Sir Noel Coward has often been credited with the invention of Englishness – or at least insofar as its 20th century identity is concerned. The beloved playwright, composer, director and singer defined a cultural generation...
Sir Noel Coward has often been credited with the invention of Englishness – or at least insofar as its 20th century identity is concerned. The beloved playwright, composer, director and singer defined a cultural generation through his characters and created a myth with his sardonic voice; yet it is Coward’s "Celebrity" in itself that holds the greatest staying power today. He was the first person to be well-known for being famous and famous for being well-known; indeed, before Noel Coward invented Englishness, he invented himself. In his famous silk polka-dot dressing gown, flicking a long cigarette holder, Coward was the picture of artifice at its most charming.
Born the son of a piano salesman in suburban London, Noel benefitted from the encouragement of an original pushy stage mother, and when in 1910 Violet Coward answered a call in the Daily Mirror for "a talented boy of attractive appearance" for the all-children fairy play The Goldfish, a star was born. After endless teenage performances, Coward acted in the first of his own West End plays at the age of 20. He would go on to publish over 50 plays throughout his life, compose hundreds of songs and eventually mingle almost exclusively with aristocrats and movie stars. “I am determined to travel through life first class,” he would say, and so he did.
“I am determined to travel through life first class,” Coward would say, and so he did.
Now, to coincide with the first run of Coward’s play Volcano, a work deemed too controversial to be performed at the time of writing, comes the latest exploration of Coward in all his many guises and sweeping influence. The Treasures of Noel Coward is not your everyday coffee-table book. It’s more of an enchanting pop-up for grownups, bursting with rare memorabilia pieces. An elegant scrapbook of sorts, it includes Noel Coward’s baptism card, a letter from Douglas Fairbanks Jr. after seeing In Which We Serve and Noel’s tribute to Marlene Dietrich for her cabaret debut in Paris. Most of all, it is a celebration of the life and work of this fabled figure who, 40 years after his death, is still a household name today.
The Treasures of Noel Coward: Star Quality by Barry Day is out now, published by Carlton Books. Volcano is showing at the Vaudeville Theatre London until September 29.
Text by Monica Ainley
