Conspicuous Coffee Tables Betty Comden

"Theater in the round" is how Betty Comden describes her coffee table. The stage is set in the library of her Upper East Side town house, where she and Adolph Green spend five hours a day writing the books to Tony-winning Broadway hits, such as Bells Are Ringing and On the Town, and the movie musical Singin' in the Rain—now a Broadway show itself. The table could be a prop from a drawing-room comedy, inlaid with tiles depicting a picturesque English hunting scene. These, however, are upstaged by a colossal coffeetable book of Bakst's Ballets Russes designs. Adolph Green gave it to her as an opening-night present.

"Lots of feet get pushed up against this coffee table, ' ' Betty remarks, making light of the show-biz luminaries who have rubbed knees working here. "It's usually strewn with papers and work materials. We're always working on something. We do a great deal of worrying. It's not a restful life. But I wouldn't want it to be. "

Betty started writing comedy while performing with Judy Holliday at the Village Vanguard. "We couldn't pay for material , so we started to write. Poverty and hunger are the mother of invention." Today, the reasons have changed, but the show still goes on. Her library is filled with show posters, awards, and other souvenirs of her long and successful career. There are also the artworks collected by her late husband, Steven Kyle, including a fanciful chandelier Betty describes as "the world's largest potato chip. "

Playfully regarding her coffee table, Betty Comden recalls one of her first writing assignments. "Do you remember when you were little, at least when I was, there were certain subjects that you wrote little essays about? One of them was If My Desk Could Speak. Well, if my coffee table could speak. . ." Improvising, Betty impersonates the sedentary piece of furniture: "Ah, the things that have happened in this room. I wouldn't know where to begin.

There's a line from Singin' in the Rain: "Of course, we talk—don't everybody?' ' At Betty Comden's house, even the coffee table has the floor. —Brooks Peters

Brooks Peters