Porteriana

Speranza

Cole Albert Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, on June 9, 1893.

He studied violin and piano as a child.

He came from wealth and social position, yet he wanted to become part of the Tin Pan Alley.

More precisely, he wanted to write musical comedies.

His first hit, "Old Fashioned Garden" (1919), was a simple, sentimental song from HITCHY-KOO of 1919, not the smart, sophisticated stuff he had been writing as an undergraduate at Yale.

His next hit, "I'm in love again", was introduced by the Dolly Sisters in GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES OF 1925.

Ben Bernie and his orchestra popularised it.

PARIS (October 8, 1928) was the first real hit show that Porter enjoyed on Broadway, and the principal song of the show was "Let's do it", introduced by stars Italian IRENE BORDONI and Arthur Margetson.

With its catalogue of the amatory habits of assorted animals, fish, and insects, Porter earned his place as a writer of sophisticated lyrics alongside that of Lorenz Hart.

When it was interpolated into the film CAN-CAN (1960), it was sung by Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine.

FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN (November 27, 1929) sported two hits: "You've got that thing", which was sung by Jack Thompson and Betty Compton, and "You Do Something To Me", introduced by stars William Gaxton and Genevieve Tobin.

Irving Berlin liked this score so much that he took an ad in newspapers to say that this show had "one of the best collections of song numbers I have ever listened to."

"It's worth the price of admission to hear Cole Porter's lyrics."

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WAKE UP AND DREAM (Dcember 30, 1929) first opened in LONDON (March 27, 1929( with star Jessie Matthews.

Frances Shelley introduced the hit song, "What is thing thing called love?", which was followed by Tilly Losch's dance to it.

Porter was believed to have gotten the basic melody from listening to native music in Marrakesh.

It still suits American audiences, often in the repertoire of night-club singers.

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With an ever-growing list of clever and sophisticated songs, Cole Porter divided his time between Broadway and Hollywood from 1930 to 1960.

With his successes, Porter joined the ranks of George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, and sometimes, Walter Donaldson, in writing both words and music for his songs.

Porter once described his method of working:

"First, I think of an idea for a song and then I fit it to a title."

"Then, I go to work on the melody, spotting the title at certain moments in the melody."

"Then, I write the lyric -- the END first -- that way it has a strong FINISH."

"It's terribly important for a song to have a strong finish."

"I do the lyrics the way I'd do a crossword puzzle."

"I try to give myself a metre which will make the lyric as easy as possible to write, but without being BANAL."

"I try to pick for my rhyme words of which there is a long list with the same ending."

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THE NEW YORKERS (December 8 1930) contained "Love for sale", a song about the world's oldest profession, introduced by the provocative Kathryn Crawford.

For years, this classic was banned from the radio because of its suggestive lyrics.

But there were plenty of customers for Waring's Pennsylvanians' recording, vocal by the Three Waring Girls (Victor).

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GAY DIVORCE (November 29, 1932) featured the great "Night and Day", which was introduced by Fred Astaire and Claire Luce.

When the film was made (renamed THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934)), Astaire sang it again, in his first firm pairing with Ginger Rogers.

The song was responsible for keeping alive the show, which was referred to as "The Night and Day Show".

Frank Sinatra made a best-selling recording of the song in the forties (Bluebird).

As with "What is this thing called love?", Porter was alleged to have gotten his inspiration for this song from listening to a native tune in Morocco.

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"Miss Otis Regrets" (published in 1934) was one of the many party songs Porter wrote during the roaring twenties.

He wrote it for his friend MONTY WOOLEY, who impersonated a butler and delivered the lines to Porter's accompaniment at ELSA MAXWELL's soirees.

Wooley sang it for posterity in the Porter screen biography, "NIGHT AND DAY" (1946).

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"ANTHING GOES" (November 21, 1934) was one of the two greatest scores Porter wrote.

"Blow, Gabriel, blow" and the title song, "Anything goes", were introduced by star Ethel Merman, who sang them in the first film adaptation of the musical (1936).

Mitzi Gaynor sang them in the second film version (1956).

"You're the top", another of Porter's famous catalogue songs, had its genesis in the early twenties, when Porter and Mrs. Mackintosh would amuse themselves after dinner by trying to concoct a list of superlatives that would rhyme.

It was introduced by Ethel merman and leading man William Gaxton.

The same couple introduced "I get a kick out of you" early in the show.

Thus unorthodox placing of a strong number so early in the show helped the show in this case.

Part of the impact of Merman's singing came from the way she SPLIT the word 'terri-fi-cally'.

She wrote in her autobiography:

"I paused in the song after the syllable, "RIF"".

"It was just a way of phrasing, of breaking a word into syllables, and holding onto one syllable LONGER than I ordinarily would."

"But for some reason, the pause killed the people."

She sang it in the first film version with Bing Crosby, while Crosby sang it with Mitzi Gaynor in the second.

JUBILEE (October 12, 1935) contained two Porter gems. "Just one of those things", written over-night during the show's try-out, and "Begin the beguine".

Again, Porter's inspiration came from the rhythms of an exotic dance he sa at kalabahi in the Dutch East Indies.

"Begin the beguine" would likely have remained an obscurity during the thirties if bandleader Artie Shaw hadn't wanted to record it.

Artie Shaw had just signed with RCA-Victor's Bluebird label, and the recording director wanted Shaw to do a sing version of Friml's "Indian Love Call".

Shaw agreed ofly if he could record "Begin the beguine", as arranged by Jerry Gray.

The disc sold over two million copies and was the turning point in Shaw's career.

BORN TO DANCE (1936) was Porter's first full-score film.

It starred Eleanor Powell and James Stewart.

