Norman Hackforth
Encyclopedia
Norman Hackforth, Sir Noël Coward's renowned English accompanist and a gifted musician was born in Gaya
, Bihar
India
on 20 December 1908.
Hackforth's relationship with Noël Coward
began in 1941, when he succeeded Elsie April and Robb Stewart as his arranger. Hackforth helped Coward write such wartime classics as London Pride
and Could You Please Oblige Us with a Bren Gun?
.
In 1943, when Coward was touring the Middle East war zone, he met up with Hackforth and engaged him as his pianist on a tour of South Africa. It was a memorable trip for both parties. Hackforth remembered the nerve-wracked first night of the tour in Cape Town, when Coward engaged the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra to open with a selection from Wagner and Rossini. The effect was calculated to "bore the bejesus out of the audience", said Hackforth, after that "they'll be only too delighted to see us".
Coward and Hackforth went on to play throughout southern Africa, from hospital canteens in what is now Soweto, to the Pretoria Country Club.
Lord Louis Mountbatten having asked Coward to extend his tour to the Far East, they arrived in India in the monsoon. Acquiring an upright piano ("from first to last a malign, temperamental little monster"), they spent 10 "hellish" days in the jungle, made worse by not entirely appreciative audiences: Hackforth: "open-necked, sweat-stained khaki shirt, with a lock of damp hair hanging over one eye, and hammering away at the Little Treasure as though he was at his lasp gasp and this was the last conscious action of his life" as Coward sang to 2,000 booing black GIs who had never heard of this "effete limey". Throughout, Hackforth "kept his temper, his sense of humour and his health, which was the most surprising of all, for his looks as resolutely belied his constitution then as they do today", wrote Coward in 1954. "His face is always wan and set in deceptively morose lines and no burning sun, no stinging wind has ever succeeded in tinting lightly its waxen pallor."
Although Hackforth maintained that they worked together "very amiably, indeed, always", in later years, he was keen to set the record straight on his relationship with Coward, first in his memoirs and latterly in interviews. He was particularly exercised by comments in Coward's "ghastly diaries which really show him up in such a vile light I don't know why anybody ever published them".
Coward underplayed Hackforth's part in his reinvention as a cabaret singer. In 1951, Hackforth was playing for Beatrice Lillie
at the Cafe de Paris
(which he was also promoting): Noël came to the first night, had a drink with me afterwards and said "Do you think I'd be any good at this cabaret?" I said "Of course you would. I've been trying to get you to do it for years! Why don't you get yourself a good agent and see what happens?" He said "I don't want an agent - you can be my agent." So I was. And I got him his first booking - it wasn't very difficult, I may say, but I actually negotiated it."
In 1954, Hackforth joined Coward in Jamaica, "slaving away every day" on the score for the abortive musical After the Ball. Coward saw it in Bristol the following year: "The orchestra was appalling, the orchestrations beneath contempt and poor Norman conducted like a stick of wet asparagus... The whole score will have to be re-orchestrated from overture to finale and Norman will have to be fired." "Typical Noel Coward exaggeration," wrote Hackforth.
The working relationship with Coward ended that year, when Hackforth was unable to acquire an American permit for Coward's planned cabaret conquest of Las Vegas
. Marlene Dietrich
found a new accompanist and arranger for Coward, Peter Matz
, who become another in the long line of unsung heroes who underscored the career of the supremely gifted genius.
Hackforth also became the voice telling listeners the name of the object a panel had to guess in the BBC
’s radio version of Twenty Questions
from 1947.
He married Pamela, who died in 1995 and he himself died on 14 December 1996 in Wittersham
, Kent
in his farmhouse near to his great friends, the family of Sir Donald Sinden.
Gaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
on 20 December 1908.
Hackforth's relationship with Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
began in 1941, when he succeeded Elsie April and Robb Stewart as his arranger. Hackforth helped Coward write such wartime classics as London Pride
London Pride (song)
"London Pride" is a song written and composed by Noël Coward.- Composition :Coward wrote "London Pride" in the spring of 1941, during the Blitz. According to his own account, he was sitting on a seat on a platform of a damaged railway station in London, and was "overwhelmed by a wave of sentimental...
and Could You Please Oblige Us with a Bren Gun?
