Cole Porter

 Musicals / Composers Datebook: June 9 

Brief biography of melodist Cole Porter, one of the greatest lyricists, composers, and songwriters on stage and films.  

Cole Albert Porter, prominent Broadway composer of the 20th-century, was an inventive and witty lyricist, and an ingenious songwriter who produced some of the most sophisticated songs of American music, popular to this day.  He has a list of unforgettable songs like "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," "In the Still of the Night," "Begin the Beguine," "Kiss Me Kate," and "I Love Paris."  

 

Early life: law training

American composer and lyricist Cole Albert Porter was born rich in his family's large farm on June 9, 1891, in Peru, Indiana. Unlike other known musicians, he composed for pleasure rather than necessity. His grandfather who made a fortune in lumber saw to it that his grandson got a quality education in law. He was educated at Worcester Academy, Yale University and Harvard Law School. 

 

The talented musician

Porter showed his musical talent and interest when he was young, in fact, he started writing songs by the age of ten and produced on Broadway by the time he was 21, in 1912.  However, his formal studies in music only began in 1915 when he started at Harvard School of Music and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris, in 1919. Before this, he had a period at law school and the French Foreign Legion. 

 

Musical career: stage, film, and songs

The rest of his life was spent in Hollywood, in Broadway, and traveling around the world in style. Porter's career in music spanned an impressive five decades resulting in over 800 songs written for 26 Broadway shows and another 18 films. He composed a number of musicals, often to his own lyrics.

 His first stage production in New York was See America First, in 1916. Success after another followed. His first one was with Wake Up and Dream (1929, London), then a long series of Broadway musicals and films.

His songs like Night and Day, What is this Thing Called Love?, Begin the Beguine, Let’s Do It (1928), I Get a Kick Out of You (1934), and Don’t Fence Me In (1944) have been widely recorded and admired.

Among other film successes were Gay Divorce (1932) and Anything Goes (1934) where he came up with "All Through the Night," "You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You, and the title song.  

Porter wrote music for films such as True Love from the hit movie ‘High Society’ starring Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra.  Considered his finest musical is Kiss Me, Kate (1948). 

 

Life turning point

While in Paris in 1937, he shattered his legs when a horse fell on him, leaving him crippled for the rest of his life.

For an artist who didn't do much to change the direction of the musical theatre, Cole Porter trail-blazed in areas of lyric writing.  He died in Santa Monica, October 15, 1964.

 

Photo credit:

Cole Porter. Wikipedia Commons. Porter in the 1930s

Resources:

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Press, 1984

Bibliographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002

Word Crazy: Broadway Lyricists form Cohan to Sondheim by Thomas S. Hischak, Praeger, 1991

 

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