GAY ICONS 5: MAD DOGS AND A RIGHT ROYAL SCANDAL

[PeterRS]

In a 1999 article marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Noël Coward, TIME magazine noted that “no other 20th century figure approached Coward’s creative breadth: playwright, actor, composer, lyricist, novelist, stage director, film producer, Vegas ‘entertainer’”. Audiences adored Coward’s plays, his stage musicals, his wit and his often-cutting repartee. Between the two World Wars, Coward dominated the theatrical profession on both sides of the Atlantic as no one else has done before or since. As TIME added, he did so with “a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise.” 

 

Some of his plays have stood the test of time, but few are programmed today. Perhaps he is now best known for just one song: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun.” First performed in New York in 1931, according to his biographer Sheridan Morley he wrote it whilst driving from Hanoi to Saigon “without pen, paper or piano!”

Yet behind his assured, high society mask, for much of his life Coward was a deeply unhappy man. It is now well-known that Coward was gay although he never admitted this during his life. It might upset the county set of middle aged, dyed-in-the-wool ladies who came in bus-droves to attend the mid-week matinees of his plays, was his regular excuse. Hailing from a very middle-class background, he was born in the suburbs of London.Aged 14 he became the protégé and almost certainly the lover of a society painter, Philip Streatfield. Although Streatfield was to die a year later, Coward had by then been introduced widely into the high society of the times and quickly adopted its accent and its manners. 

Entering his teens, Coward had started work as a child actor. He had always been interested in the theatre and by age 20 he was writing his own plays. Soon he was to be a huge success in virtually all areas of society entertainment. It was at a performance of his musical revue “London Calling” that he met one of his early lovers. Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of Britain’s King George V (and thus to become brother to two Kings). They began a clandestine affair. During the Roaring Twenties, the scandals surrounding the very bisexual, drug-taking Prince George were legendary. Even after his marriage, one commentator at the time noted, “He is not safe in a taxi with either sex.” The British Security Service once reported that George and Coward had been seen cavorting through the streets of London “dressed and made up as women!” Their on-going relationship was to last for two decades. Only death parted George from “dearest, darling Noël”. In 1942 George was killed in an air crash in Scotland. Coward wrote in his diary, “The thought that I shall never see him again is terribly painful.”

 

Prince George, The Duke of Kent

In public Coward was a master of the one-line quip, often cutting and always trotted out spontaneously. One evening walking across London’s Leicester Square, a friend drew his attention to the huge advertising hoarding above the Odeon Cinema –

Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde

in

The Sea Shall Not Have Them

Bemused, Coward turned to his friend and exclaimed, “I can’t think why ever not, dear boy. Everyone else has!” In the movie business, Redgrave was known to be bisexual and Bogarde homosexual, although neither came out during their lives.

In another famous Coward quip. he was standing on a balcony overlooking the procession of carriages passing en route to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Beside him was his young nephew. In one carriage was a monstrously overweight woman. Noël’s nephew was curious. 

“Uncle Noël! Who is in that carriage?”

“That, dear boy, is Queen Sālote of Tonga.” 

Pointing to her tiny slim Prime Minster sitting opposite, the nephew was equally curious.

“And who is the little man with her?”

“That, dear boy, is her lunch!”

Given his enormous success in the years between the World Wars and the patriotic film he wrote as part of the national war effort “In Which We Serve”, it was assumed that Coward would be awarded a knighthood. He was not. Prime Minister Churchill and other top members of the government were aware of the relationship with Prince George and were anxious that it be totally covered up, to the extent that George’s letters to Coward were stolen from his London home – with Churchill’s approval. Apart from the scandal if the public were to hear of the affair, homosexual relations between two men were still strictly illegal, and would remain so in England until 1967. Coward would finally be given a knighthood in 1970. Perhaps somewhat extraordinarily, George’s sister-in-law, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, remained a lifelong friend.

After the war, Coward started a relationship with a young actor, Graham Payne, who was to remain with him for the rest of his life. Soon Coward and Payne took a long lease on a house in Jamaica named Goldeneye, owned by Ian Fleming the creator of the James Bond novels. Later they built their own house on the island and it was here that Coward died in 1973. Thereafter Payne was frequently questioned about the relationship with Prince George. He refused to confirm any had taken place. Indeed Coward had never openly revealed his sexuality. 

Ian Fleming's Goldeneye in Jamaica rented by Coward

Coward’s contribution to his country is marked by a memorial stone in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey and the re-naming in 2006 of one of London’s theatres as the Noël Coward Theatre.

[Keithambrose]

58 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

In a 1999 article marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Noël Coward, TIME magazine noted that “no other 20th century figure approached Coward’s creative breadth: playwright, actor, composer, lyricist, novelist, stage director, film producer, Vegas ‘entertainer’”. Audiences adored Coward’s plays, his stage musicals, his wit and his often-cutting repartee. Between the two World Wars, Coward dominated the theatrical profession on both sides of the Atlantic as no one else has done before or since. As TIME added, he did so with “a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise.” 

 

Some of his plays have stood the test of time, but few are programmed today. Perhaps he is now best known for just one song: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun.” First performed in New York in 1931, according to his biographer Sheridan Morley he wrote it whilst driving from Hanoi to Saigon “without pen, paper or piano!”

Yet behind his assured, high society mask, for much of his life Coward was a deeply unhappy man. It is now well-known that Coward was gay although he never admitted this during his life. It might upset the county set of middle aged, dyed-in-the-wool ladies who came in bus-droves to attend the mid-week matinees of his plays, was his regular excuse. Hailing from a very middle-class background, he was born in the suburbs of London.Aged 14 he became the protégé and almost certainly the lover of a society painter, Philip Streatfield. Although Streatfield was to die a year later, Coward had by then been introduced widely into the high society of the times and quickly adopted its accent and its manners. 

