NOËL COWARD Recitation (Unaccompanied) Volume 3: “Mad About the Boy” Original Recordings 1932-1943 (HMV B 9336, Mx OEA 10019-2) Recorded 2Nd July, 1943 2:35 20

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

NOËL COWARD Recitation (Unaccompanied) Volume 3: “Mad About the Boy” Original Recordings 1932-1943 (HMV B 9336, Mx OEA 10019-2) Recorded 2Nd July, 1943 2:35 20 120623bk Coward 3 REV 21/11/02 3:43 pm Page 8 The Naxos Historical labels aim to make available the greatest recordings of the history of recorded music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. David Lennick As a producer of CD reissues, David Lennick’s work in this field grew directly from his own needs as a broadcaster specializing in vintage material and the need to make it listenable while being transmitted through equalizers, compressors and the inherent limitations of A.M. radio. Equally at home in classical, pop, jazz and nostalgia, Lennick describes himself as exercising as much control as possible on the final product, in conjunction with CEDAR noise reduction applied by Graham Newton in Toronto. As both broadcaster and re-issue producer, he relies on his own extensive collection as well as those made available to him by private collectors, the University of Toronto, Syracuse University and others. Also available in the Naxos Nostalgia series 8.120559 8.120560 8.120600* * Not Available in the U.S. 120623bk Coward 3 REV 21/11/02 3:43 pm Page 2 19. THE WELCOMING LAND (Clemence Dane) NOËL COWARD Recitation (unaccompanied) Volume 3: “Mad About The Boy” Original Recordings 1932-1943 (HMV B 9336, mx OEA 10019-2) Recorded 2nd July, 1943 2:35 20. I'M OLD FASHIONED (Jerome Kern–Johnny Mercer) A rare breed of thespian polymath, the multi-faceted Noël Coward was a kind of 20th With Robb Stewart, piano century ‘Renascence Man’ of the theatre – variously playwright, singing-actor of stage (HMV B 9337, mx OEA 10024-1) Recorded 6th July, 1943 2:34 and revue, film-actor, composer, writer, critic and general theatrical entrepreneur. Born 21. YOU'D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO (Cole Porter) Noël Peirce Coward in Teddington into a comfortable, middle-class family and raised in With Robb Stewart, piano Surbiton, Surrey, he received no formal musical training, albeit several of his (HMV B 9337, mx OEA 10025-2) Recorded 6th July, 1943 2:00 antecedents were practising musicians. From the first his inclination veered unerringly towards the theatre and, at Daly’s and the Gaiety, he was nurtured on a diet of All selections recorded in London Edwardian musical comedy and the lighter drama classics until, in 1911, he made his own first stage appearance in The Goldfish, at the London Little Theatre. Transfers & Production: David Lennick From an early age, the self-taught Coward also dabbled in song-writing (his earliest Digital Noise Reduction: Graham Newton surviving song dates from 1915) and, under the tutelage of Charles Hawtrey, he made a Special thanks to Alan Farley for Mad About The Boy few other juvenile appearances as an actor prior to a brief stint in the British Army during WWI (in 1918). During that year he also made his first film appearance, in D.W. Producer's Note Griffith’s Hearts Of The World (a British film, made on location in Worcestershire, Just as Volume 2 of this series was being pressed, a note was received from San starring Dorothy and Lillian Gish). In 1920 he starred in his first, unsuccessful, play I’ll Francisco collector and broadcaster Alan Farley, offering Naxos the unissued 1932 Leave It To You and, less than a year later and again unsuccessfully, made his New York recording of Mad About The Boy, which chronologically should have been included in stage début. Back in London, in February 1923, he made less impression in