Showing posts with label Cole Porter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cole Porter. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

COLE PORTER - Composer Extraordinaire

Most people know Cole Porter for 1948's Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "Kiss Me Kate." Based on William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," this was neither Cole Porter's first or last work.

A very accomplished musician, Cole Porter was born to a wealthy pharmacist and his wife on June 9, 1891, in Peru, Indiana. Cole was the only surviving child of three. His siblings died in infancy. His mother doted on him, and she began his musical training at the early age of six with the violin. He began piano at eight, and with the help of his mother wrote his first song, "Song of the Birds," by age ten.

Coleporter.jpg
Cole Porter - Photo: Wikipedia
Even though his talent as a musician was evident at an early age, it was his father's wish for Cole to become a lawyer. Cole went on Yale and Harvard. Cole was never to become a lawyer, however, and at a dean's suggestion, he switched his major to arts and sciences.

Cole wrote his first hit song in 1916, entitled "Esmeralda." This was quickly followed with a taste of failure, however, when his first Broadway production, "See America First," based on a book by Larrason Riggs, ran for only two weeks before closing as a complete flop.

Cole then moved to Paris, France, where he lived on an allowance provided by his mother and grandmother. It was there he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy Kentucky born divorcee. The marriage was rumored to be a business arrangement, as he was known throughout his career to have had many male lovers. Many of his hit songs were supposedly written for several of these men.
Although still writing songs, Porter sat out most of the 1920's. Reportedly, he helped with war efforts throughout Europe. He has even joined the French Foreign Legion, and his uniform can still be seen on display today.

Cole Porter reintroduced himself onto Broadway in 1928 with his musical, "Paris." The score included the hit song, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love."

Continuing to work on Broadway, Porter introduced Ethel Merman in 1935 with "Jubilee," after which he included her in five more of his productions because he loved her brassy voice and wrote songs to showcase this trait. Cole then wrote several musical productions which included Fred Astaire's last stage show, "Gay Divorce," in 1932. Over these years he also worked with Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante.

In 1937, tragedy struck. Cole Porter's legs were crushed during a riding accident. While awaiting rescue, Porter wrote the song "At Long Last Love." Cole was hospitalized for two years and restricted to a wheelchair for five. Over the remainder of his life, this talented musician endured over thirty surgeries to his legs.
During the next twenty years, Cole Porter was nominated for four Oscars. In 1961, he finally won a Grammy for best soundtrack album from a motion picture for 1960's "Can-Can."


"Can-Can" was Cole Porter's last major production. He lived out the rest of his 73 years in relative seclusion, refusing even to attend events held in his honor. Cole Porter followed his wife in death. She died in 1954 from emphysema. He died on October 15, 1964, in Santa Monica, California. He was returned to Peru to be buried at Mount Hope Cemetery between his wife and his father. His mother preceded him in death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1952. Upon his death, Cole Porter left his 350-acre estate, known as Buxton Hill, to William's College.

Remembered for his sophisticated, sometimes ribald lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms, Porter was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. His estate continues to bring in revenue in excess of three million dollars per year, which is dispersed among several family members.




Friday, March 31, 2017

COLE PORTER's Song "True Love"

English: Cole Porter
Cole Porter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


"True Love" was written by Cole Porter and performed by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the 1955 film, "High Society," which also starred Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. "True Love" was the first and only gold record for Grace Kelly and was the 21st gold record for Bing Crosby. The song stayed on the charts for 22 weeks, rising as high as number 3. "True Love" was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Song in 1956, although it lost to Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera."

Cole Porter was a highly experienced songwriter when he wrote "True Love." The decades of the 1930's and 1940's were full of Cole Porter hit musicals. During the 1930's alone, Porter wrote music and lyrics for ten Broadway musicals for New York and two film musicals for Hollywood.

Cole Porter was born in Indiana in 1891 to parents who were wealthy. He received an extensive musical education, learning the piano and the violin by age six. His favorite of the two was the piano which he practiced two hours daily. By age ten he was writing words and music to original songs, and by age seventeen he published his first song.

Porter also received an impressive academic education which carried him through Yale and into Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Music. While at Yale, Porter became the president of the Glee Club and a cheer leader, and, among the 300 songs he wrote while at Yale, he wrote two football fight songs that are still played today. Despite being the roommate of Dean Acheson, the future Secretary of State under President Truman, Porter dropped out of Harvard Law School to continue with his music education.

After World War I, Porter moved to Europe where he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a beautiful and rich divorcee and a descendant of the Lees of Virginia. Their relationship was a loving, supportive, lifelong partnership. Cole Porter was gay and had numerous male interests which Linda had agreed to allow. However, the marriage was at times unstable when Porter's gay interests threatened the couple's carefully maintained social appearances.

Following their marriage in 1919 in Paris, the Porters lived an extravagant lifestyle in Europe through the 1920's. Their palatial home in Paris had floor to ceiling mirrors and zebra skin upholstery. Later, they moved into a famous palace in Venice where their lush parties included fifty gondoliers, circus acrobats, and a ballet company. They also built a night club outside their palace which accommodated 100 guests.

Back in New York, Porter's first few contributions to Broadway musicals were poorly received. However, by the end of the 1920's Porter gained recognition, and through the 1930's and 1940's he was one of the brightest stars on Broadway. He worked excessively and tirelessly on his musical productions and spent time in both New York and Hollywood.

In 1937 a terrible horse riding accident crushed both of Porter's legs. As the story goes, while waiting for hours for help to arrive he composed the lyrics to a verse of his song, "At Long Last Love." The accident left him crippled and in pain for the rest of his life. He underwent more than 30 leg operations until his right leg was finally amputated in 1958. Following his leg amputation, Cole Porter dropped out of music production until his death in 1964.



In 1955 Cole Porter wrote the lyrics and music for "High Society," starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The film was a musical remake of the classic 1940 award winning movie, "The Philadelphia Story," which won a Best Actor Oscar for James Stewart and which also starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. "High Society" featured nine musical numbers, plus there were five additional songs written by Porter which were not included in the movie.

"High Society" was one of MGM's greatest musicals. Grace Kelly was the movie's luminous star, and the romantic exchange with Bing Crosby in "True Love" was one of the movie's highlights.
Here are the lyrics to Cole Porter's "True Love."

Sometimes wind blows
a new moon moves at last alone
feeling far above her
oh how lucky we are
while I give to you
would you give to me
true love true love
so on and on it will always be
true love true love
for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give to you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
give me more true love oh yeah
true love true love
true love true love
got to give me your oh yeah oh yeah
true love true love
true love true love
for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give to you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
love forever true love.

    By Garry Gamber
    Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He writes articles about politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating service
    Article Source: EzineArticles