Entering his teens, Coward had started work as a child actor. He had always been interested in the theatre and by age 20 he was writing his own plays. Soon he was to be a huge success in virtually all areas of society entertainment. It was at a performance of his musical revue “London Calling” that he met one of his early lovers. Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of Britain’s King George V (and thus to become brother to two Kings). They began a clandestine affair. During the Roaring Twenties, the scandals surrounding the very bisexual, drug-taking Prince George were legendary. Even after his marriage, one commentator at the time noted, “He is not safe in a taxi with either sex.” The British Security Service once reported that George and Coward had been seen cavorting through the streets of London “dressed and made up as women!” Their on-going relationship was to last for two decades. Only death parted George from “dearest, darling Noël”. In 1942 George was killed in an air crash in Scotland. Coward wrote in his diary, “The thought that I shall never see him again is terribly painful.”

 

Prince George, The Duke of Kent

In public Coward was a master of the one-line quip, often cutting and always trotted out spontaneously. One evening walking across London’s Leicester Square, a friend drew his attention to the huge advertising hoarding above the Odeon Cinema –

Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde

in

The Sea Shall Not Have Them

Bemused, Coward turned to his friend and exclaimed, “I can’t think why ever not, dear boy. Everyone else has!” In the movie business, Redgrave was known to be bisexual and Bogarde homosexual, although neither came out during their lives.

In another famous Coward quip. he was standing on a balcony overlooking the procession of carriages passing en route to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Beside him was his young nephew. In one carriage was a monstrously overweight woman. Noël’s nephew was curious. 

“Uncle Noël! Who is in that carriage?”

“That, dear boy, is Queen Sālote of Tonga.” 

Pointing to her tiny slim Prime Minster sitting opposite, the nephew was equally curious.

“And who is the little man with her?”

“That, dear boy, is her lunch!”

Given his enormous success in the years between the World Wars and the patriotic film he wrote as part of the national war effort “In Which We Serve”, it was assumed that Coward would be awarded a knighthood. He was not. Prime Minister Churchill and other top members of the government were aware of the relationship with Prince George and were anxious that it be totally covered up, to the extent that George’s letters to Coward were stolen from his London home – with Churchill’s approval. Apart from the scandal if the public were to hear of the affair, homosexual relations between two men were still strictly illegal, and would remain so in England until 1967. Coward would finally be given a knighthood in 1970. Perhaps somewhat extraordinarily, George’s sister-in-law, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, remained a lifelong friend.

After the war, Coward started a relationship with a young actor, Graham Payne, who was to remain with him for the rest of his life. Soon Coward and Payne took a long lease on a house in Jamaica named Goldeneye, owned by Ian Fleming the creator of the James Bond novels. Later they built their own house on the island and it was here that Coward died in 1973. Thereafter Payne was frequently questioned about the relationship with Prince George. He refused to confirm any had taken place. Indeed Coward had never openly revealed his sexuality. 

Ian Fleming's Goldeneye in Jamaica rented by Coward

Coward’s contribution to his country is marked by a memorial stone in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey and the re-naming in 2006 of one of London’s theatres as the Noël Coward Theatre.

Just to add, it's not  often referred to, that PG Wodehouse,  known as a consummate writer, was also a playwright and lyricist,  etc, who once  had 5 shows running in NY at the same time. Some people said that he changed the face of the American  musical.

Also he played cricket at Lord's,  one up on Noel Coward!

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Just to add, it's not  often referred to, that PG Wodehouse,  known as a consummate writer, was also a playwright and lyricist,  etc, who once  had 5 shows running in NY at the same time. Some people said that he changed the face of the American  musical.

Interesting! I had absolutely no idea he was more than remotely connected to Broadway, particularly his contributions to "Anything Goes" and "Showboat". Yet it is frankly not accurate to say he was involved in "Showboat", for example. His only contribtion was to one song "Bill" which was originally written by Jerome Kern and Wodehouse in 1917. It then had nothing to do with "Showboat". It was only added quite a few years after being reworked by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was one of four new songs added to the hugely expensive Hal Prince production I saw in New York in 1994. After its premiere, "Showboat" had been reworked many, many times with contributions by quite a few people.

Wodehouse certainly contributed to the history of Broadway, though, especially in his collaboration with Jerome Kern illustrating his brilliance at writing lyrics. Many of those shows were written for the tiny 299-seat Princess Theatre in the second decade of the century when the team was joined by another superb British lyricist, Guy Bolton.

[BjornAgain]

Not clear from the OP, but Noël's house (Firefly) is infact above Flemming's Goldeneye. Currently serves as the Noël Coward museum. In his study, the view from his study desk is worthy of the title Room with a View, as looks due East across to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, famous for its coffee.

The house is a time capsule from 1973 when he died, the old Rolls Royce is still in the garage and maintained in prestige condition. Which he used to use to visit his hotel Blue Harbour below, or Goldeneye. 

The house was built on the land formerly owned by the pirate Henry Morgan, aka Captain Morgan, in fact it's old lookout was converted into a bar by Noël, and today serves as the refreshments shack for visitors.

Well worth a visit if you're ever in Jamaica, just 25 miles NNW of Kingston. The photos taken by Coward that are scattered around the place serves as a Who's Who of famous Royals as well as UK, USA and European celebrities from the 1920's onwards.

Adding to the collection of Young Men in their swimwear, an excited Noël Coward c1930's in the Bahamas.

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, BjornAgain said:

Not clear from the OP, but Noël's house (Firefly) is infact above Flemming's Goldeneye.

Fascinating. Thanks. I had tried to make it clear that the photo was of Goldeneye with the caption.