Prom 36 (9.6.12): Glamorous Night: A Celebration of Ivor Novello

[Ferretfancy]

ahinton

Gays today don't have proclivities, they have relationships.

Gays the Word Bookshop is one of the best bookshops of any kind in London, and has an original poster for Novello's show on its wall. The staff often find themselves offering advice to young people who pluck up the courage to enter the shop seeking help. There are also excellent author's readings y the the likes of Armistead Maupin, Jeannette Winterson and others.

[ahinton]

ahinton

Gays today don't have proclivities, they have relationships.

Not always true, any more than it is of heterosexuals.

[aeolium]

I think having a Prom of Novello's music (at least the occasional songs squeezed in between Callow's monologue) is a bit harsh on him as composing was only a part, and perhaps a smaller part of his career, given that he also wrote and performed in plays and was a silent film star, one of the few British matinee idols of that time. He was a popular light entertainer writing and performing for a mass audience. Yes, the music sounds a bit thin to our ears and his plays and musicals had preposterous plots but they were written for a different age which wanted sentimentality, nostalgia, melodrama and escapism (and some of these qualities are not entirely absent from today's popular culture). It was quite an achievement to have written popular hits in both world wars, though perhaps he was better known at least in the 1920s for his films, and in the 1930s for his stage plays and musicals.

I think a Prom was the wrong vehicle for having a retrospective about Novello: preferable would have been either a stage show which included his better songs with other popular songs by other composers from between the wars, or indeed a TV documentary about him including footage of some of his films (including the Hitchcock film The Lodger) and discussing his stage and musical work as well as his many notable acquaintances from Coward and Sassoon to Olivier. Even if the music is dated, it can often be interesting - at least it is to me - to try to enter into the thought-world of an age with tastes and attitudes utterly different from our own, and what better way than through the songs, plays and films which entertained and excited the audience of that time.

This, from R4's Film Programme, was quite an interesting review of his life, concentrating mainly but not only on his career in films.

[amateur51]

Not always true, any more than it is of heterosexuals.

You know the point that Ferret is making, ahinton. Enough already!

[Ferretfancy]

amateur 51

Thanks,
Ferret

[bluestateprommer]

Just finished listing to Part II of "Manchester United" day at The Proms. I was only familiar with Ivor Novello as a name, and not really as a theater performer. This Prom, which pretty much turned out to be a sort of radio documentary about IN, with a little more humor than is customary for radio documentary narration, proved to be a good introduction to him. I agree with previous commenters that w/o Simon Callow as narrator, having so many songs in the same rough tempo and style would have made for a rather monotonous evening. I didn't really warm to Sophie Bevan's voice, but Toby Spence did quite well to my ears, even without factoring in his recent health issues. The Halle and Sir Mark did fine as the backup band, although it's hard not to escape the feeling that this was the equivalent of bringing in a world-class chef to cook a dinner of a hamburger and fries, if the metaphor makes sense.

Oh, and final US pop culture trivia of some distant relation to Novello: one episode of the 6th season of M*A*S*H featured the chorus from "Keep The Home Fires Burning", following a bonfire to climax the episode. Colonel Potter (the late great Harry Morgan) began the chorus. I had no idea at the time that it was a Ivor Novello song.

[ahinton]

You know the point that Ferret is making, ahinton. Enough already!

Do I?...

[AjAjAjH]

I've read with interest the comments on this thread about this Prom. I watched it last Saturday evening and whilst I enjoyed it, it was nowhere near as good as the original concert of IN's music in Manchester some years ago. The Prom concert was curtailed to the concert in Manchester. At the Manchester concert Mark Elder explained why he had taken an interest in IN. Apparently it was from watching 'Gosford Park'. He made his public singing debut with 'And Mother Came Too'. Many members of the orchestra (especially the ladies) dressed appropriate to the period. All this was missing from the Prom - to its detriment I believe.

[amateur51]

Do I?...

I must say, I'm really enjoying your move towards short posts, ahinton

Most grateful

[Anna]

I confess I enjoyed it. Not as a Prom, it was entirely unsuited to a Prom, but on a dismal Sunday afternoon cooking something unashamedly old-fashionedly wholesome in the kitchen, and occasionally having a waltz with a glass of wine and a friend - it was complete and utter tosh, but quite fun and I liked Simon Callow's links (I should point out before the broadcast I knew practically nothing about Novello and it certainly didn't encourage me to search him out in the future)

[amateur51]

I confess I enjoyed it. Not as a Prom, it was entirely unsuited to a Prom, but on a dismal Sunday afternoon cooking something unashamedly old-fashionedly wholesome in the kitchen, and occasionally having a waltz with a glass of wine and a friend - it was complete and utter tosh, but quite fun and I liked Simon Callow's links (I should point out before the broadcast I knew practically nothing about Novello and it certainly didn't encourage me to search him out in the future)

But complete and utter Welsh tosh, Anna

[hmvman]

I caught up with this Prom last night and, like Anna, I quite enjoyed it - not cooking though but curled up on the sofa with a nice malt whisky! I didn't know much about Novello either so I learned some things from the programme. I was surprised to find out how much later these familiar songs were written than I'd thought; I'd imagined "We'll Gather Lilacs in the Spring" to be a First World War or earlier song rather than the end of WWII. As somebody said in an earlier post, the songs were already old-fashioned when they were written.

This Prom certainly did emphasise the romantic, nostalgic songs and it would've been nice to have heard some more up-tempo numbers but I thought it was well performed. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to listen to more Novello but this made a pleasant late-evening's entertainment.