1 HOME CHAT Remembering AUTUMN/FALL 2015 Graham Barry Day remembers Graham Payn on the 10th Anniversary of his death

The Coward Family The business and personal friendships that sustained Noël Coward: Graham Payn Cole Lesley Lorn Lorraine Joan Hirst Noël Coward Screenplays A new publication from Barry Day featuring the screenplays of: In Which We Serve Brief Encounter The Astonished Heart Brief Encounter 70th Anniversary Showings Noël Coward On Film At The Regents Street Cinema Noël Coward: An Entertainer Abroad Exhibition at The Cadbury Research Library at Birmingham University 2

Remembering Graham Memories of Graham Payn by Barry Day

Do you believe in happen-stance? course, “London Pride” coming over walk back in at any moment, even I never did. But my thirty-some year the radio into your living room. though he’d left us a decade earlier involvement with all things Coward at this point. It was fascinating but has made me wonder. I don’t know what sort of house depressing at the same time. I expected but certainly not the Ironically, it started in Jamaica. I’d unpretentious little semi-bungalow We were shown round by Miguel, the been visiting the Kingston office of at the end of what passed for a road servant who had been with him when the advertising agency I worked for leading up to the top of a mountain. he died. And then it became even and my wife and I decided to stay over But the view over the Spanish Main more depressing when Miguel made for a couple of days at a hotel on the was something else. it clear that we could take anything north coast. One morning I suggested we wanted for a small ‘consideration’. we take a taxi and go and see Firefly When you entered the house reality That one of the greatest Englishmen - the house I knew Noël Coward had bit hard. The tropics are no respecter who ever lived to be reduced to this! lived and died in. of persons. First editions rotting on the shelves ... piano keys on the two The more I thought about it after I’d always been a Coward admirer. baby grands flaking off ... Noël’s we left (empty handed I might You couldn’t grow up in World War clothes still hanging in the cupboard add!) the more outraged I felt. How II and not be aware of that feathery ... his reading glasses on his bedside could the Coward Estate let this voice, the clipped delivery ... and, of table. It was as though he might happen? So I wrote to the Estate, whoever they were. And back came a Graham was suddenly catapulted Noël came round backstage. “Very 3 charming letter from Graham Payn in centre stage. Now he had to learn the good. Splendid”. Which from him Switzerland. part. was high praise. He’d also worked out his response when praise was not due. I had to understand, he wrote, that Over the next few years I learned a lot When asked for his opinion, his reply Noël had left him Firefly in his will. about him, as he reminisced about was an elongated “Un-be-lieve­able!” Since he no longer had the heart to Noël and the ‘old days’ and planned return, he’d given the property to the for the future - always mindful of There was only one recorded defeat Jamaican Government together with “what Noël would have wanted.” Graham could remember - when Noël funds to maintain it. He’d recently visited Ivor Novello’s dressing room had other reports about its condition. Happen-stance No.3. I learned his after King’s Rhapsody. As soon as he Did I have any ideas? Could we meet birthday was April 25th. So was my appeared in the doorway, wagging and talk about it.? late father’s. “Well, then,” he said, finger at the ready, Ivor cried - “you’d better call me Dad!” (Being “Ducky I KNEW you’d love it!” Then the second happen-stance. English, of course, I couldn’t do that!) Collapse of wagging finger. Chalet Coward in the village of Les Avants stood high on the mountain The stories about Noël were legion. As the war was drawing to an end, that led down to the towns of Noël was planning his own post-war Montreux and Vevey sitting on Lake They were auditioning for the 1932 future. He came around but instead of Geneva. Vevey happened to be the revue, Words and Music. Graham at his usual backstage notes, it was - “I’m corporate headquarters of the Nestlé the time was a promising boy soprano doing a new revue and YOU will be company, which just happened to be (“Master Graham Payn”) and his in it.” It was to be the beginning of a one of my major clients that I visited mother took him along. When he was professional and personal relationship a couple of times a month. So, as called, she urged him to give it his all. that would last until Noël’s death Graham and I began to work together, Noël was completely taken aback to nearly 30 years later. it meant I could make frequent pit see this young boy singing ‘Nearer My stops at Chalet Coward. God to Thee’ and tap dancing at the Reliving that show brought back so same time. Turning to his assistant many memories for him. There was Firefly was taken care of in a fashion - “We’ve got to have the kid in the the matter of ‘It Couldn’t Matter Less’ and then we began to discuss other show.” - the title of a song he’d been given in aspects of the Estate. Graham had the second half ... never expected to have to run it. That And indeed they did. “Frankly, as far as I was concerned, was to be Cole Lesley, Noël’s right- it couldn’t! I told Noël I didn’t think hand man for many years. Then one After that, Graham recalled, they the number was good enough. ‘Yes morning a year or so earlier Coley had didn’t meet again until 1940. Graham it is,’ he snapped, ‘it’s very good.’ died in his bed quite unexpectedly. was in the revue Up and Doing and So I plucked up my courage and