his next play that compilation. Better late than not at all, here it is, taken from one of the only known The Young Idea than in the André Charlot revue London Calling. In this he danced test pressings. Other rare Coward items were also made available, and these will be with his co-star Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952) and collaborated with writer Ronald included in Volume 4. Jeans. Of the show’s twelve Coward numbers, the wistful Parisian Pierrot has endured best. Coward’s parallel career as a playwright blossomed simultaneously and his straight plays The Vortex (1923), Fallen Angels and Hay Fever (both 1925) won him some early recognition. However, it was in his contributions to revues, first for Charlot in 1924 and Photo of Noël Coward, c.1935 (b/w original Hulton/Archive) 2 8.120623 8.120623 7 120623bk Coward 3 REV 21/11/02 3:43 pm Page 6 10. JUST LET ME LOOK AT YOU (Jerome Kern–Dorothy Fields) 1925, then, more significantly, for C.B. Cochran (1872-1951), that his greater talent for With Carroll Gibbons, piano musical comedy first manifested itself. In 1925 the first of these, On With The Dance (a (HMV B 8772, mx OEA 6430-2) Recorded 24th March, 1938 3:13 star-studded show for which Coward wrote all twelve numbers and in which the 11. POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL (Noël Coward, from On With The Dance) wistfully catchy Poor Little Rich Girl was premiered by Parisian singing actress Alice With Carroll Gibbons, piano Delysia) made him his name in the genre, paving the way to the even bigger success, (HMV B 8772, mx OEA 6431-1) Recorded 24th March, 1938 3:11 again for Cochran, in 1928, of This Year Of Grace. For this show (a virtual triumph with a 316-performance London run complemented by 157 in a concurrent Broadway 12. LONDON PRIDE (Noël Coward) production which netted him £1000 per week in royalties and established his American With orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons reputation), Coward wrote all lyrics and songs, many in the syncopated jazz idiom, (HMV B 9198, mx OEA 9331-1) Recorded 3rd July, 1941 3:17 notably “Dance, Little Lady” and “A Room With A View.” 13. THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS (Jerome Kern–Oscar Hammerstein II) With orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons In 1929, inspired – he claimed – by Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Coward decided (HMV B 9198, mx OEA 9332-1) Recorded 3rd July, 1941 3:09 to try his hand at the Viennese-style with the ‘operette’ Bitter-Sweet. His stars of the 14. COULD YOU PLEASE OBLIGE US WITH A BREN GUN? (Noël Coward) original London production (697 performances), the American soprano Peggy Wood With orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons and Rumanian high-baritone Georges Metaxa, regaled audiences with “Dear Little Café” (HMV B 9204, mx OEA 9389-1) Recorded 28th July, 1941 3:27 and the immortal I’ll See You Again. The show also ran for 159 performances on Broadway and was the first Coward musical to be filmed (in England, in 1933). In 1930, 15. THERE HAVE BEEN SONGS IN ENGLAND (Noël Coward) in London, in the “comedy with music” Private Lives, Coward next reaffirmed his stage With orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons partnership with Gertrude Lawrence (its Broadway production the following year was (HMV B 9204, mx OEA 9390-1) Recorded 28th July, 1941 2:49 also a significant hit) and in another successful London revue, Cavalcade, for Cochran. 