Noel Coward joke

[Merlyn Leroy <Brian Westley>]

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR DRIVEL ***

(A True Story)

Noel Coward was talking to Jean Harlow at a Hollywood party,
where she invariably pronounced his name NoEL (like the Christmas greeting).
He would correct her each time, but to no avail. Finally, after he could
stand it no longer, he told her, "Jean, the 'e' in Noel is as silent as
the 't' in Harlow."

Merlyn Leroy
"No fun 'e' quotes"

[Rod Williams]

> Noel Coward was talking to Jean Harlow at a Hollywood party,
> where she invariably pronounced his name NoEL (like the Christmas greeting).
> He would correct her each time, but to no avail. Finally, after he could
> stand it no longer, he told her, "Jean, the 'e' in Noel is as silent as
> the 't' in Harlow."

That's not the *true* story I heard. My version has it that a certain
Margot Asquith, daughter (?) of the British Prime Minister (whose first
name has momentarily escaped me) was conversing with Ms Harlow at a
Hollywood Party (maybe the same one :-)). Tiring of Ms Harlow's
misuse of her name as 'Margaret', and appalled at the temerity of
someone so *common* (and an ACTRESS too :-o) in using her first name at
all, the formidable Ms A. put on her iciest glare and announced:
"My name is pronounced Margoh - the 't' is as silent as the one in
Harlow".

Must have been quite a party. I wonder if it was at the same one that
Tallulah Bankhead told Bette Davis to si...
--

Rod Williams
dual!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw

[Tobias D. Robison]

In article <2...@ptsfc.UUCP> r...@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) writes:
> That's not the *true* story I heard. My version has it that a certain
> Margot Asquith, daughter (?) of the British Prime Minister (whose first
> name has momentarily escaped me) was conversing with Ms Harlow at a
> Hollywood Party (maybe the same one :-)). Tiring of Ms Harlow's
> misuse of her name as 'Margaret', and appalled at the temerity of
> someone so *common* (and an ACTRESS too :-o) in using her first name at
> all, the formidable Ms A. put on her iciest glare and announced:
> "My name is pronounced Margoh - the 't' is as silent as the one in
> Harlow".

>Rod Williams

Now we're getting close. This is the way I heard it too, but Harlow
didn't say "margaret", she said "Dame Margot", pronouncing the "t".
The punch line (slight change, but I can't vouch for it -- "the t is
silent as in Harlow") is very compact and devastating. If the story
is true, it is one of the greatest of all time comebacks, since it
can hardly have been panned in advance.

- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
{allegra, decvax!ittvax, fisher, princeton}!eosp1!robison