User Reviews

When you hear the name Noel Coward, the last person you might probably expect to hear along with their name is Mary Martin. Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie perhaps, even Elaine Stritch, but Peter Pan? Nellie Forbush? That's why this episode of "Ford Star Jubilee" is perhaps a nice rare find, because of how much they compliment her. Coward is urbane, witty, droll; Martin is as down to earth and homespun as you can get, even if she is a Broadway diva. He teases her over her inability to sing certain kinds of songs, and she gets even with him by singing an aria from "Madame Butterfly". He performs his well known patter songs and other standards, everything from "Bitter Sweet" to "If Love Were All". She does a medley of songs from "South Pacific" (even those she didn't sing). This was when the variety show ruled the airwaves, and anybody with any amount of real talent would appear on a regular basis. Having worked together in London just a decade before, Coward and Martin playfully rib each other, and you can see the genuine affection. He's a likable snob, and she gets him good when he teases her about Peter Pan, claiming that he had starred in that play even before she was born. It's all in good fun, and they show the best of both worlds, the suave, debonair British theater and the good old fashioned lively American musical comedy.