Cole Porter

Cole Porter's name derives from the surnames of his parents, Kate Cole
and Sam Porter.
James Omar (known as J. O.), was an influential man both in the
community and in Cole's early life - strong work ethic made him the
richest man in Indiana (he came from humble beginnings with his father
being a shoe maker).
Despite J.O.'s obsessive drive for making money, he took time off to marry
Rachel Henton, who had several children with him.
Kate Cole (Porter's mother) always had the best clothes, the best
education, and the best training in dancing and music.
Subsidies from J.O. financed the rest of Sam and Kate's life, as well as that
of their son born on June 9th, 1891: Cole Porter.
Cole learned piano and violin at age six. He disliked the violin's harsh
sound and so his energy turned to the piano.
During his formative years, he played piano two hours per day. While Cole
practiced, he and his mother would parody popular tunes on the piano in
order to increase Cole's patience with such long practice sessions.
When he was fourteen, his mother falsified his school records so it
appeared that he was extra bright "for his age" because his age was
falsely decremented one year.
The power J. O. Cole wielded within the small town of Peru, Indiana allowed
Kate many such unusual favours by community officials. For instance, Kate
financed student orchestras in exchange for guarantees of Cole Porter
violin solos and apparently influenced the media's reviews or billing
surrounding such concerts. She also subsidized the publishing of Cole's
early compositions.
Cole composed songs as early as 1901 (when he was ten) with a song
dedicated to his mother, a piano piece called Song of the Birds, separated
into six sections with titles like The Young Ones Leaning to Sing and The
Cuckoo Tells the Mother Where the Bird Is. His mother ensured that one
hundred copies were published so that the song could be sent to friends
and relatives.
He enrolled in the Worcester Academy in 1905 - he became the class
valedictorian. There he met an important musical influence - Dr
Abercrombie. He taught Porter about the relationship between words and
meter, and between words and music in songs.
He attended Yale. Most students soon knew him for the fight songs he
would write, many of which continue to be Yale classics.
It was during the Yale years when Cole's homosexuality likely became a
powerful, if not fully public, part of his life. He wrote a number of Yale
football fight songs in college and his post-college sexual preference for
large strong men were not entirely coincidence.
Some big influences in his musical development were the full scale (for
college) productions designed for the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the
Yale Dramatic Association, and solo performances in the Yale Glee Club.

Despite an Ivy League academic workload and social obligations, he

composed several full productions per year in addition to individual
songs. Most of the shows for the Yale student groups were zany musicals
that were always complicated and often rallied around the superiority or
sexual (heterosexual, by the way) prowess of Yale men. Cole did not
necessarily contribute to the "book" (the script) of the musicals, but he did
have an influence on how the plot was strung together, the high energy,
and the witty surreality that marked all of Cole's musicals.
Cole wrote musicals for clubs and alumni associations, which allowed Cole
and his friends to tour the country and be showered with attention and
party invitations - some of his Yale connections were helpful when he
started his career on Broadway.
Even as he was graduating, he was promising more musicals for his
student organizations to be written after leaving Yale. He left Yale with a
legacy of approximately 300 songs, including six full scale productions.
Cole spent the years immediately after Yale flailing in an unsuccessful
Harvard law career. The man who paid all of Cole's bills, his grandfather
J.O. Cole, disapproved of men choosing careers in the arts and tried hard
to convince Cole to become a lawyer.
Although Kate knew, J.O. was not told that in his second year Cole
switched from the law school to the school of arts and sciences at Harvard
in order to pursue music. Eventually, he abandoned his studies, moved to
the Yale club in New York, and began his serious music career.
His first Broadway show was See America First, which was a 1916 flop
despite the social luminaries in the early audiences, a feature of hiring
Bessie Marbury as theatrical producer. It was described by the New York
American as a "high-class college show played partly by professionals."
Cole later claimed to be in hiding after the failure of the show but he
actually was prominent in the New York social scene and continued to live
at the Yale Club in New York.
In July of 1917, he set out for Paris and war-engulfed Europe. Paris was a
place Cole flourished socially and managed to be in the best of all possible
worlds. He lied to the American press about his military involvement and
made up stories about working with the French Foreign Legion and the
French army. This allowed him to live his days and nights as a wealthy
American in Paris, a socialite with climbing status, and still be considered a
"war hero" back home, an 'official' story he encouraged throughout the
rest of his life.
His parties were marked by much gay and bisexual activity, Italian
nobility, cross-dressing, international musicians, and a large surplus of
recreational drugs.
After early success with one-off songs like Don't Fence Me In, which was
re-released in a World War II musical called Hollywood Canteen, Cole
signed some contracts with the film industry.
By 1919, Cole was spending time with the American divorcee Linda
Thomas. The two became close friends quickly. Their financial status and
social standing also made them ideal candidates for marriage -- as a

