What's my Line? Noel Coward

[cepson]

Is Bennett Cerf some sort of freaking genius? Seems like every clip I've seen of this show, he guesses the right answer.

[eruptionista]

That must havebeen an enormous tax bill to get NC onto WML!

[maronson1000]

You are right. These WML clips are addictive and wonderful. Where are Lauritz

Melchior, Roberta Peters, Rise Stevens, Robert Merrill, Jan Peerce, Richard

Tucker, Yehudi Menuhin, and others from the world of classical music?

[Richard40171]

Coward had a wonderful reference to Ernest Hemingway in one of his songs (it was on a double album with a caricature of Coward on the jacket cover). The song was Porter's "Let's Do It" where he adds the line (ad lib?) "even Ernest Hemingway does it somewhere in Africa"). (I'm not sure of the exact wording.) According to Olivier the Queen delayed his knighthood due to his sexual preference. As I recall in his autobio, O doesn't mention Coward's name but it seems obvious whom he referred to.

[Useless2112]

Ohh now now, what's my line? Ohh now now, what's my line?

[gtlfb]

Coward may be as well known for the things he didn't do - among the roles he turned down were the king in 'The King and I' (he recommended Yul Brynner), Henry Higgins in 'My Fair Lady', Humbert Humbert in 'Lolita', Dr. No in the first James Bond movie, and Colonel Nicholson in 'Bridge on the River Kwai'. The only one he regretted was 'Kwai'. 

[FootDanielLight]

@gtlfb That's too bad, I would've loved to see Noel in another of David Lean's great movies. Although Alec Guinness was wonderful as Nicholson.

[librarybob1958]

All this makes Noel Coward's comment upon hearing of Dorothy Kilgallen's sudden demise (Accident? Suicide? Murder? A half-century later, the jury's still out on that one) a few years later that much more ironic: "Ah, me! I shall miss hating her on television every Sunday night."

A more fitting epitaph than that, no one could have.

[0BLOKKMONSTA0]

yeeiis! rofl xDDDDD

[Salmagundiii]

staytunedfor, I agree. I can't stop watching them!

[TeachESL]

This was when there was class on TV!

[CalumK1982]

He's hilarious!!!

[GraniteQuarrier]

Graham Payn's "My Life with Noel Coward" is really a fun read if anyone is interested.

[MerleOberon]

He said hell, shocking in the 50s!

[blunklaura]

noel coward is a top fav of mine

[FriendofRamblinJack]

WOW

[9TheMajor]

Brief Encounter is his greatest gift.

[theonlyantony]

The Master

[sisalrug]

How nice. There isn't enough of Noel Coward on youtube. I need more, more, more. I'm reading and re-reading his diaries and it makes me always want to see him doing what he was so famous for.

[Boratlon]

Have you got his book of letters?

[burnt62]

@Boratlon A fantastic read !!! Worth the investment

[Boratlon]

Preaching to the converted.

[ipmoic]

A delightful chap, no??

Too bad he couldn't have gone on longer.

But Tammy Grimes never did much for me.

[soulierinvestments]

Well you could say hell on live TV if it just slipped out -- or if you were talking about theological real estate. But yes, I bet ( 3:10 ) the CBS censors bit right through their pipes

[xander7ful]

There are YT videos of the Beatles doing a Shakespeare skit in which George Harrison says the F word on live TV. Apparently, there were no restrictions on those words on British television. I bet the CBS censors had a conniption.

[stickstr8up]

Why would Noel Coward have offended Brooklyn???

[lorrephile]

During WWII, in his book "Middle East Diary," describing his visit to an Army hospital, he wrote: "I was less impressed by some of the mournful little Brooklyn boys lying there in tears amidst the alien corn with nothing worse than a bullet in the leg or a fractured arm." It caused a big stink and later, while on tour to entertain the troops, he worried about what his reception be from American GI's. He walked on stage and welcomed "all the dear mournful boys from Brooklyn" & they cheered him.

[stickstr8up]

wow! thanks for the very thorough and knowledgeable explanation. are you a scholar on noel coward or something?

[lorrephile]

Not a scholar; just a fan. I knew the bare bones of the story and just looked it up for the details. :)

[bitterchew]

you can't say Hell on TV in 1950's

[SIMPFANN]

Yeah, that surprised me too!

[algabal]

Is the Coward show mentioned "Look After Lulu" or "High Spirits"? I believe both featured Tammy Grimes.

[soulierinvestments]

2:35 Look after Lulu.

[mariellecharmaine]

Thanks for this great clip with Noel Coward, the epitome of wit and sophistication.

[mgushulak]

Just for the record, I started watching this very newly uploaded video when the number of views read zero. When I finished, hardly four minutes later, it had been seen five times. Some folks just can't get enough of this show soon enough, eh? I know the feeling. :D

[staytunedfor]

Yes, these WML? clips are basically You Tube crack (and I need more!).

[scottievand]

@staytunedfor You're absolutely right. I spent an entire Sunday watching these. ;)