Observations About Wales:

From Travel To Business & Politics

first published in   December 2000

Ivor Novello owned property with Noel Coward in the Caribbean. During one visit there, Novello adopted a stray dog. When time came for him to return home to England he could not find the dog. The ship, which sailed with neither Novello nor his pet, sank. So goes one of the true stories from the charmed life of Cardiff-born Novello (1893 – 1951), who, despite achieving superstar status as actor, composer, singer and playwright in his homeland, never made much of a splash in America.

“Ivor who?” read the invitation to a musical program entitled Perchance to Dream -- the Music of Ivor Novello. “Ivor who?” that was this reporter’s question, too. Yet, many Americans have at least a tangential awareness of Novello. Music fans may note that the Ivor is an international music award presented in Britian. Recipients have included the Beatles and Elton John. Mystery aficionados will suspect correctly that he played the title role in the 1926 Hitchcock silent film The Lodger. While connoisseurs of Britcoms have enjoyed Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket impose her rendition of Rose of England on her guests.

Indeed, Rose of England was one of the songs offered to the gentle accompaniment of a baby grand during the Sunday afternoon program of Novello tunes at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church in Manhattan, on October 22nd.  The company, well versed in opera and light opera, comprised one pianist (Ora McCreary) and five singers (Jocelyn Wilkes, Ruth Schepartz, Murray Nesbitt, Priscilla Reeves and David Seatter), who annunciated their lyrics with care thereby adding much enjoyment to their audience’s ears. The stage was set with lilacs and a portrait of Novello, to which diva Wilkes referred (“Look at him, a beautiful gorgeous man!”) during interludes when she spoke recounting Novello’s life tied in with worldwide events. The lilacs referred to We’ll Gather Lilacs, the song that both opened and closed the show with audience participation welcomed. The show was intimate with the performers seated or standing at audience’s level. It was also “unplugged”, none of the powerful voices present needing any amplification, giving the event a cozy soiree feeling.

Much of Novello’s music is delicate and melodic. It’s possible that the Welsh chapel was a strong influence, even though he had won a singing scholarship to Magdalen College School, Oxford, at age 10, so expanding his musical horizons greatly. While romance was the main sound and theme, the afternoon’s range of songs also included the saucy (The Little Damozel), the comic (An Englishman in Love, Her Mother Came, Too) and the wicked (Rough Stuff). Also, beneath the surface of a couple of numbers flickered the lightest whiff of jazz.

Your reporter had the good fortune to speak with Miss Wilkes by telephone after the show. English born, Miss Wilkes has Welsh roots and can handle the Welsh double “L” like a native. She discovered Novello “as a kid” and is as joyous as one at finding plenty of information about him on line.

Persuaded out of retirement to do the Sunday afternoon show (although the question “do divas ever retire?” stands), she found the event a success.  However,  “I was tried emotionally by the end of the show. I thought to myself ‘I’m going to kill him off in a minute,’” she said, referring to her narration duties. Wilkes found herself choked up, an unprecedented event for her on stage, and spoke a few of her final singing lines.

She had never before done a concert dedicated to only one person. To one theme, yes -- for example, animals. Miss Wilkes loves animals, as did Novello, and volunteers at the Central Park Zoo. She will also be serving as a docent, by the time this article appears, at the American Museum of Natural History in the astronomy and geology halls.

Future concerts or plays of Novello’s work are being considered, as his gentle touch remains apparent in today’s society. For example, his play “Gay’s the Word” may have been the inspiration for the latest meaning of the word “gay”. And, decades before the Titanic ever sank on Broadway, a Novello play sank a triple-decker ocean liner on a London stage.

More information can be found in two in print biographies: Ivor Novello, Man of the Theatre by Noble and Novello by Paul Webb.