WHAT’S ON? Is your production or event shown here...?If you want an item to be included here or on our website then please send details to: The Noël Coward Society, 29, Waldemar Avenue, Hellesdon, Norwich, NR6 6TB or email: whatson@noël coward.net Tel: +44 (0)1603 486188 Fax: +44 (0)1603 400683Professional companies are shown in blue * denotes Premiere, TBC = To be confirmed

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JUDY CAMPBELL the actress and our Honorary Vice-President died onSunday June 6th at the age of 88. The beautiful dark-haired, husky-voicedstar of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter (Joanna), This Happy Breed,(Ethel) and memorably his Elvira in Blithe Spirit also accompanied Noelin twice-nightly concerts for the troops. She attended several NCS eventsfrom the inception of the Society in 1999 until late 2003 when she becameincreasingly unwell and frail. Her candour about her times with Noel wererefreshingly honest and always of interest. She will forever be associatedwith the Eric Maschwitz song that made her name in the 1940 revue NewFaces at the Comedy Theatre. when following the loss of a scripted itemwas given A Nightingale Sang In Barclay Square, and, singing for the firsttime in public croaked her way through the song rendering it and her a hit!“I just know,” she said in 1997, “ that all the obituaries will talk aboutnothing but that blooming nightingale.” As a result of seeing her performthe song, Noel took her to supper at the Savoy Grill where she sang, at hisinsistence, the same song again for the other diners. “It takes talent to putover a song when you haven’t got a voice,” he told her. “One day we’llact together.” He kept his word! With the exception in 1984 of a musicalversion of The Importance of Being Earnest she did not sing again until1983 when she gave an inimitable rendition of This Is My Lovely Day in arevival of Vivian Ellis’s Bless This Bride. She was still performing in herone-woman show in 2003 when, accompanied by the singer-accompanistStefan Bednarczyk she performed at the Jermyn Street theatre. Born inGrantham to the actor-playwright J A Campbell who ran the Theatre Roal,Grantham and the town’s first cinema she made her first appearance onstage at the Theatre Royal as a guest in Lonsdale’s Last of Mrs. Cheyney.She played rep. at Grantham, Coventry and Brighton, before a time at thePeople’s Palace, east London, and a season at the Festival Theatre,

In North AmericaBlithe Spirit: September 24 to October 23, 2004 Utah Shakespearean FestivalCedar City, Utah12 to 20 Nov - Elora Ontario

Fallen Angels April to November 2005 (in repertory) StratfordFestival Theatre - Stratford, Ontario - Canada

Private Lives12 to 15 May 2005 Stage 43 Theatrical Society, PortCoquitlam, BC

Hands Across the Sea

Fallen Angels23 Sep to 9 Oct Stage Centre Productions, Scarborough,Ontario1 Jan to 5 Feb 2005 Dundas Little Theatre, Dundas Ontario.

EuropeBlithe Spirit10 to 20 Nov - Zurich Comedy Club, The Seefeld Theater,Zurich, Switzerland

In the United KingdomNude With Violin26 & 27 Sep Sherbourne School, Sherbourne, Dorset

Hay Fever2004 West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Quarry25 Feb to 5 Mar 2005 - Heald Green theatre Co Ltd., HealdGreen Theatre, Heald Green, Cheshire

Blithe Spirit8 Jun to 21 Aug Ian Dickens ProductionsBlackpool / Darlington/ Swansea 18 Aug to 4 Sep (TBC) Triumph Entertainment, Theatre RoyalBath, UK Tour17 to 20 Nov Woodley Players Theatre Group, HatherlowChurch Hall, Romley, Stockport, Cheshire17 Sep Limelight Theatre, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire25 Nov to 4 Dec - The Sewell Barn Theatre Company, SewellBarn Theatre, Norwich14 & 15th Oct Betchworth Operatic & Dramatic Society, TheVillage Hall, Betchworth, Surrey14 to 16 Oct Lane End Players, The Village Hall, Lane End,Buckinghamshire15 to 19 Mar - Windsor Theatre Guild, The Guildhall, Windsor,Berkshire6 to 11 Sep - Whitehaven Theatre Group, The Rosehill Theatre,Whitehaven, Cumbria5 to 8 Oct - Whitchurch Little Theatre Group, The CivicCentre, Whitchurch, Shropshire

25 to 30 Oct - Manifest Theatre Group, Manifest Theatre,Manningtree, Essex8 to 13 Nov - Nailsea Theatre Club, The Workshop, Nailsea,North Somerset24 to 26 Sep - Drama Workshop of Waltham Forest, TheForest Community Centre, Walthamstow, London29 Sep to 2 Oct - Redditch ATS, The Palce heatre, Redditch,Worcs.11 to 11 Jan 2005 - Southampton University Players, TheNuffield Theatre, Southampton, Hampshire10 to 13 Nov - Broughton & District Drama Club, TheConcert Hall, Broughton, Lancs

Private Lives 24 to 28 Aug Connaught Productions, Frinton SummerTheatre, Essex26 Aug to 18 Sep Byre Theatre, St. Andrews24 to to 28 Aug - Connaught Productions, Frinton SummerTheatre, Essex26 Aug to 18 Sep - Brye Theatre, St Andrews23 & 24 Oct St John’s Wood Players, St. John’s Hall, St.John’s Wood. London13 to 18 Jun 2005 - The Pump House Theatre Company, ThePump House Theatre, Watford, Herts9 to 18 Sep - Wokingham Theatre, Wokingham, Berkshire

Relative Values27 Jan to 19 Feb 2005 Salisbury Playhouse

Red Peppers30 Sep to 9 Oct The Matrix Theatre, Newbury, Berks

Fallen Angels22 Jan to 5 Feb 2005 Eye Theatre, Suffolk14 to 16 Oct, 15, 16 Nov Malford Players, The Village Hall,Christian Malford, Wiltshire26 to 30 Oct - Taunton Thespians, The Brewhouse Theatre,Taunton, Somerset9 to 16 Oct - Lewes Theatre Club, The Little Theatre, Lewes,East Sussex

Still Life9 to 27 Nov - My Pet Dragon Productions, The Burton TaylorTheatre, Oxford

Present Laughter17 to 20 Nov - Beaconsfielf Theatre Group, Beacon theatreCentre, Beaconsfield Buckinghamshire

Semi-Monde3 to 20 Nov - Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, The JudiDench theatre, London

Unless stated otherwise all text and images are copyright to the Noël Coward Estate. All correspondence to: The Noël CowardSociety, 29, Waldemar Avenue, Hellesdon, Norwich, NR6 6TB UK Tel: +44 (0)1603 486 188 email: enquiries@noelcoward.net

JUDY CAMPBELL

CALLING ALL UK MEMBERS! ... Following our recent database dispatch to UK members, can we

remind you that we need ALL UK members updated details, whether it be confirmation of Standing Order date-changes, renewalfees or resignations! Many thanks to all those who have responded so far - if you haven’t had time to reply yet, please do dig outthose pens, use the email or phone Celia Cologne with your latest information - as soon as possible. Celia can be reached at: 3, Somerville Road, Poulner, Ringwood, BH24 1XJ Tel: 01425 478760 email: celia@cologne.fslife.co.uk

Cambridge, in Shakespeare and Shaw. Atour with the comedian Vic Oliver inRobert Sherwood’s Idiot’s Delight led toa season of leads at Liverpool Playhouse.It was during New Faces in the WarYears when audiences often preferred toremain in their seats during an air raidthat, after a sip of port to calm her fearsof singing rather than being bombed, herunexpected and witty handling of thesong that was to bring her fame, held theaudience spellbound. In Noel’s RelativeValues she was credited for bringing anuninspiring colonial comedy to last-minute life. Her other appearancesincluded Shaw’s Heartbreak House andNever Can Tell. Aykebourn’s Mr.

