Cole Porter

Cole Porter is one of the many names that are known to have been talented in every aspect of show business. He acted both on stage and on the screen, he is also a talented sing and song writer. But let’s take a look on how this got all started, who his influences were. Let’s get to know a little more about Cole Porter.

Cole Porter was born on June 9, 1891 in Peru, Indiana to Sam Porter and Kate Cole. His mother Kate was born in 1862 to one of the most influential and riches family there. His father Sam Porter is a Druggist in Peru, Indiana. Since her mother was spoiled during her youth, her father expected her to marry someone who has a strong business mind and a stable future. You can just imagine his surprise when he found his daughter marrying Sam Porter. His parent’s marriage was without full consent of his mother’s father but the couple was still helped by J.O. Cole or otherwise known as James Omar Cole. J. O. is also a big influence in his grandson’s life. J.O started as a simple shoe maker but his business mindedness and strong business ethics helped him succeed in the business world.

Cole Porter at the young age of six studied the piano and violin. He excelled in both but he disliked the violin because according to him the sound is harsh. He concentrated more on the piano. As he was learning he would sit at the piano two hours everyday learning to reinvent old tune so that he would not get bored along with his mother. In order to seem better than the others Cole’s mother forged his school records when he was fourteen years old. Using the power of J.O Cole had over Peru, Indiana she could easily manipulate community officials. She would arrange student orchestra so that her son was a sure for a slot in the violin solos which caught the media’s attention. Song of the Birds was composed by him when he was ten years old. The song was a piano piece that he made for his mother. The composition had six sections that have different titles like The Young Ones Leaning to Sing and the Cuckoo Tells the Mother Where the Bird Is. His mother being proud of his sons work ensured hundreds of copies were printed to be sent to relative and friends of the family. “Words and music must be so inseparably wedded to each other that they are like one.” This is a phrase that he quoted from Dr. Abercrombie. He met Dr. Abercrombie when he entered Worcester Academy in 1905. He started his class’s valedictorian. Dr. Abercrombie was very influential to him. He was the one who taught him the relationship between the meter and words.

Cole studied college in the prestigious Yale University, his tenure there was filled with adventures some are musical in nature, some are trivial and yet some are very important relationships that he will remember the rest of his life with fondness. The fight songs that he would compose were well known among the students and are considered a classic in Yale. Cole Porter’s homosexuality was not known during his stay in Yale it was a powerful yet private part of his life, one that he choose not to share with those not close to him. But we are not here to read about his sexual preference are we? We are here to read about Cole Porter’s life, his sexuality is just a part of it. He was in the production design of his college play for the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the Yale Dramatic Association, and solo performances in the Yale Glee Club. This was his major influence in his musical development.

Though his schools work of an Ivy Leaguer and social responsibilities of the grandson of a rich tycoon he still found time to make several compositions for full production per year not to mention the individual songs that he made. Most of the plays that were shown he made were musical, hilariously funny yet they show the complicated superiority of the male prowess of the Yale men. The plays were only intended for the students of Yale but sometimes they extend the invitations to non-students of the campus. Cole was not a part of the script production but he had a great influence n the structure of the plot that was the high energy, and the witty surreality that marked all of Cole’s musicals. Some of his College connections were a big help in his entrance to Broadway. Since he wrote plays for clubs and almost every ting this allowed Cole and his friends to go around the country and be invited to the most glamorous parties that anyone could imagine, his connections lasted long after graduation. Upon graduating Yale he left a legacy of 300 songs composed, along with six full scale productions.

His debut in Broadway was in 1916 entitled See America, Bessie Marbury as Theatrical Producer. The play flop, it was described as by the New York American’s as a “high-class college show played partly by professionals.” When this play failed, there had been rumors that Cole went missing but he was still at large in the Social scene of New York and lived in New York at the Yale Club.

He headed for Paris and Europe in the year 1917, where he hatched out of his shell and became more of a social butter fly not that he was not before he came to Paris. The French Foreign Legion and the French army was a lie he told the American press so that they would believe that he worked with them. This lie allowed him to live comfortably in Paris as a Socialite and his status was still one that was climbing. He was viewed as a war hero back home.

Cole attended the most extravagant parties that involve people of wealth and political status. But his celebrations were known for gay and bisexual events, some of them include a lot of recreational drug intakes, Italian nobility and word wide known musicians.

