Object of the Month: Merle Oberon’s Slippers
In the last Object of The Month before Christmas, we’re celebrating with a present given to Coward by the actress Merle Oberon: a pair of embroidered slippers.
Slippers on display at the Noël Coward Room (c) NCAT
As we settle into winter, we’re all digging out our thicker dressing gowns and fluffier slippers so it’s the perfect time to bring out this pair of slippers from the Geoffrey Johnson Collection at the Noël Coward Archive and on display at the Noël Coward Room & Library in Farringdon, London.
These slippers were hand-embroidered by the celebrated actress, who was a close friend of Coward.
“I have acquired some nice Christmas loot. Exquisite cold and ebony monogrammed links from Frank Sinatra, and a lovely black dressing gown and pyjamas to match from Marlene, and hand-worked bedroom slippers from Merle which are charming.”
Diary, Christmas Day 1955
Oberon and Coward would visit each other often and he found her the perfect hostess. After visiting Oberon and her 3rd husband Bruno Pagliai in Acapulco at their “exquisite house, sucking up the sunshine and being waited on hand and foot.” (Diary, Sunday 26th January), he wrote:
“Our visit to Merle’s was a terrific success. She is a dream hostess. She leaves you alone when you want to be left alone and entertains you when you want to be entertained. At all times she is gay, considerate and kind. Nor has she the faintest inclinaton to show you off as a visiting lion. We had a truly lovely time with them both.”
(Diary, Sunday 9th Feb)
Merle Oberon with Noel Coward, Switzerland c.1969, Cole Lesley Collection, Noel Coward Archive Trust
Speaking to The Independent in 2015, Twiggy, remembered Oberon dropping on on Coward at his suite in the Savoy while the young model-turned-actress was asking Coward for advice during rehearsals for the film of The Boy Friend, set in the 1920s:
“I was learning to tap dance. He said, 'Show me some of the steps, show me some of the steps.” At Coward's bidding, Twiggy performed an impromptu routine in Coward's suite at the Savoy which, she remembers, had a marble floor. There was a knock at the door. “He said, 'Come in come in!' and in walked Merle Oberon. I was overcome!”
SPOTLIGHT ON: MERLE OBERON
Oberon is probably best remembered today for her performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) with Leslie Howard and Wuthering Heights (1939) with Laurence Olivier. She was born in 1911 in India, though maintained for most of her life that she was born in Tasmania, Australia. She arrived in Britain for the first time in 1928 at the age of 17 where she worked as a club hostess and took minor roles in films. Her break came in 1933 when the director Alexander Korda have her the prominent role of Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII, with Charles Laughton in 1933. She later married Korda and became Lady Korda when her husband received a knighthood for contributions to the war effort. The marriage didn’t last and she would go on to marry another 3 times, including to Bruno Pagliai, with whom she adopted two children and lived in Mexico.
Oberon’s last film was Interval in 1973 where she met 36-year-old Dutch actor Robert Wolders whom she married 2 years later. She died in 1979 at the age of 68.
The slippers Oberon gave to Coward are one of 3 pairs currently in the archive’s collection which you can visit by emailing cowardoffice@alanbrodie.com.
The monthly blog will be back in February but in the meantime keep in touch with our social media for the latest news from the world of Noel Coward. Thanks for reading and see you next year.
