IVOR NOVELLO
A 75th Anniversary Tribute
From the Ivor Novello Consultant on the
Oscar and BAFTA winning film Gosford Park.
Retracing the footsteps of the film, theatre star and composer Ivor Novello (1893 – 1951) by experiencing the golden age of ocean travel on the Queen Mary 2 – where she met the original Queen Mary liner in Long Beach, California.
On the 6th of March, 2026, it will be seventy five years since Ivor Novello’s death. His extraordinary achievements as a composer, actor for film and the stage, and playwright have been largely forgotten, or sidelined in favour his more fashionable contemporaries like Noel Coward. Ironic then that Coward was famously quoted in the early 1920’s saying that he wished to be as famous as his Welsh friend, Ivor Novello. He would then often quip to anyone who would listen:
“There are only two perfect things in this world. My wit, and Ivor’s profile!”
Novello was a matinee idol of the time and declared as “The handsomest man in England” and “Englands’s answer to Valentino”. He was also lured by Hollywood but that didn’t go well, although he made great friends of Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, William Haines, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and his wife Joan Crawford. I was lucky enough to speak with Fairbanks and he told me “I remember Redroofs so well and recall many happy visits…” (Novello’s country home near Maidenhead) and Joan Crawford remembered him fondly too:
“He was a beautiful man, an enchanting actor, and had the great gift of being a friend. He felt as I did, and do – In order to have a friend, you must be a friend.”
Hollywood didn’t know what to do with him and couldn’t cope with a man who was a writer, musician and an actor. His lasting legacy was rewriting a script about a man that lived with apes in the jungle. He came up with the line “Me Tarzan, you Jane?” He thought it absurd, but it did rather well as a film.
Recently the British actor Jonathan Bailey was hailed in the press as the sexiest man in the world both in the UK and the USA. One hundred years ago the New York Times and London press were saying exactly the same thing about Novello. Like Bailey, Novello was hot box office and a bankable star. Bailey, like Novello, has a universal sex appeal, attractive to men and women, he is also gay, as was Novello, but the only difference being that Novello could not be open about his sexuality as homosexuality was still illegal in his time.
Novello’s sudden death in 1951, at 58, shocked the world. He had played his role of Nikki in his musical King’s Rhapsody at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End. He returned home to his flat above the Strand Theatre with his manager, Tom Arnold, and they discussed business and had some champagne. Novello suddenly felt unwell and Arnold called for help. Within an hour Novello was dead from a coronary thrombosis.
Novello had successful careers as a composer, film star, theatre star, playwright and finally the King of West End musicals – that he also starred in and were devised, written and composed by his own hand – his equal today for popularity would be Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber – but he would also have to star in his own musicals!
Novello saved the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from bankruptcy in the 1930s with his Ruritanian musicals Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave and The Dancing Years. During the war years he opened Perchance To Dream and in the post-war period King’s Rhapsody and Gay’s The Word in the West End. All of these shows toured the country too, bringing music and joy to millions.
His funeral was like a royal procession. Thousands of people lined the streets of London to watch his cortege pass. The crowds were still five and six deep by the time it arrived at Golders Green Crematorium. They even flew in white Lilacs from the South of France to honour him and his most famous wartime song ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs.’ London’s Evening Standard declared:
“It is time that some official recognition were shown of his achievement in keeping the British flag flying over Ruritania.”
It took many years, but there have been moments of recognition for Novello along the way. 2001 saw the release of Robert Altman’s star-studded film Gosford Park that not only used Novello’s music for the score but he was also a character in the film played by Jeremy Northam – it is worth noting that Novello was the film’s only factual character. The film went on to become an Oscar and BAFTA winner. I was lucky to be asked to be the film’s Ivor Novello Consultant, a great honour for me as I had long been a great admirer of Altman’s work. This was closely followed by Sir Cameron Mackintosh renaming the Strand Theatre to the Novello Theatre when he had the theatre restored in 2005. Novello had lived in the flat that still sits on top of the theatre for nearly forty years.
In 2016 I worked with Donald McLeod and BBC Radio 3 on a series of five hour long episodes of Composer of the Week dedicated to Novello’s music – the first time the BBC had featured him on the programme. Novello’s lasting legacy is his music.
This year I had the opportunity to visit the original Queen Mary ocean liner, her maiden voyage was in 1936, and she was regularly travelled on by Novello and his entourage crossing the Atlantic to New York. She is now permanently docked in Long Beach, California, and used as an hotel, function venue and popular museum – still exuding her faded arte deco splendour. I decided to make it a truly unique experience, relive those Atlantic crossing days, and travel to the old Queen Mary on the new Queen Mary 2 that was also going to rendezvous with her sister ship at Long Beach.
The design of the new Queen Mary is inspired by the original and is done in a way that is a remarkable tribute. You really experience the glamour and luxury of ocean travel and the arte deco influence is a wonderful homage to the original ship. Dr. Stephen Payne OBE, who designed the new Queen Mary 2, was also aboard and giving lectures about his design decisions and how he was determined the original would influence the new.
Novello recalled his voyages on the Queen Mary with delight. As a first class passenger he would often, as he was such a famous celebrity, play the piano and entertain other passengers. In those days the first class areas of the ship, that included the Observation Bar and the Verandah Grill, were strictly separated so it appealed to the rich and famous as they could enjoy relative privacy. The first class restaurant is still recognisable and I have an image of Novello at a table with friends and was able to work out where the table was situated.
The most exciting find on the original ship was the white grand piano that had been in the Verandah Grill until it was moved to its current location in the music room –again a first class area. Novello would have most certainly played and entertained fellow passengers on this piano. It was a real goose bump moment for me. I felt very honoured to be able to visit that ship and tread in those famous footsteps. The atmosphere of the ship is remarkable, she resonates with her past and seems somehow alive and welcoming. Her interiors are a little faded from their original grandeur but it is so easy to transport yourself back in time and still enjoy what she has to offer. Well worth a visit.
It was also nice to chat with the cocktail pianist Emmanuel Vasser on the new Queen Mary 2 about Novello, discuss his story and achievements, and to know that his music can still capture the attention of the younger generation – even if it is new to them.
For me it has been a fascinating journey of discovery. My biography on Novello still sells even after over twenty years and is now in its fifth edition with an added section that is Novello’s own autobiography titled ‘My Life’. It charts his life from birth until 1934 and is a fascinating insight to his life and career and the famous people he worked with. It is available from all good book stores and the usual online retailers and via links on my own website in both hardback and paperback editions.
On Friday 6th March there will be a special BBC Radio 3 programme from Cardiff’s Millenium Theatre to honour Novello and his music. It will be broadcast nationally. A fitting tribute from the city of Novello’s birth, where his statue now proudly stands outside the theatre, reminding all that pass that he was a great man of the theatre and music.
David Slattery-Christy