16. IMAGINE THE DUCHESS'S FEELINGS! (Noël Coward) This monumental paean to Edwardian life, two years later, would land its author a With Carroll Gibbons, piano $1million contract for an Oscar-winning Fox films production. (HMV B 9210, mx OEA 9391-1) Recorded 28th July, 1941 2:24 Meanwhile, in London in 1932, Words And Music, an archetypally Cowardian mixture 17. IT'S ONLY YOU (Carroll Gibbons) of world-weariness and froth, ran at the Adelphi for 164 performances. Produced for With Carroll Gibbons, piano Cochran and featuring Ivy St. Helier, Effie Atherton and a very young John Mills, this (HMV B 9210, mx OEA 9392-1) Recorded 28th July, 1941 2:21 contained eighteen Coward numbers, most notably “Mad Dogs And Englishmen” and 18. DON'T LET'S BE BEASTLY TO THE GERMANS (Noël Coward) Mad About The Boy. After the further successes of the non-musical Design For Living With Robb Stewart, piano (1933) and the 1934 musical Conversation Piece, in 1936 Coward married his talent for (HMV B 9336, mx OEA 10018-3) Recorded 2nd July, 1943 3:11 satire and musical comedy in Tonight At 8.30, a series of nine one-acters of which three 6 8.120623 8.120623 3 120623bk Coward 3 REV 21/11/02 3:43 pm Page 4 contained musical interludes. First presented at the Phoenix (157 performances) and co- 1. MAD ABOUT THE BOY (Noël Coward; from Words and Music) starring Coward and Lawrence, these also ran on Broadway (118 performances). We With piano accompaniment Were Dancing was one of its most nostalgic highlights. (HMV rejected, mx OB 4211-1) Recorded 20th September, 1932 3:18 With a (His Majesty’s Theatre, London) run of only 113 showings and no Broadway 2. PARISIAN PIERROT (Noël Coward; from London Calling) follow-up, Operette (1938) was a comparative failure for its author, despite some very Orchestra conducted by Clifford Greenwood plaintive tunes in the best Coward tradition (Dearest Love and Where Are The Songs (HMV B 8414, mx OEA 2686-2) Recorded 13th February, 1936 3:45 We Sung? and the monumental drollery of The Stately Homes Of England). It was to 3. WE WERE DANCING (Noël Coward; from Tonight at 8:30) be his last British pre-war musical. The outbreak of the Second World War, however, Orchestra conducted by Clifford Greenwood found Coward making good use of his “talent to amuse”, trying to do his bit for the war- (HMV B 8414, mx OEA 2673-2) Recorded 13th February, 1936 2:50 effort.
Recommended publications
  • Gregory Clarke Sound Designer
    Gregory Clarke Sound Designer Agents Giles Smart Assistant Ellie Byrne [email protected] +44 (020 3214 0812 Credits In Development Production Company Notes THE HOUSE OF SHADES Almeida By Beth Steel 2020 Dir. Blanche McIntyre ALL OF US National Theatre By Francesca Martinez 2020 Dir. Ian Rickson THE REALISTIC JONESES Theatre Royal Bath By Will Eno 2020 Dir. Simon Evans Theatre Production Company Notes THE BOY FRIEND Menier Chocolate Factory Book, Music and Lyrics by Sandy Wilson 2020 Dir. Matthew White THE WIZARD OF OZ Chichester Festival Adapted by John Kane from the motion 2019 Theatre picture screenplay A DOLL'S HOUSE Lyric Hammersmith By Henrik Ibsen in a new adaptation by 2019 Tanika Gupta Dir. Rachel O’Riordan. United Agents | 12-26 Lexington Street London W1F OLE | T +44 (0) 20 3214 0800 | F +44 (0) 20 3214 0801 | E [email protected] Production Company Notes THE SECRET DIARY OF Ambassadors Theatre Based on the novel by Sue Townsend ADRIAN MOLE AGED 13 3/4 Dir. Luke Sheppard Book & Lyrics by 2019 Jake Brunger, Music & Lyrics by Pippa Cleary Transfer of Menier Chocolate Factory production THE BRIDGES OF MADISON Menier Chocolate Factory Book by Marsha Norman COUNTY Music & Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown 2019 Based on the novel by Robert James Waller Direction Trevor Nunn THE BEACON Druid By Nancy Harris 2019 Dir. Garry Hynes RICHARD III Druid / Lincoln Center NYC By William Shakespeare 2019 Dir. Garry Hynes ORPHEUS DESCENDING Theatr Clwyd / Menier By Tennessee Williams 2019 Chocolate Factory Dir. Tamara Harvey THE BAY AT NICE Menier Chocolate Factory By David Hare 2019 Dir.