Noël Coward, Graham Payn and Cole Lesley 4 challenged him. ‘All right then, let’s around by the swimming pool at “Oh, leave poor Graham alone,” see you do it!’ There were indrawn Firefly. I was feeling very pleased with Lynne said. “If he wants to write a breaths from the others at the life for some reason, so I went into book, he’ll write one.” rehearsal. Would God - let alone The a little song-and-dance routine. This “Oh, no he won’t,” I said. “I can’t Master - strike me down ? gave rise to some crack from Noël write a book,” said Graham. about my ‘bloody singing’. In mock “Here’s what we’re going to do,” I After trying the number a couple indignation I drew myself up and said. “Whenever you and I get togeth- of times he conceded. ‘You’re quite blustered - ‘I’ll have you know people er, Graham, I’m going to bring my right. It isn’t strong enough. I’ll write have paid good money to see me sing tape recorder. I know enough to be you another song.’ ‘Oh, yes, chum,’ I and dance.’ Noël shot back - ‘Yes, but able to feed you questions and you’ll thought, ‘l’ve heard that one before.’ not very many and not for very long’. talk like you were talking just now. A few days later he called to say he’d Then I’ll turn it into your book.” written the new song. ‘Come round Thoroughly pleased with himself, he and I’ll play it for you.’ After hearing plunged into the pool. I wanted to And that’s what we did. It wasn’t the first few bars of ‘Matelot’ I knew say - ‘Well, it was mostly your material, without problems - but they were pos- we had a hit. Later Noël would say chum’. But I’d learned that you don’t itive problems. Such as ... we’d have that it was the one thing about the tread on your star’s exit.” a productive morning and then go show he couldn’t say goodbye to off for lunch. Over lunch he’d come without a pang. For me it was the The 1980s drifted into the 1990s and up with some priceless anecdotes. song that shaped my career. I never Graham and I would meet whenever The recorder, naturally, was back at did say goodbye to it. circumstances made it convenient .. the hotel. Heaven knows how many Quite often it would be over a quiet napkins were defaced in the name of Noël’s advice was always the same. dinner for four - Lynne and I, Graham Noël Coward’s art! ‘Trust the material. Let the words and his life partner, Dany Dasto, who carry you.’ And woe betide you if you now runs the Estate. When My Life With Noël Coward tried to add any improvements and he was published Graham and I had caught you at it. As the evening wore on, we were another lunch. No tape recorders. Just invariably joined by an invisible fifth a couple of vodka-tonics and a sigh of In the same show I had a number guest - The Master - and Graham relief. Oh, and a small present from called ‘Wait a Bit, Joe.’ When he first would slip back into the Golden Graham wrapped in brown paper. saw me perform it,he said afterwards Years. And as he slipped back, the Inside - a colourful Jamaican market - ‘A little charm wouldn’t hurt.’ So years would slip off him and the scene. Signed - Noël COWARD And next night I put in what I thought was stories would tumble over each other. then we started discussing what we ‘charm’. He was round like a shot. needed to do next for our absent ‘I said a little charm ‘ NOT MARY One evening I found myself saying - friend ... ROSE ON ICE !’ ” “Graham,you really must write your book. You’re the only one left who I mentioned Dany earlier and One of Graham’s most lovable knew Noël.” no reference to Graham can be qualities was his total honesty about himself. As the years went by for them as a couple, Geoffrey Johnson, Dany Dasto and Barry Day at Les Avants it became obvious that Noël wanted to groom him to be the ‘new’ Noël. Graham had no illusions about himself and his talent ...

“Oh, people liked to watch me - but they didn’t need to watch me. I didn’t have the ‘star quality’ you need to make it really big. It didn’t bother me but Noël took some time to get used to it. When he finally did, it was a great relief to both of us.

I remember once in Jamaica. Noël, Coley and I were messing as well as the manuscripts... and 5 listen and watch the music and TV appearances... enter the world of this remarkable man.

After Graham left us Dany, who continues to live in the lovely Chalet Coward in Les Avants, has enthusiastically continued to supervise Noël Coward’s legacy and carried on the work that initially Cole Lesley and subsequently Graham looked after so efficiently since Noël died in 1973. He has supported a number of initiatives (including the setting up of The Noël Coward Room) with practical help and wise counsel often putting aside his own interests to do so. Dany Dasto and Graham Payn at The Gershwin Hall of Fame, New York He is our link to all decisions made on the Coward canon and we are complete without acknowledging visiting Graham, he, Dany and I extremely grateful to him. Maybe it’s the enormously important role he would talk late into the night and something in the Swiss air or maybe played in Graham’s life and now plays the conversation would invariably another happen-stance but whenever I subsequently. He and Graham met get around to taking care of the hear him talking about what Graham not long before I knew Graham. At Coward future. Top of Graham’s would have wanted, I hear Graham the time Dany was an engineer in list was always a Noël Coward talking about what Noël would have great demand and also a considerable Centre - somewhere one could wanted. And perhaps that’s what painter, under the professional go and ‘experience’ Noël...see the directs us all. Don’t you think so Dad? name of Dasto, who over the years artefacts he lived among, wherever he has had exhibitions in London as happened to be... view the thousands Barry Day well as in Switzerland. When I was of letters and personal photographs

Dany Dasto and Alan Brodie at Les Avants

Graham Payn at his 77th Birthday Party 6 Graham Payn . . . a Life Highlights of a life with extracts from Wikipedia

Graham Payn was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the son of Francis Dawnay Payn and his wife, Sybil, née Graham.

He was educated in South Africa. After his parents divorced, in England, he made his first stage appearance, aged 13, as Curly in Peter Pan at the London Palladium.

In October 1931, he broadcast as a boy soprano on the BBC in a programme featuring Derek Oldham and Mabel Constanduros, and made further broadcasts in 1932 and 1933.

At the age of 14, he auditioned for the Noël Coward and Charles B. Cochran revue Words and Music (1932). His audition piece, singing “Nearer My God to Thee” while executing a tap dance, was so striking that Payn won two tiny parts in the revue. For 163 performances, he played a busker entertaining a cinema queue as a lead-in to the ballad “Mad About the Boy”, and announced, in top hat, white jacket and Graham Payn, boy soprano shorts, the show’s other hit song “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”.

He first appeared in films as a boy soprano in the same year. When the revue closed, Payn signed a nine-week contract to sing in cinemas around Britain, but the tour was cancelled when his voice suddenly broke.

Unemployable as a boy soprano, he returned with his mother to South Africa. During the run of Words and Music, Payn had studied tap dancing with the show’s choreographer, Buddy Bradley. To make a living in South Africa he taught at dancing schools in Durban and Johannesburg, reproducing Bradley’s routines.