Whatnot, and in tragedy, O’Neill’sMourning Becomes Electra. She tookover Celia Johnson’s role in Aykbourn’sRelatively Speaking at the Duke of Yorkin 1967. In the 70s she found satisfyingroles in the provinces with Hay Fever,Wycherley’s Double Dealer. At theOxford Playhouse she showed ‘unexpect-ed emotional power’ as the long-sufferingMother in Miller’s Death of a Salesman.At the 1983 Chichester festival sheplayed the ‘grandest of grand duchessesin Rattigan’s Sleeping Prince. She madenumerous television appearances themost recent being in GranadaTelevision’s version of The Forsyth Saga.She wrote three plays two of which were

staged. One of her two daughters is JaneBirkin of Je T’Aime fame and her sonAndrew Birkin is a writer and film-maker. For us she was one of Noel’sgreatest leading ladies and an active sup-porter of the Society and its work.

Our thanks to The Daily Telegraph for mate-rial for this obituary.

Sheridan Morley has written a full obituaryfor Judy Campbell in ‘The Oldie’ Hisrecording of Judy Campbell singing 'ANightingale Sang in Berkley Square' isavailable on CD. There is other material ofinterest in the BBC archives but it has onlybeen recorded on cylinders and thus remainsinaccessible at present.

Darling, it’s NoelHis Majesty’s Theatre, Perth

Review: Ron BanksNoel Coward’s visit to Australia in 1940was quit a morale booster for the wareffort. Over a seven-week tour of thecapital cities, the urbane and sophisticat-ed playwright and composer gave a seriesof patriotic radio broadcasts and enter-tained the troops with his witty songsHis trip, sanctioned by the Australiangovernment but financed out of his ownpocket, raised £12,000 for the Red Crossand was generally regarded as a brightnote in an otherwise gloomy world atwar. This particular footnote to the careerof the famous writer and performer formsthe frameworkof Dennis Olsenand AmandaMuggIeton’stribute show,Darling it’sNoel. Writtenand directed byRodney Fisher,thIs hard-to-clas-sify entertain-ment featuressongs and scenesfrom Coward’soutput up to1940. By thatstage he was 41and well intomid-career suc-cess with showssuch as PrivateLives behindhim, as well asthose famouspatter songs, Mad Dogs and Englishmenand Don’t Put Your Daughter on theStage, Mrs Worthington. Naturallyenough these cIassics which, let’s be hon-est, are showing their age, are dusted offand aired in, sparkling fashion by Olsen,who does Coward’s campy sophisticationvery well indeed. MuggIeton is good inthe comedy sequences and patter songs;too, even if her voice is not quite up to

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some of the notes in the romantic bal-lads. She gets by in the more difficultvocal passages but it is as a characteractress that she is obviously far morecomfortable. Darling it’s Noel opens withthe famous balcony scene from PrivateLives - the one in which divorced loversAmanda and Elyot unexpectedly meet upduring their honeymoon with new spous-es and rekindle their old flame.The drolleries that drip from each other’slips seem to typify Coward’s world-weary approach to romance, andMuggleton and Olsen match each otherperfectly in the bitchiness of their repar-tee.The pair exaggerate the vowel sounds,roll the words around their tonguesand.assume the melodramatic poses oflovers wounded by life’s assaults on theirsensitivity. In other words, it’s played onthe edge of parody, which seems to bethe way most theatre shows approach thework of Coward these days. It’s as if noone wants to be caught taking Cowardseriously as a satirist any more in casetheir considered old fashioned.Nevertheless, Coward’s wit is durableenough to withstand the sense of parodyand some of his songs continue to sparklewith their clever rhyming patterns andinstant characterisations. Olsen wonder-fully brings to life the scandalous demi-monde of life in the British colonies in IWonder What Happened to Him? andgets quite venomous in Don’t Put Your ‘Daughter on the Stage Mrs. Worthington.Muggleton gets to sparkle in her soloturns as well, even if Uncle Harry’s Nota Missionary Now seems rather arch andoutdated to really amuse. One can alsogroan at the silly old jokes in the scenefrom Red Peppers. The story of a fadedvaudeville couple whose backstage bitch-iness to each other has become part ofthe glue that holds their long, warring-marriage together. Fisher’s productionmakes the most of the archival footage ofCoward’s visit to Australia, with photo-graphs of his time among the troops athome flashed on a screen. But there is noCinesound newsreel footage to bring theimages to lifeand the show has to makedo with recorded voice-overs byMuggleton and Olsen of Coward’sthoughts about the trip. As a result, the.Australian framework is rather a flimsydevice to produce what is essentially anostalgic cabaret style show aboutCoward’s creativity and diversity.Sent in by Ali Howarth who is now livingin Perth, Australia - thanks Ali!

Your Invitation to...

The Theatre Museum, Covent Garden,for our Annual General Meeting

Saturday 11th December, 2004.

The Annual Flower-laying Ceremony, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, to beperformed by Lord Attenborough, CBE and Lunch at Rules Restaurant, MaidenLane with our Honoured Guests, Lord and Lady Attenboroughand Sheridan Morley and Ruth Leon

10.30 a.m. All Members are invited to join us at ourAnnual General Meeting, at the Theatre Museum,Covent Garden. This is your opportunity to air yourviews about the Society, so please come along withsome good ideas for our future development.12 noon. We walk around the corner, to the TheatreRoyal Drury Lane, for our Annual Flower-layingCeremony. This year Lord Attenborough, CBE isperforming the ceremony and placing the flowers onNoel's statue.12.45 p.m. A short walk to Rules Restaurant for pre-lunch drinks.1.15 p.m. We sit down to Lunch in the GrahamGreene Room and the adjoining Betjeman Room atRules.There is no charge for attending the AGM, nor theCeremony in the Foyer of the Theatre Royal.Lunch at Rules will consist of the following:- Potted Salmon with a Cucumber &Sour Cream Dill ~ Rules Classic Steak & Kidney Pie ~ Seasonal vegetables ~Sharp Lemon Tart With a Meringue Topping ~ Freshly ground coffeeThe cost for the Lunch is £49 per person, which includes the above and alsoincludes half a bottle of excellent house wine per person and 15% service charge.(There will be a vegetarian option)The Graham Greene room seats 24 people around a long table and the adjacentBetjeman Room seats a maximum of 12. As we have four guests, there will only beplaces for 32 Members. Therefore, in the first instance the invitation to lunch is forMEMBERS ONLY. Obviously Members will be able to bring a guest, if insufficientMembers make a booking.There will be two formal seating plans. Plan A for the first two courses and plan Bfor the pudding and coffee courses. This is to enable everyone to mix and to havethe opportunity of speaking to our distinguished Guests. The dress code is "smart",but ties are no longer de rigueur.If you would like to attend the Lunch, please could you complete the enclosedbooking slip and send it to, Barbara Longford, at 7 Argyll Mansions, London W14SQG, with a cheque for £6, payable to the Noel Coward Society, as a deposit.Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and all cheques will beacknowledged.

WIN A SIGNED COPY OF ‘COWARD ON FILM’Barry Day has kindly offered a signed copy of his new book Coward on Film to beraffled at the AGM annual lunch at Rules. Barry expects his book to be available inthe US fromlate November or the first week in December unless there are anyunsuspected hold-ups. He expects the UK release to be some time in December orearly January. Why not a weekend of it and join us for the...Noel Coward Birthday Walk - Hampton Hill Playhouse - Teddington

Gaham Sawyer has arranged another Noel Coward Birthday walk from Noel’sBirthplace in Teddington to the Hampton Hill Playhouse on Sunday 19th Decemberstarting at 10.30a.m. followed by mulled wine and readings at the Playhouse. Oneof the planned readings will be an extract from I’ll Leave It To You.