In the year of 1919, Cole was mostly seen with a divorced lady by the name of Linda Thomas. As the two became familiar with each other, there were talks that because of their financial and social status that they were made for each others. Not in the romantic sort of way but in the business sort of way. By looking at the facts that Cole was gay and Linda’s ex husband was abusive made the marriage more agreeable to the public eyes. One of Cole’s best supporters was Linda and the fact that they were married made sure that he would be successful, and he had given Linda the luxury of keeping her social status for as long as she lived. In December 19, 1919 Linda and Cole got married, they had a happy friendship, successful public relationship, yet it was a sexless married life until Linda died on 1954. He succeeded with one of his songs like Don’t Fence me In, which was reintroduce to the public in World War II, one play entitled Hollywood Canteen. After that Cole signed a contract with a movie company in which he stared in his first song in a movie in 1929. The film did not reach up to par so the two songs that he had wrote for that film was noticed very little. The movie is called The Battle of Paris.

He broke both his legs in a horse riding accident in 1937, for a man who values his looks to the point of being vain for not only socially but also sexually this was one big disaster. After his accident he went through excessive energy to the point of being obsess with maintenance how he look he can not counter act the devastating blow to his well being and manhood. This of course was according to himself. He was confined to the hospital for months but his physical and mental health diminished. It turned for the worst when the doctors needed to take one of his legs out. Yet through all this Cole did not stop writing songs, his most popular songs were written during this period namely Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love, From Now On, and Get Out Of Town.

Cole Porter gave his approval with little enthusiasm and will power to the movie entitled Night and Day and according to some people that this movie is about his life. The movie was made in the 1945. The movie had no real relations with the life of Cole Porter thought it was a big boost for his hurt pride and it proved to be a laugh for his friends the movie suffered. A lot of important parts of Cole Porter’s life were left out of the movie, these facts are 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. Even though he did not entered the French Army the movie showed that he was in the French Army and showed that he was in juried in protecting the mother land of France. The actor who played Cole Porter is Cary Grant who played a an exaggerated heroic straight Cole Porter.

After that he made one big production named Kiss Me Kate, this was based on Shakespeare’s play named the taming of the Shrew. Since he was very cynical of this play he reluctantly helped and the play became a big success. Even inspiring some modern movies of today. Though he produced little productions he still wrote songs for the musical named Can Can and Silk Stockings.

In 1958, the doctors had to cut off his other leg. With this surgery, his creativeness, social being and his bliss for life diminished a great deal. He was finally rested on October 15,1964 side by side with his parents Kate and Sam Porter. According to the authorities this was his last wish. But because of his father’s social status it was said that he was buried in between his wife and mother.

His songs lives on even if the composer himself has returned to the earth in which we all came from. Most of his popular songs are presented to the public only in musical plays.

Here are the list of songs, movies and plays of Cole Porter :

Full Cast Recordings

Anything Goes: Broadway 1987
Anything Goes: Off-Broadway 1962
Anything Goes: London 1988
Can-Can: Broadway 1953
Kiss Me Kate: London 1993,
Kiss Me Kate: Broadway 1999
Kiss Me Kate: Film 1953
Kiss Me Kate: Broadway 1998
Kiss Me Kate: Broadway 1959
Out Of This World: New York 1995
Out Of This World: Broadway 1950
Silk Stockings: Broadway 1955
Fifty Million Frenchman: full cast recording
Unreviewed CDs

Begin the Beguine with Cole Porter
Cole Porter – The Top – A Testimonial with Sinatra
Charlie Parker: The Cole Porter Songbook with various instrumentals
Classic Movie & Broadway Show Tunes From – Cole Porter
Cole Porter: A Musical Toast with Boone
Cole Sings Porter: Rare And Unreleased Songs
The Columbia Album Of Cole Porter with Michel Legrand
Dial & Oatts Play Cole Porter with Garry Dial, Dick Oatts
Easy To Love – The Songs Of Cole Porter with Susannah McCorkle
Heritage Of Broadway – Cole Porter with Irving Joseph
Hey Good Lookin
Indiana On Our Minds: The Music Of Cole Porter with John Eaton
New York Swing Play Cole Porter
Night And Day: The Jazz Giants & Porter
David Liebman Trio: Plays Cole Porter
Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter
The Song Is Cole Porter
Jeri Southern Meets Cole Porter – At the Crescendo
Roulette Ep
Tribute to Cole Porter with Pierce, Roy
World of Cole Porter
Sheet Music Collections