His Adult career Returning to England in 1936, Payn broadcast frequently as a light baritone on radio as well as on the new television service in variety shows in 1938 and 1939; he was also cast in radio plays. His first adult role in the West Graham and his mother Sybil Payn End came a fortnight before the outbreak of World War II, in Douglas Furber’s song and dance show, Sitting Pretty, after which all the theatres Payn’s performances were well reviewed, but the shows were 7 were closed. Payn volunteered for the army but was unsuccessful. In the 1960s, he played the supporting role of discharged on health grounds after a few weeks because Morris Dixon in Present Laughter. of a hernia. Payn also did some film work. In 1949, he was in the Borstal In 1941 and 1942, he appeared in Up and Doing, a drama Boys in Brown, with Dirk Bogarde and Richard At- revue, with Leslie Henson, Binnie Hale, Cyril Ritchard tenborough. He appeared in two films with Coward: and Stanley Holloway, and its successor Fine and The Astonished Heart (1950) and The Italian Job (1968), in Dandy, with the cast unchanged except for Dorothy which Coward played a criminal mastermind with Payn as Dickson replacing Binnie Hale. In the latter show Payn his obsequious assistant. and Patricia Burke sang Rodgers and Hart’s “This Can’t Be Love” and later, Coward’s “London Pride”. One Graham Payn and The Coward Estate night, Coward came backstage after the performance. After Coward died in 1973, Payn’s career for the rest of his Payn later wrote, “I remember being very nervous, not life became the administration of the Coward estate. The having seen him for the best part of 10 years, though I Coward authority Barry Day wrote, “It was not a job he was pleased as punch to be recognised in my own right.” ever wanted or expected but he brought to it a dedication Coward’s verdict was, “Very good. Splendid.” and focus that Noël would have been surprised and pleased to see. He was thrust into his biggest role and played it as In Magic Carpet, Payn appeared with Sydney Howard he knew Noël would have wanted him to. It was a fitting and then, after The Lilac Domino (1944), he played farewell performance.” Coward’s biographer, Philip Hoare, Lewis Carroll, the Mock Turtle and Tweedledum in wrote, “Graham disproved his partner’s assessment of Clemence Dane and Richard Addinsell’s musical himself as ‘an illiterate little sod’ by publishing his memoir version of Alice in Wonderland (1944). In the Leslie and by managing the Coward estate. He was a generous, Henson show Gaieties (1945) Payn and Walter Crisham uncomplicated man, and he will be missed by his many sang and danced “White Tie and Tails”. Coward came friends.” backstage after a performance and offered Payn a lead- ing part in his forthcoming show, Sigh No More, which, In 1988, 15 years after Coward’s death, Payn, who “hadn’t Payn wrote in his memoirs, “marked the beginning of the heart to use it again”, gave their Jamaican home, the a personal and professional relationship between Noël Firefly Estate, to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. He and myself that would last until his death.” retained their other home in Switzerland, where he died in 2005, aged 87. Coward continually promoted Payn’s career. He was widely thought to overrate his protégé’s talents. Payn received consistently good notices for his performances, Mary Martin and Graham Payn, Pacific 1860 but lacked drive and star quality, as he himself knew. Coward also eventually came to realise it, writing: “He is, I fear, a born drifter. I know his theatrical career has been a failure but there are other ploys to go after. He sleeps and sleeps, and the days go by. I love him dearly and for ever, but this lack of drive in any direction is a bad augury for the future. I am willing and happy to look after him for the rest of my life, but he must do something.”

In 1951, Payn returned to revue at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. The Lyric Revue had material by several contributors, including Coward, Flanders and Swann and Payn himself; he and Cole Lesley, Coward’s assistant, contributed the song ‘This Seems to be the Moment.’ The show was such a success at Hammersmith that it transferred to the West End. The following year there was a second edition, The Globe Revue, which ran for six months. Coward cast Payn in an American revival of some of his Tonight at 8:30 plays, with Gertrude Lawrence. They were well received on tour but failed on Broadway. In London, Payn appeared in Coward’s new works, Pacific 1860, Ace of Clubs, After the Ball, and Waiting in the Wings. 8

Graham Payn in Teahouse of the August Moon

Pat Kirkwood and Graham Payn in Coward’s Ace of Clubs Graham Payn - Memories, Reflections, 9 Thoughts and Spoken Words

Robert Gardiner My memories of Graham’s qualities Coward’s 1932 London revue Words are of his innate modesty, his and Music. According to Payn: “… My first meeting with Graham was warmth and sense of fun, and his my mother said to me, ‘I don’t think a rather dramatic event because determination that Noël’s work there’s much chance for a boy soprano arrangements had been made for us should continue to be maintained in the Cochran/Coward revue, so in to arrive in the Car Park near “Chalet and treasured. case they stop you, you sing and dance Coward” in Les Avants - by helicopter! at the same time.’” He sang ‘Nearer A small group of us were determined Laura Milburn My God to Thee’ whilst performing to produce the first feature film a tap dance, which earned him two of Hay Fever, and our Producer “Funnily enough, it mattered more to small parts in the revue. Although decided that this would make a good Noël than it did to me. He longed for they did not see one another again “entrance” to meet Graham... me to be a success.” until wartime, the fourteen-year-old Graham Payn had made a lasting We enjoyed investing much In an interview with Graham Payn, impression on Coward. enthusiasm (and much money !) over Alan Farley made the following several years, but were finally obliged comment: When Coward offered Payn a part to forego our Project... in his 1950 revue Sigh No More, “It annoys me regularly when I see Payn wrote in his memoirs that this My next meeting with Graham was all these tributes to musical theatre “marked the beginning of a personal when I returned to Les Avants in my in this country, and they always seem and professional relationship between role as Producer of “Noël Coward to leave out Noël Coward. It’s always Noël and myself that would last - The Centenary Celebration” at American composers, and American until his death.” It also marked a key the Savoy Theatre in December lyricists. It seems to me he was as moment in Payn’s career for, whilst he 1999. Graham was very supportive much a part of American theatre as had enjoyed accomplishment in the and loved being involved in this any other composer.” West End in his own right as a singer, celebration of Noël. ‘Matelot’, secured him his greatest In many ways, the same can be said success. Coward wrote the song We then enjoyed many good times for Payn in Coward’s shows. Payn specifically for Payn. The acclaim from together in the years that followed - in was arguably the stalwart figure in that performance was so great that London, Les Avants and in Dany’s Coward’s musical theatre output, Coward included him in this next elegant apartment in Cannes. It was especially his revues. However, it is three shows: Pacific 1860, Tonight in Cannes that Pirjo and I joined a entirely possible that, without his at 8.30 (starring opposite Gertrude group of Graham’s close friends in mother’s interjection, Coward and Lawrence, under Coward’s direction) celebrating his 80th and his 85th Payn’s paths may never have crossed. and Ace of Clubs. Up until that Birthdays! It was she, after all, who realised point, he was mostly known as a male that Payn needed to add an extra singer in chorus lines. dimension to his audition for a role in It was this song that elevated Payn’s standing amongst critics. On the opening night of Sigh No More on 11 July 1950, Coward noted in his diary that “Graham’s singing of ‘Matelot’ was the high spot of the evening.” The critic for the Evening Standard concurred, writing that “Mr Graham Payn shows that he can do something more than dance in tails and white tie.” He followed this performance with the role of Kerry in Pacific 1860 Robert Gardiner and Graham Payn at an early NCS event. in which he was commended for playing the lover 10 musical theatre works, Payn was able to showcase Gertrude Lawrence and Graham in ‘Ways and Means’ diversity: from his roles in revue, to a romantic lover in ‘Tonight at 8.30’ and a sailor who manages to get involved in the underworld of gangsters in a Soho nightclub. Once again, Payn was applauded for his performance with the review in the Daily Express noting “the biggest ovation at the end was for Graham Payn, who earned it, as Mr Coward said in his curtain speech, by being “that curious phenomenon in the English theatre, a young man who can act and sing and dance all at once”” whilst the Daily Herald commented on Payn singing, dancing and “wooing with vigour and charm.”