Could You Please Oblige Us with a Bren Gun?
"Could You Please Oblige Us with a Bren Gun?" is a humorous song written and composed by Noel Coward in 1943.Like much of Coward's work it displays skill at wordplay and evokes a feeling of both good humour and patriotic pride...
.
In 1943, when Coward was touring the Middle East war zone, he met up with Hackforth and engaged him as his pianist on a tour of South Africa. It was a memorable trip for both parties. Hackforth remembered the nerve-wracked first night of the tour in Cape Town, when Coward engaged the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra to open with a selection from Wagner and Rossini. The effect was calculated to "bore the bejesus out of the audience", said Hackforth, after that "they'll be only too delighted to see us".
Coward and Hackforth went on to play throughout southern Africa, from hospital canteens in what is now Soweto, to the Pretoria Country Club.
Lord Louis Mountbatten having asked Coward to extend his tour to the Far East, they arrived in India in the monsoon. Acquiring an upright piano ("from first to last a malign, temperamental little monster"), they spent 10 "hellish" days in the jungle, made worse by not entirely appreciative audiences: Hackforth: "open-necked, sweat-stained khaki shirt, with a lock of damp hair hanging over one eye, and hammering away at the Little Treasure as though he was at his lasp gasp and this was the last conscious action of his life" as Coward sang to 2,000 booing black GIs who had never heard of this "effete limey". Throughout, Hackforth "kept his temper, his sense of humour and his health, which was the most surprising of all, for his looks as resolutely belied his constitution then as they do today", wrote Coward in 1954. "His face is always wan and set in deceptively morose lines and no burning sun, no stinging wind has ever succeeded in tinting lightly its waxen pallor."
Although Hackforth maintained that they worked together "very amiably, indeed, always", in later years, he was keen to set the record straight on his relationship with Coward, first in his memoirs and latterly in interviews. He was particularly exercised by comments in Coward's "ghastly diaries which really show him up in such a vile light I don't know why anybody ever published them".
Coward underplayed Hackforth's part in his reinvention as a cabaret singer. In 1951, Hackforth was playing for Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
at the Cafe de Paris
Café de Paris
-Establishments:*Café de Paris , West End-Leicester Square-Piccadilly nightclub which, since opening in 1924, has featured Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Gold, Maxine Cooper Gomberg, Ambrose, Harry Roy, Ken "Snakeships" Johnson and many others...
(which he was also promoting): Noël came to the first night, had a drink with me afterwards and said "Do you think I'd be any good at this cabaret?" I said "Of course you would. I've been trying to get you to do it for years! Why don't you get yourself a good agent and see what happens?" He said "I don't want an agent - you can be my agent." So I was. And I got him his first booking - it wasn't very difficult, I may say, but I actually negotiated it."
In 1954, Hackforth joined Coward in Jamaica, "slaving away every day" on the score for the abortive musical After the Ball. Coward saw it in Bristol the following year: "The orchestra was appalling, the orchestrations beneath contempt and poor Norman conducted like a stick of wet asparagus... The whole score will have to be re-orchestrated from overture to finale and Norman will have to be fired." "Typical Noel Coward exaggeration," wrote Hackforth.
The working relationship with Coward ended that year, when Hackforth was unable to acquire an American permit for Coward's planned cabaret conquest of Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
. Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
found a new accompanist and arranger for Coward, Peter Matz
Peter Matz
Peter Matz was an award winning American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent artists, including Marlene Dietrich, Noël Coward and Barbra Streisand...
, who become another in the long line of unsung heroes who underscored the career of the supremely gifted genius.
Hackforth also became the voice telling listeners the name of the object a panel had to guess in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
’s radio version of Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and escalated in popularity during the late 1940s when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program....
from 1947.
He married Pamela, who died in 1995 and he himself died on 14 December 1996 in Wittersham
Wittersham
Wittersham is a village and civil parish, part of the Isle of Oxney, south of Ashford in Kent, South East England, near Tenterden.The Domesday Book does not mention Wittersham, but it does assign the manor of Palstre to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Palstre was only one of four places in the Weald,...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
in his farmhouse near to his great friends, the family of Sir Donald Sinden.