Dec 14, 2007  |  By: KATHI WOLFE  | COMMENTS     

Most of us have neither the talent to be a genius nor the time to write a voluminous stream of letters, but such was not the case for playwright, actor, lyricist, cabaret singer and wit Noël Coward.  The 780-page “The Letters of Noël Coward,” edited by Barry Day, is the first and definitive collection of correspondence to and from this incomparable genius. Featuring missives between Coward and Graham Payn, his lover of 30 years; his mother, Violet; Gertrude Lawrence, who acted with him on-stage in one of his best-known plays “Private Lives”; actress Marlene Dietrich; and other correspondents, the volume is a fascinating portrait of Coward’s life and time.

Coward, with the exception of some veiled references to homosexuality in his last play, “Suite in Three Keys,” was never open publicly about his sexual orientation.

“To the end of his life … he remained firmly private in his private life,” Day writes. Yet, a gay sensibility of wit, camp and affection permeates Coward’s letters. 

“I am back from Istanbul where I was known as English Delight,” he said in a cable. “To hell with God damned ‘L’Amour,’” he counseled Dietrich, whose affair with actor Yul Brynner was in crisis, “It always causes far more trouble than it is worth.” 

Though known for his connections with royalty and celebrities (King George VI of England and the thespian couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were among his friends), Coward grew up in genteel poverty. He was born in Teddington, a suburb in Middlesex, England. His father, Arthur, was a clerk, who sometimes sold pianos, and Violet, his mother, was forced to take in borders. Violet, convinced from his earliest childhood of Coward’s talent, was determined that her son would rise above these circumstances and become a rousing success. 

Coward began performing at an early age, making his debut in 1911 in “The Goldfish.”  When he was 14, Coward met 30-year-old Philip Streatfield, an aspiring artist.

“One can only speculate on the relationship between a … man and a … precious boy,” Day writes. But, what is known is that the two had a close relationship that ended tragically when Streatfield died from tuberculosis, while serving in World War I.

THROUGH STREATFIELD, COWARD was introduced to English society. He began writing songs and plays and in 1924, achieved his first big success with “The Vortex,” a controversial play that dealt with drug abuse. Coward went on to write more than 50 plays (including “Blithe Spirit” and “Design for Living”), 15 revues and musicals (including “Bitter Sweet” and “Oh, Coward!”), three volumes of autobiography and a novel, “Pomp and Circumstance.” He acted in and directed films (including “Around the World in 80 Days” and a World War II propaganda film “In Which We Serve”).

During the Second World War, Coward was a spy for the British government, carrying out his duties while performing for soldiers all over the world. Because Coward could not reveal this work, some people thought he was living the high life rather than helping the war effort. With the help of Day’s commentary, this collection reveals the sadness that underlies Coward’s seeming insouciance.

In one letter during the war, he spoke of singing while being nauseated by the smell of rotting bodies. “How can we help ourselves?,” he’d written with eerie foresight years before in “The Vortex,” “We swirl around in a vortex of beastliness.”

The correspondence dealing with details of casting and other theatrical issues becomes tedious, so pruning would have kept some repetition out of this collection. But, this is a minor quibble. “The Letters of Noël Coward” is a delight — a must read for the holiday or any other season