The Letters of Noel Coward

September 24, 2007
Writers labor to come up with lines half as good as those Noël Coward dropped into the mailbox every day—“I felt that some sort of scene was necessary to celebrate my first entrance into America, so I said, 'Little lamb, who made thee,' to a customs official.” The playwright, actor and songwriter is in fine form in these missives, telegrams and poems (he would rhyme almost anything, even communications to his business manager), presented along with return mail from friends and luminaries. Day (Coward on Film: The Cinema of Noel Coward
) arranges the well-chosen selections in roughly chronological order with some unobtrusive narrative context; at times he spotlights a lifelong correspondence with a single person to flesh out Coward's relationships, such as with Gertrude Lawrence. Coward's voice is charming, whimsical, sharp-eyed and canny, often alternating, in the showbiz way, between effusive warmth (letter to Tallulah Bankhead: “Thank you very much, darling, for all your sweetness and your insane generosity”) and cutting putdown (letter about Tallulah Bankhead: “a conceited slut”). A true intellectual of the stage, his comments on the nitty-gritty of writing, pacing, character and acting technique are incisive. Fans of Coward's plays and students of 20th-century theater will be fascinated, but casual readers will also find an entertaining browse. Photos.

December 15, 2007
In this first collection of its kind, Day (trustee, Noel Coward Fdn.; "Noel Coward: In His Own Words") ties together letters both to and from his subject with chatty commentary that makes for an entertaining account of Coward's life and the times in which he lived. Coverage of this versatile actor, dramatist, composer, librettist, lyricist, director, artist, writer, singer, and wit begins with his early childhood and ends with his death in 1973. The letters reveal Coward's relationships with a broad range of personalities in the arts and other areas, e.g., writers George Bernard Shaw, Edna Ferber, and Somerset Maugham; actors Gertrude Lawrence, Alfred Lunt, and Marlene Dietrich; and Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother. Highlights include Coward's correspondence with his beloved mother and those with whom he was involved in government service during World War II. Extensively illustrated with photos and drawings; recommended for academic and larger public libraries.Denise J. Stankovics, Rockville P.L., Vernon, CT

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2007
Playwright, songwriter, and actor Coward was an avid letter writer who corresponded with many leading lights of the day: Marlene Dietrich, John Gielgud, the Lunts, Virginia Woolf, Edith Sitwell, even the queen mother. Days 750-page selection of missives represents only a fraction of the entire, massive archive. Still, since it also contains selections from Cowards respondents in reply, the book sketches a portrait of Coward as nearly complete as that of any biography. Day never hides his enthusiasm for Coward, but his enthusiasm doesnt keep him from showing Coward warts and allthe loyal friend, the talented writer, the tart observer of art and lifefrom his precocious youth, touring the provinces and dreaming of success in London, to his tax-dodging golden years on Jamaica, when his self-consciously literary letters cast one eye, at least, on posterity. Again and again, Day reveals Coward as much more than his ironic self-descriptionsomeone with a talent to amusethrough detailed commentary, not to mention a dazzling assortment of photographs and other illustrations, that put the letters in cultural context.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)