All language subtitles for Mad.About.the.Boy.The.Noel.Coward.Story.2023_Track03

Good evening and welcome.

There's only one man in the world
who's described as the master.

Will you welcome, please,
simply, Mr Noel Coward.

APPLAUSE

# On the silver screen

# He melts my foolish heart
in every single scene

# Although I'm quite aware that
here and there... #

Your... What is the word for
when one has terrific,

prolific qualities?

Talent. Yes.

LAUGHTER

# Lord knows I'm not a fool, boy

# I really... #

Do you think sex is overrated?

Are we still on?

# Lord knows I'm not a schoolboy

# In the flurry of his first affair

# Will it ever cloy?

# This odd diversity of
misery and joy... #

At what age did you know
that you were a star? Two.

LAUGHTER

# And all because
I'm mad about the boy

# I'm mad about the boy

# Mad about the boy
Yeah, I'm mad about the boy

# Mad about the boy

# About the boy. #

If you were preparing a synopsis
for a film of your life,

what would be the first scene
and what would be the last?

Oh, I have no idea what the last
will be.

I suspect fairly hilarious.

LAUGHTER

The first...scene of my life.

Born in a shabby London suburb
at the turn of the 20th century,

Noel Coward would become the most
celebrated actor, playwright

and songwriter of his generation.

This is his remarkable journey,
told in his own words, music

and extraordinary home movies.

What sort of a child were
you actually? Um...

When paid constant attention,

extremely lovable.

He grew up in poverty and money
is a constant issue

throughout his childhood.

"Father worked for a piano firm
as a salesman, which meant

"he was away from home a great deal.

"His income was small.

"My mother came from what is known
as good family, which means

"she had been brought up
in the tradition

"of being a gentlewoman.

"A difficult tradition to uphold
with very little money."

When his father loses his job,
Noel's mother, Violet, is forced

to run a boarding-house in Pimlico.

"Mother worked like a slave.

"Cooking meals and rushing up and
down the high, steep stairs.

"Meanwhile, Father contented himself
with making model yachts

"for his own amusement."

What's your most touching
memory of childhood?

That's dreadfully difficult.
There were so many.

I was constantly touched.

GROWING LAUGHTER

Were your mother or father
interested in the theatre?

My mother was interested
in the theatre.

Adored it. So you really went
straight from childhood into the
profession?

I was trained when I was very young
as a show off, and I've continued

triumphantly until this moment.

A guiding light in the theatre,
to the theatre was the Daily Mirror

because it said attractive,
talented and handsome...

..boy wanted.

So Mother and I had a brisk
conference, and we decided

I was talented, handsome...

..moot point.

But we'd better have a try.

And so I went and gave an audition
to a lady called Miss Lila Field.

Then I sang a song called
Liza Anne, and I got the job.

And you'd rehearsed
that with her at home?

You bet I had, yes.

The furniture pushed back.

"Mother and I floated down the
narrow staircase

"and out into the street.

"The moment was supreme and we could
scarcely breathe through excitement.

"I was now a professional actor."

Your mother sounds as though
she was a remarkable woman.

She was. She was a perfectly
wonderful woman.

And I loved her very dearly.

Her greatest asset, as far as I was
concerned, was that she always

was fiercely loyal and appreciative
of me and to me.

But she used to give me hell
if I wasn't good enough.

# Don't put your daughter
on the stage, Mrs Worthington

# Don't put your daughter
on the stage

# The profession is overcrowded
and the struggle is pretty tough

# And admitting the fact
she's burning to act

# That isn't quite enough... #

Noel builds a career as a child
actor working in West End

shows and pantomimes.

At an early age, he becomes the main
breadwinner for the family.

# Sweet Mrs Worthington, don't put
your daughter on the stage... #

From the start, Noel is fiercely
ambitious and tenacious enough

to replace a childhood stutter

with his distinctive,
clipped accent.

# On the whole, an ingenue role
would emphasise... #

"It was a matter of pressing urgency
that I should become rich

"and successful as soon as possible.

"Soon enough, in fact, to be able
to get Mother

"out of that damned kitchen
forever."

# Nuts! Mrs Worthington, don't put
your daughter on the stage. #

Well, I used to write plays
when I was about ten or 11.

Your first play, which produced
in London,

was called I Leave It To You, which
I've not seen.

You'd had to have been awfully
quick, it only ran five weeks.

And you weren't born.

It wasn't terribly good.

It what is known as showed promise.

Aged 20, with his career as an actor
and a writer faltering

in London, Noel decides
to seek his fortune in America.

"To have embarked with a bundle
of manuscripts, a one way ticket,

"and only £17 to spare
was rather foolish.

"Fears twittered in my stomach,
like birds in a paper bag.

"But I was determined to make it.

"That first evening in New York
is clear in my memory.

"I sauntered down Broadway alone.

"Gazing up at the gigantic sky signs

"I dreamt of seeing flashing
in lights, my name, Noel Coward.

"My faith in my own talents
remained unwavering.

"But it did seem optimistic
that the Americans would

"recognise them immediately.

"And I was perfectly right.
They didn't.

"This was actually a bad period
for me.

"Every theatrical manager seemed
to have vanished completely.

"Nearly all the theatres
were closed.

"Nobody would read my plays.

"I was penniless and very lonely.

"One night I went to see
Nice People by Rachel Crothers.

"I thought the production and acting
were good and the play poor.

"But what interested me most
was the tempo..."

Because the tempo

and the wonderful speed
and the vitality of the American

theatre was far superior to the
English.

"Bred in the tradition
of gentle English comedy,

"it took me a good 10 minutes to
understand what anyone was saying.

"They all seemed to be talking
at once.

"I learned my first lesson
in American acting,

"which was a technique of realising
which lines in the script

"are superfluous and knowing
when and how to throw them away."

The critic said this was strong,
moving and an experience

in the theatre.
I'd rather it was a good play.

Coward marries English humour
with American pace and creates

his own style, the drawing room
comedy on speed.

He writes The Vortex.

In it, a drug addict confronts
his mother

about an adulterous affair

she's having with
a much younger man.

The Vortex was enthused
over by every management

and they were anxious to do it
on condition that I didn't play it.

And so I thought, "Well, nonsense
to that."

So I borrowed 250 quid.

So that's how The Vortex
appeared at The Everyman.

He puts the play on in a tiny
theatre in Hampstead, North London.

Noel, only 24,

gambles everything so he can star
in the part

he has written for himself.

But the play's scandalous
subject matter immediately

riles the censor.

I believe you had some difficulty
in getting The Vortex passed

by the Lord Chamberlain.

Oh, right up until the...the day of
production.

What were his objections?

That it was immoral.

"The evening was altogether
an extraordinary experience.

"There was a certain feeling of
expectancy in the air.

"At the end of the play,
the applause was terrific."

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

"This time I really had done it."

The Vortex shocks the anodyne
theatre world into life.

With the success came a lot
of pleasurable trappings,

new suits,

a car, silk shirts, an extravagant
amount of dressing gowns

and pyjamas, and a still more
extravagant amount of publicity.

I was photographed, interviewed,
photographed again.

In my house,
in the street, in the park,

in my dressing room, at my piano,

with my dear old mother,
without my dear old mother.

And on one occasion, sitting up
in an over-elaborate bed looking

like a heavily doped Chinese
illusionist.

"My character, Nicky Lancaster,
was 24, well-groomed,

"witty and decadent.

"Noel Coward, also 24, was therefore
well groomed, witty and decadent.

"What was important for future
reference was the created image.

"The talented, sophisticated
playboy."

Noel begins merchandising
this new deluxe persona

to disguise his own background.

He embraces the social media
of the time - radio, magazines

and gossip columns.