JUDY CAMPBELL BIRKIN31st May, 1916 – 6th June, 2004

At the Embankment end of Old ChurchStreet, in Chelsea, stands the exquisite13TH century ‘Chelsea Old Church’,restored in its entirety since its wartimebombing in 1941. It was here on a beau-tiful hot day, Friday 18th June, that weassembled for the funeral of the late JudyCampbell, our Honorary Vice President.The church was looking its glorious bestand was packed with family, friends andmany of those with whom Judy hadworked; actors, musicians and writers. There was no coffin as such, but a mostremarkable and lovely long basket madeof wickerwork, through which flowerswere intertwined, was carried in whilstthe choir began with ‘Pie Jesu’, fromFaure’s Requiem. This was followed bythe Bidding and the Sentences and thehymn “The Lord’s My Shepherd. “The first address was given by actorSimon Williams, who had known Judyfor many years and had grown up withher children. He began by quoting fromthe first epistle of St. Paul, to theCorinthians, chapter 13, “And nowabideth faith, hope, charity, these three;but the greatest of these is charity.”Charity, said Simon, was a vital wordwhen thinking of Judy and the kindness,love and help which she had given to somany people. His address, thoughdeeply moving, was also light in touch.Simon said that a friend had remarked tohim that Judy had never ever said anunkind word about anyone behind theirback……….she has always said it totheir face. She had been a very honestand direct person. Daughter, Jane Birkin, then read a beau-tiful poem, written by Judy’s lateGrandson, Anno, and we then sangWesley’s hymn “Love divine, all lovesexcelling”. Both Moira Lister and Sheridan Morley,our Honorary Vice Presidents, were pres-ent and next we had Sheridan’s address,which was simply superb. As many ofyou will know, Sheridan has workedextensively with Judy over recent years,but he mentioned that he had known heras a friend, from childhood days, as he

grew up in the Thames Valley area,where Judy was also living, and wheretheir parents and relatives were allacquainted. One evening after a performance at theJermyn St. Theatre, Judy had lookedrather tired and Sheridan had said “youdon’t have to do this Judy, take a rest fora while if the performances are becomingtoo exhausting”. Oh no, she had said Ilove it and, living alone, I find it sad tocook for one and whilst doing the show,a succession of elderly gentlemen arevery keen to take me out to dinner,which is marvellous”.He told a story, which Judy herself toldin her own shows, about the time whenshe was touring the country, during thewar, with Noël. During a love scene,Noël had slipped his hand into Judy’sblouse. Alors! she thought “I have suc-ceeded where others have failed, here isthe breakthrough”. After the perform-ance, however, Noël had apologised andsaid that he had been so cold, he simplyhad to warm up his hands. Sheridan mentioned that although Judyhad made ‘A Nightingale Sang inBerkeley Square’ so famous, she hadnever recorded the song. So to rectifythe situation he had arranged for arecording to be made, at Pizza-on-the-Park, during a fairly recent appearance.And then, to the surprise and deepdelight of the congregation, the recordingwas played and suddenly Judy’s deepand wonderful dulcet tones rang out. I‘mcertain that there were not many present,who did not shed a tear at this point.A reading from Swinburne followed,then Sanctus from Faure’s Requiem andthen the Lesson, from The Wisdom ofSolomon. The final hymn was “The dayThou gavest, Lord, is ended” and thenthe Blessing. The beautiful flower -strewn basket wasthen carried out of the church, toMendelssohn’s Overture to AMidsummer Night’s Dream.Judy had hoped to perform ‘Nightingale’for us in January at “Cocktails andLaughter…” at Pizza-on-the-Park andStephen Fry had prepared some introduc-tory remarks for her, but alas, Judy hadthen been unwell. One of Judy’s last performances wasonly last September, when she appearedat the Jermyn St. Theatre with StefanBednarczyk who accompanied her on thepiano. It was a privilege to have beenpresent on that Sunday evening.Although a little frail, Judy was still sobeautiful and so full of life, charm, talent

and warmth. A long spray of lovely flowers, includingthe Dolce Vita rose, were sent from theSociety, with the card saying:-“To our Honorary Vice President, withlove and thanks from all the Members ofthe Noël Coward Society, throughout theworld”. There was a vast array of flowers includ-ing, of course, those from Graham Payn.

Barbara Longford

Rules was established by ThomasRule in 1798 making it the oldestrestaurant in London.

Amanda Muggleton

Denis Olsen

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Festival quartet now to be heard nightlyon Shaftesbury Avenue in the LyricRevue at the Globe.A score of songs from a score of years;might not this first appearance in cabarethave given us at least one new Cowardtune written for the occasion? That per-haps is up the entertainer's sleeve for theweeks ahead, when every-one will haveto go again to hear Noel's new number.But if so it will be new in a limitedsense. Coward's style reached its fulldevelopment early, it has remained un-changed and, surely, undiminished, withthe years. The two decades thatseparate Dance, Little Lady from Play,Orchestra, Play become, as one listens,no more significant than the pause inwhich one turns over a favourite gramo-phone record to hear the other side.Division of opinion about Coward isequaUy unchanged. He has remained,some say, unrepentantly superficial. Hehas remained, say the fans, the samedelightful Noel. Certainly his final placein the theatrical. tableau of our time willbe in Feste's motley, with a bitter-sweetHeigh-ho. But there is such a thing as aperfected talent and the time is nearwhen some attempt should be made toassess just why it is that, let us say, MadDogs and Englishmen remains, twentyyears later, every bit as funny as when itwas written and better than any otherlyric writer has done since.With diffidence I offer the suggestionthat Noel Coward is one of our best lightpoets. (If it mitigates the shock, one canpoint out that among his earliest publica-tions was a book of. astonishingly versatile poetic parodies,Spangled Unicorn.) It is not wit orsophisticated ribaldry that account for hissuccess as a song-writer. When we haveheard the wisecracks or seen beyond theblue horizon of most comedians we hard-ly laugh as much at their same jokestwenty years after-wards. They are with-ered by age and staled by custom.Coward's rhymes still click and the sub-tlety and skill of his rhythms is a mainreason for it. Nor is he entirely withoutfelicitous successes beyond the satiricalmood. Now that the over-emotionalintensities of the warhave eased itbecomes clear that his perfect little but-tonhole, Londoll Pride, has a lasting fra-grance while the more heavy-handedpatriotic pomposities of the period-OldFather Thames, There'll Always Be AnEnglalUl-merely stink.The absence of songs from Ace of Clubs

and the unsuccessful musical, Pacific1860, that preceded it, suggests thatCoward himself prefers his earlier work.The general form of his pro-gramme wasa rapid selection of songsmainly sentimental, from I'll See YOIIAgain and Some Day I'll Find Yo/( to I'llFollow My Secret Heart, including suchlight-hearted lilts as Somethillg To DoWith Spring and Any Little Fish. A groupof satirical songs followed, given sepa-rately and in full. This began with theextravagantly funny Nina fromAmentina. Next The Stately Homes ofEngland. (Coward restores the once-ofTensive line about the Jews and con-tinues, rather foolishly, to sing "Here yousee the four of us," which is palpablyuntrue even in the Cafe deParis at 2 a.m.) Then comes the Anglo-Indian burlesque, I W Ollder 1VhotHappened to Him? Towards the end onenoticed that not even the generous pro-portions of the intervening Mrs.Worthington prevented Don't Make Funof the Festival from exposing the short-comings of This i.f the Elld of the News,however many' laughs it may get. Butwith Mad Dogs alld Englishmen as anencore, Coward is back on the mark andhe ends with The Party's O,'er Now, anold song of his with absolutely no politi-cal significance.Manifestly the party is not over nowfor Noel Coward. The candle burns atboth ends as bright as ever. His attrac-tive but never exactly operatic voice isnot heard except through the micro-phone, from which he never strays. Butin expression, gesture, pointing, timingand that ineffable personal essence of allthings technical that is style, Cowardproves once more that he is one of thegreat performers of our time.On November 28th his latest comerly,Relative Values, brings Gladys Cooperback to the West End. Our own rela-tivevalues ,are changing, no doubt, but in aworld where chann and wit arein sadly short supply, only the churlishwill be ungrateful for the diversion of adesign for living that has cut such adelightfully impudent arabesque in thethin ice of our p'erishing times.

