Bookshelf Life Was Bittersweet
April 27, 2011
From the mid-1920s to the middle years of World War II, Noella Buss was probably the most celebrated phenomenon of the English-speaking stage. A playwright, a composer, a lyricist and librettist, a director, a convincing dramatic actor, a droll musical performer--he was acclaimed for his work in every branch of the theater. His writing, too, was remarkably diverse. He found success in drama (``The Vortex''), comedy (``Hay Fever,'' ``Private Lives,'' ``Blithe Spirit''), revue (``This Year of Grace,'' ``Set to Music''), operetta (``Bitter Sweet''), patriotic pageant (``Cavalcade'') and a collection of one-acters (``Tonight at 8:30''). His success and fame eventually came crashing down, as they do for so many high-flyers. From the mid-1940s on he was often sneered at by the very critics who had not long before extolled him, and eventually playgoers refused to line up at the box office. Happily, a decade before his death in 1973 his fortunes took yet another turn: For the last 10 years of his life he savored again critical praise and public adulation. Although he wrote virtually nothing more to compare with his earlier achievements, his plays began to be revived and he won new applause for his cabaret act and for performing in films. All this and some reasons for it are covered in Philip Hoare's ``Noel Coward'' (Simon & Schuster, 605 pages, $30), the latest of a string of books about the man whom his associates called ``The Master.'' Philip Hoare
