Cole Porter Research Paper

Cole Porter

Some of the cleverest, funniest, and most romantic songs ever written came from the pen of Cole Porter. He was unmatched as a tunesmith, and his Broadway musicals from “Kiss Me Kate” and “Anything Goes” to “Silk Stockings” and “Can Can” set the standards of style which today’s composers and lyricists aspire.
Born in Peru, Indiana in 1891, Porter studied music from an early age, and began composing as a teenager. Cole Porter's name derives from the surnames of his parents, Kate Cole and Sam Porter. After high school he attended Yale University, where he was voted “most entertaining man.” He went to law school at Harvard University, his interest remained in music. At Harvard he continued to write, and a number of his pieces
were used in Broadway musicals.

In 1916, his first big production was performed. The musical, “See America First”, was a flop and closed after only fifteen performances. He soon began to travel around Europe and got an apartment in Paris. This was the beginning of his life long affection for the city, which he would return to in songs such as “You Don’t Know Paree” and “I Love Paris.” During his time in Paris, Porter contributed to many musicals including “Hitchy-Koo” and the “Greenwich Village Follies”. It wasn’t, however, until his song “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love” appeared in the 1928 musical Paris, that he had his first big hit.

A contemporary of George Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Jerome Kern, Porter broke from the simple sentimentality that dominated Tin Pan Alley.
His urbane wit and musical complexity won him the affection of the nation. Songs such as “What Is This Thing Called Love,” “I Get A Kick Out of You,” and “Too Darn Hot,” became instant hits and have remained classics. While his name was associated with many of these upbeat show toons, a more melancholy side could be seen in such wonderful songs as “Miss Otis Regrets” and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.”
In 1937, Porter was involved in a horse riding accident and fractured both of legs. This was a personal tragedy for a vain man who placed an enormous value on looks for his social life. His energy and obsession to maintain his looks through daily rituals could not compensate for such a debilitating blow at his health and his ego. He was in the hospital for months, but his mental and physical health waned. It got worse with the eventual amputation of one of his legs. This did not stop Porter from writing music. During this period were Porter’s popular songs Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love, From Now On, and Get Out
Of
In 1945, he lent his permission but minimal creative energy to the movie Night and Day, allegedly about the life of Cole Porter.
Although great for his ego and likely hysterically funny for his friends, history suffers because this movie had very little relationship to the actual life of Cole Porter. The movie purposely left out important parts of life, like his overly pampered and controlled youth, his gay life, his sexless marriage of convenience, his 'business' marriage, and furthered the fantastic tall tales that Porter spread about himself. For instance, although he had never served in the French Army, the movie faithfully "showed" his exploits and his fake war injuries. Porter reportedly enjoyed the movie's wildly fictional account, and he had the privilege of seeing movie superstar Cary Grant play a well-hyped heroic (and straight) version of himself. After this point, he had one major production, Kiss Me Kate, which was based on the Shakespeare classic Taming of the Shrew. Porter was very skeptical of this production but eventually lent his hand to the production and it became very successful, eventually spawning a moderately successful movie. Porter produced fewer successful productions in the later days, but Cole wrote songs for the musicals Can Can and Silk Stockings during this
period.
Doctors amputated Porter's injured right leg in 1958. After the amputation, Porter's creative productivity, his social power, and his happiness plummeted. He died on October 15, 1964. In accordance with his wishes, official reports say that he was buried between his wife Linda and his father Sam Porter. However, perhaps because of his father's trivial role in Porter's upbringing, other reports circled that he was actually buried between his mother Kate and his wife Linda.

Cities http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/reviews/981129.29chancet.html http://www.biography.com/people/cole-porter-9444679 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006234/bio http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/cole-porter.html