On a Cole Kick!

Love the look!

Cole Albert Porter was born in Peru, Indiana in 1891.

His parents were pretty well-to-do,

so it was private schools, violin and piano lessons,

and Yale for Cole.

Cole brought his own piano to college,

which allowed him to entertain his buddies,

and compose songs (and fight songs!) for shows (and teams!).

He joined the French Foreign Legion when WWI started,

and legend (legion?) has it that he had a small keyboard

strapped to his back so he could entertain his fellow legionnaires.

Cole married Linda Lee Thomas, of Louisville, Kentucky,

in 1918.

She evidently knew of Cole's homosexuality,

but the marriage (at the time) proved useful to both parties, with
social standing and acceptability being the top 2 benefits.

They remained married til Linda's death in 1954.

Porter Trivia, Category Exorbitant:

Cole and Linda had a home on the Left Bank in Paris with reportedly platinum wallpaper and chairs upholstered in zebra skin. 

Mr. Porter once hired the entire Monte Carlo Ballet 

as post-dinner entertainment for his guests.

And then there's the Venice "party"...where he rented the Palazzo Rezzonico for $4,000 a month (doesn't sound so bad NOW!), 

hired 50 gondoliers to act as footmen and 

high-rope walkers just to, well, walk on high ropes, I guess!

The Grand Canal house the Porter's rented in the 1920s.

1923, Venice (pre-party?) and

a full gondola:

Cole, wife Linda Lee Thomas, Bernard Berenson, and

Howard Sturges.

On Lido Beach in the 20s.

With Moss Hart,

who Cole collaborated with on Jubilee, back in 1935.

This musical was created during a four and a half month luxury cruise, where Cole and Moss enjoyed modern accommodations, 

drank lots of champagne, visited exotic locales 

and wrote a musical packed with inside jokes about their famous friends.

In fact, Cole wrote a LOT of shows that way!

But we can thank that specific cruise for the likes of

"Just One Of Those Things" and "Begin The Beguine."

With Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell,

working on Broadway Melody of 1940:

"Begin The Beguine", "I Concentrate On You,"

and "Don't Monkey With Broadway."

With The Merm,

possibly "rehearsing" for Red, Hot and Blue (1936).

"It's De-lovely"

Pretending to rehearse Can-Can:
Gwen Verdon, Erik Rhodes (with the 'stache),

Cole at the piano, and at right, Hans Conreid.

Everybody was writing musicals about Paris back in the 1950s,

so Cole followed the trend.

Lilo, a French actress who couldn't sing or dance,

was the theoretical star of the show, 

but Gwen got the attention.

Cole's private life was in a mess at the time:

his mother had passed away one year earlier,

and his wife, Linda, fighting emphysema, died one year later.

After a horrible riding accident in 1937,

Cole would undergo over 30 surgeries over the course of his life

(and finally a leg amputation).

He was in almost constant pain,

yet he kept writing.

Critics said his music of the early 40s

(shows like  Panama Hattie, Something For The Boys,

Mexican Hayride, Around The World)

didn't measure up to his earlier creations,

but then along came Kiss Me Kate (1948),

which won the first EVER Tony for Best Musical!

After his amputation, Cole spent his last 6 years

in relative seclusion, living in the Waldorf Towers in New York,

summering at his estate in the Berkshires,

and wintering in California.

He passed away in 1964, at the age of 73,

having written literally hundreds of songs

and scores of scores for Broadway musicals and Hollywood flicks.