The Letters of Noel Coward

You have to read between the lines a bit on this one as both the writer and Noel Coward are very closeted BUT it is a fun dishy read for anyone who is interested in the theatre world. Noel's vast talents and endless productions left me breathless with writer's block!! The man was driven: writing, directing and starrring in play after play. Really inspirational. Ironic how a deeply closeted (well, that was the times) gay man ended up in Jamaica, of all places, now famous for its homophobia............

Avid fan of Noel Coward and this books is a welcome addition to my library. Great purchase!!

The sheer output of the late Coward---plays, musicals, operettas, revues, movies, television and radio shows, verses, poems, short stories, autobiographies, diaries and a novel---might suggest to future generations that he was actually a brigade of bright young things banded together to bring wit, sophistication and a touch of class to the twentieth century. To this vast mountain of popular writings has been added a new book; at almost 800 pages, it is a massive volume, packed with a seemingly unending pile of trivia and minutia. There is actually painfully little of any worthwhile information not more readily available in the diaries and autobiographies, and the new information frequently falls into gossip, treacle or not really pertinent to a study of either the artist or his time. Purporting to tell the entire story, finally, of Coward as sort of an effete James Bond-type during World War II, there are letters which state that Coward was a spy for England. This has been said many times before, and the tome offers no new exciting anecdotes, breathless chases or heroic escapes. The backstage gossip is ephemeral to the point of absurdity: Marlene Dietrich had an unrequited crush on Yul Brynner; former Dennis resident Gertrude Lawrence may have had a lesbian relationship with Daphne du Maurier. And the weekly letters to his mother are downright embarrassing. Edited and arranged by Barry Day in a very clever manner including letters to Coward from his famous friends (along with Coward's replies) it's important to remember that these pieces were never really meant for publication. The wittier lines were always recycled into the public writings, and, unfortunately, there really isn't enough new material here to warrant the price or the girth of the work. Day has done yeomen work in turning Coward into his own cottage industry---this is the seventh book he's done on Coward's life and work, yet Coward's own dictum of responsibilities to an audience---shock them, amuse them, entertain them but never bore them---has been sadly ignored in this book. For greater fun, grab The Noel Coward Collection (BBC Video).

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.

This book of letters that Noel Coward wrote to people and letters that people wrote to Noel give you a great insight to his character and life.
Anyone interested in Noel Coward should read this book