IVOR NOVELLO
The Perennial Matinee Idol

 by Freda Novello

"To my past audiences,
my present audiences, and,
I hope, my future audiences,
I bow and say with all my heart,
'Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am your very humble servant."'

   Ivor began life as David Ivor Davies in Cardiff, Wales on January 15, 1893.  He was the only son of David Davies, a rate collector in Cardiff, and Madame Clara Novello Davies, the celebrated musician and singing teacher.  Ivor began to sing and play the piano at the age of three, He won a scholarship at Magdalen College School, Oxford, in 1903 at the age of 10.  He became prominent as a soloist in the school's celebrated choir.

   After leaving Oxford in 1909, he became a piano teacher in London, but this was short-lived. By this time, he was already composing songs and his first song was published in 1910.  He was composing only moderately successful songs until World War I broke out in 1914.  It was at this time that Ivor composed the patriotic song, "Keep the Home Fires Burning," which became an overnight triumph and, rocketed him to instant stardom. It made him a fortune and was one of the most successful songs of World War I.  King George V proclaimed that this was "the best song that the war years produced."

   In 1916, Ivor wrote 13 songs for the successful Gaiety revue, Theodore & Co., which established him as a theatrical composer.  He shared the spotlight with Jerome Kern who contributed four songs.  Ivor continued to write songs for many successful vaudeville and stage revues throughout the teens and 1920s.

   In the meantime, he served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), but after two near fatal crashes was transferred to the Air Ministry as a clerical worker.  In 1918, Winston Churchill gave Ivor a three-month leave of absence from the RNAS for a good will mission to Stockholm, Sweden, where German entertainers were very popular.   The British Intelligence authorities wanted to foil their growing influence, so Ivor became a species of ambassador and went to Stockholm with a group of entertainers.  He succeeded completely and was there when Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918.

   The war made Ivor famous as a composer, and in 1919, free of uniform and the war behind him, he decided to take a trip to one of his favorite cities --New York.  He remained there for five months; and while sailing back to England, out of the wastes of the mid-Atlantic, a radio message reached the ship.  The second métier of Ivor Novello was about to be born -- Film Star! The surprise cable was from Angus McLeod of the London firm of Daniel Mayer, Ivor's theatrical agent.  It just so happened that the French director, Louis Mercanton, who directed Sarah Bernhardt in the 1911 film, Queen Elizabeth, was in London looking for a famous Englishman who resembled a Sicilian to star in his new French film.  He came across a photograph of Ivor and immediately decided that he was the "type" he wanted. "But he's a composer," argued the agent.  "I don't care what he is," replied Mercanton.  Ivor was just the man he was looking for to play the romantic lead.  With his impeccable good looks -- the raven locks, the dark seductive eyes, the chiseled lips, the flawless complexion, and the flaring nostrils - Ivor was ideal.  He lived up to his photograph, and Mercanton gave him a film contract.

   The film Call of the Blood(from the best-selling novel by Robert Hichens), was shot on location in Rome and Sicily, and it co-starred the stage actress Phyllis Neilson-Terry.  It was a story of adultery and revenge and had a successful premiere with very favorable reviews. With no acting experience behind him, except for a few amateur productions as a schoolboy, Ivor took to film acting immediately.  He was a "find" and a natural in front of the camera.  Sarah Bernhardt attended a private showing in Paris and praised Ivor for his performance.  According to the London Times, the success of Call of the Bloodwas due to Ivor Novello.

   Then came Ivor's second French film, Miarka(1920), again with Mercanton directing, and it costarred the great French actress Rejane. Again, Ivor received favorable reviews. This film was quickly followed by his first British film Carnival (1921), which is about an actor who plays Othello, and jealousy drives him to live it in real life.  Ivor plays the youthful seducer Count Andrea, and on its first showing, some critics were bothered with the excessive passion in the love scenes between him, and his leading lady, Hilda Bayley.  The passion was edited out.  It was a lavish production and was the most successful British film up until that time.

   In November, 1921, the 28-year old Ivor, without any theatrical training, made his London West End stage debt in the play Deburau.  This was the beginning of a 30-year stage career.  Between 1921 and 1934, Ivor divided his time between films and stage. In 1922, Ivor began work on his next picture, The Bohemian Girl, based on the popular Balfe operetta.  He was teamed for the first time with actress Gladys Cooper, one of the most important women in his life.  She plays a nobleman's daughter kidnapped by gypsies and rescued by a Polish Count played by Ivor.

  Ivor's next film was The Man Without Desire (1923), directed by the celebrated would later direct Ivor in two other successes, The Vortex and The Constant Nymph.  The Man Without Desire, an extravaganza, was shot on location in Venice and, according to modern critics, was a landmark in the history of the British Cinema.  In this film, Ivor plays a gallant in love with an aristocrat's wife and after she has been killed, he undergoes treatment to make himself lifeless for 200 years.  When he is brought back to life, he meets up with his love's descendant but finds that he is impotent and poisons himself.  Ivor was critically acclaimed for his performance, and his popularity was growing rapidly.

