Synopses & Reviews
Noël Coward said, “The only thing that really saddens me over my demise is that I shall not be here to read the nonsense that will be written about me and my works and my motives . . . There will be lists of apocryphal jokes I never made and gleeful misquotations of words I never said.
What a pity I shant be here to enjoy them!”
Here is a book that Noël Coward did write; jokes he did make . . . No gleeful misquotations here . . . only the best of Cowards best.
Barry Day, editor of the acclaimed Letters of Noël Coward, who knows more about Coward and his writing than almost anyone, has brought together in one volume a Coward reader any Coward reader—or Coward appreciator—will delight in.
Its hard to believe that, to date, there has never been a Noël Coward reader; this volume marks the very first.
Here are scenes from Cowards plays, The Vortex, Blithe Spirit, Private Lives, and Design for Living . . . from his film screenplays, Brief Encounter and the previously unpublished script for In Which We Serve . . . from his only published novel, Pomp and Circumstance, as well as four of his best short stories.
Included, as well, is his verse, in which Coward reveals the “secret heart” behind the surface wit of his more formal work . . .
And here, too, are the lyrics of his sublimely Coward songs: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” . . . “The Stately Homes of England” . . . “Ill See You Again” . . . “Someday Ill Find You” . . . “Mad About the Boy” . . . “Sail Away” . . . “Mrs. Worthington” . . . and much more that embodies what Coward hoped would be his epitaph: “He was much loved, because he made people laugh and cry.”
Eddie Cantor said Noël Coward was “the British George M. Cohan . . . The most brilliant contribution England ever made to American show business.”
The Noël Coward Reader is a must-have book for those who luxuriated in the collection of his letters; for those who adore his work and those who are just discovering the delights of his writing.
Kenneth Tynan said of Coward, “Theatrically speaking, it was Coward who took sophistication out of the refrigerator and put it on the hob . . . Even the youngest of us will know, in fifty years time, precisely what is meant by ‘a very Noël Coward sort of person. ”
Those who read The Noël Coward Reader will agree: this is a very Noël Coward sort of book.
Synopsis
A sublime Noël Coward reader—the first ever—that brings together the best of his short stories, verse, songs, plays, novels, and screenplays; from the editor of the acclaimed
Letters of Noël Coward.Here are scenes from Private Lives,Design for Living, Blithe Spirit, and Coward’s other most celebrated plays . . . and here too are excerpts from his screenplays for Brief Encounter and the previously unpublished In Which We Serve; from his only published novel, Pomp and Circumstance; and four of his best short stories—“What Mad Pursuit?,” “Me and the Girls,” “Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill,” and “The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe.” Here are the lyrics to fifty of the most deliciously Cowardesque songs, including “Mad About the Boy” and “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage.” And here, too, is his verse—one of his least known accomplishments—in which we can see the “secret heart” behind the urbane wit of his more formal work.
A book for Coward admirers as well as for first-time Coward readers; a book to savor again and again.