Ed. If you have an archive article, photo-graph or item of interest to members whynot send a copy to us at Home Chat 29,Waldemar Avenue, Hellesdon, Norwich,NR6 6TB UK or email: homechat@noel-coward.net

Perhaps, however, we should be thankfulfor small cinematic mercies. ByHollywood precedents we arc lucky notto have had by this time a film biographyof Coward's career as song-writer star-ring, perhaps, Dick Bentley. What \\iouldhave been done to the songs themselvesis hideously audible from the orchestralcacophony that introduces Afeet MeTonight and invades the interpolatedca5ino sequence of Ways alld M eullS, inwhich only the initiated can detect wist-ful traces of Ploy Orchestra Play and YouWere There, from Shadow Play in theTonight at 830 group. For "based on"read "debased from."Gertrude Lawrence's voice singing Y 011Were There was heard in the memorialprogramme broadcast on Wed-nesday,which also included recordings from RedPappers and Private Lives. The progra-nune began by recalIing that onSeptember 9th at 8.30 the lights ou~ sid~London theatres were extinguished forone minute as a tribute to Miss Lawrenceand ended with Noel Coward telling ofher wish. when he last saw her in NewYork a few months ago, to come homeand "ppear in a new play which hc wasto write for her. To hear Mr. Cowardspeak of ,Gertrude Lawrence was evenmore moving than to read the similarwords he recently contribute,! to TheTime.r.

From ‘THEATRE” Noember 1951

COWARD inCABARET

NOEL COWARD'S last musical wasset in a West End night club, where wesaw a good deal of the cabaret. At theCafe de Paris last week -and for severalweeks to come-it was as though a scenefrom the play had come to life, thoughthere was no able-bodied sailor in thefashionable audience to rescue the hero-ine. But then there was no heroine. NoelCoward was his own Ace of Clubs.Where Are The Songs We Sung? Thatone from Operette was missing (and sowas Dearest Love), but most ofthe other favourites were there in aforty-five minute performance thatranged from the late twenties-BitterSweet-through Cochran's 1931 Revue,Conversation Piece and Tonight at 8.30to war-time songs and the satirical

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It seems to have been so long since theJune Home Chat and with the printingdelays over the last edition and theeffects of the holiday season this month’scopy is delayed but hopefully up to theusual standard. The sad loss of JudyCampbell, one of our Vice-Presidentsand a memorable Coward leading ladyrather overshadowed July. BarbaraLongford represented the Society at herfuneral and we sent a wreath of flowerson behalf of everyone. Moira Lister oneof our other VPs attended our sucessfulevent at Teddington - but more on thislater. And, as you will also read in HomeChat, Sheridan Morley, our other VP, isappearing for us with Michael Law at theMaddermarket Theatre at our NorwichWeekend 3rd to 5th September.A word about our printer... I mean a laserprinting machine rather than a person ofcourse... its not his fault - yes the NCSlaser printer is definitely masculine, awoman could not possibly be that diffi-cult and demanding. As I say it’s not hisfault. He sleeps largely undisturbed forweeks at a time and then suddenly isasked to print over 2,000 sides of A3paper (UK size) non-stop for a couple ofdays. This usually results in a completebreakdown and frayed nerves all round.But as my mother always said: “It isimmature to swear at inanimate objects.”And so I do so only in the privacy of myoffice known lovingly at WaldemarAvenue as the Cess Pit. In the US KenStarrett fields the printing for the USmembers to a friendly local printing firmwho do a wonderful job. Aside from this Celia Cologne ourMembership Secretary has been sendingout the membership details we hold inour database and inviting members to

renew their membership. In some casesmembership is well overdue - largely ourfault, we accept, as we have had severalchanges of personnel and this is some-thing that has slipped. Your help ensur-ing your own renewal payments is muchappreciated. Without a regular incomewe cannot provide the services that weoffer including Home Chat and the web-site. Under Barbara Longford’s leader-ship the Committee has been busy plan-ning new events and activities (see page4). To return to Coward’s birthplace,Teddington, and one of the year’s eventhighlights at the Hampton HillPlayhouse. Celia and Barbara arranged awonderful day for members and guestswith Graham Sawyer Artistsic Chairmanof Teddington theatre Club. We joinedMoira Lister, one of our VPs, to seeNoel’s birthplace at what was called“Helmsdale,” in Waldegrave Road. Thento St Alban’s Church where his parentsmet - now the Landmark Arts Centre.We wandered around the exhibition of

local artists at the Churchbefore meeting at ‘Joe’sBar and Restaurant’ atHampton Hill followed bya wonderful production ofone of Coward’s ‘biogra-phical’ plays PresentLaughter. Our specialguest Moira Lister wasgreeted with a mixture ofawe and delight by thecast of the play and waswarmly applauded by theaudience at the end of a

wonderful production. The Old Hamptonians weresuperb in their roles. The actors involved work inproductions for other amateur groups, particularlythe Teddington Theatre Club, whose official homeis the Hampton Hill Playhouse. The role ofGarry was played with exceptional flair and styleby Stephen Bentley. The whole cast and the direc-tor, Ken Mason are to be congratulated on doingthe Master proud! Thanks also to to Eric Yardleyand the board of the Hampton Hill Theatre fortheir hospitality and interest in our visit.

Conversation Pieces ... a personal diary of all things Coward from the Editor

Moira Lister (middle), GrahamSawyer (left), members and guests at

Noel’s birthplace

Two Joannas! Denise Truscott with MoiraLister who played the part with Noel in 1947

The Cast of Present Laughter were: Daphne Stillington - Dawn MillerMiss Erikson - Jackie BarrettFred - Colin GreenhalghMonica Reed - Carol StrattonGarry Essendine - Stephen BentleyLiz Essendine - Mandy StenhouseRoland Maule - Jim BellinghamHenry Lyppiatt - Charles A. Hallford

Morris Dixon - John BellamyJoanna Lypiatt - Denise TruscottLady Saltburn - Sue BirksDirector - Ken MasonS.M. - Lyn RandallDesign - Wesley Henderson RoeLighting - Robin HoareSound - Stuart Costigan

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interminable discourses that make theInquisitor's spee'ch in St. Joan soundlike an aside. Lynn Fontanne, in the textas well as in the scene, expectingmuffins and finding only toast, sustainedherself phoenix-like on her own ineffa-ble charm. Lesser performerswere lumped about the stage, in the rail-way-station scenes, as devoid of appealas parcels at Paddington.Since the play was written for the Luntsit is less l.ertinent to insist thatthey are the making of it, which, ofcourse, they are, than to admire theskill born of long friendship and stage-partnership with which the author-pro-ducer has provided the polish in whichthey shine. Apart from thejustifiable and not inordinate speech thatis the culmination of the second Act onelooks in vain in the text (Heine-mann,8s. 6d.) for the interminablesentences or harangues. Complaints thatthe idiom :5 not faithfully Victorianonly raise the question of what sort ofartificial comedy Mr. Coward writes.The parallel with Private Liz.es hasdarkened counsel considerably; a moreilluminating comparison with Still Lifeseems to have escaped notice altogether.It was on the same stage in 1936 thatNoel Cowa.:d ami the late GertrudeLawrence performed this poignant littleplay that began and ended in therefreshment-room of a railway-station,with its unforced symbolism of arrivaland departure, more widely knownrecently in the film version called BriefEncounter. Quadrille also begins andends in the refreshment-room of a rail-way-station ani its central character is arailway-king named - in one of Coward'slittle puns that has alsoescaped critical notice ~ Axel. Itspattern is a wheel that comes full circleand Axel is not only the hub but thedriving-force. Mrs. Axel is a Boston flierwho runs off with a marquess. Axel pur-sues her with the marchioness and makesanother connection.Coward's plays have never been entirelydevoid of a distinctive sparkle, but hehas tended to alternate the sentimentalmood of costume pieces such as BitterSweet with a lively sense of the absurdi-ties of society's ethical expectations insuch modern comedies as Hay Fever. Inthe little Victorian musical piece FamilyAlbum from the Tonight at 8.30 cyclethe moods were still separte but inQuadrilfe, set. in thc same period, bothare sustained simultaneously ani I found

