The American theater and Hollywood have boasted many songwriting teams known for working together closely over a long period of time. But no team has worked more closely and over a longer period of time than lyricist-librettists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Not only have they written librettos, lyrics, and screenplays together over a period of fifty years, they never worked with anyone but each other. Their composer- collaborators changed, but the words were always by Comden and Green. Whenever they wrote an article, preface, introduction, or tribute, it was cowritten. They often performed together and were nearly always interviewed together. It seemed as though one did not exist without the other. No wonder so many theatergoers mistakenly thought that they were married to each other. (In 1995 Comden published Off Stage, a memoir that proved there was a Comden without a Green and that she actually had a...