    [Show full text]
  • German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940
    Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.58, on 26 Sep 2021 at 08:28:39, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/2CC6B5497775D1B3DC60C36C9801E6B4 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.58, on 26 Sep 2021 at 08:28:39, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/2CC6B5497775D1B3DC60C36C9801E6B4 German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940 Academic attention has focused on America’sinfluence on European stage works, and yet dozens of operettas from Austria and Germany were produced on Broadway and in the West End, and their impact on the musical life of the early twentieth century is undeniable. In this ground-breaking book, Derek B. Scott examines the cultural transfer of operetta from the German stage to Britain and the USA and offers a historical and critical survey of these operettas and their music. In the period 1900–1940, over sixty operettas were produced in the West End, and over seventy on Broadway. A study of these stage works is important for the light they shine on a variety of social topics of the period – from modernity and gender relations to new technology and new media – and these are investigated in the individual chapters. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core at doi.org/10.1017/9781108614306. derek b. scott is Professor of Critical Musicology at the University of Leeds.
    [Show full text]
  • Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 1
    Aug2010_Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 1 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NOËL COWARD SOCIETY President: HRH The Duke of Kent Vice Presidents: Barry Day OBE • Stephen Fry • Tammy Grimes • Penelope Keith CBE AUGUST 2010 t was with surprise and sadness that the NCS committee Barbara Longford greeted Barbara Longford’s announcement that she wished Ito stand down as its chairman. For all of us Barbara’s name has become synonymous with Brief Encounter the Society and with the enormous programme of activity and events that has marked her hugely successful period as Design For Living Chairman. She has decided to move on to pursue her desire to support the work of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Coward Celebrations Families Association (SSAFA). We wish her well with her new role and commitments and celebrate her contribution to the work of the Society in our centre pages recalling the highlights of her time with us. Warmest thanks from all of us for all the fun, the style and the passion of her contribution to our hero - to: ‘The Mistress’ from all of the lovers of ‘The Master.’ BRIEF ENCOUNTER RETURNS TO BROADWAY A NOËL COWARD SOCIETY EVENING he Roundabout Theatre Company in association with David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld presents T Kneehigh Theatre’s production of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter adapted by Emma Rice. The production opens at Studio 54 in New York for previews on September 10, 2010. Stephen Greenman and Barbara Longford at Sardi’s in December Following opening on September 28th there will be a limited 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • Playing House with Coward's “Hay Fever”
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Fall 12-17-2011 Playing House with Coward’s “Hay Fever” Sarah M. Klocke University of New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, and the Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Klocke, Sarah M., "Playing House with Coward’s “Hay Fever”" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1383. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1383 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Playing House with Coward’s “Hay Fever” A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Film, Theatre, and Communication Arts Theatre Performance: Directing by Sarah Marie Klocke B.A. Arkansas Tech University December 2011 Acknowledgements Thank you cast and crew of Hay Fever.
    [Show full text]
  • Hamlet West End Announcement
    FOLLOWING A CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED & SELL-OUT RUN AT THE ALMEIDA THEATRE HAMLET STARRING THE BAFTA & OLIVIER AWARD-WINNING ANDREW SCOTT AND DIRECTED BY THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR ROBERT ICKE WILL TRANSFER TO THE HAROLD PINTER THEATRE FOR A STRICTLY LIMITED SEASON FROM 9 JUNE – 2 SEPTEMBER 2017 ‘ANDREW SCOTT DELIVERS A CAREER-DEFINING PERFORMANCE… HE MAKES THE MOST FAMOUS SPEECHES FEEL FRESH AND UNPREDICTABLE’ EVENING STANDARD ‘IT IS LIVEWIRE, EDGE-OF-THE-SEAT STUFF’ TIME OUT Olivier Award-winning director, Robert Icke’s (Mary Stuart, The Red Barn, Uncle Vanya, Oresteia, Mr Burns and 1984), ground-breaking and electrifying production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, starring BAFTA award-winner Andrew Scott (Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock, Denial, Spectre, Design For Living and Cock) in the title role, will transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre, following a critically acclaimed and sell out run at the Almeida Theatre. Hamlet will run for a limited season only from 9 June to 2 September 2017 with press night on Thursday 15 June. Hamlet is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group (Sunday In The Park With George, Buried Child, Oresteia), Sonia Friedman Productions and the Almeida Theatre (Chimerica, Ghosts, King Charles III, 1984, Oresteia), who are renowned for introducing groundbreaking, critically acclaimed transfers to the West End. Rupert Goold, Artistic Director, Almeida Theatre said "We’re delighted that with this transfer more people will be able to experience our production of Hamlet. Robert, Andrew, and the entire Hamlet company have created an unforgettable Shakespeare which we’re looking forward to sharing even more widely over the summer in partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG.” Robert Icke, Director (and Almeida Theatre Associate Director) said “It has been such a thrill to work with Andrew and the extraordinary company of Hamlet on this play so far, and I'm delighted we're going to continue our work on this play in the West End this summer.