Subsequently, Payn accepted a role in Coward’s 1954 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan – the musical operette After the Ball. Whilst this article has focussed solely on Payn’s performances in Coward’s musical works, it must also be noted that he also starred in several of his plays and films too, including the stage productions of Tonight at 8.30, Waiting in the Wings and Present Laughter. Film credits include The Astonished Heart and The Italian Job, in which Payn played the role of Coward’s assistant.

Graham Payn, by his own admission, was not an am- “very well indeed…and puts across bitious man: “Funnily enough, it mattered more to Noël than it did to me. He a South Sea shanty with great longed for me to be a success.” spirit.” The critic for Theatre World described Payn as “one of our few Whilst Payn did not possess the undeniable star quality that Coward did, his leading men gifted with youth, ability contribution to the genre should not be diminished. It was arguably never and a good singing voice.” going to be possible for him to match Coward’s high expectations nor his acclaim. Graham Payn could never obtain the unobtainable but this did not Coward continually promoted Payn’s sour their working relationship. He remained loyal and was prominent in career, despite it being thought that Coward’s musical theatre output. he vastly overrated Payn’s talents – Graham Gertrude Lawrence and Noël rehearsing for “Tonight at 8.30’ although not when it came to ‘London Pride’. According to Payn, upon putting on an old 78rpm, Coward began to complain about the vocalist’s interpretation and particularly the tempo. After plenty of “subdued mutterings”, Payn posed the question to Coward: “What’s the matter? Don’t you like my rendition?” The reply contained expletives, at which point, Coward apparently left the room laughing. Through Coward’s 11 Coley, Noël and ‘Little Lad’ Noël and Graham at Goldenhurst

‘Noël’and Graham at Drury Lane

A Gallery of Graham

Noël and Graham at Blue Harbour 12

Coley Lesley at the home of Edward Molyneux, Biot • Lorn Loraine • and Joan Hirst Cole Lesley

Lorn Loraine Personal Reflections Joan Hirst by Geoffrey Johnson

Geoffrey Johnson, Noël Coward’s American/Representative Manager 1963 -1973, recalls working with three of the people in addition to Graham, who were key members of the Coward ‘family’ for more than 50 years. I often tell everyone that I feel about himself. Perhaps to say that Sail Away. The show was delayed Cole Lesley is often neglected in about two widely different people is but I did get to work as a production the fascinating history that Noël strange. Coward, brilliantly successful associate for what, at the time, was Coward lived and actually created in his endless gifts, and Cole Lesley, a Noël Coward’s American production for himself. Coley gave so much to very unassuming and non-ambitious company. Coward’s charmed life that he should individual, who worked endlessly for not be forgotten. He was unique the man he always called the Master. It was a minor job but I did get to in taking care of everything for him He used his great knowledge to write work with Coley and then the from business matters to all his other what, in my opinion, is the best Master suddenly asked to meet activities, creatively and socially. biography of Coward that has been with me. I was rather apprehensive written. He called it Remembered but I had no need to worry as our He began his duties for Noël Coward Laughter ---- an apt title. conversation was friendly and relaxed. at age 27 and worked tirelessly until his sudden death seven years after I first met Noël----and then Coley-- I was complimented on my work up Noël died in 1973. --long ago by mere chance. I stage- to that point and the fact I was so managed the auditions for a new familiar with the Coward canon, that I often thought that Coley knew more Broadway musical and that was the he wanted to offer me a position as about Noël Coward than Noël knew writer, composer, and director of his American representative. “I need someone here, along with my his career as his 13 American lawyer, to tell people yes reputation grew or no about anything to do with me world-wide. wherever I am. Of course, you must co-ordinate with me, Coley who will Despite his devotion always be at my side and Lornie in to his work, he London.” developed a distinct and enviable “Would you be interested?” Without personality of his hesitation I agreed and remained in own. He could that position for well over ten years in adapt to any group the Noël Coward World that I must of impressive people say changed my life. that surrounded Noël and adjusted Cole Lesley, was born Lesley Cole, in to any situation Farningham, Kent, and came to work and environment. for Noël Coward rather by accident--- He had a great and -as often happens. Looking for work, distinctive sense of he heard that there was a job opening humour. for a cook-valet. Working with Kenneth Tynan, in his review for Coley, as I did, Coley’s Coward biography, wrote, for the senior years of Coward’s “a stage-struck youth who could not life, was truly cook and had never been a valet went exceptional. He to work for Noël as a sort of cook- was such a perfect valet.” correspondent from wherever he Cole Lesley Those chores did not last long as his travelled in the employer’s trust in him grew rapidly. world, I always of such celebrities as Lily Elsie, his He had an infallible sense of what to knew what was going on in what I friend “Dellie’ (Adele) Astaire, Marie do for his playwright/actor/composer called the NC Empire. His letters Tempest, Gladys Cooper, and many at all times. He, along with the were classic. many others. At the same time, I experienced Lornie, began to take care often laughed with him about being of everything, and most important, He was certainly star-struck and title-struck, as well. Aside from the pertaining to Coward business and constantly sent me ancient postcards royals he met with the Master, he worshipped Lady Diana Cooper, Cole Lesley with Geoffrey Johnson the Marchioness of Dufferin & Ava, Dame Rebecca West, Lord Snowden, the Dowager Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley (my favourite), and an endless string of others who, in turn, were captivated by him.