business contract, not for passion. (Linda's ex-husband was abusive and
Cole was gay).
They married on December 19, 1919 and lived a happy friendship, a
mostly successful public relationship, but a sexless marriage until Linda's
death in 1954.
After early success with one-off songs like Don't Fence Me In, which was
re-released in a World War II musical called Hollywood Canteen, Cole
signed some contracts with the film industry.
The first film with a Cole Porter song was The Battle of Paris from 1929,
but his two tunes from that movie had little impact on his career because
of the film wasn't very good overall.
Cole was happy with many aspects of the Hollywood community, including
the liberal gay enclave called the movie industry population. At the time, it
was much less acceptable to be an eccentric gay artist and Linda feared
for Cole's reputation and career. And her social standing was threatened
by such activities, since it reflected poorly in hushed rumors within uppercrust social circles.
In 1937, Cole was involved in a horse riding accident and fractured both of
legs. This was a personal tragedy for a vain man who placed an enormous
value on looks for both social and sexual reasons - it was a blow to his
health and ego.
He was in the hospital for months, but his mental and physical health
waned. It got worse with the eventual amputation of one of his legs. This
did not stop Cole from writing music. During this period were Cole's
popular songs Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love, From Now On, and Get
Out Of Town.
In 1945, he lent his permission but minimal creative energy to the
movie Night and Day, allegedly about the life of Cole Porter.
The movie purposely left out important parts of life, like his overly
pampered and controlled youth, his gay life, his sexless marriage of
convenience, his 'business' marriage, and furthered the fantastic tall tales
that Cole spread about himself. For instance, although he had never
served in the French Army, the movie faithfully "showed" his exploits and
his fake war injuries. Cole reportedly enjoyed the movie's wildly fictional
account, and he had the privilege of seeing movie superstar Cary Grant
play a well-hyped heroic (and straight) version of himself.
After this point, he had one major production, Kiss Me Kate, which was
based on the Shakespeare classic Taming of the Shrew. Cole was very
skeptical of this production but eventually lent his hand to the production
and it became very successful, eventually spawning a moderately
successful movie.
Porter produced fewer successful productions in the later days, but Cole
wrote songs for the musicals Can Can and Silk Stockings during this
period.
Doctors amputated Cole's injured right leg in 1958. After the amputation,
Cole's creative productivity, his social power, and his happiness
plummeted. He died on October 15, 1964.

