NOVELLO, Ivor

Nationality: British. Born: David Ivor Davies in Cardiff, Wales, 15 January 1893. Education: Attended Magdalen College Choir School, Oxford, and chorister of Magdalen College, 1905–11; studied composition with Dr. Brewer, Gloucester. Career: Published his first song at age 17; his World War I song "Keep the Home Fires Burning" made him famous; wrote songs for revues; 1920—film debut in L'Appel du sang; 1921—stage debut as actor; 1923—wrote successful play The Rat with Constance Collier; made U.S. film The White Rose for D. W. Griffith, but international career did not materialize; 1924—actor-manager, sometimes in collaboration; 1930–31—contract screenwriter for MGM; 1935—beginning of a series of stage musicals written, composed, and acted by Novello. Died: 6 March 1951.

Films as Actor:

1920

L'Appel du sang (The Call of the Blood) (Mercanton) (as Maurice Delarey); Miarka, fille l'ours (Miarka, Daughter of the Bear) (Mercanton) (as Ivor)

1921

Carnival (Knoles) (as Count Andrea Scipione)

1922

The Bohemian Girl (Knoles) (as Thaddeus)

1923

The White Rose (Griffith) (as Joseph Beaugarde); Bonnie Prince Charlie (Calvert) (title role)

1925

The Rat (Cutts) (as Pierre Boucheron)

1926

The Triumph of the Rat (Cutts) (as Pierre Boucheron); The Lodger (The Case of Jonathan Drew) (Hitchcock) (as Jonathan Drew)

1927

Downhill (When Boys Leave Home) (Hitchcock) (as Roddy Berwick); The Vortex (Brunel) (as Nicky Lancaster)

1928

The Constant Nymph (Brunel) (as Lewis Dodd); A South Sea Bubble (Hunter) (as Vernon Wilson); The Gallant Hussar (von Bolvary) (as Lt. Alrik); The Return of the Rat (Cutts) (as Pierre Boucheron)

1930

Symphony in Two Flats (Gundry) (as David Kennard)

1931

Once a Lady (McLintic) (as Bennett Cloud)

1932

The Lodger (The Phantom Fiend) (Elvey) (as Angeloff, + co-sc)

1933

Sleeping Car (Litvak) (as Gaston)

1934

Autumn Crocus (Dean) (as Andreas Steiner)

Film as Producer:

1923

The Man without Desire (The Man without a Soul) (Brunel) (+ ro as Vittorio Dandolo)

Film as Scriptwriter:

1933

I Lived with You (Elvey) (+ ro as Prince Felix Lenieff)

Publications

By NOVELLO: books (plays)—

The Truth Game, London, 1929.

I Lived with You, Party, Symphony in Two Flats, London, 1932.

Proscenium, London, 1934.

Fresh Fields, New York, 1936.

Careless Rapture, London, 1936.

Full House, London, 1936.

Comedienne, London, 1938.

Glamorous Night, London, 1939.

We Proudly Present, London, 1947.

The Dancing Years, London, 1953.

Perchance to Dream, London, 1953.

King's Rhapsody, London, 1955.

On NOVELLO: books—

Noble, Peter, Ivor Novello, Man of the Theatre, London, 1951.

Macqueen-Pope, W. J., Ivor, The Story of an Achievement, London, 1951, rev. ed., 1954.

Rose, Richard, Perchance to Dream: The World of Ivor Novello, London, 1974.

Wilson, Sandy, Ivor, London, 1975.

Harding, James, Ivor Novello, London, 1987.

On NOVELLO: articles—

National Film Theatre Booklet (London), August 1982.

Braun, Eric, "Ivor Novello: The Spirit of Romanticism," in Films (London), December 1982.

Classic Images (Indiana, Pennsylvania), July 1984.

Film Dope (Nottingham), July 1992.

"Noël Coward and Ivor Who?," in Economist (London), 27 November 1993.

Comparisons between Ivor Novello and Noël Coward are inevitable. Both were virtual one-man shows, equally adept at writing, composing, acting, and directing. Indeed, the story is told of Coward's asking for complimentary tickets at a suburban theater box office, explaining that he had written, composed, and directed the production currently playing there, and the woman in the box office responding with "A regular little Ivor Novello, aren't we." Of the two, Coward was unquestionably the better composer and writer; his dialogue could be brittle and witty while Novello's was basically sentimental. Novello was the more handsome, but he was a little too beautiful and fey, almost too handsome to be taken seriously as an actor. The major difference is in the two men's film careers. While Coward made an easy transition to films as actor, writer, and director, Novello was only a leading man on screen, immensely popular in Britain, but only moderately so in the United States.

Novello's attitude towards all aspects of show business was very straightforward and unadventurous. In 1949 he commented, "I'm no highbrow. The theater is a place of entertainment, and I'm an entertainer. I don't believe in using the theater for moralizing lectures on social behavior." After appearances in a few minor British and French features, Novello made his first major screen appearance under the direction of D. W. Griffith in The White Rose. He was well cast as the weak clergyman who impregnates and then betrays the heroine, Mae Marsh. Perhaps without intending, Novello plays the role with a total lack of spirit, and thus makes the part believable. Aside from his performance in The White Rose, Novello is best remembered as a screen actor for his title role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger. He gives an extraordinarily languid performance but is not helped by what appears to be an overuse of heavy white makeup. Novello fares worse in the remake, with dialogue making the characterization ludicrous.

In Britain, Novello became a popular matinee idol with a series of films built around a French apache, the Rat, who steals from the rich. His love is a homely working-class girl who protects him from harm and is even willing to die for him when he is accused of murder. Novello provided the script for the first film, The Rat, which is notable for Graham Cutts's direction and Hal Young's fluid camerawork. In later "Rat" films Novello was paired with Mabel Poulton and Ruth Chatterton, but none of his leading ladies looked as beautiful as the hero.

Novello tried once again for Hollywood stardom in 1931 with Once a Lady, but his part opposite Ruth Chatterton was small and made no impact. He starred in a half-dozen more British features, but decided he was better off in the theater where his fans were unable to come too close to their effete idol.

—Anthony Slide

Novello, (David) Ivor [ (David) Ivor Davies] (1893–1951), actor-manager, dramatist, and composer, the son of musical parents, his mother being a choral conductor. During the First World War he was responsible for part of the score of several successful musical comedies. He also wrote the popular song ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’. He made his first appearance on the stage in Sacha Guitry's Deburau (1921), and three years later was in his own play The Rat, written in collaboration with Constance Collier. He subsequently wrote more than 20 comedies and musical plays, composing also the scores for the latter and starring in most of the productions himself. He was the author, composer, and leading man of four successive musicals at Drury Lane: Glamorous Night (1935), Careless Rapture (1936), Crest of the Wave (1937), and—after he had appeared in a spectacular revival of Henry V in 1938 at the same theatre—The Dancing Years (1939). The last was revived at the Adelphi Theatre in 1942 and was one of the big successes of the Second World War. Novello also wrote, composed, and played in another great success, Perchance to Dream (1945). He was appearing in his own musical King's Rhapsody (1949) at the time of his death. During its run he had written and composed Gay's the Word (1951), which had a long run starring Cicely Courtneidge. His straight plays, far less well known than his musicals and now largely forgotten, included The Truth Game (1928), I Lived with You (1932), Full House (1935), and We Proudly Present (1947).

Novello, Ivor (1893–1951) Welsh composer, actor and dramatist, b. David Ivor Davies. He is best known as the writer of comedies and light musicals, including The Dancing Years (1939) and Perchance to Dream (1945). Novello composed the World War I anthem “Keep the Home Fires Burning” (1914).