Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1935)

IMonchalant lMoel C owarc IF Noel Coward is ever persuaded to make a picture in Hollywood — and there is still a possibility that he may do it some day — he will follow the lead of his friends, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and make it a sort of "hop, skip and jump." A hop into Hollywood, a skip out again and a jump back onto the stage. For the author of "Cavalcade" and "Private Lives" has no desire to be a movie actor. This doesn't mean that the brilliant young dramatist hates the movies. Speak of Hollywood's production of "Caval cade," and he will tell you enthusiastically that it was mag nificently done. But he is so completely wrapped up in the theater — everything he has is in it — that being a picture starhas no appeal for him. I met Noel Coward in the lounge of the Empress of Britain, the liner that brought him to America for the opening of his new play, "Point Val aine," in Boston on Christmas Eve. He was with Lady Louis Mountbatten and Viscount Duncannon, son of Canada's Governor-General, when I introduced myself, some time before the ship reached Quebec. Without a moment's hesitation he had excused himself from his companions and had taken me over to the other side of the lounge. There I chatted with this good-looking and thoroughly charming Englishman for almost an hour. Noel Coward's personality takes hold of you in a second. He has made a brilliant name for himself in the theater — he has been lauded and praised and called a genius, and nobody could blame him if he went "up-stage." But there is nothing stand-offish about this remarkable young man, unless it is with the people he feels are playing up to him in their own interests. I found him easy to approach, enthusiastically ready to talk and charming in manner. His smile is infectious. He has a decided English accent, but it is the wellmodulated, pleasing accent of the cosmopolitan Englishman. 58 The author of "Cavalcade" and "Private Lives" may go out to Hollywood — but he won't stay By John Rhodes Sturdy Aboard ship, on his way to America, the famous young playwright who has written so many successes^some of them loved, some of them hated, all of them brilliant. With Coward is Lady Louis Mountbatten, a fellow traveler What exactly I wanted know at the start, were his r actions when he sits in a mo; house and sees his plays on t! screen? He crossed his legs, settli back comfortably in his chajJ and smiled. "But I seldom do," he r I plied simply. "Oh!" "No, I very seldom si movies of the things I write. " Have you seen ' Design f< Living'?" "I haven't." Then his eye1 twinkled. A little smile cref to the corner of his lips. " was paid an enormous sum fq the play in Hollywood. It wa a perfectly stunning offer, am told that there are three t my original lines left in th picture. Most important line; like 'Pass the mustard, please'. His conversation is con stantly punctuated with wit the wit that made "Privat Lives" and "Hay Fever" hit on the stage. Sometimes it i sharp and pointed, and if yoJ attempt to sting Noel Cowan he will give you back that am' more. They tell the story— i wouldn't vouch for the truth o it — of the young dramatis meeting Lady Diana Manners) star of " The Miracle." She i said to have greeted Cowan with the words, "So you an the young man who wroti 'Private Lives.' Not ver\ , funny." He is reported t< j have replied. "And you are thi lady who played in Tht Miracle.' Very, very funny.' I asked him about "Privatf Lives," and what he thought! j of it as a picture. He wasn't pleased with its production, ill tried him on " Cavalcade," and ' he was seriously enthusiastic. "It was beautifully doneon| the screen," he told me. "1 don't believe it could possibly have been made into a better film than it was. Really fine and those who handled it and played in it deserve a great deal of credit. I was immensely pleased." Noel Coward loves the theater, naturally, because he is a part of it. If he takes an occasional dig at the movie [ PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 105 I