All in all, Cole Lesley was very special. We have a lot to be thankful to him for not least the beautifully put together photograph albums he left to posterity. Much of the archive that is now held in London is down to the efficient way he collected and organised the Coward life. He really was not only invaluable to Noël----but really beloved by everyone who knew him. 14 Lorn Loraine Lornie married Rupert Loraine early Redgrave dynasty but eventually on and had two children, Peter and took over the Coward London office I first met Lorn Loraine when she Meggie. Her daughter was a god-child recently moved from Milner Street came to New York to see Noël Coward of Noël’s, and she was the first of his to Cadogan Square in Chelsea. She about a forgotten project years ago. I sixteen god-children for the record. stored in the London office a lot of can’t remember the date of our first Coward papers, scripts, press cuttings meeting but it was certainly early on Our mutual respect for each other and correspondence much of which is in my Coward career. I had heard was always part of our long-distance now at the University of Birmingham a great deal about her from Coley working relationship. I admired her Special Collections. and had learned much later that she greatly for being Noël Coward’s close worked for Noël as a London-based friend, ally, and adviser. I dealt very often from here with Joan super-secretary/representative for forty in London. She was an invaluable years until her death in 1967. Along with these great traits, I was and most important source for impressed by her droll illustrations any knowledge about past Coward I felt I knew her long before we ever and contributions to Noël Coward’s productions and my other endless met. I was very aware of her position short ---- and some say quite rude but queries. I also often spent time and I couldn’t help admiring her always witty A Withered Nosegay. visiting her when I was in London efficiency and great respect for the That, along with the verse letters they and we eventually became close man who she never called anything exchanged over the years proved how friends as well. but ‘Master.’ close their thinking and humour always was. When I would arrive at beautiful Lornie, born a MacNaughton, began Cadogan Square to catch up on the her career as a performer and had She is someone else we have much to latest Noël projects, I never forget her appeared in chorus roles in a tour of be grateful for. Without her we would first words, Seymour Hicks Bluebell In Fairyland not have the astonishing collection of and then in the West End in the long letters which she meticulously typed, “Darling! How about a nice cup of running musical, Irene. copied and organised. tea, dear?”

She spoke in a well-bred voice that Months before he lost Lorn Loraine, Nothing could be discussed until we was described by a Coward biographer Noël Coward wrote in his Diary started with tea and biscuits! Her as, “mixed with the jargon of stage because her illness was terminal and words still ring in my ears and I often slang of a chorus girl.” I was never there was little hope of recovery, miss Joan and my cup of tea and a aware of the latter. She was also biscuit. depicted as “the perfect woman for “Lornie has been one of the mainstays the difficult role of Coward’s (initial) of my life….loving, passionately Her daily routine was much more secretary,” the same man said. devoted and one of the truly difficult than mine in many ways I This I agreed with. important characters of my life….” thought. First of all, she was closer to Switzerland than I was and that I found her very friendly and That says it all, doesn’t it? was where Noël, Coley, and, later intelligent, However, she was Graham, lived more often than any forceful, in a good sense. I could tell Joan Hirst other place. She telephoned Coley immediately she thrived on her job almost daily with all the London and worshipped Noël, in the same I always called Joan Hirst a successor news including press reports, current way Coley did. She instantly won me to Lornie even though the two of events, and, of course, the latest over by telling me how pleased she them had worked together in the theatre gossip for a bit of spice. was that I was now working for the Coward London office before Joan When London functions like the Master in America. became the single London contact 70th birthday celebrations, book after Lornie’s death. publishing events, the knighthood I met her for a second time when ceremony, and other honours for I first went to London. With no Joan began working for NC after Coward, etc. took place, she had to prompting from me, she arranged for several years working as a secretarial deal with much of the ground work me to see several West End shows. assistant to the distinguished with endless preparations from her In addition, as her guest, we had a Redgrave family and, in particular, office. The telephone rang constantly lovely dinner in a posh restaurant Sir Michael, his wife, Rachel but she always came through it all (as I remember, I think it was The Kempson, and Lynn Redgrave. smiling. Savoy), an evening at a rowdy English Music Hall, and a bit of down-to-earth For some time she doubled working Joan was very much the English lady pub-crawling. I had a perfect London for the Coward office and the that all of us in America admire so visit! much. I really miss her. 15 Postscript: Bartholomew Mews the home of original London office of In 1982 I was very touched by what Noël Coward, attached to his studio at 17 Gerald Road. the editors of The Noël Coward Diaries, wrote in the volume’s Forward: It read:

‘TO THE MEMORY OF COLE LESLEY.’

I would say nothing could be more right than that Dedication. The Forward went on to say:

“We would also like here to note that two of the people most closely concerned with Noël’s later life and now with the running of his estate, Joan Hirst in London and Geoffrey Johnson in New York, made a vastly greater contribution to his professional well-being than is indicated by their brief appearances in these diaries.” Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley

(Only Lorn Loraine’s name was absent because she left Graham and Sheridan much earlier but, of course, she will always be present in all our memories.)

Thank you Gra and Sherry.

David Gearing, Joan Hirst Blanche Blackwell and Michael Cox Cox Michael PHOTO: 16 Lornie in her own write... The indispensible The Letters of Noël Coward - the ultimate bedside companion - contains a selection of letters to and from Lornie - Noël’s personal assistant in the days before technology took over from carbon paper. One of her loyal tasks was not only copying ‘letters out’ but on occasion ‘letters in’ to ensure that the Master always had correspondence to hand and at the ready. The Noël Coward Room is now home to numerous original hand -written ‘Lornie’ letters - worth an afternoon alone just reading and absorbing them and imagining their relationship - newsy, warm, always efficient and riven with their commitment to each other.

And then there are of course the ‘Lornie’ verses... just a selection here of both to whet the appetite:

Noël Coward signing autographs with Lorn Loraine An extract from The Letters of Noël Coward edited by Barry Day 17 Noël and Lornie at Gerald Road To Lorn There are certain ladies in our land. There arc certain ladies in our land Still living and still unafraid Who bring to Life the gift of gay Whose hearts have known a lot of pain, Uncompromising sanity. Whose eyes have shed so many tears. The past, for them, is safe and sure. Who welcomed pity with disdain Perhaps their only vanity And view the fast encroaching years Is that they know they can endure Humorously and undismayed. The rigours of another day.

There are certain ladies in our land. Whose courage is too deeply bred For the forty plus years they worked together, To merit unreflecting praise. Noël and Lorn would indulge in an ongoing game of charades in For them no easy, glib escape; which Noël was the omniscient but kindly ‘Master’ tolerating Lorn, No mystic hopes confuse their days the hapless servant. It was a typically English way of cloaking the deep They can identify the shape affection that could never be adequately expressed. Of what’s to come, devoid of dread.

Lornie Is a Silly-Billy

Lornie is a silly-billy, O my God, is Lornie silly? Lornie is sillier than Willy Graham-Browne and he is silly.

Master, on the other hand, is witty. Talented and very pretty

And some verses that have yet to be published ...... excepting here! 18 Noël Coward Screenplays In Which We Serve • Brief Encounter • The Astonished Heart Edited by Barry Day You may take it that I am not interested in writing scenarios at all. I want to write words, not stage directions. I don’t want to cast any slur on scenario work, and I readily admit that it is a highly expert business. But as a dramatist, dialogue and its psychology are practically my sole concern. You will notice that in the published version of my plays the stage directions are cut down to the absolute minimum ... It is work which simply does not appeal to me.”

