Isobel Lennart's career was devoted primarily to writing musicals and light comedy. Though the light touch she aimed for sometimes seemed merely superficial, she was often successful and helped to create several very entertaining movies. Her best pictures are those in which a spirited, robust character is portrayed by an appropriate performer: Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945), Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968).

Lennart was born in Brooklyn, New York, but came to California while in her early twenties, seeking a career in motion pictures. In 1939 she joined the Communist Party; she quit after the signing of the Hitler-Stalin pact but rejoined in 1941 after Germany invaded Russia. She quit again in 1945 and seven years later voluntarily testified about her former activities to a Congressional committee. The knowledge of her involvement with the Party does not seem to have harmed her career, probably because almost all of her films espouse...