Coward, Noel (Vol. 9) - Coward, Noel 1899–1973
Coward, Noel 1899–1973
Coward began acting at the age of ten; by the time he was twenty he had seen his first play successfully produced. Coward's career was at its apex in the 1920s and 1930s. Capturing the essence of those decades, he wrote technically brilliant, witty, and refined period pieces for the stage. Coward was knighted in 1970. (See also CLC, Vol. 1, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 17-18; obituary, Vols. 41-44; Contemporary Authors Permanent Series, Vol. 2.)
[Coward's] enthusiastically applauded wit, it saddens me to report, I cannot for some reason or other, despite painstaking hospitality, discover. I can discover, with no effort at all, several amusing little wheezes, but all that I am able to engage in the way of the higher jocosity called wit is a suave prestidigitation of what is really nothing more than commonplace vaudeville humor. This vaudeville humor Mr. Coward cleverly brings the less humorously...
[The entire page is 2167 words long]
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