"No press interviewer, photographer
or gossip writer had to fight

"in order to see me.

"I was wide open to them all,

"smiling and burbling
bright witticisms,

"giving my views on this or that,
discussing such problems

"as whether or not the modern girl
would make a good mother

"or what would be my ideal wife."

But the last thing he's thinking
about is his ideal wife.

# On the silver screen

# He melts my foolish heart
in every single scene... #

"One night in May, a young man
in the front row of the stalls

"caught my attention early
in the first act.

"His rapt absorption in the play
inspired me to renewed efforts,

"and at the final curtain I gave him
a gracious bow, all for himself."

# Lord knows
I'm not a schoolboy... #

"Jack Wilson walked nervously

"and with slightly overdone
truculence into my life."

# Lord knows I'm not a schoolboy

# In the flurry of his
first affair... #

Jackson becomes Noel's business
manager.

"I should have laughed at the idea
that this American stockbroker

"would become so much a part of my
life that scarcely any decision

"could be made without him.

"That, however, is what happened."

The Vortex opens in New York
to rave reviews.

"I had the pleasure of seeing my
name in electric lights

"outside the theatre.

"There it was, Noel Coward,
in gleaming pink bulbs.

"It never failed to please me every
time I looked up at it.

"Which was often."

Plays and music pour out of him.

In those days, I didn't know
the word fear.

I just flew at it.

In the next two years, he produces

a staggering ten shows on Broadway
and in London.

A remarkable achievement
for someone who had no education.

I left school when I was nine to go
into ballet school, and then I went

on the stage when I was ten.

So I didn't have any formal
education, which of course, left me

free to educate myself.

And what steps did you take
to educate yourself?

I belonged to the Battersea Park
Public lav...

Not lavatory, what am I saying?

Library - Freudian slip.

And, erm...

LAUGHTER

..I, erm...

..read and read and read,

everything I could lay my hands on.

Coward takes on everything, writing
and performing in plays,

writing songs and reviews,
and leading

a charm offensive on high society
and the press.

He is everywhere all at once.

But this takes its toll.

"My nerves finally snapped,

"and I went through one whole
performance weeping

"for no reason whatever.

"At the end, I collapsed on
the floor of my dressing room

"where I remained until my doctor
arrived and gave me

"a strychnine injection
and put me to bed.

"Melancholia enveloped me
like a thick cloud, blotting out

"the pleasure from everything.

"I felt sick of the theatre,

"sick of cities and high
buildings and people."

The strain isn't just about work.

Homosexuality is illegal in Britain.

So Noel has to be constantly
on his guard.

"It's all a question of masks,
really.

"We all wear them as a form
of protection.

"Modern life forces us to.

"We must have some means
of shielding our timid souls

"from the glare of civilisation."

He travels alone to Honolulu
and stays in a beach house

overlooking the ocean where he
writes one of his best-known songs.

# We'll be as happy and contented
as birds upon a tree

# High above the mountains
and the sea

# We'll bill and we'll coo, ooh, ooh

# And sorrow will never come

# Oh, will it ever come true?

# Our room with a view. #

I've written songs in very strange
places and they come into my head,

but I can't write music,

and I find it very difficult
to read music.

If I put a cold bandage
round my head and a lot

of concentration,
I can read a top line,

but I can't write
or read music, even now.

He had no musical education as such.

He was really deeply musical
in a sense of melody

and harmony and rhythm.

He couldn't write music, but it
didn't matter, he composed it.

There was a lot of music

in my family, all the Coward family
were very musical.

In fact, I had an aunt who was known
as the Twickenham Nightingale.

LAUGHTER

She sang very high.

# Poor Uncle Harry
wanted to be a missionary

# So he took a ship and sailed away

# This visionary
hotly pursued by dear Aunt Mary

# Found a South Sea isle
on which to stay

# Now, the natives greeted them
kindly

# And invited them to dine on yams
and clams and human hands

# And vintage coconut wine

# The taste of which was filthy
but the after-effects divine

# Poor Uncle Harry got a bit gay
and longed to tarry

# This, Aunt Mary
couldn't quite allow

# She lectured him severely
on a number of church affairs

# But when she'd gone to bed
he made a getaway down the stairs

# For he longed to find the answer
to a few of the maidens' prayers

# Uncle Harry's not
a missionary now

# He's awfully happy but he's
certainly not a missionary now. #

APPLAUSE

Noel signs a contract with HMV

and begins a successful
recording career,

benefiting from the growing
popularity of phonograph records

and sheet music.

He writes songs for musicals
and revues like Words and Music.

# The life you lead sets all your
nerves a-jangle

# Your love affairs are in
a hopeless tangle... #

The songs are openly romantic,
old-fashioned, very emotional.

The feeling of longing that you hear
in his songs,

even the humorous ones,

was a side of himself that he would
never talk about or show.

# Cocktails and laughter

# But what comes after?
Nobody knows... #

I always still had the feeling
that he felt there was something

unfinished in his life.

He was never alone.

# Poor little rich girl... #

But we all know what that means.

# Don't drop a stitch too soon. #

# When the storm clouds are riding
through a winter sky

# Sail away

# Sail away... #

For Coward, life is a performance.

Noel feels compelled to entertain,
whether he's onstage

or just out with friends.

Keeping up the mask is exhausting.

# When you feel... #

"I feel I must get away from all
the people I know for a while,

"not only from the point of view
of health, but for my work as well."

# Why should you prolong your stay?

# When the wind and the weather
blow your dreams sky-high

# Sail away, sail away, sail away. #

Travel to distant places becomes one
of the constants of his life,

an opportunity to lose himself
as he journeys to the furthest

reaches of the world with a sense
of exploration and wonder.

He can be free of the need
to perform the role of Noel Coward.

"I love to go and I love
to have been,

"but best of all,
I love the intervals

"between arrivals and departures,

"the days and nights of steady,
incessant movement

"when the horizon is empty and time
completely changes its rhythm.

"Then I can sleep, wake, write,
read and think in peace.

"It is in these hours

"I feel that, after all,
there may be a chance for me.

"Less likelihood of opportunities
missed,

"less intolerable distraction.

"It's probably a temperamental
defect in me that I can only catch

"this elusive quietness when moving,

"a maladjustment of
my nervous system.

"But it is certainly the reason
above all others that I go away.

"Not to get anywhere,
not even to return, just to go."

It isn't long before these
adventures begin

to bear creative fruit.

What have you been doing lately,
during these last years?

I went around the world,
you know, after...

Yes, yes, of course I know. How was
it? The world? Yes. Very enjoyable.

China must be very interesting.

Very big, China.
And Japan? Very small.

Did you eat sharks' fins

and take your shoes off and use
chopsticks and everything?

Practically everything.

And India?

The Burning Ghars, or Ghats,
or whatever they are,

and the Taj Mahal.
How was the Taj Mahal?

Unbelievable, a sort of dream.

That was the moonlight, I expect.

Of course you saw it in moonlight.
Yes.

Moonlight can be cruelly deceptive.

And it didn't look like
a biscuit box, did it? You know,

I've always felt that it might.
Darling, I do love you so.

I do hope you met a sacred elephant.
They're lint-white,

I believe, and very, very sweet.

I've never loved anybody else
for an instant.

There isn't a particle
of you that I don't know,

remember, and want more than
any desire in the world.

Deep down in my deepest heart,

I want you back again.

"Before I had left New York,
I had promised to write a play

"for Gertrude Lawrence and myself.

"The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
is grand and comfortable.

"One night I went to bed early,
but the moment I switched out

"the light, Gertie appeared
in a white Molyneux dress

"on a terrace in the south of France

"and refused to go away again
until 4am,

"by which time Private Lives, title

"and all, had constructed itself."