In saying that, he was telling only part of the truth. At the time he was trying his hand at an original screenplay for Balcon. It was to be called Concerto and it was based on one of his short stories.

Balcon turned it down, which must have been humiliating for Noël but was ultimately good news for the theatre, since he ultimately revised the story line and made it the basis for his successful operetta, Bitter Sweet two years later. In that same interview, however, he made a perceptive observation.

“Film,” he noted, “should not be regarded as an off-shoot of the stage. It is a totally different medium and one which, in its own distinctive way, should have constructive form and the minimum of digression.”

His analysis was correct but the key to the medium was to elude him for some time to come. And his highly-developed sense of three-act play construction may have had a lot to do with it.

By the time he began making regular visits to Hollywood in the early 1930s, sound had arrived The writing of screenplays was a talent that Noël acquired and transformed the way films were made but even relatively late in his precocious career. In retrospect it’s easy to so, while watching his new-found friends at work understand why. In 1927 Michael Balcon - then the head of interested him as an observer, he felt no compulsion Gainsborough Pictures - had bought the film rights to three to join or compete with them. of Noël’s early plays... The Queen Was in the Parlour, Easy Virtue and The Vortex ... and filmed them all in that same year. He wrote to his mother Violet -

Anxious to establish credibility for the fledgling British film “I’m not very keen on Hollywood ... I’d rather have a nice industry, he had settled on the strategy of buying successful cup of cocoa, really.” literary properties that would demonstrate artistic integrity. The only flaw in that thinking was that a Coward play In 1935 he did edge a small step closer when he agreed depended almost entirely on its sophisticated dialogue - and to star in The Scoundrel to be directed by Ben Hecht the movies were still stubbornly silent! and Charles MacArthur but that was shot not in Hollywood but in the more informal Astoria Studios In the film version Noël was not even invited to provide in New York, where his friends could join in and turn the title cards and the resulting films left him distinctly it into a party as well as a production. disenchanted with film as a medium. In a magazine interview at the time he was quoted as grandly The fee was small ($5,000) and the anticipated bonus saying ... from profits never materialized. The real profit for Noël was the experience of seeing up close how a film N SALE 19 O F • R O 5

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got made. E Balcon, Hecht and MacArthur may have written the unwitting prologue but it was David Lean and Orson Welles who set the scene for Noël’s eventual entry into film-making.

In 1941 Noël agreed to write, produce, co-direct and act in a propaganda film about the Royal Navy - a subject close to his heart. He prepared a draft screenplay, which he called White Ensign and read it enthusiastically aloud to the key production team he had chosen - co-director David Lean, cameraman Ronald Neame and producer Anthony Havelock-Allan.

When he’d finished, there was an embarrassed silence before Lean spoke up and pointed out that, wonderful as it was, it would take up to five hours of screen time.

“Oh, my God!” said Noël - for once somewhat abashed - “I never thought of that. I thought you could do anything in the movies. I fear this has as many restrictions around it as the stage.”

Lean saved the day by suggesting, rather diffidently, that Noël might go and see the new Orson Welles film, Citizen Kane, that was impressing Brief Encounter critics and the public alike. Noël promptly saw the film and saw the light. He promised Lean a rewrite within two weeks.

The overlapping time structure, the introduction of characters and then their ‘back story’ in the eventual In Which We Serve were lessons learned from Welles and they would be refined later in Brief Encounter.

The rest - as they say - is cinema history. Barry Day For sale online at: The Astonished Heart bloomsbury.com/uk/noel-coward- screenplays-9781472568090/ 20 The Regent Street Cinema (5 mins. from Oxford Circus) has just been restored and reopened after more than 30 years closure. Opened in 1896, first showed the Lumiere Brothers Moving Picture show.

www.regentstreetcinema.com/ noel-coward-film-festival/

Now booking for all the Noël Coward Film Season.

Friday 20 November 7.00pm • Coward On Film - An introduction with Barry Day.

Friday 20 November, 7.30pm IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942) A Season of Coward Films Coward produced, wrote, starred in, co-directed and even composed the incidental music for this classic Saturday 21 November, 2pm British war film - the story of a destroyer and its crew. THE ASTONISHED HEART (1950) The ship is sunk and we share the ‘back stories’ of Based on one of the short plays from the Tonight at 8.30 the survivors as they cling to a life raft. The film was sequence, the story of Christian Faber, a famous psychiatrist awarded a special Oscar for “outstanding production (Noël), happily married to Barbara (Celia Johnson), achievement’. David Lean co-directed the film. It was becomes tragically infatuated with Leonora (Margaret his first directing credit. Cast included John Mills, Celia Leighton). Directed by Terence Fisher & Anthony Johnson and Richard Attenborough in his first film role. Darnborough. Director: David Lean.

Running time: 139 minutes. Rating: U Running time: 86 minutes. Rating: PG Saturday 21 November, 4pm Saturday 21 November, 6pm 21 BLITHE SPIRIT (1945) BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)

A cynical writer (Rex Harrison) invites a local medium Laura (Celia Johnson), an ordinary housewife, set in her (Margaret Rutherford) to hold a seance in his home, suburban ways, meets a doctor (Trevor Howard) who is also conventionally married. Despite themselves, they hoping it will provide material for a book he is fall in love. Their social conditioning forces them to part writing. She only succeeds in conjuring up the ghost forever and remember forever the love that can never be of his flirtatious first wife, who proceeds to make life but that can never be spoiled. It was also voted Number unbearable for his second wife. Based on Coward’s Two in a BFI poll of the nation’s favourite films. 1941 play that broke theatrical records and is still his Director: David Lean. most revived. This was third of the four collaborations between David Lean, Anthony Havelock -Allan, Running time: 83 minutes. Rating: PG Ronald Neame and Noël. Also starring Constance Cummings and and Kay Hammond.

Running time: 92 minutes. Rating: U

Sunday 22 November, 2pm THIS HAPPY BREED (1944)

Saturday 21 November, 8pm THE ITALIAN JOB (1969) Noël’s final film performance as Mr. Bridger, a master criminal planning a major heist from his prison cell. Starring Michael Caine, who was quoted as saying that “Playing with Noël is a lot like playing with God.” He wasn’t the first to have that feeling. Director: Peter Collinson. Cast also included Graham Payn.

Running time: 95 minutes. Rating: PG

Based on his 1939 play - and in some ways a working class sequel to Cavalcade- it follows the fortunes of the Gibbons family from the time they move into their new home in 1919 until they leave a few months before another war breaks out. Social history in a domestic setting and a precursor to modern ‘soaps’. Director: David Lean. Cast includes Robert Newton, Celia Johnson and Stanley Holloway.