It was Stewart who introduced "Easy to love", and in spite of his thin singing, the song became popular, even appearing on the hit parade and eventually achieving lasting success.

Frances Langford sang it in a reprise.

"I've got you under my skin" was sung by sultry Virginia Bruce.

It was given special treatment on record by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra.

In the mid-fifties, Stan Freberg made a devastating parody of it, but by that time, it was secure as a classic.

RED, HOT AND BLUE! (October 29, 1936) returned Porter to Broadway.

It wasn't much of a show, but it did contain two Porter standards.

"Ridin' high" was introduced by Ethel Merman and she and Bob Hope sang "It's De-Lovely".

When the second version of ANYTHING GOES (1956) was filmed, "It's De-Lovely" was sung by Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor.

ROSALIE (1937) contained two Porter gems and both gave him trouble.

While the story was the same as the one for the Broadway show (1928), Porter was hired to write a brand new score, to replace the original songs by George Gershwin and Sigmund Romberg.

The title song, "Rosalie", gave Porter a head-ache.

He composed FIVE TUNES before he hit upon the one he liked.

When he played it for Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, Mayer told him it was TOO HIGHBROW.

He advised Porter to go home and "write a honky-tonk song" and forget that it was Nelson Eddy who was to sing it.

Porter was peeved, and in exasperatio, wrote the CORNIEST SONG he could think of, using ALL OF THE TIN PAN ALLEY'S MELODIC AND LYRIC cliches for a LOVE SONG.

When it became a hit, Porter was INSULTED.

Irving Berlin finally convinced him to "never hate a song that's sold half a million copies."

The other song which became a standard, "In the still of the night", was also to be sung by Eddy, but he didn't like its long 72-measure chorus and complained that it wasn't suitable for his voice.

Porter went back to Mayer and insisted that it remain and that Eddy sing it.

Porter won.

Not only did Eddy sing it beautifully in the film, he used it in his concert repertoire for many years.

LEAVE IT TO ME! (November 9, 1938) also contained two Porter standards.

"Get out of town" belonged to Tamara Geva, and "My heart belongs to daddy" made a star of Mary Martin.

It was veteran Sophie Tucker, whose only Broadway book show this was, who advised martin to sing it in an innocent, baby-like voice.

The effect was to elevate Martin to stardom.

She sang it again in the Porter film biography, NIGHT AND DAY.

Marilyn Monroe sang it in the film LET'S MAKE LOVE (1960).

DUBARRY WAS A LADY (December 6, 1939) contained one solid hit and another that would achieve success years later when interpolated into the film HIGH SOCIETY (1956).

The second was, "Well, did you evah?".

The solid hit was "FRIENDSHIP", which was introduced by Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr.

During rehearsals for "MEXICAN HAY-RIDE" (January 28, 1944), Porter talked over a scene with producer Michael Todd.

Todd asked him what was THE MOST CLICHED TITLE IN THE WORLD.

Porter's reply was "I LOVE YOU".

Todd then bet him that he could take those three words and use only three notes (one for each word) and make a simple tune that would become a hit of the show.

Porter accepted the challenge. Bing Crosby made a best-selling recording of it.

HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN (1944) used "Don't fence me in", a cow-boy number sung by Roy Rogers in this war-time movie.

It was originally written for an unproduced fiom (ADIOS ARGENTINA, 1935).

It has been said that Porter paid a real cow-boy $150 for the TITLE and lyrics.

Roy Rogers liked it so much taht he got Porter's permission to use the title for his own western movie (1945) and sing it again.

Kate Smith helped to make it a hit by plugging it on her radio programme, and Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters sold over a million copies of their recording.

KISS ME, KATE (December 30, 1948) is, by general consent, the best and most successful of the Porter shows.

It ran 1,077 perforamnces.

Based on THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1603) by William Shakespeare, the show juxtaposed the latest swing ("Too darn hot") with Shakespeare ("I've come to wive it wealthily in Padua" and "Where is the life that late I led?").

The score also contains "Always true to the you in my fashion", "Another op'ning, another show", "Brush up your Shakespeare", and "So in love".

This last, in the early fifties, was revived on a best-selling record by Patti Page.

Dick Wellstood made a splendid stride PIANO SOLO, turning it into the "So in love rag".

When MGM made the film (1953), the studio added, "From this moment on", which had originally been part of the score of the flop Porter show "OUT OF THIS WORLD".

In the film it was sung by Ann Miller and Tommy Rall.

It was also used for a ballet sequence.

CAN-CAN (May 7, 1953) provided Porter with his last hit Broadway show.

"I love Paris" was inspired by set designer Jo Mielziner's rendering of Parisian rooftops.

It was introduced in the show by French star LILO, making her American debut.

In the film (1960), it was sung by Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier.

It received a million-selling version by Les Baxter and his orchestra.

HIGH SOCIETY (1956) was a musical version of Philip Barry's romantic comedy, "THE PHILADELPHIA STORY" (1940).

It starred Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly, with a happy sequence involving Louis Armstrong.

The score provided, "I love you, Samantha", for Crosby, while Sinatra got "Mind if I make love to you" and "You're sensational".

The title song, "High Society" -- a calypso -- was sung by Armstrong.

Sinatra and Celeste Holm sang "Who wants to be a millionaire", while Crosby and Armstrong joined forces for "Now you has jazz".

Interpolating "Well, did you evah?", gave Crosby and Sinatra the longed-for duet, with Porter revising his original lyrics for the occasion.

"True love" became Porter's all-time biggest movie song.

The sounddtrack recording of Crosby and Kelly singing it sold over a million copies.

Cole Porter died in Santa Monica, California, on October 15, 1964.