Noel and Gertrude Lawrence
had become fast friends

when they were both
14-year-old child actors working

together in Liverpool.

I'd always wanted to write a play
for Gertie,

and I wrote Private Lives

very quickly and had a telegram
back saying,

"Read script. Nothing wrong that
can't be fixed."

So I wired back, "The only thing
that's going to be fixed

"is your performance."

Noel has an unerring eye for talent.

John Gielgud had been his understudy
in The Vortex, and now he gives

Laurence Olivier, soon to become
one of England's greatest

actors and directors,
his first big break.

When I really grew to love him
and know him

was when I battered him on the head
to make him play the bad part

in Private Lives.

And I did say to him,
"This is the bad part.

"I've got all the answers.

"Why I'm asking you to play it
is that you're very attractive

"and I need a bit of competition."

LAUGHTER

And he fell for it.

I think Noel probably

was the first man who took hold
of me and made me think.

He made me use my silly
little brain.

He taxed me with his sharpness
and shrewdness and his brilliance

and his brain.

He'd point out when I was
talking nonsense, which nobody else

had ever done before, would make
me...give me a sense of the balance

of right and wrong,
would make me read.

I'd never read,
never read anything at all.

Private Lives is a comedy of bad
manners about a divorced couple

who discover they are both
honeymooning with their new spouses

in the same hotel in France.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

I'm on my honeymoon.

Very interesting. So am I.

I hope you're enjoying it.

It hasn't started yet.

Neither has mine.

Are you happy?

Perfectly. Good.

Are you? Ecstatically.

Have you known her long?
About four months.

We met at a house party in Norfolk.
Very flat, Norfolk.

There's no need to be unpleasant.

It was no reflection on her,

unless, of course,
she made it flatter.

Your voice takes on an acid quality
every time you mention her.

I swear I'll never mention her
again. Good.

And I'll keep off yours.

Thank you. Not at all.

That orchestra seems to have
a remarkably small repertoire.

Strange how potent cheap music is.

She, of course, was so wonderful
to work with.

She was so quick, and such a
brilliant technical comedy actress.

She knew how to put the right
emphasis on the right syllable.

And comedy, as you know,
is a hairline.

You've got to get it
absolutely right or it flops.

She never did that.

With Private Lives, Coward
challenges the world to be as flip

as he is, or appears to be,

and does everything he can
to hide real feelings.

What he created in the world
of Private Lives, this class

of people who never seem
to need to earn any money and so on,

wasn't intended to be an accurate
representation of a given class,

it was an abstraction of his own,
which became his own world,

the world of Coward.

I don't analyse very much
when I'm writing.

I must say I don't...

I've read so often, because people
have written splendid books

about explaining my plays, you know,
the motives...

The motives are always far
less noble than...

The motive, as I say, was to
give myself a whacking good part,

as a rule, or the main motive
was to entertain the audience.

The success of Private Lives
establishes Noel as one

of the pre-eminent leading men
and a sex symbol.

It is an image he is happy to
play up to in public as well.

NEWSREEL: Folkestone was the scene
of this maddening bevvy of beauty

assembled for the Cheerful
Sparrows competition,

and a few canaries seem to have got
in, too.

The parade attracted large crowds,
most of whom brought their own

telescopes so as to miss nothing.

And it looks as if the judges
found it hard going.

Mr Noel Coward doesn't know
where to look,

or does he?

We've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

but are feeling a little dazzled.

And an image reinforced by his first
role in a movie, The Scoundrel.

The most I can offer you is one
month's diversion

and six months of farewells.

And, if you're sensible, an amiable,
pensive memory of kisses

that meant nothing.

And words.

Oh, lots and lots of words.

By the age of 30, Noel Coward is

the highest-paid writer
in the world.

He buys himself a Rolls-Royce,
but still lives

in his mother's boarding house.

"The simple track of earlier
years seemed far away.

"Success was the goal.
Noel Coward in electric lights.

"Now I found the electric lights
so dazzling that I couldn't

"see beyond them. My ambition and
almost hysterical industry

"had been rewarded generously.
And now what?"

He becomes president of the Actors'
Orphanage, a job he takes seriously,

perhaps recognising himself
in some of the children.

"The problem boy is Peter Collinson,
who has been behaving badly.

"He's being torn to pieces
between his divorced parents.

"I made him promise that he would
behave well in the future.

"Actually, he practically
broke my heart.

"A sensitive little boy,
bereft of all personal affection,

"is one of the most pathetic things
in the world."

# Life is what you make it

# Someone once observed... #

Noel's fundraising events on behalf

of the orphanage are a highlight
of the social calendar.

I'm very glad to welcome you
here today.

Lovely day.

Poor boy from the suburbs comes to
represent the quintessential

sophisticated, modern Englishman.

He is society's darling,
destiny's tot.

# Mine fail me all the time

# And maybe that's the reason
I'm a baa baa black sheep. #

All sorts of men suddenly wanted
to look like Noel Coward,

sleek and satiny,
clipped and well-groomed,

with a cigarette, a telephone,
or a cocktail at hand.

Coward's influence spread
even to the outposts

of Rickmansworth and Poona.

# I must own up,
everything gets blown up

# Freud could explain... #

Noel invents a new kind of English
style, but it requires a rigorous

discipline, lest he reveal
his background

and his true sexual identity.

# When I meet a some sly dish
that looks like my dish... #

"I study my own facade carefully.
My voice is definite, harsh, rugged.

"I take ruthless stock of myself
in the mirror before going out,

"for even a polo jumper
or an unfortunate tie

"exposes one to danger."

# Maybe some psychoanalyst
might slap my wrist

# And give a twist
to what goes on inside me... #

Noel Coward is a graceful swan,
gliding along whilst everything

that doesn't tally with
the projected image -

his background, his lack
of education, his homosexuality,

his burning ambition -

all the furious paddling
is hidden beneath the waterline.

He is his own greatest invention.

Behind the scenes,
his life is very different.

He buys Goldenhurst Farm in Kent.

He moves in with Jack
and his parents.

His father looks after the garden,
and he's able to save his mother

from slaving away
at the boarding house.

# Scions of a noble breed

# We are the products of those
homes serene and stately

# That only lately
seem to have run to seed

# The stately homes of England,
how beautiful they stand

# To prove the upper classes... #

He's also joined by his extended
family, including Cole Lesley,

his assistant, Lorn Loraine,
his secretary, and Gladys Calthorp,

who designs all his sets.

This loyal troupe works with him

and remains close to him
his whole life.

Here, he feels safe
to drop his guard and be himself

with trusted friends.

# The playing fields of Eton
have made us frightfully brave

# There's the ghost of a crazy
younger son who murdered in 1351

# An extremely rowdy nun

# Who resented it

# And people who come to call... #

The side of Noel that he presented

as an image to the world,
with the long cigarette holder

and the caviar and the champagne
and the red silk dressing gown,

propped up in bed...

That was the image, but Noel
was carpet slippers, really.

And steak and kidney pie
and baked beans.

No, he ate the most filthy food,
and ate it constantly.

Noel feels freer to express
himself in his work.

Design For Living, a story about
a menage a trois, is much closer

to the kind of life he was living
than he would ever admit in public.

I never intended for a moment
the Design For Living suggested

in the title should apply to anyone
outside its principal characters.

These three glib, over-articulate
and amoral creatures

force their lives and problems
into fantastic shapes

because they cannot help themselves.

They are like moths in a pool
of light, unable to tolerate

the lonely outer darkness,

and equally unable to share
the light

without constantly colliding
and bruising one another's wings.

He stars in it with his old friends,
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne,

and it's a big hit.

The opening night, she had to open
the play by walking onto the stage

with a tray of coffee.

