Fallen Angels: French Sex and Alcohol Home Chat: The Noël Coward Podcast · Episode

The latest episode of Home Chat: The Noël Coward Podcast is out now! This week: Fallen Angels baffles the Daily Express and Tallulah Bankhead smokes more cigarettes than you'd think...

Listen now on Spotify!

open.spotify.com/episode/2YNr...

The Vortex: Cocaine and Controversy Home Chat: The Noël Coward Podcast · Episode

The first episode of our new podcast looks at the original 1924 production of The Vortex - the controversial drug drama that launched Coward's career... Available on Spotify!

open.spotify.com/episode/2yfJ...

#noelcoward #theatrehistory #theatre #1920s #history

#OnThisDay in 1933, the film adaptation of Noël Coward's Cavalcade had just arrived in cinemas. Despite its reputation now as a conservative epic of studio cinema, it very nearly fell foul of studio censors for its use of some slightly fruity language... (1/6)

Cavalcade went on to win three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its ‘damn’ precedent was codified by the Hays office six years later, ahead of the release of Gone With The Wind. (6/6)

"And as far as the use creating a precedent which might be followed by other producers is concerned, the best answer would be that anyone who could make a picture as good as Cavalcade might be justified in following the precedent." (5/6)

Kent stated that the phrases used in Cavalcade, "could not offend any person; and, after all, that was the real purpose of the Code..." (cont.) (4/6)

‘Damn’, in particular, caused a bit of a kerfuffle. Concerned filmmakers would start to throw the word around in less innocuous contexts, Hays met with the head of the Fox Film Corporation, Sydney Kent, to request the scene be reshot, cut, or have the offending word slurred out. (3/6)

Cavalcade is one of few 1930s productions to include the words ‘damn’ and ‘hell’ – as written in Coward’s original 1931 play. The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) – guardians of the Hays Code of film censorship since 1930 – were worried it might set a precedent. (2/6)

#OnThisDay in 1933, the film adaptation of Noël Coward's Cavalcade had just arrived in cinemas. Despite its reputation now as a conservative epic of studio cinema, it very nearly fell foul of studio censors for its use of some slightly fruity language... (1/6)

Happy Mother's day to Coward's beloved mother Violet

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward

Her collaboration with Coward began with The Vortex and continued through Private Lives, Design for Living, and numerous other iconic works, both in London and on Broadway.

In the 1940s, she also brought her distinctive vision to four film adaptations of Coward’s plays.

Born #OnThisDay in 1894: Gladys Calthrop, the influential stage designer behind many of Noël Coward’s productions.

📷 Gladys and Noël 1940s
📷 Gladys, photo from around 1970

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward

Congratulations to Titanique, one of the nominees for the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play

By Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle & Constantine Rousouli , performed at Criterion Theatre

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward #OlivierAwards

His last words to Graham Payn and Cole Lesley were "Good night, my darlings! I'll see you tomorrow," as they left him on the terrace at Firefly.

More than half a century on, his work lives on for new generations of performers and audiences.

51 years ago Noël Coward passed away at his home in Jamaica.

📷 Noël Coward on the veranda at Firefly, March 1973

The play would transfer to the #WestEnd the following year.

100 years on, the Olivier Awards celebrates the best of British theatre.

#Broadway #noelcoward #sirnoelcoward

Whilst four Noël Coward plays were running in the West End in 1925, his influence was also being felt across the pond.

Easy Virtue, with its updated take on a Victorian melodrama, was a roaring success in American theatre.

So resolute we were in heart and mind
So steeled against illusion, deaf and blind
To all presentiment, to all enchantment
(I knew you without enchantment)

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward

Finding no heights nor depths among our days
Shedding no tears
Every so often when we felt inclined
Lying like lovers in each other's arms
Feeling no qualms
In our light intimacy

Its #WorldPoetryDay

Lets take a look at one of Coward's verses, written to and for Graham Payn

Here is the original transcript, taken down by Graham as Noël dictated over the phone

I knew you without enchantment
And for some years
We went our usual ways
Meeting occasionally

#TheatreSky

Congratulations to Spirited Away, one of the nominees for the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play

Adapted by John Caird & co-adapted by Maoko Imai, performed at London Coliseum

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward #OlivierAwards

One of the sketches, Oranges And Lemons, was revived in The Night of 100 Stars at the London Palladium in 1960, featuring Laurence Olivier.

The staging was handled by Frank Collins, with the Léonide Massine providing the dynamic choreography.

A century later, the Olivier Awards continue to celebrate choreographic excellence with the Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, celebrating the finest in theatrical dance.

The revue was a dazzling showcase of choreographic excellence in theatre. First produced by Charles Cochran, the production featured a book and lyrics by Coward, with music composed by Coward and Philip Braham.

#OnThisDay Noël Coward's 1925 revue On With the Dance opened at the Palace, Manchester

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward

"I never have been one for staying up too late," Noël Coward, in his diary, 20 April 1967

📷 Coward in one of the bedrooms at Les Avants, 1960s

#WorldSleepDay

Congratulations to Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright, one of the nominees for the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play

By Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith and performed at Wyndham’s Theatre

#noelcoward #sirnoelcoward #OlivierAwards

Take a look at some of Noël Coward's magazines, music and books, in his magazine rack from Switzerland

#ExploreYourArchive

A bold and timeless classic, The Vortex continues to captivate audiences nearly a century later.

Coward's legacy also lives on: on 6th April, the Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play will be awarded at the Olivier Awards.

#OlivierAwards

The play, which began at the Everyman Theatre in 1924, was one of four Coward shows running in the West End that year — a testament to his rising stardom.

📷 Noël Coward in The Vortex with Mollie Kerr, Everyman Theatre, London, 1924