Noel Gay

Noel Gay
Born	Reginald Moxon Armitage (1898-07-15)15 July 1898 Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
Died	4 March 1954(1954-03-04) (aged 55)
Other names	Stanley Hill
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge
Occupations	Songwriter composer
Style	Musical theatre
Children	Richard Armitage Angela Armitage

Noel Gay (15 July 1898 – 4 March 1954)^[1] was born Reginald Moxon Armitage. He also used the name Stanley Hill professionally.^[2] He was a successful British composer of popular music of the 1930s and 1940s whose output comprised 45 songs as well as the music for 28 films and 26 London shows. Sheridan Morley has commented that he was "the closest Britain ever came to a local Irving Berlin".^[3] He is best known for the musical, Me and My Girl.

Early life

Armitage was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England.^[1] He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School before obtaining a scholarship at the age of 15 to attend the Royal College of Music in London, after which he attended university.^[4] A precocious talent, he had deputised for the choirmaster of Wakefield Cathedral from the age of eight,^[4] becoming honorary deputy organist at twelve. He had become music director and organist at St. Anne's Church in London's Soho district by the age of eighteen,^[4] prior a brief period of military service during the First World War and then studied at Christ's College, Cambridge.^[2][3]

Career

Whilst at Cambridge, Armitage's interest in religious music and composition declined as that in musical comedy grew.^[4] He began writing popular songs, using the stage name Noel Gay. According to Morley the name was derived "from a sign he read on a London bus in 1924: 'NOEL Coward and Maisie GAY in a new revue'." His pseudonym of Stanley Hill was used from time to time for his more sentimental work.^[2] After contributing to revues such as Stop Press he was commissioned to write the entire score and lyrics for André Charlot's 1926 revue.^[3] His next show was Clowns in Clover, which starred Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert, a husband-and-wife team of the time.^[4]

Gay's career blossomed due to his talent for writing catchy, popular melodies in styles ranging from music hall to operetta.^[4]

His most famous show, for which he contributed the music but not the lyrics, was Me and My Girl.^[4] This originally opened in 1937 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London and, after a shaky start, gained popularity when the BBC broadcast it live on radio on 13 January 1938. It starred Lupino Lane as Bill Snibson and it ran for 1,646 performances despite being bombed out of two theatres. The "showstopper" in that work was "The Lambeth Walk" which has the distinction of being the only popular song to be the subject of a leader in The Times. In October 1938 one of its leaders read "While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances – to 'The Lambeth Walk'."^[5] The show was revived in 1952 and again in 1984, when the book was revised by Stephen Fry and came to include some of Gay's own songs.^[3] The latter production ran for eight years, initially at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester and then at the Adelphi Theatre in London, before going on tour throughout Britain and transferring to Broadway.

Gay went on to write songs for revues by The Crazy Gang, and for star artists like Gracie Fields, Flanagan and Allen and George Formby, as well as penning popular World War II songs such as "Run, Rabbit, Run" (with lyrics by Ralph Butler).^[4] He wrote two songs for the 1938 comedy film Save a Little Sunshine.^[4]

After the war, his musical output diminished and he concentrated more on production, in part because of increasing deafness and also because the fashion for cheerful Cockney-themed songs was on the wane.^[3]

He had created Noel Gay Music in 1938 as a business vehicle.^[3] It now forms a part of the Noel Gay Organisation which includes divisions for television and theatre and is a significant British showbusiness agency, under the day-to-day control of his family.^[6]

His son, Richard Armitage, set up the Noel Gay Artists agency and became an influential talent agent.^[7]

He died from cancer on 4 March 1954. [1]

Shows

Gay contributed to numerous shows, almost all of them musical comedies or revues. Grove Music Online lists the following, except where the genre is stated as uncertain or as pantomime:

