CAMERA THREE: MAD ABOUT THE BOY: NOEL COWARD: A CELEBRATION (TV)
Summary
One in this series of programs on the performing and visual arts. In this edition, devoted to the life and career of Noel Coward, actors Jean Marsh, George Rose, Carole Shelley, and Kristoffer Tabori utilize Coward's writings, sayings, scenes from his plays, and performances of his musical numbers to present a well-rounded portrait of the man and his work. After noting Coward's early love of the theater and his first precocious roles, Carole Shelley and George Rose perform a scene from Coward's 1935 play "Tonight at 8:30" in which a married vaudeville couple argue about their act and each others' performances before going on stage. Rose and Shelley then sing "Why Must the Show Go On" from the musical "Break It Up" by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. Jean Marsh and Kristoffer Tabori perform a scene from "The Vortex," Coward's first play, a serious drama about a vain, aging woman and her cocaine-addicted son. Next, Rose sings "You Were There" from Coward's 1936 musical "Shadow Play," and a pianist plays a medley of additional Coward numbers, as examples of his growing reputation as a composer and lyricist as well as a playwright. Marsh reads from a poem written during Coward's nervous breakdown in 1937, after which Shelley sings "Twentieth Century Blues."
To illustrate Coward's journeys around the world to recuperate from his occasional nervous breakdowns, Rose and Tabori sing Coward's well-known "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," and Marsh performs one of his comical numbers about the trials of traveling in other lands. In a scene from his 1933 comedy "Design for Living," a couple, played by Tabori and Shelley, gloat over the lukewarm, confusing reviews of their new play, mirroring the critics' response to many of Coward's works. Rose then portrays a Coward-like celebrity annoyed by a fan played by Marsh, in a scene from his 1956 "South Sea Bubble." Following this, the cast performs a medley of Coward's compositions demonstrating his love of England. His last foray into writing and acting, the 1965 "Song at Twilight," is shown in a scene with Marsh and Rose, and typifying Coward's serious, mature side. The program closes with Tabori reading from Coward's philosophy of the theater as given to fledgling playwrights.
(This series also aired locally on WCBS-TV in New York from 1953 to 1956 and on PBS from 1979 to 1980.)
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 22, 1976
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:78322
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentary; Biography; Music
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1956-1979; PBS - 1979-1980
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Sheldon Larry … Producer, Director
- Noel Coward … Writer
- Kirk Nurock … Conductor
- Jean Marsh … Cast
- George Rose … Cast
- Carole Shelley … Cast
- Kristoffer Tabori … Cast