Noel Langley

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Noel Langley (December 25, 1911 – November 4, 1980) was a successful novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director. While under contract to MGM he was one of the screenwriters for The Wizard of Oz. He was chosen for the job on the basis of his children's story, The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger — a children's classic which has seldom been out of print since it was first published in 1937.

Born in Durban, South Africa, he was first an author and a successful Broadway playwright. Langley began writing for films in the 1930s. After World War II Langley worked on many British films including the film noir They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951), Scrooge (1951), Pickwick Papers (1952), Ivanhoe (1952) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1952).

Noel Langley continued to write novels and plays throughout his life; a partial bibliography follows:

Cage Me a Peacock, Arthur Barker, 1935 Humorous historical novel set in Rome at the end of the Tarquin era.

The Land of Green Ginger, Arthur Barker, 1936 A book for children, concerning Abu Ali, the son of Aladdin.

There's a Porpoise Close Behind Us , Arthur Barker, 1936 Comic drama about English theatre life.

Three Plays, Arthur Barker 1936; Farm of Three Echoes. For Ever. Friendly Relations

So Unlike The English, William Morrow 1937

Hocus Pocus, Methuen 1941 A fine and funny tale set in Hollywood

The Music of the Heart, Arthur Barker, 1946 A novel with the circus as background

The Cabbage Patch, Arthur Barker 1947 Comic Drama, Twenty-four hours in the life of Daisy Lady Buckering.

Desbarollda, The Waltzing Mouse, Lindsay Drummond, 1947 A book for children, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

Nymph In Clover, Arthur Barker 1948; The Lysistrata debacle retold

There's a Horse in My Tree, with Hazel Pynegar, Arthur Barker, 1948 A funny book.

Little Lambs Eat Ivy, Samuel French, 1950 A Light Comedy in Three Acts - produced 1948.

Edward, My Son; A Play in Three Acts with Robert Morley, French 1948;

Somebody's Rocking My Dreamboat with Hazel Pynegar, Arthur Barker 1949; World War II novel about a group of women fleeing from England on a tramp steamer

The Inconstant Moon, Arthur Barker 1949 The story of Dante and Beatrice

Tales of Mystery and Revenge, Arthur Barker, 1950

Cuckoo in the Dell, with Hazel Pynegar, Arthur Barker, 1951 Tale of a young Norman knight and moral idealism.

The Rift in the Lute (aka The Innocent at Large), Arthur Barker, 1952 Innocent boy finds colourful, exotic world of "gay sinners" in ancient China

Where Did Everybody Go?, Arthur Barker 1960 A story of a playwright

An Elegance of Rebels; a play in three acts , Arthur Barker, 1960

The Loner, Triton Books 1967;

A Dream of Dragonflies, Macmillan 1971

He also wrote short stories for the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. The ones from the Saturday Evening Post have recently been collected into a book, The Return, Kessinger Publishing, 2005.

The Land of Green Ginger was re-written for a new edition in 1966, and again in about 1975. Most consider the 1966 edition to be the best.

A new edition of The Pathetic History of Desbarollda, The Waltzing Mouse was published in November 2006 by Durrant Publishing.

Noel Langley died in 1980 in Desert Hot Springs, California.