Music & Lyrics by Cole Porter : A Treasury of Cole Porter Vol. 1
Hal Leonard.Publishing Collection
All Of You * Allez-Vous-En, Go Away * As On Thro The Seasons We Sail * At Long Last Love * Begin The Beguine * Between You And Me * But In The Morning, No * C’est Magnifique * Ca, C’est L’amour * Could It Be You * Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful? * Down In The Depths (On The Ninetieth Floor) * Easy To Love (You’d Be So Easy To Love) * Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye * Ev’rything I Love * Far Away * Farming * Friendship * From Alpha To Omega * From This Moment On * Get Out Of Town * Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye * I Am Loved * I Concentrate On You * I Get A Kick Out Of You * I Hate You, Darling * I Love Paris * I Love You * I’ve Got You Under My Skin * I’ve Still Got My Health * In The Still Of The Night * It’s All Right With Me * It’s De-Lovely * Just One Of Those Things * Katie Went To Haiti * Let’s Be Buddies * Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) * Let’s Not Talk About Love * Love For Sale * Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please * Mind If I Make Love To You * Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love * Music & Lyrics Porter Vol 1 * My Heart Belongs To Daddy * Night And Day * Ours * Ridin’ High * So Near And Yet So Far * Stereophonic Sound * True Love * Use Your Imagination * Well, Did You Evah? * What Is This Thing Called Love? * Where, Oh Where * Wouldn’t It Be Fun * You Don’t Remind Me * You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To * You’re Sensational * You’re The Top

Music & Lyrics by Cole Porter : A Treasury of Cole Porter Vol. 2
Hal Leonard.Publishing Collection
A Little Rumba Numba * A Little Skipper From Heaven Above * Abracadabra * Ace In The Hole * All I’ve Got To Get Now Is My Man * Boogie Barcarolle * Can Can * Cherry Pies Ought To Be You * Come Along With Me * Come On In * Dream Dancing * For No Rhyme Or Reason * Fresh As A Daisy * From Now On * Girls * Give Him The Oo-La-La * Hasta Luego * He’s A Right Guy * Hey, Good Lookin’ * I Always Knew * I Am In Love * I Happen To Be In Love * I Hate You, Darling * I Love You, Samantha * I’m In Love With A Soldier Boy * I’ve Got My Eyes On You * If You Loved My Truly * Is It The Girl(Or Is It Gown?) * It Ain’t Etiquette * Kate The Great * Leader Of A Big-Time Band, The * Les Girls * Little One * Maria * My Mother Would Love You * No Lover * Nobody’s Chasing Me * Paris Loves Lovers * Red, Hot And Blue * Rosalie * Rub Your Lamp * Satin And Silk * Siberia * Silk Stockings * Sing To Me, Guitar * Swingin’ The Jinx Away * Taking The Steps To Russia * Tomorrow * Trust Your Destiny To A Star * What Shall I Do? * When Love Beckoned (On 52nd Street) * Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? * Why Am I So Gone (About That Gal?) * Why Should I Care? * Without Love * Wow-Ooh-Wolf * You Never Know * You’re A Bad Influence On Me * You’ve Got Something

Cole Porter Love Songs
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1998
Sheet music. Of which songs, I’m not sure.

The Best of Cole Porter
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1992
Sheet music. Of which songs, I’m not sure.

The Best of Cole Porter: Twenty-Two Clever and Funny Songs
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1994

Cole Porter (100th Anniversary Edition)
Warner Brothers Publishing Collection
Includes music for Mrs. Lowsborough-Goodby, Miss Otis Regrets, Tale of the Oyster, The Physician, and It’s Bad for Me plus many more familiar standards.

The Best of Cole Porter : Piano Solo
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1997,by Michael Lefferts (Editor)
Which songs? I’m not sure.

Can Can
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1981
All the songs from the musical.

Cole Porter : A Musical Anthology
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1989
Which songs?

Cole Porter Piano Duets
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1989
Which songs?

Cole Porter Piano Solos
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1986, by Bill Boyd
Which songs?

Kiss Me Kate
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1980
All the songs from the musical.

Music of Cole Porter
Hal Leonard Publishing Collection, 1986, by Dan Fox
Which songs?

All Time Favorite : Cole Porter Songs
Warner Brothers Publishing Collection, 1995
Which songs? I’m not sure.

Cole Porter on Broadway
Warner Brothers Collection, 1997
Sheet music. Of which songs, I’m not sure.

The Great Songs of Cole Porter
Warner Brothers Collection, 1997
Sheet music. Of which songs, I’m not sure.

Cole Porter’s movie