Running time: 106 minutes. Rating: U 22 Sunday 22 November, 4.30pm Sunday 22 November, 7.30pm CAVALCADE (1932) OUR MAN IN HAVANA (1959)

The parallel stories of an upper-class English family and Based on the Graham Greene novel. M.I.5 recruits their ‘downstairs’ servants between the Boer War and Wormold, an English vacuum cleaner salesman in the outbreak of World War 1 and how they are affected Havana (Alec Guinness) as a secret agent, who is forced to by the historic events between. Based on Noël’s 1931 make up fake ‘intelligence for his unintelligent control’, pageant/play, the film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Hawthorne (Noël). Critics said that Noël ‘stole’ the film Director (Frank Lloyd) and Best Art Direction. Louella from Guinness. Noël concurred but added - Parsons considered it “greater even than Birth of a Nation.” Cast included Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook. “But it was only petty larceny.” Director: Carol Reed.

Running time: 112 minutes. Rating: U Running time: 103 minutes. Rating: PG

Noël Coward: an entertainer abroad

Wednesday 7 October 2015 - Friday 8 January 2016

Noël Coward (1899-1973) was a prolific and successful playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. This exhibition, drawn from material held at the Cadbury Research Library, celebrates his career on the international stage from the 1920s until shortly before his death.

We explore Coward’s involvement with American theatre and the absorption of Broadway’s smartness and pace into his own work dur- ing the 1920s; his involvement in the war effort during the 1940s, entertaining troops with music and cabaret whilst touring indefati- gably across Europe, Africa, Asia and America; and we illustrate his twilight years film career, acting in The Italian Job (1969), shortly before his death.

An extended version of this exhibition is available on the Cadbury Research Library’s Flickr page. Part of the University’s Book to the Future Festival 2015. 23

One of the screen’s greatest love stories 70th anniversary reissue: 6 November ITV Studios’ Brief Encounter will return to cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 6 November for a 70th anniversary reissue. The quintessential British romance, Brief Encounter takes its place as one of the key titles in the BFI’s LOVE season (October - December) and will screen alongside charming archival short, A Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) as part of this release.

A fleeting affair that turned into a timeless romance, Brief Encounter is a landmark of British cinema and one of the screen’s greatest love sto- ries. Sensitive direction, perfect performances and an iconic score trans- form its simple story of two happily married strangers thrown together by chance and torn apart by obligation into a heartbreaking exploration of the power of love.

Laura Jesson accidentally meets Alex Harvey at a railway station on her way home from a neighbouring town. Both married with children, the pair begin to question their previously happy home lives when their chance encounter turns into a regular acquaintance and their initial friendship becomes a burgeoning attraction. Tickets are available from the BFI online at: whatson.bfi.org.uk then Forced to hide their developing relationship from family and friends, search for ‘Brief Encounter.’ the couple are almost discovered after being interrupted during a would- be tryst. Realising the impossibility of their situation, Laura and Alex must consider parting forever. 24 A key title in the BFI’s LOVE season, it will screen alongside archival short, A Kiss in the Tunnel (dir G A Smith, UK 1899) as part of the release. A seminal moment in the evolution of cinema’s steamy romance with trains, A Kiss in the Tunnel is also one of the earliest surviving examples of film editing.

A man and woman, played by the director himself and his wife Laura Bayley, take the opportunity of disappearing into a dark railway tunnel to steal a kiss.

This cheeky Victorian short held by the BFI National Archive will also be available for everyone to enjoy for free on BFI Player.

Brief Encounter was restored in 2008 by the BFI National Archive, with support from the David Lean Foundation. CONVERSATION PIECE 25 News and views from the Noël Coward Society, its members and friends

SAVE THE DATE – Sunday, December 13, 2015 The US celebration of Sir Noël Coward’s 116th birthday will take place at the Gershwin Theatre followed by a luncheon at The Manhattan Club. More details to follow. For enquiries please contact: Ken Starrett: [email protected].

The UK celebration on Saturday, December 12th is full with waiting-list acceptances only.

MY LIFE - A DREAM • MEMORIES 1971 Einar Nerman • with thanks to Ken Starrett

Translation from Swedish to English: Jan-Eric Askenstrom.

building. The snow was falling in Sir Noël heavy flakes. Candles were burning in every window. The Christmas Christmas 1935. I saw in the tree illuminations were gleaming. newspaper that Noël Coward was There was everything that belongs to visiting Stockholm and staying at the Christmas. The man himself came Grand Hotel. Once in London he had Introduction like Santa Claus carrying an armload told me that he would like to come of packages. He had asked at the to Sweden to enjoy a real Swedish After the Manchester try-out of hotel how many kids we had and then winter. But now he said in the Tonight at 8:30 in December 1935, hastened to the NK department store. newspaper that he hated Christmas before the opening in London in The result was wonderful gifts for the and that a Christmas celebration was January 1936, Coward and Jeffrey children between two and seventeen. Amherst, went to Sweden. This trip the worst thing he knew. And here I was considering inviting him to a is mentioned in a quick paragraph Noël was one of the most charming in Sheridan’s A Talent to Amuse on genuine Swedish Christmas Eve party! Well, I plucked up my courage, called Christmas guests we have ever page 190. He has the incident taking had. At the Christmas dinner he place in Copenhagen. There is a one- my friend Noël at the hotel, welcomed him to my country and asked him retracted everything he had said about sentence mention in Philip Hoare’s Christmas celebration. book on page 270. unobtrusively if he would like to celebrate Christmas with us. “Christmas is a wonderful time and Two Swedish NCS members, “I’d be delighted to come” Christmas Eve - a toast for Christmas Jan-Eric and Mari-Anne Askenstrom, Eve! Cheers, cheers, cheers!” spend time between both Stockholm was his instant reply. and New York. When they were In those days we lived at the At the fireside later in the evening in Stockholm, they found an he told about some of his other autobiography of caricaturist, Einar Hersbyholm Manor in Lidingö, Stockholm. No efforts were spared in Christmas celebrations. He had Nerman who had been a friend of celebrated Christmas in so many Coward’s in London in the late 20s. making our English friend remember a genuine Swedish Christmas. places on the globe. If he someday finds the time, he will write a book In the book is a short chapter of about it. Coward’s Christmas trip to Sweden. On Christmas Eve when he drove up into the courtyard there were large The book has never been translated But Noël never seemed to never find into English, so they did a translation blazing torches throwing shadows against the old white rough-cast enough time. On New Year’s Eve he and sent it to Ken Starrett. had to take the boat to London for 26 the opening of the first production of Tonight at 8:30. “Too bad,” one of the guests said.