Now, this, it's not an easy
thing to do.

And she was under perfect control.

And just as she was going on,

she turned to me, with hatred,

and said, "I suppose if your house
in Kent were invaded,

"you'd send your mother out
to face the guns."

LAUGHTER

Now Noel turns his mind
to something very different.

Cavalcade is a sprawling historical
epic, covering the first 30 years

of the 20th century,
with a cast of 400.

The show is unapologetically
patriotic.

Let's drink to the spirit
of gallantry and courage that made

strange heaven out of
unbelievable hell.

And let's drink to the hope that
one day, this country of ours,

which we love so much,
will find dignity and greatness

and peace again.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The first night was, well, one of
the most exciting I ever remember.

People just stood up and got
enormously carried away.

It was terribly exciting
because it caught the audience,

absolutely took them by the throat.

THEY SING AULD LANG SYNE

Cavalcade is turned into
a Hollywood film

and wins three Oscars.

In some quarters, I believe,
you were accused of writing

a jingoistic play in a spirit
of cynical mockery.

Well, if anybody can write a cynical
mockery playing three hours,

they're a better man than I am,
Gunga Din.

I couldn't possibly have,
I loved Cavalcade.

I was awfully irritated by that
rumour that got around, of course.

But I suppose, as I'd written
so many scintillating comedies,

they thought that was the only
possible explanation.

It didn't occur to them
that I really meant it.

The show taps into a feeling
of surging national pride,

which changes the way Noel
is perceived.

A subtle social shift.

He becomes part of
the establishment.

Acceptance is what he has worked
so hard to achieve,

but his insecurities
about his background

and lack of education leave him
feeling he doesn't truly belong.

Noel has always felt like
an outsider.

As the clouds of war gather, Noel
receives a surprising phone call.

Hello?

"Sir Campbell Stuart rang me up.

"He said he had a matter
of extreme urgency and wished

"to see me that night.

"He said he would come to my studio
at midnight precisely,

"and did I like Paris?"

Arriba los manos.

Las manos.

Can't be too careful.

I've brought you back your umbrella.

Sorry I'm late.

You've moved the Lamb.
I was just looking around.

You seem fond of Lamb's Tales
from Shakespeare.

One copy's for you.
Oh, but I don't read Lamb.

It's not meant for reading. Have you
never heard of a book code?

As a matter of fact, no.
I keep one copy.

All you have to do when
you communicate with me

is to indicate the page and the line
where you begin the coding,

do you understand?

Well, I'll explain in a minute,
it's rather complicated

and not very secure.

After training at Bletchley Park,

Noel is sent to Paris to set up
a bureau of propaganda.

His job as a spy is to feed
misinformation to the Germans,

learn what he can from the French,
and to recruit secret agents.

I brought you something.
Plenty of ink.

Secret ink, for communicating
with your agents.

But I haven't any agents.

Your first job is to recruit some.

"The whole business was to be
conducted with the utmost secrecy.

"I was to tell nobody,
not even my closest friends."

If anyone calls, I'm not in.

Yes.

I said anyone.

"When the Germans invaded Norway,
the atmosphere

"in Paris changed overnight.

"I flew to London to see Campbell,
who said it was important

"that I should go to the States."

He's instructed to use his celebrity
to influence opinion in favour

of helping Britain.

"There was a line taken by many
that America, having once pulled

"England's chestnuts out of the fire
and won the last war for her,

"was not going to be so easily
fooled a second time."

Noel travels around America,

gathering intelligence
from politicians

and other people of influence.

"My celebrity value
was wonderful cover.

"I was the perfect silly ass.

"Nobody considered I had a sensible
thought in my head,

"and they would say all kinds
of things I would pass along."

He even visits President Roosevelt.

"Upon arrival at the White House,

"I was led directly
to the President's study.

"The evacuation of Dunkirk
had moved him profoundly.

"None but the British, he said
with a faint smile, could transform

"a full-scale military defeat
into a shining spiritual victory."

"His desk was littered with cocktail
implements - bottles, glasses

"and an imposing silver shaker.

"Among all these, the President's
hands moved quickly, occasionally

"firing a question at me
and suspending cocktail mixing

"for a moment while he waited
for my reply.

"He was evidently proud
of his prowess as a barman,

"and he had every right to be,
for the whiskey sour

"he finally handed me was perfect."

Noel becomes so adept at his work
that the FBI begin monitoring him.

He also raises the suspicions
of a far darker force.

# Don't let's be beastly
to the Germans

# When our victory is
ultimately won... #

"When the Nazi list of people
marked down for immediate

"liquidation was unearthed,
there was my name. Rebecca West,

"who shared the honour with me,
sent me a telegram which read..."

His trip draws criticism
from the British press,

who question why he is travelling
frivolously around America

while his countrymen
are suffering back at home.

He is frustrated not to be able
to reveal he is acting on behalf

of the Secret Service.

"I can't help feeling embittered by
the fact that

"although I have given up everything
to help my country,

"I only seem to be getting
kicks for it."

He's recalled to London
by the powers that be in Whitehall.

Churchill is reluctant to see him

as anything more than
a song-and-dance man.

"Winston Churchill had always
been courteous to me,

"although I had a gnawing suspicion
there was something about me

"he didn't like."

KNOCK ON DOOR

Come in.

Frustrated, Coward accepts
an invitation to travel to Australia

to raise money for the war effort.

NEWSREEL: Noel Coward, brightest
star of the theatrical firmament,

arrives in Australia
on a special mission.

Seems harsh you've got to take this
as well as your training.

# The smallest Malay rabbit... #

During the war,

Noel went all over the world
entertaining the troops.

And out a trip in the Middle East,

he wrote a terrible book
called Middle East Diary,

and in it he described going
into an American hospital,

which he said was full of snivelling
little boys from Brooklyn.

Well, this caused an understandable
stir in the United States,

and The Stars and Stripes,
which was the American Forces'

newspaper, had a review of the book
and it said, headline,

"Kick this bum out of the country!"

Now, on the day that "kick
this bum out of the country"

was being read by all the troops
in Paris, which was indeed

an American operation,

Noel opened the Marigny Theater,
and I went to see Noel

before it, and I said, "You know,
there are about 5,000 people

"out there and I'm afraid
they're all going to kill you.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Noel said,
"First, I shall calm them,

"and then I will sing some of
my very excellent songs."

So I said, "Well, I'll stand
by the exit." Because, you know...

So I went and stood at the back
by the exit,

and Noel came on to a deathly hush,
which he's not used to,

to a deathly hush.

And then he looked at them,
he said, "Ladies and gentlemen

"and all you dear, dear, snivelling
little boys from Brooklyn."

And they fell down
and absolutely loved it.

APPLAUSE

He was absolutely charming.

He endeared himself so instantly
when you met.

And kept you in stitches
of laughter all the time.

And halfway through the rehearsal
he turned to me and said,

"Ever been queer?" And I said,

"No, as a matter of fact,
I never have."

"Pity. Very amusing."

He wouldn't suffer anything
but perfection.

There was always a joke about me
playing wrong notes because there

were occasions when I got
so frightened by this rage

that a finger slipped
on the keys!

# Growing in the... #

No. Perfect, perfect. Start again.

# There's a little city flower
every spring unveiling

# Growing in the crevices
by some London railing

# Though it has a Latin name
in town and countryside

# We in England call it
London Pride... #

"Most of the glass on the station
roof had been blown out

"and there was dust in the air
and the smell of burning.

"I sat on a platform seat and
watched the Londoners scurrying

"about in the thin sunshine.

"They all seem to be gay
and determined and wholly admirable,

"and I was overwhelmed by
a wave of sentimental pride.

"A song started in my head
then and there."

