Many of you may not know who Ivor Novello was. He was one of the most popular actors and musical arrangers during the first half of the twentieth century. He is largely forgotten today, except for his song Keep the Home Fires Burning, which became a massive sentimental hit during the years of the First World War. This Welshman's style was copied by both David Bowie and Noel Coward. In fact, Coward based his whole cool demeanour on that of Novello. They later became good friends after having been introduced by Novello's partner of some 35 years, actor Robert Andrews.
There are a few of his movies on YouTube, but they are bad copies, quite grainy. Regardless, he was refreshingly natural, and his presence is quite confident. He really does seem such a modern personality for his time, especially his bonhomie in the early talkies of the 1930s when wooden performances abounded. His Welsh lilt is just discernible. He died rather young, at 58, and his public funeral was packed with mourners, a mark of his impact on the popular media of the time. He was quite a democrat in the sack apparently, likely to bed anyone from a boy in the theatre chorus to a major star, and didn't care a damn who knew it.
I just finished watching The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog by none other than a youthful Hitchcock. The initial sepia images and the gif above are from the movie. It's silent, but a very good remastered copy is circulating on YouTube if you're interested. It's a smooth 2K version with the original score. And as you can see, he suavely portrays quite a spectral figure. I want that homburg he's wearing hahaha!
To-night .. GOLDEN CURLS ..
6 comments:
Thank you for posting this... I'm going to do a little more research.
Eyes, or lips, or nose? I can't decide... I think he's incredibly attractive. Absolutely haunting, thank you for sharing him with me today! Kizzes.
Hello Boz B, very welcome. If you get a chance, take a look at Never Forgotten (100 years), a short film by Jamie Childs on Vimeo. It's a heartbreaking and beautiful piece with a gorgeous poem by A.E. Housman and, of course, Novello's song, aptly whistled, to round it out.
'Summers full of sweat and fighting, for the Kaiser or the King ..'
He was a withering flame uptonking! Haha, that image of him in the homburg! Hello there, night walker! Hehe. Thank you!
Ah, brings back memories of singing Ivor Novello songs around the piano with friends back in my Toronto days. The duo Hinge and Brackett always included a few of his songs in their shows. I still remember the scene in Robert Alman's Gosford Park where Ivor Novello is playing the piano and the staff are crowded around the door totally taken with him and his music.
My upstairs neighbour has a piano. We've taken on some Kurt Weill haha. Gosford Park! Canoetoo, I had completely forgotten that. And the actor who played him, Jeremy Northam! Woof! Hinge and Brackett are new to me (must check them, drag that only the British can do that way, it seems) but I know exactly that interwar period, called the 'long garden party' before Adolf blew it away. Thanks for adding to it all!
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