Theatre: Inquiring Reporter

With equal smartness Noel Coward has played the roles of actor, composer, librettist, playwright, autobiographer. Last week he took on a new role. A few weeks earlier his latest musical show, Operette, had opened in London, got distinctly chilly reviews—which jangled Coward’s nerves. Sympathetic as a family physician, the British Admiralty promptly sent him on an official visit to the Mediterranean fleet, bade him find out what British sailors like in the way of movies.