# Every Blitz your resistance
toughening

# From the Ritz
to the Anchor and Crown

# Nothing ever could override

# The pride of London town. #

"I happened to dine in
Chester St with Dickie Mountbatten.

"He told me the whole story
of the sinking of the Kelly

"off the island of Crete.

"He told it without any
apparent emotion.

"The emotion was there, poignantly
behind every word he uttered."

He was obviously very moved and said
he now had an idea for the film

about my ship, the Kelly.

I was horrified, and of course,
wouldn't agree at all.

He said, "It's got to be genuine."

I then agreed, provided it could not
be traced back in any way

to the Kelly, or, above all, to me.

This he promised,
but he didn't keep his promise.

He produced a film which,
as far as I was concerned,

was exactly like life at sea.

All the survivors of the Kelly
agreed that it was quite staggering

how true to life
the whole film had been.

I'm afraid we're going over.

Pass the word to cast loose
the Carley floats.

GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

Abandon ship!

What made you choose David Lean?

Well, I went to a projection room
twice a day for two weeks and saw

every British film
that was available.

LAUGHTER

And out of the credits, I observed
that the ones I'd liked,

the cutting had been done
by somebody called David Lean,

the photography had been done
by somebody called Ronald Neame,

and the general production had been
done by Anthony Havelock-Allan.

So I asked David Lean to come
and see me, and he said yes,

he would do it with pleasure,

but he insisted on co-directing.

People stiffened like
a Bateman drawing,

but I said, "Oh, please do!"

LAUGHTER

Because I knew nothing, apart
from having played in The Scoundrel,

I knew nothing, really, about
any of the technical side

of making a movie.

And of course, it was David
who directed the picture.

I took the actors aside
occasionally.

LAUGHTER

Acting was a kind of mystery to me,
and Noel, of course, was simply

wonderful at that,
he was wonderful with actors,

and I took over the technical thing.

I decided where the camera
was, what lens to use.

I was lucky because Noel
became terribly easily bored

and when he wasn't acting
one of the scenes

he wasn't there, so I handled
the whole damn thing,

you know? A great piece of luck.

The image of Noel Coward
with the long cigarette holder

and the silk dressing gown
didn't consort very well

with the idea of a square-jawed,
blue-eyed, very brave

captain in the Royal Navy.

And I had expressed the view
that I didn't think

he was very suitable casting
for the part.

Noel said, "You're quite right,
Tony,

"but I am going to play the part,
and you are going to produce it."

I've always tried to crack
a joke or two before,

and you've all been friendly
and laughed at them.

But today, I'm afraid
I've run out of jokes.

I don't suppose any of us
feels much like laughing.

The Torrin has been in one scrap
after another, but even

when we had men killed,
the majority survived and brought

the old ship back.

Now she lies in 1,500 fathoms,

and with her,
more than half our shipmates.

One's almost sorry, although you've
given such enormous pleasure,

that you've elected to be
a comedy actor.

In that case,
I had a great deal on my side.

I had, to start with, real sailors,

who all had been in action.

They knew what I was talking about.

I had an audience that knew.

And at the end, after that finale,
I had to say goodbye,

stand still and say goodbye to each
one of them.

And I had written some things in,

and I tore up my script and said,

"Please, chaps, say what you think
you would have said

"in this situation."

Goodbye, sir. Goodbye, Rawlings.
Goodbye.

Goodbye, sir. Goodbye.

And this I could hardly take.

Good luck.

Each one of them
said their own line, like,

"Good luck, sir,"
you know, "Chin up, sir."

All these perfectly trite, ordinary
phrases spoken from the heart.

Marvellous!

Talk about improvisation.
Yes, that was.

It was nothing to do with acting.

We were in a tank in the studio,

and because we were all
somewhat delicate,

the water was heated slightly.

We were in this tank for, I think,
between two and three weeks.

And on our last day,
we all used to lower ourselves,

holding our noses into the water.

But The Master, of course, never,
always first in, off the edge

and dived in.

LAUGHTER

On this last day,

he emerged from underneath the water
with oil and filth and dirt

streaming off his face, and turned
to all of us

who are waiting to go in and said,

"There's dysentery in every ripple."

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Noel, ever the showman, invites

the royal family to visit the set
during production.

A few months later, at a screening
at Buckingham Palace,

the King makes it clear to
all present, including Churchill,

that Noel should be recognised
with a knighthood.

But it doesn't come to anything.

Was it the bad press
from his work as a spy,

or was it Churchill's disapproval
of his homosexuality?

"Dickie Mountbatten called

"and explained that sabotage
had been at work."

When he gets the news,
he breaks down and cries.

MUSIC: I'll Follow my Secret Heart
by Frank Sinatra

# I'll follow my secret heart

# My whole life through... #

"My private emotions are going
through the usual familiar hoops,

"hoops that I fondly imagined
I'd discarded years ago.

"I lie awake, jeering at myself.

"All the gallant lyrics
of all the songs I've ever written

"rise up and mock me.

"To me, passionate love has always
been like a tight shoe rubbing

"blisters on my Achilles heel."

Throughout his life, Noel struggles

to find happiness in love.

Jack is charming and charismatic,
but they quarrel constantly,

and he takes advantage of Noel,
both emotionally and financially.

By the 1930s, their affair is over.

Jack's mismanagement
of Noel's finances

sours their professional
relationship, too.

"It's a dismal sight to see Jack now
and remember how handsome

"and amusing he once was.

"He meant so much to me for so many
years, and now I find even

"a discussion of the weather
is a strain."

Noel has a brief fling with
Louis Hayward.

Then he begins a new relationship
with another actor, Alan Webb.

They meet in 1935,
and have a passionate affair

which lasts for much of the rest
of the decade.

But Webb is unfaithful
and does not hide it from Noel,

so it ends painfully.

Noel hates the loss of control
he feels when he falls in love

and so finds long-term relationships
difficult.

One very good friend of yours said
to me today, "I'd always go to Noel

"with my emotional problems
and he'd sort them out,

"though he's absolutely frightful
with his own." Is that fair?

Oh, I say!

LAUGHTER

He must have been
a very close friend.

When a young man sees a young woman
for the first time and their eyes

meet with a sudden recognition
across the space

that seemingly divides them,

in that split second, there may
occur a cataclysmic crisis

in their two lives.

Professor Jung has called this...

During the war, Coward becomes

reacquainted with a South African
actor called Graham Payn,

19 years his junior.

"Love is no use unless it's wise
and kind and undramatic.

"Something steady and sweet to
smooth out your nerves

"when you're tired. Something
tremendously cosy and unflurried

"by scenes and jealousies.

"That's what I want,
what I've always wanted, really."

# Secret heart

# Till I find love. #

The love affair lasts the rest
of Coward's life.

"Graham is a remarkable character,
and I love him dearly and forever."

WHISTLE BLOWS

Perhaps inspired by his new
relationship,

Noel writes Brief Encounter.

Now regarded as one of the greatest
romantic films ever made,

it tells the story of an
extramarital affair

between two people who meet
by chance at a train station.

Living as a gay man
when homosexuality is still illegal,

it comes as no surprise that Noel
wrote about forbidden love.

It's too late to forget
what we said.

And anyway, whether we'd said it
or not couldn't have mattered.

We know, we've both of us
known for a long time.

How can you say that?

I've only known you for four weeks.

We only talked for the first time
last Thursday week.

Last Thursday week.

Has it been a long time
for you since then?

Answer me, truly.

Yes. How often did you decide

that you were never going to
see me again?

Several times a day. So did I.
Oh, Alec...

I love you.

I love your wide eyes,

the way you smile, and your shyness.

The way you laugh at my jokes.

Please don't.

I love you. I love you.

You love me, too. It's no use
pretending it hasn't happened,

cos it has.