    [Show full text]
  • Bruce Walker Musical Theater Recording Collection
    Bruce Walker Musical Theater Recording Collection Bruce Walker Musical Theater Recording Collection Recordings are on vinyl unless marked otherwise marked (* = Cassette or # = Compact Disc) KEY OC - Original Cast TV - Television Soundtrack OBC - Original Broadway Cast ST - Film Soundtrack OLC - Original London Cast SC - Studio Cast RC - Revival Cast ## 2 (OC) 3 GUYS NAKED FROM THE WAIST DOWN (OC) 4 TO THE BAR 13 DAUGHTERS 20'S AND ALL THAT JAZZ, THE 40 YEARS ON (OC) 42ND STREET (OC) 70, GIRLS, 70 (OC) 81 PROOF 110 IN THE SHADE (OC) 1776 (OC) A A5678 - A MUSICAL FABLE ABSENT-MINDED DRAGON, THE ACE OF CLUBS (SEE NOEL COWARD) ACROSS AMERICA ACT, THE (OC) ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHHAUSEN, THE ADVENTURES OF COLORED MAN ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO (TV) AFTER THE BALL (OLC) AIDA AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' (OC) AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH ALADD/THE DRAGON (BAG-A-TALE) Bruce Walker Musical Theater Recording Collection ALADDIN (OLC) ALADDIN (OC Wilson) ALI BABBA & THE FORTY THIEVES ALICE IN WONDERLAND (JANE POWELL) ALICE IN WONDERLAND (ANN STEPHENS) ALIVE AND WELL (EARL ROBINSON) ALLADIN AND HIS WONDERFUL LAMP ALL ABOUT LIFE ALL AMERICAN (OC) ALL FACES WEST (10") THE ALL NIGHT STRUT! ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (TV) ALL IN LOVE (OC) ALLEGRO (0C) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN AMBASSADOR AMERICAN HEROES AN AMERICAN POEM AMERICANS OR LAST TANGO IN HUAHUATENANGO .....................(SF MIME TROUPE) (See FACTWINO) AMY THE ANASTASIA AFFAIRE (CD) AND SO TO BED (SEE VIVIAN ELLIS) AND THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND (CD) AND THEN WE WROTE... (FLANDERS & SWANN) AMERICAN
    [Show full text]
  • Home Chat of the Lindsay Duncan Option 1 the Full Day , Birmingham University; Lunch; Planned Arrangements
    A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE LIFE AND WORK OF SIR NOËL COWARD • NOVEMBER 2011 NOËL’S BIRTHDAY In the UK, 16th December. AGM at the Noël Coward Theatre, Richard Briers will guest at the flower-laying ceremony, luncheon at the Grand Saloon, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - AND Rebecca Caine and Stefan Bednarczyck in cabaret. In the US On the 17th, a screening at the Paley Center, New York, of a film not previously shown, with the flower-laying ceremony and luncheon on the 18th - not to be missed! THE GRAND TOUR A day in Birmingham - 30 June 2012 to see Coward’s ballet ‘The Grand Tour’ AND visit the Coward Special Collection at Birmingham University. HAY FEVER A date for your diary - Saturday 17th March 2012 for a matinée performance at The Noël Coward Theatre. Hay Fever stars Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Colman. - date confirmation and more to follow. STAR QUALITY The World of Noël Coward An exhibition that has toured the world reaches New York and will prove to be the most comprehensive yet! March through August 2012. Supported by a range of US Noël Coward events. Noël Coward and Kay Thompson with ‘Matelot’at Goldenhurst PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL NOËL COWARD SOCIETY - 1- www.noëlcoward.net EDITORIAL he most exciting period in the world of Coward lies ahead of us as we move towards the end of the year and embrace 2012. Lindsay Duncan will play Judith Bliss in a new West End production of Hay Fever , the first time a Coward play has been revived in the Noël Coward Theatre since it was refurbished and renamed after him.