the result ,Ielightful. Noel Coward excelsin style, in the strict literary sense of dis-tinctive and charming choice of words.Without ill-will to other prevailing WestEnd comedies by which I have beenagreeably entertained, I would exchangethem all for ten minutes of Quadrille, forthe sheer pleasure of hearing the rightwords in the n~ht order; and thatthis pleasure is not solely due to the'incomparable Lunts is confinned for meby a reading of the printed play. Why thesentimental light comedy of verbal styleshould leave the critics so dissatis-fied Ido not know. That Griffith Jones andMarian Spencer, and some others, throwit away at times to the point of inaudibil-ity IS, I think, a legitimate complaint.But I advise everybody who relishes witto book a seat in Cecil Beaton's charm-ingly upholstered Pull-man, to see Mr.Lunt's masterly manipulation of thatcurious piece of American locomotivemachinery inelegantly styled the cow-catcher and to admire Miss LynnFontanne's first-class carriage as shegoes clean off thc rails. Quadrille has aseason ticket; many travellers will wanta return.If this enthusiasm for the form and styleof Noel Coward's comedy seems exces-sive I prescribe comparison ofthree of the Tonight at 8...,0 plays-RedPeppers, Filmed Oak and l1/ays and Mean,r-with the film "based on" themwhich Anthony Havelock-Allan has pro-duced. That it is not in itself a bad filmis precisely my point. But the deadlysatire of score and script of a thinl-ratcmusic-hall turn is gone and aNighl at the Opl?ra Marxian finale is apoor slapstick substitute. Three resource-ful twists of the denouemer.t of Waysand Means fatally labour the point. Andmany of th~ best lines have been con-scientiously I ewritten in basic scenarioEnglish. "Cold 'am, wot a surprise!" (inFumed Oak) is rendered "cold left-over5" ('am being in luxuriously shortsupply nowadays, except in some of theperformances) dnd the industry'seconon'y is safeguarded at the expenseof satire when "they can 'ave Garbo forninepence" is rather primly trans-latedinto "the pictures for one and three."Noel Coward should put a stop to thissort of mishandling of his lines. BenHecht and Charles McArthur rewroteDesign for Lil.illg for the screen withoutleaving more than a couple of linesintact; but they had a satirical style oftheir OWl] and a com-pletely new ver-sion is not just bubble and squeak.

THEATREMOMENTS

Here are two archive articels from theTheatre Magazine kindly sent in by

Stephen Marshall

From ‘THEATRE’ 27th Sepotember 1952

ALL CHANGE

QUADRILLE, by Noel Coward(Phoenix )

MEET ME TO-NIGHT (Marble ArchOdeon)

ROY WALKER

THE conjunction of Noel Cowardand the Lunts is a phenomenon of the-atrical astronomy more than once raptur-ously observed in the UnitedStates but hitherto inexplicably hiddenfrom English eyes. Design for Livingwas written by Mr. Coward for theLunts and himself and superbly playedby them in N ew York in 1933. Six yearslater the West End was vouch-safed the spectacle of Anton Walbrook,ruining Coward's lines by hardly com-prehensible mid-European intonationsand surviving by sheer force of personalcharm. Point Valaine was written by Mr.Coward for the Lunts in 1935, and,after another geological interval, thisMaughamish melodrama of passion inthe Pacific was rather incongruouslyperformed at Swiss Cottage in 1947without them. One began to wondera trifle bitterly if the trio might bewheeled on in bath-chairs at somecharity matinee towards the end ofthe century to croak triumphantlythrough a postscript to Cavalcade. But atlast patience has been rewarded andwe have if not a youthful fox-trot amature Quadrille.Perhaps expectations had been over-wrought by the long years of waiting.At any rate there has been almost aconcensus of critical disappointmentthat poor old Mr. Coward has perpe-trated a slight and verbose rehash ofPrivate Lives in crinolines, only savedfrom limping to a standstill by theundimmed virtuosity of the Lunts, whosequality is of course familiar to us inSherwood and Rattigan. Alfred Lunt,one gathered, gallops glibly through

In the US Ken Starrett tells us that heand several NCS members attended thefinal performance of a production of HayFever presented by the ShakespeareCompany of New Jersey at DrewUniversity. He writes...This delightfulproduction was handsomely mountedwith striking set and costumes. Veryimaginative staging and direction washandled by director, Gabriel Barre. Theuniformly excellent cast was headed byJill Gascoine in the role of Judith Bliss.The grand theatricality of her perform-ance was never irritating or annoying.She always had charm and expertly han-dled the comic values. This well-doneproduction further proves how entertain-ing a Coward play can be.(programme is on the way to you). Kenalso caught the production of Lunes deMiel in Paris (see the June edition ofHome Chat for details) after a visit toBerlin. He writes... It was a most inter-esting experience to see this productiondone in the manner of a broad farce. Forthe most part, we are used to a moreunderstated production. Given the choiceof style, the two leads, Pierre Arditi andEvelyne Bouix performed expertly in amanner that complimented each other.This smoothness may be accounted forby the fact that in ‘private life’ they aremarried to each other. Sonia Vollereauxand Franck Mercadal as Sybil and Victorwere appropriate foils. The adaptation forthis production seems quite literal, themost notable change being the absence ofNoel Coward's music. Original musicwas written for the production. A note ofnostalgia added to the evening. It was inthis theatre, Theatre Edouard VII, thatCoward himself performed in PresentLaughter (Joyeux Chagrins) in 1948.There are photographs of that productionin the lobby. This theatre also presentedmany plays by Sacha Guitry with hiswife Yvonne Printemps - star ofCoward's Conversation Piece. A restau-rant off the stalls is named ‘Cafe Guitry’and displays many posters of his plays.The French audience greeted the eveningwith much enthusiasm. Ken and I incommon with many of you are avidCoward collectors so it is no surprise tolearn that he has the following recentaquisitions: An original programme ofOn With The Dance, a programme ofPoint Valaine from the Colonial Theatrein Boston, a programme of The Vortexfrom the Broad Street Theatre in Newark,New Jersey (first stop on the NationalTour after Broadway) a mint condition

copy of a video of Surprise Package.(Ed. A Coward film that I have neverseen and a video that neither Ken or Ihave ever manged to get). He almost gota script of In Which We Serve signed byJohn Mills. He had been alerted to thisby an email from the Debut Theatre inthe South of England using this item as ameans of fund-raising for their theatre - agood idea! During the online auctionweek he was the only bidder for the item.Two minutes before the auction ended -while he was on a bus going to work -someone outbid him by two pounds. Hehopes it was someone in the Society whogot it!There have been some unavoidablechanges to the planned Weekend inNorwich from 3rd to 4th September.Unfortunately for reasons outside ourcontrol the planned production onSaturday evening of The Master’s Voicehas had to be postponed to a later date.However the Society is very pleased toannounce that Sheridan Morley andMichael Law will be repeating their WestEnd success in: “An Evening WithSheridan Morley and Michael Law” atthe Norwich Maddermarket that evening.Fo those of you who might be interestedin coming for thre weekend or just for theday to see the show then please get intouch with me on 01603 486 188 or byemail at: johnknowles@noelcoward.net.Stephen Fry has also been in touch to saythat he regrets that he is filming during thewhole of September and October and willbe unable to join us. The weekend willcontinue with a meal together on theFriday evening, in Tombland, Norwichwith a walk around the central a part ofNorwich in the evning. On Saturdaymembers and guests are invited to join usfor either a guided tour of the City oranother of the Cathedral both by BlueBadge guides. In the afternoon there willbe a repeat of the City tour or an opportu-nity to explore the City and its excellentshopping areas or visit the Castle,Bridewell and Strangers Hall museums. Inthe evening at 6.00 pm we meet atPinnochio’s for a pre-theatre supper andthen a short walk to the Maddermarkettheatre to see the show. On Sunday morn-ing, for those who wish it, there is achance to meet in the City and enjoy lunchtogether at a public house near theCathedral and get a last look at this finecity before departing. Lastly the catalogueof books from the Coward London Officeis included with this edition of HomeChat. John Knowles

