| Description | Entries dated Sunday 1 January 1950 to Sunday 31 December 1950.
Coward comments on the launch of 'Ace of Clubs', with auditions in March and a successful first night in Manchester in May. In February he comments on unfavourable reviews of 'The Astonished Heart' and also comments on UK politics including the General Election result. In April he refers to a meeting of the Actors' Orphanage; in June refuses to direct the Oscar and Hammerstein production of 'Anna and the King of Siam' [the musical 'The King and I']; on 2 June attends the Theatre and Film Carnival [to benefit the Actors' Orphanage]; and later that month completes the short story 'Star Quality'. In July Coward visits Silverlands [Actors' Orphanage] and comments on the behaviour of Peter Collinson [who later directed Coward in 'The Italian Job'].
During October Coward discusses initial ideas for a comedy titled 'Nude with Violin'; he notes that Lorn Loraine is to become Coward's 'representative' and Cole Lesley his secretary, to relieve strain and responsibility from Lorn; he visits Florence in October; in November notes Gladys Calthrop's increasing disinterest in stage design and theatre work; and in December holidays in Jamaica with Edward Molyneux. A number of entries are concerned with John 'Jack' Wilson's alcoholism.
People referenced in the diary include John 'Jack' and Natasha Wilson; Ann Rothermere; Ian Fleming; Joyce Carey; Graham Payn; Guthrie McClintic; Adrianne Allen; Cathleen Nesbitt; Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt; Joyce and Bobby Flemyng; Margalo Gillmore; Bob Hope; Alec Guiness; Ruth Chatterton; Kitty Miller; Gertrude Lawrence; Arnold Weissberger; Richard Aldrich; Hugh 'Binkie' Beaumont; Val Parnell; Pat Kirkwood; Sylvia Cecil; Viscount Camrose; Ed Murrow; Prince Littler; Gladys Calthrop; Tom Arnold; Clem Butson; Lorn Loraine; Juliet Duff; Duff and Diana Cooper; Nadia Gray; Maria Montez; Jean-Paul Aumont; Jean Marais; Ivor Novello; Cole Lesley; Vivien Leigh; HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; Dick Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein; John Mills; Richard Attenborough; Charles Russell; Lance Hamilton; Ina Claire; Angus Wilson; Laurence Olivier; Dirk Bogarde; John Sutro; Madge Titheradge; Peter Collinson; June Whitfield; Frank Sinatra; Tyrone Power; Cesar Romero; Douglas Fairbanks Junior; Mary Lee Fairbanks; Lord Louis 'Dickie' and Edwina Mountbatten; Max Beaverbrook; Leonard Cottrell; Wynford Vaughan-Thomas; Goddard Lieberson; Moss and Kitty Hart; Edna Ferber; Valentina; George Abbott; Cole Porter; Kay Thompson; Gregory Ratoff; Walter and Helen Lippmann; Edward and Kathleen Molyneux; Marlene Dietrich; Michael Wilding; Montgomery Clift; Gloria Swanson; Clifton Webb; Emlyn Williams; Joyce Grenfell; Hester Chapman; Ann Todd; David Lean; Arthur Macrae; Michael Benthall; Violet Coward; Elsa Maxwell; Linda Porter; Margaret 'Maggie' Case; Duchess of Windsor; Peter Brook; Andre Kostelanetz; Cyril Ritchard; Fleur Cowles; Irene Selznick; Pearl Bailey |