Yes, it has.

I don't want to pretend anything,
either to you or to anyone else.

But from now on, I shall have to.

That's what's wrong, don't you see?
That's what spoils everything.

That's why we must stop here
and now talking like this.

We're neither of us free to love
each other,

there's too much in the way.

Brief Encounter is released in 1945
to great critical acclaim

and box office success.

Noel is nominated for an Oscar.

Coward's brand of Englishness

evolves to a perfect
patriotic pitch.

In Which We Serve defines
the famous stiff upper lip,

Brief Encounter captures
the English at their most stoic...

..and Blithe Spirit is Noel
at his entertaining best.

"For six days, I worked from eight
until one each morning

"and from two till seven
each afternoon.

"When the play was finished, I knew
it was witty and well-constructed,

"and I also knew
it would be a success.

"The opening night at the Piccadilly
Theatre was very curious.

"The audience had to walk
across planks laid over the rubble

"caused by recent air raids to see
a light comedy about death.

"They enjoyed it.

"And it ran from that sunny summer
evening through the remainder

"of the war and out the other side."

It runs for a record 2,000
performances in the West End

and is made into a film
directed again by David Lean.

Is it Mrs Condomine?

Oh, stop it, Daphne,
behave yourself.

Is it Mr Condomine?

KNOCKING

There's someone who wishes to
speak to you.

Well, tell them to leave a message.

NEWSREEL: Throughout the world,
throngs of people hailed the end

of the war in Europe.

# 20th-century blues
are gettin' me down... #

The end of the war brings
the arrival of a Labour government

and British society
redefines itself.

The Labour Party's great victory
shows that the country is ready

for a new policy,
face new world conditions.

From New York to London,

Noel's new shows fail to perform.

# High above this dreary
20th-century din... #

"A blast of abuse in the press.
Not one good notice."

# In this strange illusion,
chaos and confusion... #

"I have seldom read such
concentrated venom."

# People seem to lose their way

# What is there to strive for

# Love or keep alive for...? #

"If they don't care for first-rate
music, lyrics,

"dialogue and performance,

"then they can stuff it up
their collective arses."

For a long, long time,

the press kept attacking him on
everything he did.

I mean, if they'd slaughter a play
and kill it,

he really was deeply hurt.

"I suppose this succession
of failures is good for my soul,

"but I rather doubt it.

"I'm now an ageing playboy,
still witty, still brittle,

"and still sophisticated.

"Although the sophistication is,
alas, no longer up-to-date,

"no longer valid."

Noel was basically not very secure,

and his armour was this mask

of the super-sophisticated
daredevil.

But I think that it was part of
his armour against a world

for which he was, in a sense,
too tender.

His unease increases when his friend
John Gielgud is arrested

for cottaging in Chelsea,

and the anti-homosexuality laws
are once again upheld in Britain.

The purpose of the criminal law
in this matter is to preserve public

order and decency.

"They voted down the plan
for altering the barbarous laws

"about homosexuality with
an overwhelming majority.

"Emotional, uninformed prejudice
can still send men to prison

"and ruin their lives for a crime
that in the eyes of any intelligent

"human being is not a crime at all."

Then he receives tragic news
about his childhood friend

and muse, Gertrude Lawrence.

"Coley told me that
Gertrude Lawrence was dead.

"I wrote the obituary for The Times.

"This was agony and I broke
down several times.

"Poor, darling, old Gertie,
a lifelong friend.

"I've never known her to do
a mean or unkind thing.

"I'm terribly, terribly unhappy

"to think I will never see her
again."

Just 18 months later, his sadness
deepens with the death of

the most important person in his
life, his mother, Violet.

"I sat by the bed and held her hand
until she gave a pathetic

"little final gasp and died.

"I know it to be the saddest
moment of my life."

"54 years of love and tenderness

"and crossness and devotion,

"and unswerving loyalty.

"Without her, I would have only
achieved a quarter

"of what I have achieved, not only
in terms of career, but in terms

"of personal happiness.

"We've quarrelled, often violently,
over the years,

"but she's never stood between me
and my life.

"She always let me go free.

"She was a great woman to whom I owe
the whole of my life.

"Goodbye, my darling."

And now he finds himself
£20,000 overdrawn

and in deep financial trouble.

He fears returning to the poverty
of his youth.

I was at the Cafe de Paris with
Bea Lillie,

and Noel came to the first night,

which was an absolute triumphant
success.

We were having a drink afterwards
and he said,

"Do you think I could do this?"

I said, "Of course you could
do it. Why don't you do it?"

Calling on his now-extensive song
book, he develops a cabaret show

that finds success at the Cafe de
Paris, a small club in London.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would
like to sing you a brief medley

of some of my old songs,

some of which I hope
some of you may remember.

STRINGS PLAY

# I'll see you again... #

APPLAUSE

# Whenever spring breaks through
again

# Time may lie heavy between

# But what has been
is past forgetting... #

A complete stranger appeared
called Joe Glaser, who made

the astonishing offer of Noel
going to appear in Las Vegas.

It's like appearing on another
planet, and the money, which Noel

needed badly at the time,
was very attractive.

And in the end he said, "Well,
I don't mind if they throw

"beer bottles at me for that money,
I'll go."

Out of style, out of money,

and 54 years old, the quintessential
Englishman finds himself

in the Nevada desert in the town
built by the Mob.

"This is a fabulous madhouse.

"All the big hotels are luxurious
to the last degree.

"There are myriads of people tearing
away at the fruit machines

"and gambling, gambling,
gambling for 24 hours a day.

"There are lots of pretty women
about but I think, on the whole,

"sex takes a back-seat."

"Every instinct and desire
is concentrated on money.

"The gangsters who run the place
are all urbane and charming,

"but I had the feeling that
if I opened a rival casino,

"I would be battered to death
with the utmost efficiency."

Norman Hackforth is refused
a visa as a communist.

Noel is forced to hire a young
New Yorker called Peter Matz,

who tells him his arrangements
are old-fashioned.

PIANO PLAYS SLOWLY

Everything was in the key of E flat.

I asked him once, "Why E flat?"

He said, "I have no idea."

Matz encourages him to rework
the songs.

Noel nervously agrees.

PIANO PLAYS JAUNTILY

Totally different kind of a song
now, like an American dance tune.

ANNOUNCER: The Desert Inn takes
great pleasure in presenting

Mr Noel Coward.

APPLAUSE

And now, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to sing you a song

that I wrote long ago and far away.

The name of it is
Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

APPLAUSE

RULE BRITANNIA INTRO PLAYS

# In tropical climes there are
certain times of day

# When all the citizens retire to
tear their clothes off and perspire

# You know, it's one of those rules
the greatest fools obey

# Because the sun is far too sultry

# And one must avoid the
ultra-violet ray

# Mad papalaka-papalaka-boo... #

That's natives,
if you're interested.

# The natives grieve when the
white men leave their huts

# Because they're obviously,
definitely, nuts!

# Mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday sun

# The Japanese don't care to,
the Chinese wouldn't dare to

# Hindus and Argentines sleep
from 12 to one

# But Englishmen detest a siesta

# You know, in the Philippines

# They have lovely screens to
protect you from the glare

# In the Malay States there are
hats like plates

# Which the Britishers won't wear

# At 12 noon the natives swoon
and no further work is done

# But mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday sun

# Mad dogs and Englishmen go out
in the midday sun

# The toughest Burmese bandit
can never understand it

# In Rangoon the heat of noon
is just what the natives shun

# They put their scotch or rye down
and lie down

# In the jungle swamps
where the python romps

# There is peace from 12 till two

# Even caribous lie around
and snooze

# Nothing else to do

# In Bengal, to move at all
is seldom if ever done

# But mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday

# Out in the midday, out in
the midday, out in the midday

# Out in the midday, out in the
midday, out in the midday sun. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

He was a sensation.

