the idea to Gene at one point and he said, “I’ve got to have it. You’ve got to let me do it as a movie.”

Q: Aren’t you now working on the first Broadway revival of “Bells Are Ringing”?

A: It’s opening at the Pasadena Playhouse [in November] and then coming to New York. We’re not [going to revise the book], but we are trying to cast it--trying to find somebody not like Judy but somebody very, very good [like her].

BE THERE

“All Singing! All Dancing! All New York” kicks off with “On the Town” and “Bells Are Ringing” Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bing Theater, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Admission is $7 for general public; $5 for LACMA members, AFI members, seniors and students with ID. For tickets call (877) 766-7344. The series continues through April 29. Information: (323) 857-6010.