Year	Name	Comedy/Revue	Notes
1926	The Charlot Show of 1926	R
1927	Clowns in Clover	R
1931	Hold My Hand	C
	Folly To Be Wise	R	included The King's Horses
1932	She Couldn't Say No		Uncertain genre
1933	That's A Pretty Thing	C	Rev. as La-Di-Da-Di-Da, 1943
1935	Jack O'Diamonds	C	Rev. as Susie, 1942
	Love Laughs	C
	Stop Press	R
1936	O-Kay for Sound		Book: Bob Weston & Bert Lee; music: Noel Gay, Harris Weston, Michael Carr & Jimmy Kennedy.[8] Included The Fleet's in Port Again
1937	Me and My Girl	C	Filmed as The Lambeth Walk, 1939
1938	Wild Oats	C
1939	The Little Dog Laughed		London Palladium Revue
1940	Lights Up	R	included Let The People Sing, Only A Glass of Champagne, You've Done Something to My Heart, The Girl Who Loves a Soldier
	Present Arms	C
1942	Gangway	R
1943	The Love Racket	C
1944	Meet Me Victoria	C
	Ring Time	C
1946	Sweetheart Mine	C
1948	Bob's Your Uncle	C
1949	Aladdin		Score for pantomime)[3]

Songs

Among Noel Gay's songs were the following, sourced from US Library of Congress copyright catalogues and the catalogue of the National Library of Australia as indicated.

Year	Song	From	Lyrics	Music	Lyrics & Music	Source
1929	Tondeleyo	White Cargo (film – this was the first song to be used in a British talkie[3])	Stanley Hill (Noel Gay)	Noel Gay		NLA[9]
1931	Girl of a Million Dreams		Jos. Geo. Gilbert	Noel Gay		LCC 1931[10]
	Mrs Elizabeth Brown		Jos. Geo. Gilbert	Noel Gay		LCC 1931
	The King's Horses and The King's Men				Noel Gay & Harry Graham	LCC 1931
	Laughing at the Rain		Jos. Geo. Gilbert	Noel Gay		LCC 1931
	Goddess of the Moon	The Chinese Bungalow			Noel Gay	LCC 1931
	I Want The World To Know That I Belong To You	On with the Show	Jos. Geo. Gilbert	Noel Gay		LCC 1931
	The Pied Piper of Hamelin	Hold My Hand	Desmond Carter & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		LCC 1932;[11] NLA
	Hold My Hand	Hold My Hand	Harry Graham		Maurice Elwin & Noel Gay	LCC 1932
	Dearest, It's You		Jos. Geo. Gilbert / Benny Davis	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	Nobody's Baby Is Somebody's Baby Now		Gus Kahn	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	Ali Baba's Camel				Noel Gay	NLA
1932	Land of Love and Laughter		Archie Gottler	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	Turn on the Music		Noel Gay & Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	Thou Shalt Not		Archie Gottler	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	All for the Love of A Lady		Archie Gottler / J P Long	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	The Sun Has Got His Hat On				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	LCC 1932
	Round The Marble Arch				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	LCC 1932
	Lovely Little Silhouette		Archie Gottler	Noel Gay		LCC 1932
	I Don't Want To Go To Bed		Stanley Lupino	Noel Gay		NLA
	I've Found The Right Girl / Oh What A Girl				Stanley Lupino & Noel Gay	NLA
1933	La-di-da-di-da	That's A Pretty Thing	Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		LCC 1934[12]
	I'm Hitching My Wagon To You	That's A Pretty Thing	Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		LCC 1934
	I Took My Harp to a Party		Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		LCC 1934
	Why Can't We	You Made Me Love You (film)	Clifford Grey	Noel Gay		LCC 1934
	The Song You Gave To Me		Clifford Grey & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	Letting in the Sunshine				Noel Gay	NLA
	One Little Kiss From You		Clifford Grey	Noel Gay		NLA
	There's Something About A Soldier	Soldiers of the King (film)			Noel Gay	NLA
	The Moment I Saw You	Soldiers of the King (film)	Clifford Grey	Noel Gay		NLA
1934	Fit For Anything		Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		LCC 1934
	Happy	Happy (film)			Stanley Lupino & Noel Gay	LCC 1934
	Who's Been Polishing The Sun?	The Camels Are Coming (film)			Noel Gay	NLA
	I'll Pray For You		Roy King & Stanley Hill (Noel Gay)		Jos. Geo. Gilbert & Noel Gay	NLA
1935	Time	Love Laughs!	Desmond Carter	Noel Gay		NLA
	All for a Shilling A Day	Where's My Man?	Clifford Grey & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
1936	The Fleet's in Port Again	O-Kay For Sound (and as film, 1937)			Noel Gay	NLA
	Let's Have A Tiddly at the Milk Bar				Noel Gay	NLA
1937	Red, White and Blue				Noel Gay	NLA
	The Lambeth Walk		Douglas Furber	Noel Gay		NLA
	Me and My Girl		Douglas Furber	Noel Gay		NLA
	Leaning on a Lamp-post				Noel Gay	NLA
	Won't You Buy My Pretty Flowers		Jack Meskill & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