COWARD ON FILMFollowing the publication of Barry Day’sbook Coward On Film, the Society isplanning to hold a film evening inLondon on a Sunday afternoon in Feb2005 which includes afternoon tea. It will be a 4 to 5 hour event at about£35pp with the first chance to buyBarry’s book about Noel’s films. Barryhas made the book available exclusivelyto members of society for its initial pub-lication run. If you are interested inattending such an event please completethe questionnaire part of the enclosedbooking form. This event is being organ-ised by Geoffrey Skinner, Samuel FrenchLtd, 52 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5JR,UK Tel: 020 7387 9373

NOEL COWARD EVENING WITH KT SULLIVAN AT JERMYN STREET

THEATRE - DEC16th

The Society has organised a specialcabaret celebration with the cabaret per-former KT Sullivan who is providing aNoel Coward Birthday Cabaret for onenight only on Dec16th at the JermynStreet theatre with a pre-theatre dinner atabout Getty’s (next door) for £50 pp. Ifyou are interested in attending such anevent please complete the questionnairepart of the enclosed booking form.Thisevent is organised by Geoffrey Skinner -see contact details above.

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FUTURE EVENTS

POSTSCRIPTDuring the period following the funerlaand obituaries for Judy Capmbell thepress have had pieces on her daughterJan Birkin who was planning a film ofand starring her mother called Boxes -Judy had been reading the script whilst inhospital. The film, due to start inSeptember, was to include Judy in thecast. Jane says, “I had hoped that shewould have her last great role.” “She wasa diva, utterly irreplaceable. She used togive inspiration and intellect - all of uswent into the theatre and my daughterswould ring her for advice on the best linsin Chekov and which directors to workwith. She was so beautiful so ravishing. Ifelt like a mouse by her side.”

Extracts from London The EveningStandard & The Observer

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Day who is writing a book about his(Coward’s) letters came across a letterthat I had written when I was aboutseven saying… ‘Dear Noel, Thank youvery much for the pound that you sentme for my birthday. I am never going tospend it because it smells of you’ …it was not then of course a coin and thenabout… ‘how much I enjoyed visitingyou at your place. Please give my love toGraham and Coley.’ And there was anawful drawing of myself with my hair allover my face. I don’t know where hefound it.Q: So you wrote this letter that Barry isgoing to publish…what nextA: Tnen Juliet … you really ought to betalking to Juliet. He was her Godfather.So she had much more association withhim than I did. She went to his house inSwitzerland. I went to school inSwitzerland for about six months and Iknow that they dropped me off therewhen I was fifteen and then they wentoff up to spend some time with Noel inhis house there. I haven’t been to Fireflyhouse… that was a very special place…my Mum and Dad have been… in factwhen a friend of mine went and saw thehouse three years ago the book that wason the table was open at a poem that myMother wrote called ‘Firefly Hill’.Which was lovely.Q: Did they visit Noel there very often.A: I am not sure but certainly at leastonce. Noel represents a whole era. Hewas unique and fascinated in people…he loved people , that’s what he wroteabout.Q: Can I ask you about when you didFallen Angles with you sister in 1992?A: We toured a long time in England inprovincial theatres… about 6 months andthe Frost Organisation did another pro-duction with Christopher Wrenshawdirecting it and we set off aroundAustralia and New Zealand and had awonderful time. Did very good business.Juliet and I had hysterical laughs all

along... we went to the North and theSouth Islands of New Zealand and wentas far down as you can possibly get toDunedin and Invercargill. This one the-atre in Dunedin, the dressing rooms weredownstairs and the basement was floodedand we had to… with our beautiful bead-ed Twenties dresses on, satin shoes withDiamante buckles had to tiptoe acrossduckboards teetering over the waters…but it was nothing like the days whentouring companies would go out formonths and months being abandoned onrailway platforms because there was nomoney to pay them or for the tickets. Q: Did you enjoy working with your sis-ter?My sister and I are really good friends.She’s my best girlfriend. We have a lotof things in common, apart from the factwe’re sisters… we have a timing thing…we have the same kind of beat goingon… we have a very similar sense ofhumour… I think she’s hystericallyfunny anyway. There were times (inFallen Angels) because the opportunityto develop business is given to you…things happen and the audience think itsfunny and you run with it. That’s one ofthe joys of playing comedy. You’ve got

have a sense of restraint and good taste ..no not even necessarily that… but know-ing that I think I’ve really gone on a littlebit too long here I think its time to drawin the horses. There were a couple oftimes when I caught my sister’s eye andshe was raising her eyebrow. But ifyou’re already really close… we had ourlittle contre-temps about things.

On a day when New York was finally breaking out of its Winter cold andrain and had started enjoying Spring sunshine, Ken Starrett and JohnKnowles welcomed Hayley Mills to the Compass Restaurant for an inter-view about her work and interest in Coward’s plays. Hayley is an actorbest known for her childhood roles but is currently very active on thestages of New York and London. She is the youngest daughter of ourPresident Sir John Mills and has a keen interest Coward, the man thatnoticed, by accident, her father in a Far-Eastern touring stage company and kick-started his film and West End actingcareer. Her sunny disposition and openess areentirely disarming and although we didnot touch on her childhood career in ourmeeting you cannot help but feel you areopposite the innocent child that believedAlan Bates was Jesus in Whistle DownThe Wind.Her stage career has included a numberof Coward plays: Fallen Angels in 1992in which she toured Australia, NewZealand and the United Kingdom withher sister Juliet; Brief Encounter in 1996in Newcastle and Suite In Two Keys in2000 in New York. She has taken part innumerous readings including many forElizabeth Sharland and Barry Dayincluding New Aspects of Noël Coward,Strictly Private Lives, and the onlyextant scene from Noël’s last play AgeCannot Wither staged as part ofCowardx2 to raise funds forShakespeare’s Globe theatre. In May she appeared at the New YorkLibrary in Johnny G & Noël C as part ofthe Gielgud centenary celebrations andperformed in excerpts from The Vortex,Private Lives, and in a rendering of‘Three Juvenile Delinquents’ from AceOf Clubs which was once performed in1953 at a midnight charity show byGielgud, Olivier and her father. SteveRoss joined and accompanied Hayleywith Simon Jones as Noël and RichardEaston as John Gielgud in what wasrechristened “Four JuvenileDelinquents.”

