The 'Cole Porter' name cane from the surnames of his parents, Kate Cole and Sam Porter. Kate's father, James Omar Porter (called J. O.) was the son of a shoemaker. J.O's work ethic made him the wealthiest man in Indiana. His wife, Rachel Henton, presented him with several children; Kate Cole was born in 1862. While growing up, Kate enjoyed all the advantages of being the sibling of a very wealthy man, including musical study where she mastered the piano.
Her father had hoped that Kate would marry someone of her 'class' but was disappointed when she married her home town druggist, Sam Porter. Never-the-less, J.O. went on to finance his daughter's wedding; Sam and Kate's life together; and their son's (Cole Porter) career.
At age 6, Cole started playing the violin; at age 8, the piano. In time, the piano became his prime instrument. His mother helping Cole with his long hours of practice, often parodied popular tunes of the day on the piano. Some historians have speculated that this lyrical playfulness shaped Cole's sense of lyrical humor.
J.O. Cole's money could bring his daughter many favors. For example, Kate had Cole's school's records altered so that the 14 year old Cole appeared to he a very bright twelve year old. She financed the student orchestra (thus guaranteeing her son's violin solos), and, reportedly, influenced the media's reviews of the concerts. She would later subsidize the publishing of her son's early works, including one called "Song of the Birds", written by Cole when he was just 10 (1901).
In 1905, Cole entered Worcester Academy, graduating in 1909 as class valedictorian. One of his instructors at Worcester, Dr. Ambercrombie, drilled the young Cole in the use of words and meter in both poetry and music. In later life, Cole regarded this training as being an important influence in his music.
After Worcester Academy, Porter entered Yale University, where he eventually led the glee club and wrote football songs. His "Yale Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale" are still popular Yale 'fight' songs today. Some biographers have noted that it was during the late years at Worcester, and early years at Yale, that Cole's homosexuality began to predominate. In retrospect, his compositions and musical productions for the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity; the Yale Dramatic Association; and his solo performances for the Yale Glee Club. may have some of the biggest influences in shaping his musical development.
Following his graduation from Yale, there was a unscuccessful attempt at a career in the Law. It was Porter's grandfather who insisted that he be trained for the Law and Cole enrolled in the Harvard Law School. In his second year, Ezra Ripley Thayer, Dean of the Law School, urged Porter to give up Law for music. He transferred to Harvard's School of Arts and Sciences in order to pursue music studies. Kate knew, but J.O. was not told of this transfer. He eventually ended these studies, and moved to New York City, where he took up residence at the Yale Club.
Cole wrote his first Broadway musical score, 'See America First' (1916), written in collaboration with Lawrason Riggs. It was a dismal flop.
(Clifton Webb was the star.)
In July of 1917, when America entered WW1, Cole sailed to Paris, France. In Paris, he 'invented' stories of his involvement with the French Military and the French Foreign Legion. Back home, he was considered to be a War Hero, but he was actually living the life of a wealthy American Socialite, enjoying elaborate parties with much gay and bisexual activity, cross-dressing, and even recreational drugs. Cole enjoyed Paris immensely. He lived in a truly sumptuous, beautifully furnished apartment that became the meeting place of the French social elite. It was here that he met and, after the war married, Linda Lee Thomas, an American divorcee. He kept up the lie of his being a war hero until quite late in his life.
On December 19, 1919, Cole married Linda Thomas. It was an interesting marriage. Linda's ex husband had been abusive; Cole was a Homosexual. Still, the marriage allowed Linda to maintain her social status, and being married increased Cole's chances for public acceptance. It turned out to be a somewhat happy, albeit sexless, marriage, which ended with Linda's demise in 1954. During that time, Linda remained one of his best supporters.
After the war, Porter sailed for home. On the ocean liner, he met Raymond Hitchcock. Hitchcock was producing and starring in the annual 'Hitchy-Koo'
Broadway revues. Porter's contribution to the 'Hitchy-Koo of 1919'
consisted of about a dozen songs.