In accordance with his wishes, official reports say that he was buried
between his wife Linda and his father Sam Porter. Howver, perhaps
because of his father's trivial role in Cole's upbringing, other reports
circled that he was actually buried between his mother Kate and his wife
Linda.
Many of his most famous songs were presented to the public only in the
context of musicals or movies which contained non-Cole Porter songs.
Other famous songs have come from Cole Porter musicals or revues that
failed miserably, but made up their exposure via sheet music and
recordings from popular singers like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
Sometime in the 1990s, ASCAP reported that the sales of the song Night
and Day from the musical Gay Divorce were the highest numbers of all
time.
A 1990 album brought Cole Porter music to many younger listeners as the
fundraising album Red, Hot, and Blue. The album features Cole Porter
songs sung by popular musicians of the 1980s and 1990s. Porter songs
still maintain a strong presence in movie soundtracks (from Woody Allen
Movies, to Tank Girl), with the most popular songs Lets Do It (Let's Fall In
Love) and Night and Day.
The 2004 movie De-Lovely, named after a silly Cole Porter song title,
rekindled the nation's love for Cole Porter's music due to the beautiful
sets, all-star actors, famous musicians, and a well-hyped Hollywood
marketing campaign for the movie and the soundtrack.
Works:
'Paris' - 1938 - Broadway In August 1928, Porter's work on the show was
interrupted by the death of his father. He hurried back to Indiana to
comfort his mother before returning to work. The songs for the show
included "Let's Misbehave" and one of his best-known list songs, "Let's Do
It". The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1928.
The Porters did not attend the first night because Porter was in Paris
supervising another show for which he had been commissioned, 'La
Revue', at a nightclub.
Cochran now wanted more from Porter than isolated extra songs; he
planned a West End extravaganza similar to Ziegfeld's shows, with a
Porter score and a large international cast led The revue, 'Wake Up and
Dream', ran for 263 performances in London, after which Cochran
transferred it to New York in 1929. On Broadway, business was badly
affected by the 1929 Wall Street crash,[42] and the production ran for only
136 performances. From Porter's point of view, it was nonetheless a
success, as his song "What is This Thing Called Love?" became immensely
popular.
Porter's last Broadway show of the 1920s was Fifty Million
Frenchmen (1929), for which he wrote 28 numbers, including "You Do
Something to Me", "You've Got That Thing" and "The Tale of the Oyster".
[46]
The show received mixed notices.
Irving Berlin, who was an admirer and champion of Porter, took out a paid
press advertisement calling the show "The best musical comedy I've heard

in years.... One of the best collections of song numbers I have ever

listened to". This saved the show, which ran for 254 performances,
considered a successful run at the time.
The New Yorkers (1930) acquired instant notoriety for including a song
about a streetwalker, "Love for Sale" - lyrics considered too explicit for
radio at the time, Porter said it was one of his favourite songs.
Next came Fred Astaire's last stage show, Gay Divorce (1932). It featured
a hit that became Porter's best-known song, "Night and Day".
Porter followed this with a West End show for Gertrude Lawrence, Nymph
Errant (1933)
Anything Goes, was an immediate hit (book by P. G. Wodehouse and Guy
Bolton) (1934). Porter wrote what is thought by many to be his greatest
score of this period.
Kiss Me, Kate.[59] Its songs include "I Get a Kick out of You", "All Through
the Night", "You're the Top" (one of his best-known list songs), and "Blow,
Gabriel, Blow", as well as the title number. [60] The show ran for 420
performances in New York (a particularly long run in the 1930s) and 261 in
London.
Despite his lessons in orchestration from d'Indy, did not orchestrate his
musicals.
Porter also wrote for Hollywood in the mid-1930s. His scores include those
for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Born to Dance (1936), with James
Stewart, featuring "You'd Be So Easy to Love" and "I've Got You Under My
Skin", and Rosalie (1937), featuring "In the Still of the Night".[67] He wrote
the score of the short film Paree, Paree, in 1935, using some of the songs
from Fifty Million Frenchmen.[68] Porter also composed the cowboy song
"Don't Fence Me In" for Adios, Argentina, an unproduced movie, in 1934,
but it did not become a hit until Roy Rogers sang it in the 1944
film Hollywood Canteen.
He returned to success with Leave It to Me! (1938); the show
introduced Mary Martin, singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy"
Porter's last show of the 1930s was DuBarry Was a Lady
Panama Hattie (1940),
Porter continued to write for Hollywood. His film scores of this period
were You'll Never Get Rich (1941) with Astaire and Rita
Hayworth, Something to Shout About (1943) with Don Ameche, Janet
Blair and William Gaxton
From this low spot, Porter made a conspicuous comeback, in 1948,
with Kiss Me, Kate. It was by far his most successful show, running for
1,077 performances in New York and 400 in London. [96] The production won
the Tony Award for best musical (the first Tony awarded in that category),
and Porter won for best composer and lyricist.
Can-Can (1952), featuring "C'est Magnifique" and "It's All Right with Me",
was another hit, running for 892 performances. [99] Porter's last original
Broadway production, Silk Stockings (1955), featuring "All of You", was
also successful, with a run of 477 performances.