Q: Is it right that you only met Cowardonce as a child?A: No it was more than that. There wasone memorable one at The Savoy hoteland he may well have been doing ASuite In Three Keys. Which I went tosee. I was probably 13. I met him thatevening in the Savoy Grill Room. Barry

Hayley Mills and Ken Starrett at the Compass Restaurant

“Dear Noel, Thank you very much for thepound that you sent me for my birthday. Iam never going to spend it because itsmells of you...”An interview with Hayley Mills

CourtneyKenny CDThis album has been sent tous by Courtney who is anative of West Ireland. Afterstudying at the RoyalCollege of Music in London,he went on to develop hiscareer as musical director ofthe Bristol Old Vic compa-ny. He spent five years inLight Music and MusicTheatre, and in 1959 joinedthe touring opera group “Opera For All” aspianist. In 1960 he was invited to join themusic staff of the famous GlyndbourneFestival Opera where he worked for elevenseasons. For nearly Forty years he has beenperforming on the cabaret circuit in Englandand Ireland. He has appeared at Pizza OnThe Park on several occasions and in theMabel Mercer Cabaret Convention in NewYork. His New York appearances include hisone man show A Boy For Life at the IrishRepertory Theatre. He was in New York inJune and October 1998, when he gave perfo-mances at Eighty-Eight’s, and appeared in atribute to Gertrude Lawrence at the Cabaret Convention at Town Hall.In October of that year he and Nuala Willis took part in a tribute to SirNoel Coward at Town Hall and also appeared with great success atEighy-Eight’s. 20th 2000, he gave a sold out performance of MadDogs and Englishmen in the Purcell Room on the South Bank andelsewhere. Copies of this CD of his show can be obtained for £15each from: Courtney Kenny at: Russets, Straight Mile, Etchingham.East Sussex, TN19 7BA email:ccfkenny@aol.com

Making Dickie Happy - Jeremy Kingston has writtento let us know about a play of his being performed in Septemberentitled, Making Dickie Happy, that opens at the Rosemary BranchTheatre, Islington. He adds that a number of his theatre critic col-leagues will be covering it. It is set at an island hotel off the coast ofDevon in the early 1920s the main characters are Noel Coward, LordLouis Mountbatten and Agatha Christie, all at the threshold of theircareers. Mountbatten and Agatha Christie are in the throes of emo-tional crises - ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten doesn’t know if he wants to bemarried, Agatha doesn’t know if she’s going to stay married andCoward, endeavouring to sort out their troubles, discovers he hastroubles of his own. He hopes the play will interest those who admireand enjoy the works of Coward.

Terence Trimmer writes ...I could not resist photro-graphing these two Noel Coward volumes together.The Quotable Noel Coward by Sheridan MorleyRunning Press 1999 (size 8.4 x 7.2 cm) and NoelCoward The Complete Lyrics edited and annotated byBarry Day Methuen 1998 (size 30 x 28cm). Ed. Are these the largest and smallest Coward volumes

JAN STERLINGKen Sephton adds to our piece on this actress as fol-lows... Her first husband was John Merivale, son ofBritish actor Philip Merivale (who worked a lot in theAmerican Theatre and in Hollywood films) and histhen wife Galdys Cooper who was John’s stepmother.He was Vivien Leigh’s companion. With reference tothose wonderful Night of a 100 Stars midnight mati-nees at the Palladium. They lasted from 1953 to 1964and I was fortunate to attend all but the last one. Inone Jan Sterling and her then husband Paul Douglasperformed the card-playing scene from Born Yesterdayand in another Noel and Marlene, each wearing strawboaters duetted to great acclaim By Land, Sea and Air.Noel sponsored the first few, then Lawrence Oliviertook over. Every star in London at thetime appeared,often doing things not normally associated with them!

NEWS, VIEWS AND LETTERS...Relative Sizes...

RICHARD HOLBROOK - STEPS OUTWhilst in New York earlier this year I listened and metfor the first time the cabaret performer RichardHolbrook. His songs have an immediate appeal toPorter, Gershwin, Berlin and Kerr lovers everywhere. Irecommend him as a quintessentially American singerwho has the warmth and connection with his audiencethat we know from the likes of Fred Astaire - some clas-sic tracks and some new pieces as well. This new singeris well worth watching for the future. Tracks include

favourites such as: Isn’t This A Lovely Day/AFoggy Day/A Fine Romance/Let’s Call TheWhole Thing Of/The Way Yopu LookTonight/Never Gonna Dance/How Long HasThis Been Going On/ This Heart Of Mine/TheyCan’t Take That Away From Me plusSondheim’s Old Friends and new pieces fromnew and aspiring New York composers. Currently negotiating selling rights with TowerRecords & Footlights in New York.

Juliet and Hayley Mills in Fallen Angels

To purchase now emailRichard at: singing-cabaret@nyc.rr.com

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Q: You would obviously love to do it(Fallen Angels) againI’d love to do it again. We were hopingwe were going to be able to do it again atthe Pasadena Playhouse just for sixweeks and Brian Bedford was going to

direct it. Juliet has been doing a Soapcalled Passions. She’s been in it threeyears and she’s still in it and they wereprepared to give her some time off butwe couldn’t get the North Americanrights as it was going to conflict withother plans for the play. One day maybewe’ll do it.Q: What about ‘A Suite In Two Keys’A: We had a difficult time (with it)because we changed directors mid-stream. I’ve had a few experiences likethat.. that’s part of working in the the-atre. You do films and they never see thelight of day or you do a film and youthink you’re frightfully good and youend up on the cutting room floor. ThankGod that’s never actually happened to mebut you never know. I had recentlymoved to New York and I wasapproached about doing this… I verymuch wanted to do it and they had lotsof problems getting the cast together.Q: It was the first time that anyone inNew York had had a chance to see‘Shadows of the Evening.’ It was surpris-ing that for that reason alone it did nothave a longer run?A: I think if the producers had had a lit-tle more experience they might havemanaged things differently. A lot ofmoney was spent on things… that shouldprobably have been saved for putting upnotices and ads. Giving us a chance torun for at least a couple of weeks. Therewas really quite a good advance (of audi-ence bookings) but they felt that becauseBen Bradley didn’t give it a notice thatwas going to get people stumbling downthe street to buy tickets that they couldn’trisk it. That anyway was the explanationthat we were given... they may have beenother reasons.Q: What do you feel about Coward dia-

logue?A: I love it you see its so familiar to meit’s wonderful stuff for an actor to havecoming out of their mouths on stage, tobe so articulate and sharp and witty. Thecharacters… some of them are fluffysilly people yes but an awful lot of themare people… with great depth. Heobserved people so sharply and affec-tionately I think. Its his language, it’ssuch a joy. I love words and people whouse words well… it’s irresistible.Increasingly today people don’t usewords very well… there’s a paucity ofvocabulary and the misuse of words…it’s a shame… its an art to be able toexpress yourself well… and he’s so won-derfully funny. That marvellous song thatthat trio in Chicago (where this yearHayley Mills, Ken Starrett GeoffreyJohnson were part of an Englishteacher’s conference on Noel Coward),they did a lot of numbers. There was aman with a beard rather rotund who sangI’ve Been To A Marvellous Party. I wasunder the table it was so funny, it’s aboutkeeping our sights up linguistically.Q: What about the evenings you havedone with Barry Day?A: That’s been great fun. He’s put themtogether really well. I’ve worked withRosemary Harris Michael Allinson,Richard Easton, Edward Hibbard, SimonJones. It always astounds me. We dothem for one night in a tiny little theatreand its packed! You think how dideveryone know about this? But this is acity of obscure theatres and plays and thesidewalk is thronging with people andyou think - I’ve never heard of that play.It’s a great place to be if you love thetheatre.Q: Have you seen the wonderful film clipthat Noel shot of your father dancingChildren’s Hour in Words and Music?A; He was very much influenced by FredAstaire and Jimmy Cagney. He did ThreeJuvenile Deliquents with Danny Kaye(sic) and Lawrence Olivier I think at theNight of a Hundred Stars… there’s thatwonderful line of Noel’s…when theytried to think of a title for it and theycame up with ‘Summer Stars’ and Noelsaid, “Some are not!” Q: Have you ever sung Coward’s songs?A: No… I did do the King and I… I dofeel a connection to him and GertrudeLawrence. I have always been verydrawn to and fascinated by her. It is agreat regret that I never actually saw herperform. Q: You sang in that (The King And I)

A: Oh yes. I do I give it my best shot.It’s a terrifying experience. I don’t thinkI would ever want to do it again. I didKing And I for nearly two years. I did tenmonths in Australia. Then I did a year inthis country (USA). Its actually not verywell-structured for Mrs. Anna… she’s

never off… well when she is off she’stearing her clothes off and putting anoth-er heavy dress on… like carrying a tablearound. Dancing carrying those children!I read Gertie’s autobiography. She talksabout when she was in Charlot’s Revueand she came over on a ship to NewYork and met Bea Lillie. The amountthat they worked then… they worked sohard and partied so hard. She describesone dinner party where everything justwent black she suddenly couldn’t see.Q: What about the work you did withElizabeth Sharland?A: Well I did one evening at theAlgonquin last year and I’m doing andevening tomorrow… she’s very deter-mined and gets things together and Iadmire that…. Iam reading theletters of Mrs.Pat and EllenTerry andMichaelAllinson isreading GeorgeBernard Shaw. So that’s fun. I don’tknow why we don’t do more of that kindof thing in London… readings, plays andworkshops… it gives a feeling of thingshappening and gets works thought about.Q: Your father spoke to us about Noel in2001 when he laid flowers on his stautueat Drury Lane.A: He always says that he owes Noel somuch. (There followed an interrupteddiscussion about The Quaints touringwiht Sir John in the Far East when Noelcame acrioss them) Hamlet was in the repertoire of TheQuaints. They should have been doingHamlet that night but the leading actorwas indisposed… I think he was dealingwith a hangover. They did YoungWoodley and my father was playing the

lead and had to make his entrance onroller skates… far too fast. He wanted toimpress the great man, flipped up andlanded and broke his thumb… made ahuge impact. When he told Noel in thedressing room that he had actually bro-ken his thumb he said ‘Keep it in!’ Andthen it was such an extraordinary thing todo… Journey’s End… he wanted to do itwith them… so they rehearsed it andplayed it.Then your father was in ‘In Which WeServe.’Juliet’s in that film too... (she plays thepart of the baby at the end of the film andis in the credits Ken reminds me) Wemove on to talk about personal Cowardfavourites.Q: What is your favourite?A: Private Lives is a personal favourite.The production with Alan Rickman andLindsay Duncan is very different in pacein timbre and everybody absolutely lovedit. And perhaps that made it more acces-sible to people. I’ve seen productions ofNoel’s plays particularly the comedieswhere people have fallen into a very easytrap where you just play the comedy youdon’t play the meaning your not connect-ed to the thought, it’s just words that goout pitter-patter and its all about style andattitude and it doesn’t seem real and youlose the sense of who they are and whatthey are saying and that does a great dis-service. Although they may appear to beflippant and indeed they are being flip-pant, they’re real people being flippantcovering up something about their lives,their feelings, their relationships, whatev-er it is. There was a different way ofbeing in the Twenties. They had justcome out of a devastating war and theneed to grab hold of life by the scruff ofthe neck and really live it, live everymoment, enjoy it and have fun and thenredeem the horror. One of my favouritethings though I have to say, although Ihave never done the real play in the prop-er sense of the word is Still Life. I didBrief Encounter… it didn’t work really. Idid a try-out for seven weeks with SimonDutton where the writer Andrew Taylorput the one act play together with thescreenplay. It seemed like a very goodidea and I’m so in love with the movieand loved the one-act play so much Ithough it had a good chance of working.But I don’t think that ultimately having alot of narration in the theatre works.When we were working on it we hadquite a bit of difficulty doing any sort ofrewrites… how can you rewrite when the

author is no longer with you. To dovetailthe play and the screenplay … we werefudging it… it was always clunky and Ithought - why not go and see the movie!Q: Did you enjoy doing the reading of‘Still Life’ at ‘Food For Thought?’A: Yes I did it with my partner. He was alittle dubious about it because he’syounger and Indian. But it didn’t matteras it was a reading and he’s a very goodactor. But apart from that there wereIndians in England and I think it made iteven more poignant that he was youngerso I didn’t think that was a problem. Ilove that play I’d love to do some moreof Tonight at 8.30. I think that was a bril-liant idea of his to do different one actplays and when he felt like a giving him-self a night off put on a play that he was-n’t in.When we opened Brief Encounter thatrevolving stage was a nightmare. It tooksuch a long time that we actually neverfinished as actors, ‘the technical,’ (thetechnical rehearsal) before we had to dothe first preview. Extremely dangerousthing to do with such a very technicalshow and at one point when the two(Alec and Laura) have met we steppedoff the revolving stage as we’d had teaand we were now going to go to the cine-ma The Kardomah coffee house started toroll away and we heard it start to clunkand you have to raise your voice a littlebit to drown the sound of the mechanics.And as well as the clanking machinerywe suddenly heard the sound of cracking,splintering, breaking wood and I lookedat Simon and he looked at me and weboth turned and looked over our shoulderand as we turned the whole of the wall ofthe Kardomah coffee house fall down.And there was an extra, non-speakingpart, bless his heart, sitting there at atable having a cup of coffee and he waspinned to the table and we rushed held upthe wall… you know this is a preview…held up the wall and looking over myshoulder and seeing all these startledfaces thinking ‘I wonder if this is sup-posed to happen?’ It was a shame. Q: Are there any other things you wouldlike to doA: I’m wholly in love with the theatre. Iam talking about doing something inLondon actually this summer with mydarling friend Christopher Renshaw. In afringe capacity. We haven’t set anythingyet. If I do it will probably be in August.I love living here (New York) I think theythink I am a bit of a fly-by-night becauseI do live in both places I have had the

problem that people think ‘It is too diffi-cult to get hold of her.’ I just want to dothe things I really want to do. The theatreis my main focus. I also haven’t madeany films for such a long time so theydon’t come knocking on my door. I hadsuch a strong identity in films such along time ago and that was good then butits against me now. I’m a bit of ananachronism really where films are con-cerned.I recently did a tourof Humble Boy inEngland which Iloved very muchwanted to do eversince I first saw it.Perhaps that’s thething with mebecause I reallywanted to do that, Ipursued it. Thenthey kept saying ‘No, no, we’re cast.’And then another production came and Iwent to tell my agent, ‘come on get afterthem I really want to do that,’ and he said‘No, no, we’ve got other offers.’ ‘Thenwhat about the tour I just want to playthat part.’ I want to do things I reallywant to do and enjoy them as long as it’swith good people. And this play that Ihope may happen in London is some-thing I’ve wanted to do for about eightyears. And when I first said I wanted todo this play Chris said, ‘Oh no you’re farto young.’ Well anyway now I’m appar-ently not! But also I’m getting into thecharacter area which is fun. Now one of the things I did for Barry, AnEvening With Alan Bennett where I did aseries of sketches... it was wonderful forme and I did a scene from his wonderfulplay The Lady In The Van, a marvellousplay. I suddenly realised the fun of play-ing somebody who isn’t remotely likeyourself – a character.

After an hour and a half Hayley agreedto be photographed and signed a bookfor me and finally left to read her possi-ble new play for London. My warm thanks go to her for giving usher time and her for her kindnessthroughout. Thanks also to Ken Starrettwho set-up the interview and providedwelcome help, support and guidancealong the way. Final thanks to the staff ofthe Compass who could see we were ‘intosomething here’ and used their discretionto ensure that we were well served butleft largely uninterrupted.

John Knowles

The cast of the 1962 revival of Fallen Angels withJulietr and Hayley Mills