About the Author
Barry Day was born in England and received his MA from Balliol College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a Trustee of the Noël Coward Foundation and was awarded the Order of the British Empire “for services to British culture in the U.S.A.” He lives in New York, London, and Palm Beach.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations Foreword by Sir Cameron Mackintosh
Introduction: The Man They Called “The Master”
Chronology
ONE: “OVERTURE. BEGINNERS . . . ” : THE EARLY YEARS
“Personal Reminiscence” (verse)
“The Boy Actor” (verse)
“Forbidden Fruit” (lyric)
“When You Come Home on Leave” (lyric)
excerpts from The Unattainable (play)
TWO: THE 1920s
“I Like America” (lyric)
“Touring Days” (lyric)
“Red Peppers” (one-act play)
containing “Has Anybody Seen Our Ship?” (lyric)
and “Men About Town” (lyric)
“Me and the Girls” (short story)
“Why Must the Show Go On?” (lyric)
excerpt from The Vortex (play)
excerpts from Fallen Angels (play)
excerpts from Easy Virtue (play)
excerpts from Hay Fever (play)
“Epitaph for an Elderly Actress” (verse)
“Preface to Semi-Monde” and excerpts from Semi-Monde (play)
“Green Carnation” (lyric)
“Sail Away” (lyric)
“I Travel Alone” (lyric)
“Parisian Pierrot” (lyric)
“Poor Little Rich Girl” (lyric)
“Dance. Little Lady” (lyric)
“What Is Love?” (lyric)
“If Love Were All” (lyric)
“I’ll See You Again” (lyric)
“I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” (lyric)
“I Am No Good at Love” (verse)
“Something Very Strange” (lyric)
“A Room With a View” (lyric)
“This Is to Let You Know” (verse)
“I Knew You Without Enchantment” (verse)
“Mad About the Boy” (lyric)
“Bronxville Darby and Joan” (lyric)
“Come the Wild, Wild Weather” (lyric)
THREE: THE 1930s
“Twentieth Century Blues” (lyric)
excerpts from Private Lives (play)
“Someday I’ll Find You” (lyric)
“Strictly Private Lives”`
“Mad Dogs and Englishmen” (lyric)
“Mrs. Worthington” (lyric)
“Social Grace” (verse)
“I’ve Got to Go Out and Be Social” (verse)
“Mrs. Mallory” (verse)
“The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe” (short story)
excerpts from Design for Living (play)
“Design for Rehearsing” (sketch)
excerpts from Tonight at 8:30 (play sequence)
“Fumed Oak” and “Shadow Play” (one-act plays)
including “Then” (lyric),
“Play, Orchestra, Play” (lyric) and
“You Were There” (lyric)
“What Mad Pursuit?” (short story)
“I’ve Been to a Marvellous Party” (lyric)
“The Stately Homes of England” (lyric)
“I Wonder What Happened to Him?” (lyric)
FOUR: THE 1940s
“Friendship in Wartime” (essay)
“Notes on Liaison” (verse)
“News Ballad” (verse)
“Personal Note” (verse)
“London Pride” (lyric)
“London. 1940.” (essay)
“Lie in the Dark and Listen” (verse)
excerpt from This Happy Breed (play)
excerpts from Blithe Spirit (play)
excerpts from Time Remembered (play)
“Canton Island” (verse)
“Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill” (short story)
excerpts from In Which We Serve (film)
“I’ve Just Come Out From England” (verse)
“Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans” (lyric)
excerpts from Present Laughter (play)
“The One Man Play” (sketch)
excerpts from Brief Encounter (film)
“This Is a Changing World” (lyric)
“Uncle Harry” (lyric)
“Alice Is at It Again” (lyric)
excerpts from Peace in Our Time (play)
“Victory?” (essay)
FIVE: THE 1950s
“There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner” (lyric)
“Tribute to Marlene Dietrich” (verse)
“Louisa” (lyric)
“A Bar on the Piccola Marina” (lyric)
excerpt from Nude With Violin (play)
“Consider the Public: A Warning to Actors” (essay)
“Consider the Public: A Warning to Dramatic Critics” (essay)
“Together With Music” (lyric)
“Jamaica” (verse)
“House Guest” (verse)
“World Weary” (lyric)
SIX: THE 1960s
Excerpts from Waiting in the Wings (play)
“Later Than Spring” (lyric)
“Why Do the Wrong People Travel?” (lyric)
“Useless Useful Phrases” (lyric)
excerpt from Pomp and Circumstance (novel)
“The Battle of Britain Dinner, New York, 1963” (verse)
excerpt from Suite in Three Keys (“A Song at Twilight”) (play)
“How I Wonder What You Are” (essay)
excerpt from Star Quality (play)
excerpt from Age Cannot Wither (play)
SEVEN: ENVOI . . . THE 1970s
“The Party’s Over Now” (lyric)
“When I Have Fears” (verse)
“I’m Here for a Short Visit Only” (verse)
Acknowledgments
Index