They loved and adored his
performance.

Frank Sinatra brought over the
Judy Garlands and all the friends

over to see him.

Frank Sinatra goes on the radio
the next morning and says

to the public, "If you really want
to hear how songs should be sung,

"go to the Desert Inn and hear
Mr Noel Coward."

# I like America

# I have played around every
slappy-happy hunting ground

# And I found America OK... #

"I have made one of the most
sensational successes of my career,

"and to pretend that
I'm not absolutely delighted

"would be idiotic.
I've had screaming rave notices

"and the news has flashed
around the world."

# But I like America... #

"I'm really proud that I was able
to do what no-one suspected I could,

"and that is please
the ordinary audiences.

"Shows filled with people
from Kansas, Nebraska and Utah

"were what really counted,
and their response was splendid.

"How much I owe to those hellish
troop audiences in the war.

"After them, anything is gravy."

# Senorita Nina from Argentina
despised the tango

# Although she never was a girl
to let a man go

# She wouldn't sacrifice
her principles for sex

# She looked with scorn
on the gyrations... #

To see the tiny shadings
that went into his performance,

would just give them a break of
an extra raised eyebrow or some

small gesture to say the joke
is coming.

Here was this austere, dignified,
elegant man from the continent

sharing these jokes.

An audience adores that.

# And in language profane
and obscene, she cursed the man

# Who taught her to

# She cursed Cole Porter too. #

An album of the show is released,
which goes to the top of the charts.

CBS pays him $450,000 to write
and direct three TV specials.

The first is Together with Music

starring Noel and Mary Martin.

APPLAUSE

# Together with music

# Together with music

# We planned this moment long ago...

# Act ballerina style

# I won't dance, don't ask me

# I won't dance, don't ask me

# Ah, why won't you dance with me?

# Come on and dance with me

# Oh, dance with me

# Charleston, Charleston

# Hey, hey, I can Charleston.... #

Oh, you can too! Woo!

Followed by Blithe Spirit.

He stars with Claudette Colbert
and Lauren Bacall playing

his dead wife.

Oh! Charles. That was very clumsy,
Charles, dear.

Elvira! Then it's true.

It was you.

Of course it was.

Darling, Charles,
what are you talking about?

Are you a ghost?
I suppose I must be.

It's all very confusing.

What are you looking over there for?

Look at me, darling.
What's the matter?

What's happened? Don't you see?
See what?

Elvira. Elvira!

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Ruth, this is Elvira.
Elvira, this is Ruth.

Come and sit down, darling.

Once again, Noel embraces
the new medium of television

to get his brand of wit and
sophistication to a new audience.

"My TV success made Las Vegas
look like a bad matinee

"at the Dundee Rep.

"And from the moment it was over,
I was buttonholed wherever I went.

"The telephone
never stopped ringing,

"and I didn't have a moment
to go to the loo."

Do you consider yourself with it?

Well, I think after the age of 50,
if you try too hard to be with it,

you end up by being without it.

LAUGHTER

Noel, may I ask you something?

I haven't had a chance to see
your plays at the Queen's Theatre.

Is that right? Yeah. I understand

in one, you play a midwestern
millionaire?

AMERICAN ACCENT: Yes, sweetheart.

You've got to be kidding.

Yes, I have a crew cut.

Let's hear some more dialogue.

Well, dear, I can't now
because it wouldn't be sincere.

"It is hard to imagine all those
millions and millions of people

"all looking at me at the same
moment. When I think of the grudging

"patronage of the English press
compared to this wholehearted,

"pleased generosity,

"my heart does sink a little."

Have you...have you, at one time
in your career, offended

the good citizens of Brooklyn?

Yes! Noel Coward!

Noel Coward is right.

America takes Noel Coward
to its heart.

He returns to England, but it feels
less and less like home.

Post-war food rationing only ended
in 1954 and Coward struggles with

the cold climates
and the unfriendly critics.

The changes in Britain are reflected
in the work of the new playwrights

whose gritty realism
alienates Noel.

Their kitchen sink dramas
are a million miles

from the elegance and wit
of Coward's drawing rooms.

I think my play is very good indeed.

I understand that perfectly.

But you must admit that my opinion
based on a lifetime in the theatre

might be the right one.
Commercial theatre. Oh, dear.

I suppose you're going to say
that Shakespeare wrote

for the commercial theatre
and that the only point in doing

anything with the drama
at all is to make money.

All those old arguments.

How would you define success?

Box office.

I don't believe in rave notices
and close on Saturday.

I'd rather have bad notices
and run a year.

What you don't realise is
that the theatre of the future

is the theatre of ideas.
It may well be, but I'm occupied

at the moment with the theatre of
the present.

What do you do with it? Every play
you appear in is exactly the same.

Superficial, frivolous,
without the slightest significance.

You have a great following
and a strong personality,

and all you do is prostitute
yourself every night of your life.

All you do with your talent is wear
dressing gowns

and make witty remarks when you
might be really helping people,

making them think, making them feel.

There can be no two opinions
about this.

I'm having a most discouraging
morning.

If you want to live in people's
memories, if you want to go down

to posterity as an important man,
you'd better do something

about it quickly.
There's not a moment to be lost.

I don't give a hoot about posterity!

Why should I give a damn what people
think of me when I'm as dead

as a doornail anyway?
My worst defect is

I'm apt to worry too much what
people think of me when I'm alive.

Noel writes a series of articles
attacking the current theatre.

He resents the critical acclaim
the young playwrights receive, given

the tepid response he endures
from those self-same critics.

Nowadays, a well constructed play
with a beginning and a middle

and an end is despised.

A light comedy whose sole purpose
is to amuse is dismissed

as trivial and insignificant.

Since when has laughter
been so insignificant?

No merriment, apparently, must
scratch the grim set patina

of these dire years.

We must just sit around
and wait for death.

He pitched into people
like myself, saying we were all

badly dressed and we didn't know
how to behave ourselves

and we all dropped our Hs.

And finally, I did get slightly fed
up with it and I wrote him a note

and I said, you know, we're all
in the same trade and I think

you should leave us alone

because there's room
for you and there's room for us.

Faced with paying the top rate
of income tax of 90%, Noel decides

the only way he will save enough
money for his old age

is to leave Britain permanently.

Why are you leaving England?

A very simple answer in two words.

Income tax.

LAUGHTER

"It is ridiculous for me to spend
only eight weeks in England a year

"and to pay for that privilege
roughly £20,000 in income tax.

"It is in Jamaica that I achieve my
creative work and it is in America

"that I earn the money to make
my living there possible."

The quintessential Englishman
bids farewell to the old country.

"I have a core of sadness
about England, sadness mixed with

"an irritation that a country
so rich in tradition and achievement

"should betray itself, submitting to
foolish government, woolly thinking

"and above all,
the new religion of mediocrity."

# When I'm feeling weary and blue

# I'm only too glad to be left
alone

# Dreaming of a place in the sun
when day is done

# Far from a telephone

# Hardly ever see the sky

# Buildings seem to grow so high

# Give me somewhere peaceful
and grand

# Where all the land slumbers
in monotone

# I'm world weary, world weary

# Living in a great big town... #

Noel escapes Britain for Jamaica.

He'd fallen in love with the island
when he rented

Ian Fleming's house, Goldeneye.

And we were driving along
the coastline,

and there nailed onto a palm tree
was a sign saying, for sale.

We thought this is a marvellous
spot to build a house.

# I wanna get right back to
nature and relax. #

He loved Jamaica.

It was peaceful and quiet
and he wasn't fussed over.