   Toward the end of 1922, Ivor returned to America.  When he arrived here in 1919, he was just a famous composer on vacation.  Now, he was also a famous film star to appear in the new D. W. Griffith production The White Rose.

   What happened was the great director was in London for the premiere of his new film, Orphans of the Storm, starring Lillian Gish and Joseph Schildkraut, and was dining at the Savoy with Hannen Swaffer, a journalist/critic, on the same night as Ivor.  Griffith asked the critic who the handsome man was who was sitting near his table. The critic replied, "That's Ivor Novello." "I'd like to see him," said Griffith.  Ivor met with the director who told him how much he resembled Richard Barthelmess, star of Broken Blossoms and Way Down East.  Griffith needed a new leading man to replace Barthelmess, who recently left the Griffith Company.  Ivor was his man.  He promised Ivor a part when the proper vehicle came along.  Soon afterwards, Griffith cabled Ivor and summoned him to America to sign a contract.  Under this agreement, Ivor was to star in seven films, the first being The White Rose with Mae Marsh, one of the greatest actresses of the silent screen.

   Upon his arrival in New York, Ivor was greeted by dozens of reporters and was hailed as the great new star from England.  Meanwhile, Gladys Cooper arrived in New York and was seen everywhere with Ivor.  They were the most photographed couple.  Ivor was known as "The Handsomest Man in England," and Gladys as "The Most Beautiful Woman of the British Stage."  The press went so far as to announce their engagement. This caused great embarrassment for Ivor and Gladys, mainly due to the fact that she was not yet divorced.  This was great publicity for their film, The Bohemian Girl, which was being premiered in New York at the time.  Gladys returned to England without marrying Ivor.

   The White Rose (1923) was filmed in Louisiana and Florida.  Ivor played a young minister who, before he is ordained, seduces a waitress (beautifully played by Mae Marsh) and leaves her, believing that she is free with every man. This sexual transgression causes him to preach guilt-ridden sermons, not knowing that she has become pregnant with his child. There were many protests from clergymen and other groups in regard to the illegitimacy theme.  The public had enough of Griffith's sagas of sin, but this did not affect the box office receipts.

   Although The White Rose was no Birth of a Nation, it was a moderately successful film, and Ivor received favorable reviews as the young priest falling from grace and was picking up a substantial following in this country.  He was compared to Richard Barthelmess and Ramon Novarro in looks and was hailed as "The British Valentino," although, according to the Washington Times, Ivor was taller and slimmer.  The New York Telegraph described him as "a Grecian God who is both handsome and an intelligent actor."

   Toward the end of 1923, D. W. Griffith was into decline and was finding it difficult to back Ivor's future films.  Ivor returned to England and eventually had to sue the Griffith Company for his salary for The White Rose.  That was the end of Ivor's film roles in America, except for a second lead in a 1931 Paramount flop, Once A Lady, starring Ruth Chatterton, when he was a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

   Mae was pregnant when she arrived in London and was ill throughout filming.  Whenever she became suddenly ill in the middle of a scene, Ivor would pick her up and carry her to her dressing room and nurse her until she recovered. According to Balcon, "Ivor was the soul of kindness and consideration."

   Despite the difficult conditions, The Rat turned out to be a phenomenal success and the top box office hit of 1925.  It also established Ivor Novello as the top film star in Great Britain.

   The Rat was followed by two sequels, The Triumph of the Rat (1926), another success, and The Return of the Rat (1928), a silent film dubbed with a sound track. This film lacked originality and suffered from a banal script so, therefore, did not enjoy the same success as the previous "Rat" films.

   Ivor's third film for Michael Balcon and Gainsborough is the now classic suspense thriller, The Lodger, a story of the London Fog.  It was adapted from the best selling novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, about the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel.  Ivor plays the mysterious young stranger who arrives at a Bloomsbury boarding house at the same time London is being terrorized by a homicidal maniac known as "The Avenger."  His odd behavior causes the landlady to suspect that he is "The Avenger," especially when he begins to get involved with her daughter, Daisy, played by June Tripp, a popular music hall performer.

   The Lodger (1926) was directed by 27-year-old Alfred Hitchcock, who also contributed to the script.  He wanted Ivor to appear as the murderer, but due to Ivor's enormous popularity, a change of script was demanded at once by the producers.  It had to be shown, without a doubt, that the
lodger was innocent.  If there was any hint that Ivor was playing a sexual psychopath, it would kill the box office. The Lodger is not a typical Novello vehicle.  He plays a character who is totally withdrawn and frenzied at times.  He is a puppet in Hitchcock's hands.   Ivor plays the character exactly as Hitchcock wanted him to be portrayed.

