The Letters of Noel Coward by Noel Coward
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Book Reviews of The Letters of Noel Coward
Book Review: Look! See! Hear! Read! Sir Noel Coward Dancing the light fantastic in a long showbiz career!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sir Noel Coward began life in lower middle-class surroundings in London at the cusp of the 20th century. This 1899 lad grew to be a multifaceted Renaissance man of the theatre. During his long career Coward won fame as a playwright writing bright and bouncy light comedy. He is best known for his plays "Private Lives', "Blithe Spirit," his first hit "Vortex"
"Tongight at 8:30" and many others. He wrote one mediocre novel and produced two classic films: "Brief Encounter" and "In Which We Serve" his tribute to the Royal Navy during the dark days of World War II. Coward also served as an undercover agent in World War II. He was patriotic and British to the core even though he spent most of his life living abroad most notably Jamaica where he died in 1973. In this book you will travel all over the world with Sir Noel meeting interesting people and visiting exotic lands.
Coward knew everyone in the theatre, movies and politics. He hobnobed with the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Charles Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Clifton Webb and many others. He knew famed politicians such as Winston Churchill and corresponded with George Bernard Shaw. He was close to the Mountbattens and was a close friend of the Queen Mother.
This is a mammoth book over 700 pages long which includes the witty, warm and wonderful words of Coward and his galaxy of famous people. The book also contains over 200 black and white illustrations. It is a great way to get to know Coward and the glittery, glamorous world he inhabited. Coward was gay and had a succession of lovers but he also was close to his mother and female business associates. He was a good man and friend Anyone wanting to learn about a modern playwright's life, read witty poetry and prose or learn more about the theatre world would enjoy this book.
Book Review: Destined to amuse, Coward conquers all
Summary: 5 Stars
I was surprised to receive this book as a gift -- why would I want to read the fatuities of a bygone wit? -- and began it with a sigh. But after the first chapter I was hooked, then entertained, then admiring and enthralled at the resilient, insightful, delightful and life-affirming personality of Noel Coward. The matter of his life is fascinating -- the world of the English theatre from the time he was a teenager and the next six decades, later encompassing the American musical theatre and Hollywood scenes, and ultimately the whole world, as he was a lifelong globetrotter for whom political difficulties and borders melted away. His letters (and many to him from a broad array of distinguished and eloquent correspondents) are fresh, and funny, and topical about the theatre, England, World War II, patriotism, the press, the royal family, romance vs. life vs. art. The book is wonderfully assembled, with many fascinating photographs, and unobtrusive but always apt commentary by editor Barry Day filling in facts and thoughtful analysis as to Coward's life and surrounding events. Day chooses and arranges his material brilliantly, interspersing a basic chronological approach with a few chapters (called "Intermissions") that interject a lifelong perspective on Coward's relationships with certain people. Editor Day wisely keeps the star -- Coward the letter-writer -- center-stage throughout, providing the set-dressing that allows the production to be a hit. The result is the conjuring up of Coward as a theatrical phenomenon who is shown also to be an insightful and sensitive human being who was quite determined that the generally indifferent state of the universe would not deter him from success and having a good time.Book Review: The Pleasure Was All Mine
Summary: 5 Stars
This long and ambitious biography satisfies on several levels. First, it puts forward Coward's vast output in an organized and skillful way. Secondly, it gives us an accurate portrait of the genius himself, in his own words and those of an astonishing array of talents. Thirdly, the photos are extraordinary, and flesh out the story in a very personal way. I found it interesting that he was able to write so quickly, often in a matter of days dashing off a new play, or musical theme. Things formed quickly in a mind that raced almost ahead of himself at times. His musical ear picked up the cadence of conversations that illuminated his writing. I found it also interesting how he suffered at the hands of the English. Dreadfully homophobic, the English had a difficult time during this period with many of their greatest artists, rather a love/hate situation. If one goes looking for sexual tidbits about his personal life, there is little to be found in his letters. He was almost always a model of diplomacy, and even when he found it necessary to take a Mary Martin or a Vivien Leigh to task for unprofessional behavior, he did it in an instructive manner, laying at their feet decades of theatrical experience, and telling them in exact terms how he felt. One has to admire his directness, and his ability to take his losses in stride and go on to the next challenge. It is sad that he had to wait until he was 70 for a kinghthood that should have been put forward decades earlier. The Queen Mother loved artists from all walks of life, and she put it right finally. Perhaps the author could have spared us a few letters too many, but on the whole this is a book to keep and savor again and again.Book Review: Noel Coward Is Still Iconic
Summary: 5 Stars
I've spent a month slow-reading these letters, which taught me more than I thought I'd care to know about the periods Coward "ruled." My feeling is, anyone who wants to know what it's like to be able to paint/draw/write poetry/write novels/write plays/write films/ direct all the above/sing/act/cavort/and be completely focused while still being a party animal.....all using the same brain, needs to read these letters. The poor marketing job done on this book does not point out how it's not just what HE wrote, but what GB Shaw, Churchill, the Roosevelts, Garbo, Dietrich and like a hundred more, wrote back to the man himself...and nothing is censored. I learned tons -- for instance, did you know there was a total U.S. embargo against Great Britain before we joined WW II??
And oh yeah, Coward's true love was his Mother - gross but true. And finally, what is inside this great one's head as he puts forth a career that is beyond belief what one man can accomplish. I am reviewing this because, except for Amazon, this book, reviewed wholeheartedly on the front page of the NYT, was unavailable that same week--in any store I tried to pick it up from. But alas, you could buy a Paris Hilton bio in the front of said store. Enough shouted. Get this - before it goes out of print like all of Coward's bios. And oh yeah, Diary of Noel Coward from X years ago is an unfettered (though sexually in-explicit) muttering of someone who knew damn well we'd read his thoughts one day. Go for it.
Book Review: Delirious and wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
If ever there was a book that offered more delirious pleasure , i don't know of it!!! What a treasure trove , i am spacing it out so that i don't race through it - What a life and what letters!!!. It is a shame that computers and e mail have killed the written letter - there will be no more books like this coming down the pike.... of course i cannot think of anyone who even remotely resembles Noel Coward either . so maybe the golden age is past..... if anyone wishes to correct me , feel free - i would be eager to change my mind if there were evidence.....