"Jamaica deeply enchants me
and is the loveliest place

"I have ever known.

"I know I love Goldenhurst dearly
and London too, but I keep finding

"myself longing for Jamaica
and the soft, warm air.

"And also, strange to say,
the stimulus of America.

"I cannot evade the fact that
I find my darling homeland a bit

"dull and complacent."

He builds another house in Jamaica,
Firefly, on top of a hill

with a beautiful view and slips
into the role

of the perma-tanned legend.

# Jamaica

# Land of my birth

# It is the place that I ought
to be... #

He contents himself by having
friends to stay

at his island paradise.

# ..in Kingston town

# I'm coming home. #

He becomes great friends
with his neighbour, Ian Fleming.

He is offered the role of
the villain in the first

James Bond movie, Dr No.

His response?

Even the Queen Mother makes
a point of visiting him.

"The Queen Mother did me great
honour by driving 80 miles

"off her course to come and see me.

"We sat on the veranda
and introduced her to bull shots,

"vodka and beef bouillon.

"The view was dazzling
and absolutely at its best.

"She was more enchanting than ever,

"and I really do believe
she enjoyed it.

"My philosophy is as simple as ever.

"I love smoking, drinking,
moderate sexual intercourse

"on a diminishing scale,

"reading and writing.

"I eat breadfruit, coconuts, bananas
and rather curious fish.

"I lie in the sun and relax and
paint a series of pictures in oils,

"which are somewhat amateur
but great fun to do."

But this is not the ending
he planned.

No longer relevant.

Never quite accepted.

Noel remains the outsider.

He has climbed the mountain,
but not reached the summit.

The quintessential Englishman seems
destined to die, forgotten in exile.

# Well, the party's over now. #

And yet...

Private Lives is revived
at the Hampstead Theatre Club,

the same location as his first
success 40 years before.

It gets rave reviews.

Then Laurence Olivier, now artistic
director of the National Theatre,

invites Noel to direct Hay Fever,

starring Edith Evans
and Maggie Smith.

He gave me the best staff, the best
stage management and the best cast

I've ever had.

And I think that is more than
encouraging.

I think that quality of acting that
I got out of those young people

is the most exhilarating and happy
thing that's happened to me

in the theatre for many,
many, many years.

You're adorable.
You're magnificent. You're tawny.

I'm not in the least tawny. Don't
argue. This is sheer affectation.

Well, affectation's very nice.
No, it isn't. It's odious.
You mustn't be cross.

I'm not in the least cross. Yes,
you are. But you're very alluring.

Alluring? Terribly.

How sweet of you.

I can hear your brain clicking.
It's really very funny.

Yes, well, that was rather rude.

You have been consistently
rude to me for hours.

Never mind. Why have you?

I'm always rude to people I like.
Oh, do you like me? Enormously.

Oh, how sweet of you.

There seemed to be no...

..generation gap with Noel.

He just seemed to...

..leap right into the Sixties.

Didn't seem to make any difference
that the play had been written

all those years before.

It just sort of leapt into life,

and my goodness,
people did enjoy it.

He begins exchanging friendly
letters with Harold Pinter

and John Osborne.

He even appears in a performance
of The Kitchen

at the Royal Court Theatre.

I was in this scene
from The Kitchen,

as was just about everybody
we've ever heard of.

Noel was the maitre d',

and it was so exciting, I must say,

when he came on,
the reaction from the audience

to see him suddenly
in this, you know, Arnold Wesker,

quintessentially what we used
to call the kitchen sink drama.

To see Noel Coward come on in it
was just wonderful.

The audience went nuts.

CHEERING

In 1966, Noel writes and stars in
A Song at Twilight, his first play

to explicitly deal with
homosexuality.

Where are the letters?

I have them with me.

You have not yet told me
what you propose to do with them.

Because I have not yet decided.

This is intolerable.

Come to the point.

The veiled threat
is perfectly clear.

What veiled threat?

The threat to expose to the world
that I have had in the past

homosexual tendencies.

Tendencies in the past?

What nonsense.

You've been a homosexual
all your life and you know it.

"Well, the most incredible
thing has happened.

"Not only has A Song at Twilight

"opened triumphantly,

"but the press notices
have been extremely good."

A year later, homosexuality
is legalised in England.

"Nothing will convince the bigots,
but the blackmailers

"will be discouraged and fewer
haunted, terrified young men

"will commit suicide."

Noel refuses, however,
to come out publicly.

"There are still a few old ladies
in Worthing who don't know."

I've also brought you the
Illustrated London News, sir.

For why, Keats, for why? There's
a picture of the Queen in it, sir.

Hmm.

That's good of you.

Erm, sir.

Keats. I often wonder whether one
day you're going to top your career

by doing a job on their house.

You must learn, Keats,
that are more things to life

than breaking and entering.
Yes, Mr Bridger.

He appears in The Italian Job
as a monarchy-loving gangster.

By his side, his lover,
Graham Payn.

He stars with Michael Caine.

It is directed by Peter Collinson,

the young boy Noel had helped
at the Actor's Orphanage.

We have come here to pay our
respects to great-aunt Nelly.

She brought us up properly
and taught us loyalty.

Now, I want you to remember that
during these next few days.

I also want you to remember
that if you don't come back

with the goods, Nelly here will
turn in her grave,

and likely as not jump right
out of it and kick your teeth in.

I can present this very special
Tony Award, it's in recognition

of an incredible talent,
Noel Coward.

He's thrilled to receive a
Tony Award for lifetime achievement

in the theatre.

This is my first award,
so please be kind.

Noel turns 70 in great style.

His status as a national treasure
affirmed once and for all.

There may have been
and probably were

greater playwrights than Noel,

greater scriptwriters than Noel.

Greater novelists than Noel.

There were probably greater
librettists,

greater composers of music,

greater pianists, greater singers,

greater dancers, greater comedians,

greater tragedians,
greater stage producers,

greater film directors,

greater cabaret artists,

and greater TV stars.

If there are,
there are 14 different people.

Only one man combines
all 14 talents. The master.

"During lunch, the Queen asked me
whether I would accept the offer

"of a knighthood.

"I kissed her hands and said

"in a rather strangulated voice,
'Yes, Ma'am.'

"Apart from all this, my 70th
birthday was uneventful."

# Mad about the boy

# I know it's stupid to be mad... #

Is there any thing that you can do
now as a knight that you were not

able to do before? No, there are
lots of things that I can't do now

as a knight that I could do before.

# ..the sleepless nights I've had

# About the boy...

# On the silver screen

# He melts my foolish heart
in every single scene... #

"I've been away too long,
but it is truly moving to come back

"more triumphant and more loved
than ever."

# ..traces of the cad

# About the boy... #

"I did love England and all it stood
for. I loved its follies

"and apathies and curious
streaks of genius.

"I loved British courage, British
humour, and British understatement.

"I loved the people.

"And what is more,
I belonged to that exasperating,

"weather-sodden little island.

"And it belonged to me.

"Whether I liked it or not."

# In the fury of a... #

Noel Coward died today at his home
on the island of Jamaica

in the Caribbean. He was 73.

Sir Noel was a lower class
Englishman who became the epitome

of the upper class Englishman,
and he carried off the role

for better than 60 years.

A hard, painstaking worker

whose debonair appearance
and offhand manner

disguised just how hard
he did work

with that talent to amuse.

# I'm feeling quite insane
and young again

# And all because I'm mad

# About the boy. #

How would you like to be remembered?

Well, as somebody who contributed
to the pleasures of other people.

A good friend
and rather an amusing character.

# I could employ... #

APPLAUSE

# A little magic that would
finally destroy

# This dream that pains me
and enchains me

# But I can't because I'm mad

# I'm mad about the boy. #