Noel Coward was an English playwright, composer, and actor. He began as a child actor at 12, and acted in his own plays, as well as many others. He wrote many plays, musical revues, a novel, his autobiography, and nearly 300 songs.

The time of his greatest fame was the 1920s and 1930s. In those days, he was a success on Broadway and in the British theater, and knew almost everyone who was "worth knowing." This collection of letters is extensive and amusing and includes letters to Coward as well as from him. Barry Day is eminently qualified to compile the letters and provide commentary. He has written seven previous books on Noel Coward, and has written and produced plays and musical revues himself.

Among the correspondents in this book, in addition to his beloved mother, are Gertrude Lawrence, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine, T.E. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Daphne Du Maurier, Greta Garbo, W. Somerset Maugham, and Marlene Dietrich. These are not humdrum letters. They sparkle with wit and teasing. The reader comes to know the writers in a way that e-mail is just not going to provide.

In a note about the New York subway, Coward says, "You get into any train with that delicious sensation of breathless uncertainty as to where you are going. To ask an official is sheer folly, as any tentative question is calculated to work them up to a frenzy of rage and violence. To ask your fellow passengers is equally useless, as they are generally as dazed as you are." This was in 1921. Coward would soon be traveling in private cars or taxis.

His correspondence with Virginia Woolf lasted for about a year (1928) until she tired of what she saw as his apparent need to be a celebrity. He wanted to be seen as a "serious" writer, even though his success was based on not-very-serious plays and revues. No sooner would a project be up and running, than he would be planning the next.

As he prospered, he traveled extensively, and his letters are marvels of descriptions. "HK [Hong Kong] is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, specially at night with an enormous black mountain rearing itself out of the sea, covered with lights. And the most lovely harbour with thousands of ships of all sizes and sampans and junks darting 'ither and thither for all the world like tainy insects." (in 1930.)

He often wrote quickly, taking four days to create Private Lives, one of his best-known plays, and composing the song "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" on one long drive. He helped young writers and was able to learn from others. Somerset Maugham was a friend whose advice he sometimes took, and he and Edna Ferber shared a love of the theater.

Known for his wit and lightheartedness, Coward was deeply patriotic. Cavalcade and In Which We Serve were tributes to Britain. It was not known at the time, of course, but he served as a spy for the British Government during World War II.

Savvy, loving, sophisticated, he and his work may have faded from the public view, but this collection of letters could revive interest.

The book is available at the Mary Willis Library.