    [Show full text]
  • Brief Encounter
    NOËL COWARD’S BRIEF ENCOUNTER STUDY PACK “I’m not very keen on Hollywood…I’d rather have a nice cup of cocoa really” - Noël Coward Highlights Of A Life And Career 1899 16 December, Noël Peirce Coward born in Teddington, Middlesex, eldest surviving son of Arthur Coward, piano salesman and Violet. His early circumstances were of refined suburban poverty. 1907 First public appearances in school and community concerts. 1908 Family moved to Battersea and took in lodgers. 1911 First professional appearance as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish, produced by Lila Field at the Little Theatre and revived in same year at Crystal Palace and Royal Court Theatre. Cannard, the page-boy, in The Great Name at the Prince of Wales Theatre and William in Where the Rainbow Ends with Charles Hawtrey’s Company at the Savoy Theatre. 1912 Directed The Daisy Chain and stage-managed The Prince’s Bride at Savoy in series of matinees featuring the work of the children of the Rainbow cast. Mushroom in An Autumn Idyll ballet, Savoy. 1913 An angel (Gertrude Lawrence was another) in Basil Dean’s production of Hannele. Slightly in Peter Pan, Duke of York’s. 1914 Toured in Peter Pan. Collaborated with fellow performer Esmé Wynne on songs, sketches, and short stories. Coward as a teenager 1915 Admitted to sanatorium for tuberculosis. 1916 Five-month tour as Charley in Charley’s Aunt. Walk-on in The Best of Luck, Drury Lane. Wrote first full-length song, ‘Forbidden Fruit’. Basil Pycroft in The Light Blues, produced by Robert Courtneidge, with daughter Cicely also in cast, Shaftesbury.
    [Show full text]
  • Novello’S Dressing Room Had Other Reports About Its Condition
    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.
    [Show full text]
  • Noël Coward on TV: Tears in Champagne
    Noël Coward on TV: Tears in Champagne With onstage appearances from Dame Penelope Keith, Alistair McGowan, Barry Day, Keith Barron, Maria Aitken, John Gorrie and Kit Hesketh-Harvey Monday 30 March 2015, London. Throughout May 2015 BFI Southbank will celebrate the television work of the ground-breaking playwright, musician and cabaret performer Noël Coward. Coward was a playwright way ahead of his time. Hiding behind glamour and sophistication, his plays were radical and often morally ambiguous, from the shocking representation of drug addiction in The Vortex (Granada TV, 1964) to the hedonistic ménage-a-trois in Design for Living (BBC, 1979). Highlights of the season will include a illustrated talk from Coward expert Barry Day, a panel discussion featuring Dame Penelope Keith and Alistair McGowan, and very rare screenings of Jazz Age: Post Mortem (BBC, 1968), unseen since 1968, and a US production of Blithe Spirit (CBS, 1956) starring Coward himself opposite Lauren Bacall and Claudette Colbert. It has been said that Noël Coward fell out of fashion with the arrival of the new breed of ‘angry’ radical playwrights that emerged in the late 50s. While these new plays came to dominate theatre, TV broadcasters continued to see the value in Coward’s work, resulting in a string of fine TV productions which will screen in the season, including Private Lives (BBC, 1976), Fallen Angels (Anglia TV, 1974) and The Kindness of Mrs Radcliffe (BBC, 1981). Coward’s unique blend of high- octane wit and sophistication translated easily to the small screen, and provided glamorous roles for big-name TV stars including Penelope Keith, Susannah York and Joan Collins.