   The Lodger turned out to be a colossal success and the most popular British film of 1926. It also established Alfred Hitchcock's reputation as a director.  The Novello-Hitchcock collaboration was a very good one.  They got along beautifully during filming, and they had great admiration for each other.  So, it was only natural to team up again in the next Novello vehicle, the screen version of Downhill, which was the second play written by Ivor and Constance Collier.  Filming began in April 1927 at the same time that The Lodger was winning "rave" reviews in England and the United States.

   Downhill is a study of a student, Roddy, who is accused by a girl of fathering her illegitimate child. He is eventually expelled from school and disowned by his father.  He follows a path "downhill" and even attempts suicide.  He is rescued by his friend, who is the actual father of the illegitimate child. Downhill had a lukewarm reception by critics in its original release, but many critics who view the film today regard it to be more visually rewarding than The Lodger.  Ivor's next film was The Vortex (1928), based on Noel Coward's successful 1924 stage play. It was directed by Adrian Brunel, who was delighted to be reunited with Ivor since The Man Without Desire.  The Vortex posed a few problems in filming due to its subject matter -- a neurotic son who takes drugs and a mother who has a lover.  The script had to be rewritten and the son, Nicky Lancaster, played by Ivor, only threatens to take drugs, unless his mother mends her ways.  The main problem of The Vortex is the absence of the dialogue that was essential in the play.   Despite these problems, The Vortex was well received, and Ivor was critically praised for his portrayal of the sensitive, hysterical son.

   One of the most successful plays in London in 1926 was The Constant Nymph, based on Margaret Kennedy's best selling novel.  Ivor had wanted to play the part of Lewis Dodd, the unmannerly but gifted composer, on stage, but instead it went to Noel Coward.  Soon afterwards, Coward had a nervous break down and was replaced by his understudy, John Gielgud. Gainsborough bought the rights in 1928 and the play's director, Basil Dean, assisted Adrian Brunel in the film version. The screenplay was written by Alma Reville (Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock).  Ivor was chosen to play Lewis Dodd, since Coward was not a film name.  The part of Tessa, the youngest daughter of the Bohemian Sanger family, who becomes infatuated with Dodd, was played by Mabel Poulton, the protege of French director Abel Gance.

   The Constant Nymph was one of the most important films to be produced by Michael Balcon and Gainsborough.  It was shot on location in the Austrian Tyrol, and the climactic sequence of Ivor conducting his symphony was filmed at the Queen's Hall with a full orchestra.  The endless retakes of that scene caused the orchestra to moan and groan, but Basil Dean stated, "lvor's sweetness and charm prevented a major revolt."  There was another problem.  This time it was censorship. The objection was of the thirteen-year-old Tessa sexually involved with the older Lewis, as in the novel. It had to be shown that she was not his mistress.  The film was an enormous success and was voted Best British Film of 1928.  (The Constant Nymph, along with many other silent films, was feared to be lost forever, but in the mid-1980s film historian Kevin Brownlow located a complete 16mm print in a collection in Suffolk, England.)

   The last of the Novello silents, The Gallant Hussar (1928) and South Sea Bubble (1928), did not repeat the success of his previous films for they were competing with the talkies.  The Gallant Hussar probably would have been a success had it been released a few years earlier.  It was a charming love story, shot on location in Hungary and was well received by critics.  South Sea Bubble, Ivor's last silent film, about the hunt for buried treasure, was a total failure.  His costar was Benita Hume, the future Mrs. Ronald Colman.  Ivor's first talkie was Symphony In Two Flats (1930).  It was an adaptation of his successful 1929 stage play in which he starred with Benita Hume.  The story deals with a young composer, David, who goes blind while writing a symphony for a prize competition.  Benita Hume recreates her stage role as David's wife, Leslie.  The film was an immediate success, and Ivor was hailed as giving a splendid performance.  Millions of fans who never had the chance to see Ivor on stage waited impatiently to hear their idol speak for the first time on the screen.  Ivor had a fine speaking voice -- pure English, with the trace of a Welsh lilt.

   In the summer of 1930, when Symphony In Two Flats was near the end of its run on the London stage, Ivor received an offer from the Shuberts to play it on Broadway.  Ivor arrived in New York in September 1930 at one of the worst times.  The Wall Street crash ten months earlier ruined many people, and a luxury like the theater had to be cut out.

   Symphony In Two Flats opened at the Shubert Theater on September 16, 1930, the hottest day of the year.  A few minutes after the curtain rose, a violent thunderstorm broke out, and the crashes of thunder overpowered the actors' voices.  Although the critics gave the play favorable reviews and praised Ivor's performance, it did not have a chance of survival.  It ran for only seven weeks, but this did not discourage Ivor.  He persuaded the Shuberts to put on his successful 1928 London stage comedy, The Truth Game.  It opened on December 27, 1930, with Billie Burke, wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, playing opposite Ivor.  The play was an immediate success and was one of the season's big hits.