“I had hoped that Mr. Coward would spend New Year’s Eve at an old Swedish palace after having celebrated Christmas Eve at an old Swedish manor.”

The palace was Stenhammar and the inviter was Prince Wilhelm, son of the King of Sweden, Gustav V and brother of the future King Gustav VI Adolf. “I shall be delighted” the adorable guest replied. Thus it was decided that we would all meet at the Stenhammar Palace on New Year’s Eve. Noël would be able to take a later boat to London. My wife and I promised to be his travelling companions to the palace along with a young lord he would bring. (Jeffrey Amherst)

New Year’s Eve at the Stenhammar Palace was as evocative as had been the Christmas Eve at the Hersbyholm Manor. The dinner in the grandiose dining hall was magnificent. The candles glittered on the extravagantly decorated table. The Einer Nerman ancient walls painted gray provided a beautiful setting for all of it. Noël expressed his gratitude to the host and to all A year went by and it is January 1937 in New York. of us for what he had experienced in our fabulous country. For twelve days I have been bobbing up and down He had met so many nice and gracious people. Among on a stormy Atlantic Ocean. I’m sitting in a hotel on them Greta Garbo who he adored. She was the greatest the twentieth floor studying a list of the city’s theatre actress of them all he said. She was “a miracle”. He thought presentations. On Broadway Noël Coward is right in Gösta Ekman was an excellent actor. He admired Zarah the middle of playing his one-act plays of Leander, who according to him was cut out to be a world- Tonight at 8:30 and that very day there is a matinee famous actress. He had been enjoying both art and theatre performance. I hurry down to the theatre and just as in Sweden. Oh how he loved Sweden and the Swedes! He I come to the stage door a stylish car drives up. An said he would return as soon as he got the opportunity. After elegant lady gets out. I recognize Gertrude Lawrence, the dinner he sat down at the piano and played his melodic Noël’s adorable prima donna. She recognizes me and songs from Bitter Sweet. It was an unforgettable evening! asks me to come to her dressing room to wait for At midnight the host put on a record from Cavalcade. Noël Noël who is always late. Now we hear him was surprised and touched. We raised our glasses to the New coming and she gets an idea. We have to Year. London was tuned in on the radio and old familiar surprise him. English hymns were sounding in the palace halls on this peculiar New Year’s Night charged with emotion. “Just follow me,” she says running up the stairs. She knocks on the door to Noël’s dressing room. The hours flew with jokes and laughter. But no joy lasts forever. When Noël finally in the wee hours of the morning “Noël! There’s a young man out here who would suggested that we should be English and play children’s like to ask for your autograph.” games, it appeared quite natural. We played one childish game after the other. It was when we were in the flash of joy She plays her little comedy so well. Noël, who playing tag in the long hallways upstairs that the accident does not like to write autographs opens the door in happened. Noël was opening a door when running and his anger and ... Curtain! Well, I have rarely been so Noël of Coward caricature Nerman Einer fingers got wedged in the door handle. His left index finger cordially welcomed. Now I have to see his one-act was within an ace of being cut off. This was a sad ending of plays. After the performance we are sitting in his the games and until then, a pleasant New Year’s Night. dressing room talking about Sweden and all his Noël faded and had to be put to bed. Swedish friends.

We managed to hurriedly bring a doctor from the nearby “I will never forget that New Year’s Eve,” he town of Flen. Poor Noël was stitched up while we all helped says making a funny gesture with his left index to hold him. He was a true hero. One of the ladies fainted. finger. Many years have passed since then and The whole thing was pretty tragic. With his arm in a sling he Noël is “Sir Noël” because Queen Elizabeth arrived in London a few days later. The theatre opening took graciously made him a knight on his seventieth place as scheduled but he had to play the strenuous program birthday. with a bandaged stiff finger. 27 HRH THE DUKE OF His military service, and deep interest in military history, sees him making a particularly important contribution to KENT: A Life Of Service many military-related organisations – the chief of which must be the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. NCS Members will be well aware that HRH The Duke of Kent is our President. You will be interested to hear that At the time of his eightieth birthday on October 9, 2015, a new biography has been published to celebrate Prince Prince Edward remains one of the busiest members of the Edward’s 80th birthday 9th October 2015. royal family. This book is offered as a tribute to his life of service, and to the myriad organisations, large and small, Our thanks go to Barbara Longford (NCS Past Chairman) local, national and international, that make up the fabric who is quoted in the book and informed some of the of the United Kingdom in the twenty-first century. content. This book is available from Amazon and other online Not Just Batman’s Butler booksellers.

His Royal Highness Prince Edward The Duke of Kent KG GCMG GCVO ADC(P), first cousin to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has devoted his life to the service of his country. Even before he served twenty-one years as a regular soldier in the British Army, he was introduced to this life of service by his widowed mother, HRH Princess Marina, The Duchess of Kent, during an extensive tour of the Far East at the time of his seventeenth birthday.

His interest in modern technology, especially computing Alan Napier as and engineering, in issues of health, fitness and social Lord Shayne in Bitter Sweet welfare, and in the development of the intellect, has seen him become the patron, president or active member of James Bigwood is an NCS member who has written a more than one hundred charities and social organisations. biography of Alan Napier, who created the role of the Marquis of Shayne in Bitter Sweet in 1929, and wrote his auto-biography in the early seventies. It was not published at the time, but has been released this year with annotations and additional chapters by James.

Although Alan was best known as Alfred the butler on the 1960s television series, Batman, he had a long career going back to his early days with the Oxford Players in 1925 and he considered Lord Shayne (along with Captain Shotover in Heartbreak House) his favorite role. He devotes a full chapter to Bitter Sweet and a good third of the book to his West End career in the late twenties and thirties.

James Bigwood Einer Nerman caricature of Noël of Coward caricature Nerman Einer

LONDON CALLING! We would like to record our thanks to Kendra Bean and Jenny Abbe for the James Abbe photograph of Noël and Gertrude Lawrence in London Calling! that was featured in our last edition. Why not join us in a legacy Graham left us... 28 ... The International Noël Coward Society and receive the latest information on Coward events and Society activity. You can join online at: www.noelcoward.net or contact Ken Starrett ([email protected]) for the USA and Canada; Stephen Duckham (stephenduckham50@btinternet. com) for the UK and the Rest of the World.

Grahan Payn at Watergate, Spithead Lodge Estate, Bermuda