Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter, born June 9, 1891, in Peru, Indiana, was an American composer, lyricist, and Broadway book writer whose songs became enduring standards celebrated for their witty and urbane qualities. He died on October 15, 1964. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the Broadway musical theatre, Porter wrote both the music and the lyrics for his compositions.

Porter was the only surviving child of a wealthy Indiana family. His father, Samuel Fenwick Porter, worked as a pharmacist, while his mother, Kate, was the daughter of James Omar Cole, a coal and timber speculator described as the wealthiest man in Indiana. J. O. Cole exerted considerable influence over the family and built the couple a house on his Peru-area property, Westleigh Farms. Porter's mother began his musical education early: he took up the violin at age six and the piano at age eight, and by age ten had written his first operetta with her assistance. His grandfather intended for him to pursue a legal career and sent him to Worcester Academy in Massachusetts in 1905 with that goal in mind.

Porter entered Yale College in 1909, majoring in English, minoring in music, and studying French. He was a member of Scroll and Key and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, contributed to the campus humor publication The Yale Record, and was an early member of the Whiffenpoofs a cappella group. In his senior year he was elected president of the Yale Glee Club and served as its principal soloist. During his time at Yale he wrote approximately 300 songs, including the football fight songs "Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale," which continued to be performed at the university. He also composed musical comedy scores for his fraternity and the Yale Dramatic Association, among them Cora (1911), And the Villain Still Pursued Her (1912), The Pot of Gold (1912), The Kaleidoscope (1913), and Paranoia (1914).

After graduating from Yale, Porter enrolled at Harvard Law School in 1913, where he roomed with future Secretary of State Dean Acheson. He soon concluded that law was not his calling, and at the suggestion of the law school's dean he transferred to Harvard's music department, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Pietro Yon. The change was concealed from his grandfather. Porter's first song to appear on Broadway, "Esmeralda," was included in the revue Hands Up in 1915. His first full Broadway production, See America First in 1916, a patriotic comic opera modeled on Gilbert and Sullivan with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs, closed after two weeks.

In 1917, Porter traveled to Paris following the United States' entry into World War I, initially working with the Duryea Relief organization. The French Foreign Legion lists him among its soldiers and displays his portrait at its museum in Aubagne. He maintained a luxury apartment in Paris during this period and entertained extensively. In 1918 he met Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy, Louisville, Kentucky-born divorcée eight years his senior, and the two married on December 19, 1919. They remained married until her death in 1954. Linda attempted to connect her husband with prestigious classical music teachers, including Igor Stravinsky, without success; Porter ultimately enrolled at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, founded by Vincent d'Indy, where he studied orchestration and counterpoint. His first significant song hit, "Old-Fashioned Garden," appeared in the revue Hitchy-Koo of 1919.

Porter began achieving consistent success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he had established himself as one of the foremost songwriters for the Broadway stage. His Broadway credits from this period include Fifty Million Frenchmen and Anything Goes. Among his most recognized songs are "Night and Day," "Begin the Beguine," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "You're the Top," and "Well, Did You Evah!" Alongside his stage work, Porter composed scores for Hollywood films from the 1930s through the 1950s, including Born to Dance (1936), which featured "You'd Be So Easy to Love"; Rosalie (1937), which included "In the Still of the Night"; High Society (1956), which featured "True Love"; and Les Girls (1957).

A serious horseback riding accident in 1937 left Porter disabled and in chronic pain. Despite this, he continued composing and producing work for the stage, including Du Barry Was a Lady and Around the World. In 1948 he achieved what many considered his greatest theatrical success with Kiss Me, Kate, which earned him the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist as well as the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1949 — the first year the Best Musical award was presented. His subsequent Broadway credits include Can-Can. Additional well-known stage works in his catalog include Silk Stockings.