   The success of The Truth Game brought Ivor offers from the major Hollywood studios.  He accepted the offer from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was paid an enormous sum for the film rights to The Truth Game.  Ivor signed a three-year contract as both actor and screenwriter.  He arrived in Hollywood in the summer of 1931 and was met at the train station by Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., whom he had met in New York.  Joan introduced Ivor to all the MGM stars except Greta Garbo, whom Ivor was to meet later in his Hollywood stay.

   Ivor's first project at MGM was to write the screenplay of The Truth Game, but he discovered that it had already been done.  He rewrote it several times until nothing was left but the title and the name of the characters.  The Truth Game was filmed under the title But the Flesh Is Weak.  Ivor had hoped that he would be playing the part of Max, his own creation, but MGM was too busy obtaining film rights for their biggest contract players, Clark Gable, Ramon Novarro, John Gilbert, and Robert Montgomery, who was the star of But the Flesh Is Weak.  MGM made a second version in 1941 titled Free and Easy with Robert Cummings in the starring role.  Ivor also wrote the screenplay for the box-office sensation of 1932, Tarzan the Ape Man, the first in a series starring Johnny Weissmuller.  Maureen O'Sullivan who played Jane, thought Ivor's dialogue "so witty and charming," and Ivor even went on the set and coached her with some of her lines.  Ivor was also one of the writers of Mata Hari (1932), starring Greta Garbo, who Ivor was to finally meet at his Santa Monica home, which was perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific.  She appeared shy at first, but after speaking with Ivor for a while, her coolness melted.  They had a friendship that endured, and when in England, it was to Ivor that Garbo would go for her welcome. She would stay at his beautiful country home, "Redroofs", in Littlewick Green, near Maidenhead.

   Ivor was getting homesick for London and the theater.  MGM didn't know what to do with his particular talents, and they failed to find him any acting parts, In England, the name Ivor Novello was a household word, but in Hollywood, he discovered that he did not mean a thing.  He asked Irving Thalberg to release him from his contract.  In his ample spare time in Hollywood, Ivor wrote two comedies, I Lived With You and Party, which he staged on his arrival in London and were massive successes.  MGM bought the rights to Party for a possible vehicle for Joan Crawford, but it was never filmed.

   I Lived With You (1933), one of Ivor's last films, is from his immensely popular stage comedy about an impoverished Russian prince, Felix, who is taken in by a middle class family and turns their lives upside down.  Ivor and Ursula Jeans recreate their stage roles.  Jeans plays Felix's love interest.  Playing her very first screen role is a young actress, Ida Lupino, who shortly afterwards departed for Hollywood.

   Ivor's last film was Autumn Crocus (1934) from the successful 1931 stage play.  It was directed by Ivor's old friend, Basil Dean.  Ivor plays Andreas, an Austrian innkeeper, the part that Francis Lederer had created on stage.  Fay Compton recreates her stage role as Fanny, the spinster school teacher on vacation in the Tyrol, who finds love for the first time in her life.

   Ivor decided to retire from the cinema when he was still an important asset.  He began to realize that he could not write and star in plays, supervise their productions, and arrange tours while making films during the day.  The neglect of his greatest gift -- music -- and his great love for the theater helped him come to the decision that his film career had to come to an end.

   The Great Years were about to begin, and Ivor Novello would soon be crowned King -- King of the British Theatre.  He combined all of his talents in a series of lavish and spectacular musical romances that would make him one of the greatest phenomenons in the history of the British stage.  Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, Arc de Triomphe, Perchance To Dream, and King's Rhapsody were filled with beautiful, haunting melodies that will always be remembered.

   Thousands of people lined the streets for Ivor's funeral.  It was a funeral usually reserved for heads if state and was broadcast on radio.  Many memorials have sprung up since lvor's death.  Among them is a bust in the Circle Rotunda, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, a sculpture at St. Paul's Cathedral, and a blue plaque outside his London flat at 11 Aldwych.

   In 1947, Ivor was a founding member of the Songwriters Guild (since renamed the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors).  It was established in order to give greater broadcast time to British material--at the time the proportion of British songs played on the BBC was as low as 15 percent.

   In 1956, the Ivor Novello Award was inaugurated by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors, and is presented annually for outstanding contributions to British music. Among its famous past recipients are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and more recently, Andrew Lloyd Webber.

   Before his death, Ivor said, "'To my past audiences, my present audiences, and, I hope, my future audiences, I bow and say with all my heart," 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I am your very humble servant.'"   His undeniable charisma won him the adoration of millions of fans.  He never failed the public, and they never failed him.  Ivor Novello made his exit still wearing the King's crown.