 In 1930, Novis made his Broadway debut as Hoheno in the original production of Rudolf Friml's "Luana".He performed in only one other Broadway musical during his career, Matt Mulligan, Jr. in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Jumbo" in 1935-1936.In 1938 he starred in a production of Jerome Kern's "Roberta" at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera.