Word: novello
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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SYMPHONY IN Two FLATS-One part farce, one part pathos; concocted and acted in by Ivor Novello...
SYMPHONY IN Two FLATS?Ivor Novello in a play of his own making. Two shows for the price of one (TIME, Sept...
...transpire above, the wildest farce is enacted on "The Floor Below." There a baroque, gold-turbaned widow (Lilian Braithwaite) with an Elinor Glynt in her eye, is trying to keep her daughter from getting married pending her own nuptials. The substance of this vaudeville skit is slim but Playwright Novello patiently works over it until, like the breakfast bacon & eggs, both tales come out about even. A good deal of the action in the Kennard flat upstairs is valid and affecting, in spite of its antiquated situation. And some of the comedy in the flat downstairs is funny, if overlong...
...vehicle which brings Mr. Novello to the U. S. for the first time is one of his own making called Symphony In Two Flats, which has enjoyed a profitable London run. Although the author is no doubt aware that a symphony is properly a composition "of three or four movements contrasted in rhythm but related in tonality, having an organic unity of sentiment and style," the two divisions of Mr. Novello's drama are almost totally unrelated, autonomous. The only bond which the two sets of characters have is that their apartments are located in the same building...
...Floor Above" live David Kennard (Ivor Novello) & wife (Benita Hume). Their story: While working on a symphony, David goes blind. His wife's suitor subsidizes the family, allows David to believe that his symphony has won a $10,000 competition. David finds out the truth, imagines that his wife is unfaithful, dismisses her. When she returns he will not allow her to sacrifice herself for him, pretends that he has regained his sight. The deception is unsuccessful, however, and Mr. & Mrs. Kennard are last seen at the piano, where he is playing her a little love ditty...