    [Show full text]
  • Home Chat) the Sold-Out Engagement Was Quickly Extended
    THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NOËL COWARD SOCIETY - FEBRUARY 2010 Free to members of the Society Price £2 ($4) President: HRH The Duke of Kent, KG, GCMG, GCVO, ADC Vice Presidents: Barry Day OBE • Stephen Fry • Tammy Grimes • Penelope Keith CBE STEPHEN FRY AND JIM DALE - HONOUR THE MASTER LONDON AND NEW YORK CELEBRATE THE 110th ANNIVERSARY ach year the Society celebrates the life and work of Noël Coward at the site of two of the three statues sculpted to celebrate the centenary year of The Master’s birth. In London our Vice President Stephen Fry honoured us with his ‘svelte’ presence and a great speech about Noël who he Econfessed was someone he never met but who had shaped so much of his approach to life. Stephen admits he is a huge admirer of Noël’s diligence - something he endeavours to emulate in his own life. Barbara Longford welcomed Stephen with a resumé of the statue’s history: “ This statue, by Angela Conner, was commissioned at the behest of the late Graham Payn, for the Centenary Celebrations of Coward’s birth, in 1999. It was unveiled by Sir Noël’s friend, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, on 8th December, 1998, in the presence of Graham and an illustrious gathering of devotees. Two other casts are situated at Sir Noël’s grave at Firefly in Jamaica and also in the Theater Hall of Fame, at the Gershwin Theatre in New York and every year, on the Saturday nearest to his birthday, members of the Noël Coward Society gather, in London and New York for a flower-laying ceremony.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inventory of the Alan Cumming Collection #1825
    The Inventory of the Alan Cumming Collection #1825 Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Cumming, Alan #1825 1/29/14 Preliminary Listing I. Photographs. A. Files; includes some correspondence. Box 1 1. “1993 - Script Writing for 'High Life', Mask Photo - Shooting Pilot Episode,” 5 color prints, 1993. [Env. 1] 2. “AC on Evening Winning Olivier Award for Comedy Performance of the Year,” 1 color print, 1991. [Env. 2] 3. “A Streetcar Named Desire,” 2 black white prints, 2/19/86.[Env. 3] 4. “The Anniversary Party,” 2 black and white prints, 1 color print, 2001. [F. 1] 5. “The Art Party,” 8 color prints, 2002; includes: [Env. 4] a. AC and Monica Lewinsky. b. AC and Anson Mount. c. AC and Rachel Weisz. d. Ileana Douglas, Cynthia Rowley, AC, and Monica Lewinsky. e. AC and Heather Graham. f. Molly Shannon, AC, and Heather Graham. 6. “Bath Time,” 3 color prints, 1995. [F. 2] 7. “BBC Travel Show - Palm Springs,” 9 color prints of AC and Saffron Burrows, 1996. [Env. 5] 8. “BBC TV” [AC appearing in a BBC television program titled “A Word In Your Era,” with AC playing Amadeus Mozart and Robert Baden-Powell], 2 color Polaroids, 1993. [Env. 6] 9. “Bernard and the Genie,” 8 color prints, 2 black and white prints, 1991. [Env. 7] 10. “Buddy” (3 files), 16 color prints, 37 prints, 1997, includes: [Env. 8-10] a. Color print of Rene Russo, AC, and monkeys in car. b. 2 color prints of AC and group, includes Rene Russo. 11. “Broadway Beards” event, 18 color prints, 1999.
    [Show full text]