Noel Coward | Desert Dandy by Loomis Dean

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How timely indeed–

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“If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.”

—Noel Coward

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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean

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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean

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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean

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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean

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In the era before television, Life magazine photographers had some of the most glamorous work in journalism. Life assigned him to cover Hollywood. In 1954, the magazine published one of his more memorable photos, the shot of Coward dressed for a night on the town in New York but standing alone in the stark Nevada desert.

Mr. Dean had the idea of asking Coward, who was then doing a summer engagement at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, to pose in the desert to illustrate his song ”Mad Dogs and Englishmen Go Out in the Midday Sun.”

As Mr. Dean recalled in an interview with John Loengard for the book ”Life Photographers: What They Saw,” Coward wasn’t about to partake in the midday sun. ”Oh, dear boy, I don’t get up until 4 o’clock in the afternoon,” Mr. Dean recalled him saying.

But Mr. Dean pressed on anyway. As he related to Loengard, he rented a Cadillac limousine and filled the back seat with a tub loaded with liquor, tonic, and ice cubes — and Coward.

The temperature that day reached 119 as Coward relaxed in his underwear during the drive to a spot in the desert about 15 miles from Las Vegas. According to Mr. Dean, Coward’s dresser helped him into his tuxedo, resulting in the image of the elegant Coward with a cigarette holder in his mouth against his shadow on the dry lake bed.

”Splendid! Splendid! What an idea! If we only had a piano,” Coward said of the shoot before hopping back in the car and stripping down to his underwear for the ride back to Las Vegas.

By Jon Thurber, Los Angeles Times  |  December 17, 2005