Cole Porter

Happy Birthday, Cole Porter 1891-1964...Witty, urbane, sophisticated and clever, the music and songs of Cole Porter mirrored the man who wrote them. Born into a wealthy family in Peru, Indiana, Porter was playing the violin and piano by the age of 5. Porter's dominating grandfather wanted him to become an attorney and sent him to expensive private schools in preparation. Porter had his upright piano carted to the schools and found more enjoyment entertaining his friends than in his studies. He did well in school nonetheless, and thrived at Yale where he was the president of the Glee Club and wrote over 300 songs there, some of the fight songs are still used today. Yale's proximity  to New York City was also a draw for Porter, introducing him to the glittering nightlife and excitement of Broadway.

In 1915, Porter's first song to appear on Broadway, "Esmeralda", was sung in the revue Hands Up. His next attempts were failures and in 1916 he spent WW1 in France but how he served has been muddled by both    a lack of records and conflicting accounts by Porter himself. Porter stayed on in Paris after the war where he lived in a luxury apartment and gave lavish, scandalous parties with gay and bi-sexual activity, cross-dressing and recreational drugs. Porter married the wealthy American socialite Linda Lee Thomas in 1919. Although she was very aware that Porter was bi-sexual, the marriage was convenient for both parties. Porter was a supportive, loving companion for her, she was an acceptable heterosexual cover for him  and they both enjoyed their exciting social life and travel. They remained devoted to each other for 34 years until her death in 1954.

The death of Porter's grandfather in 1923 left him with a huge fortune and the couple were able to up their already extravagant lifestyle, renting palaces in Venice for what would today be $54,000 a month and hiring the entire Ballets Russes to perform at a party. All the while Porter continued to write songs and music to minimum or no success. He was about to quit writing altogether when he had his first big success at the age of 36 with the Broadway musical "Paris" in 1928. The show introduced the songs "Let's Misbehave" and the wildly popular "Let's Do It". From there Porter pinned 28 songs for the show "Fifty Million Frenchmen" in 1929 including "You Do Something to Me". His career as a songwriter was finally established. Porter furnished both the music and the lyrics for all of the songs which would become his established method from that point on.

Throughout the 30's Porter continued his successes with the shows The Gay Divorcee in 1932, Anything Goes in 1934, Jubilee in 1935 and Red, Hot and Blue in 1936. Those shows introduced songs that would become standards including "Night and Day", Begin the Beguine", "You're The Top" and "I Get a Kick Out of You". Porter had his greatest success into the 40's with DuBarry was a Lady in 1939, Panama Hattie in 1942 and Kiss Me Kate in 1948 which broke all standing box office records with an unprecedented 1, 077 performances. Porter considered Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate to be his two most perfect musicals. He would also write for films but his heart and best songs were for the stage. In the 50's, Porter wrote for his last musicals, Can-Can in 1952 and Silk Stockings in 1955 as well as for the films High Society in 1956 and Les Girls in 1957.

In 1939 both of Porter's thighs were severely broken in a horse riding accident. The bones became infected with osteomyelitius, one of the most difficult infections to treat as the bones are very slow to absorb even the most powerful antibiotics. Over the next two decades Porter would undergo a  series of excruciating operations on the bones and nerves of his legs. All the while he was determined not to let the accident diminish his active social and creative life. He continued to attend parties and Broadway openings, carried into the events by his valet. His creative output was never stymied, by evidence of the outpouring of songs for musicals and films that remain standards of American musical theater, jazz, film and popular music.

In 1958 after a long battle and 34 operations, Porter's right leg was amputated. He never wrote another song and lived the remaining 6 years of his life in relative seclusion in his apartment in the Waldorf Towers in New York. His years of drinking and painkillers took their toll as well. He died of kidney failure at the age of 73 in 1964. Although Porter lived the last twenty five years of his life in extreme pain, few but his closest friends were aware of it. Through the creative drive and willpower alone, Porter was able to overcome physical anguish and addiction to produce works that continue to inspire and delight us today.