1938	Love Makes The World Go Round	These Foolish Things			Stanley Hill (Noel Gay)	NLA
1939	Did You Go Down Lambeth Way?				Noel Gay	NLA
	You've Done Something to My Heart	Lights Up	Frank Eyton & Ian Grant	Noel Gay		NLA
	Run, Rabbit, Run	The Little Dog Laughed	Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	The Girl Who Loves A Soldier		Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	Let The People Sing		Frank Eyton & Ian Grant	Noel Gay		NLA
	Birthday of the Little Princess				Noel Gay	NLA
	The Moon Remembered But You Forgot				Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	NLA
	Fare Thee Well				Jimmy Campbell, Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	NLA
1940	All Over The Place	Sailors Three (film)	Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	Oh What A Wonderful Night We've Had Tonight		Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	Oh! Buddy, I'm in Love		Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
	Whose Little What's-it Are You?				Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	NLA
	Moonlight Avenue				Jos. Geo. Gilbert, Jimmy Campbell & Noel Gay	NLA
1941	Come Happy Day				Bill Hutter & Noel Gay	NLA
	Mr Brown of London Town				Reginald Arkell & Noel Gay	NLA
	Hey! Little Hen				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
	She's in Love with a Soldier				David Heneker & Noel Gay	NLA
	I'd Never Fall in Love Again				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
	Oh! How He Misses His Missus (Since He Became A Military Man)				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
	He Wants To Be A Pilot				Muriel Watson, Jack Denby & Noel Gay	NLA
	Who Are You A-Shovin' Of?				Raymond Moore & Noel Gay	NLA
1942	The First Waltz				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
1943	Happy Days, Happy Months, Happy Years				Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	NLA
	Sitting on a Cloud				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
	I'm Mad at Myself				Joe Lubin & Noel Gay	NLA
	Why Say Goodbye				Tommy Angel, Joyce Cochrane & Noel Gay	NLA
1944	We Don't Know Where We're Going				Ralph Butler & Noel Gay	NLA
1945	The Too-rie on His Bonnet		George Brown	Noel Gay		NLA
1946	When Alice Blue Gown Met Little Boy Blue		Arnold, Ralph Butler & Simpson	Noel Gay		NLA
1949	I'll Always Love You		Frank Eyton & Noel Gay	Noel Gay		NLA
1950	My Thanks To You		Norman Newell	Noel Gay		NLA

Some of his songs featured in the film Overlord

Bibliography

• Dickinson, Stephen (1999). Marigold: The Music of Billy Mayerl. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Ganzl, Kurt (1986). The British Musical Theatre. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

References

1. "Noel Gay (1898-1954)". Openplaques.org. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
2. Snelson, John. Gay, Noel (Armitage, Reginald Moxon) – Grove Music (Online ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
3. Morley, Sheridan (May 2005) [2004]. "Gay, Noel (1898–1954) – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56656. Retrieved 21 January 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 949/950. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
5. "Peace and 'The Lambeth Walk'", The Times, 18 October 1938, p. 15
6. "Noel Gay Organisation – About Us". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
7. "Not Again". Not the Nine O'Clock News. 3 August 2013. BBC Television. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
8. "Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. 9 (1). Library of Congress. Copyright Office: 292. 1936. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
9. "Catalogue". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
10. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions". Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions, Part 3. New. 26 (1). Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1931. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
11. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions". Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions, Part 3. New. 27 (1–12). Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1932. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
12. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions". Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions, Part 3. New. 29 (1–12). Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1934. Retrieved 21 January 2011.