The film High Society(1956), starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace
Kelly, included Porter's last major hit song, "True Love".[1] The film was
later adapted as a stage musical of the same name.
His final score was for a CBS television colour special, Aladdin (1958).

Irving Berlin

Born 'Israel Isidore Baline' on May 11, 1888, in the village of Tyumen,
Russia.
His family fled to escape the region's persecution of the Jewish community
and settled in New York City in the mid-1890s.
As a teen, Baline worked as a street singer, and by 1906 he had become a
singing waiter in Chinatown.
His first published tune was 1907's "Marie From Sunny Italy," with Nick
Nicholson penning the music. As the lyricist, Baline's name was misspelled
as "I. Berlin" on the sheet music. He decided to keep the name, becoming
Irving Berlin.
A few years later, Berlin would become a lyricist for the music publishing
company Waterson & Snyder. He released a major hit in 1911,
"Alexander's Ragtime Band," earning the nickname "King of Tin Pan Alley."
was self-taught as a pianist, never learning how to read music and playing
in the key of F-sharp, working with a special transcribing keyboard and
assistants to explore other keys.
Made his Broadway debut with Watch Your Step in 1914.
Berlin became a U.S. citizen in 1916 and, upon serving in World War I,
penned the musical Yip! Yip! Yaphank! as an Army fund-raiser.
Berlin had wed Dorothy Goetz in 1912, but she died months after their
honeymoon after contracting typhoid fever. His sorrow was heard in his
popular ballad "When I Lost You."
Years later, in 1925, he fell in love with heiress Ellin Mackay. Her father
was against the courtship and sent Mackay away to Europe, during which
time Berlin wrote beautiful tunes of yearning that included "What'll I Do"
and "Always." Upon her return to the States, the couple eloped. They had
four children and were married for decades, until Mackay's death in 1988.
With his Broadway collaborator Victor Herbert, Berlin became a charter
member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in
1914. And in 1919, Berlin founded the Irving Berlin Music Corporation,
which gave the musician full control of his copyrights.
Berlin went on to compose more than 1,500 songs and scored dozens of
musicals and films.
Among his best known big-screen works were Puttin' on the
Ritz (1929), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), Easter Parade (1948) and
three Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films, including Top Hat (1935),
which featured "Cheek to Cheek," and Follow the Fleet (1936), which
featured "Let's Face the Music and Dance."

1942's Holiday Inn showcased Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas,"

which became the highest-selling tune in history.
His composition of "God Bless America," first sung by Kate Smith in 1938
and became an "unofficial" national anthem of the United States.
After the war, Berlin struck Broadway gold again with 1946's Annie Get
Your Gun, inspired by the life of Annie Oakley. The smash musical starred
Ethel Merman and featured a slew of popular songs like "Anything You Can
Do I Can Do Better," "I Got the Sun in the Morning" and "There's No
Business Like Show Business."
Berlin had another hit with Merman with the 1950 musical Call Me Madam,
which was also turned into a 1953 film.
Irving Berlin was nominated for nine Academy Awards with seven nods in
the song category, winning in 1943 for "White Christmas."
Many of Berlin's songs became popular hits and are considered part of the
standards canon, having been covered by a multitude of artists who
include Shirley Bassey, Nat King Cole, Diana Krall, Willie Nelson, Linda
Ronstadt, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Wilson.
After crafting the 1962 musical Mr. President, Berlin retired, spending
ample time in his Catskill Mountains home and eventually withdrawing
from public appearances.
He died in New York City on September 22, 1989, at the age of 101.