Porter spent most of the twenties in Europe, establishing his permanent residence on Paris' Rue Monsieur. He held lavish parties, treasure hunts, costume parties, and the like, where the social, political and theatrical elite were always in attendence. Elsa Maxwell once told him "Your standards are much too high. But one day you will haul the public up to your own level and then the world will be yours." Very much the playboy, he would flit from Paris to Venice to the Riviera, back to the United States, and home again to Paris. Yet, despite all this activity, Cole continued to study music at the Schola Cantorum, in Paris, under Vincent d'Indy.
In 1924, five of his songs were heard in the New York show 'Greenwich Village Follies', none of which created any excitement. It was the year 1928 that would be the turning point of Cole's musical life.
In 1928 E. Ray Goetz asked Porter to write the music for a Broadway musical 'Paris'. Goetz's wife, Irene Bordoni, was to be the star. The show's hit
song, "Let's Do It", established Cole's identity as a sophisticated and cultured composer and lyricist.
Around this time, Cole went to Hollywood, where he did some work for the film industry. In 1929, Cole contributed two songs to 'The Battle of Paris', his first film. Hollywood always had a homosexual population and Cole was fairly happy; not so Linda, due to Cole's increasingly public gay escapades. She was fearful that Cole's reputation would be irreparably harmed.
For the remainder of the twenties and throughout the thirties, Porter
scored one hit show after another, including:
A tremendous amount of Porter's work was accomplished under conditions of intense pain and suffering. In 1937, while horseback riding, on Long Island, New York, an accident left him with crushed legs and nerve tisssue. Over the ensuing years, he underwent more than 30 operations trying to save his legs. He was hospitalized for over two years, and was confined to a wheelchair for more than five years. In 1958, his right leg was amputated. The great bulk of his sprightly, happy hit songs were written while he was in this condition of pain and grief.
On May 15, 1960, ASCAP sponsored a 'Salute to Cole Porter', which was staged at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. Porter, who was confined to his Waldorf Towers apartment in a wheelchair after his leg amputation, could not attend. Many of America's best songwriters and stars were there. On June 9, 1960, Yale University conferred an Honorary Degree on Cole, in his apartment, during a private ceremony.
Cole died in the fall of 1964, at 73 years of age. Some reports say he was buried between his wife Linda and his father Sam Porter. Other reports have him buried between his mother Kate and his wife Linda. The final 27 years of his life had been lived in acute pain yet some of his finest work was written under these difficult conditions. Cole Porter is a member of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
Interested readers may find the Yiddish lyrics on the web at:
http://campuscgi.princeton.edu/~klez/zemerl/search.pl?lyricist=Molly+Picon
and in the New York Times book, "Great Songs of the Yiddish Theater" (1975).
In the early 1930s, after meeting Maschwitz, the team's first collaboration was the operetta Good-Night Vienna. Film producer Herbert Wilcox purchased the property for £200 and released the 1932 film version starring Anna Neagle and Jack Buchanan. Good-Night Vienna then languished until 1946 before it was professionally mounted on stage for a successful tour.
1933 saw Posford's first full stage score, The Gay Hussar, with book and lyrics by Maschwitz (under his nom-de-plume of Holt Marvell). It toured for half a year, but never got to the London stages. However, Maschwitz brought in Czech conductor/composer Bernard Grun (who at the time spoke no English) to revise the show's music. In December 1936, the revised Gay Hussar was re-incarnated as Balalaika, at London's Adelphi Theatre. Perhaps the show's best song, (and by far and away Posford's best known melody), 'At The Balalaika' was added to the score late in rehearsals. It would also become the main theme for the 1939 Hollywood film version starring Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey.
In September 1938, another Posford-Grun-Maschwitz collaboration, Paprika, opened at His Majesty's Theatre and was 'a dismal failure', closing after only 11 performances. Impresario Jack Davies re-staged a revised version (which opened at the same theatre where it had failed), and which ran for 105 performances. The beautiful ballad 'Mine Alone', was sung by Binnie Hale.
During WWII, Posford worked with the 'London Fire Service' and the 'Royal Corps of Signals', and subsequently worked for the 'Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service'. However, Blitz-torn Londoners could also find a little joy watching the Posford and Harry Parr-Davies collaboration
Full Swing, which ran for 468 performances.
In 1946, the Posford and composer Harry Jacobson collaboration Evangeline, an adaptation of James Lavers's Nymph Errant (for which Maschwitz wrote the lyrics) opened at the Cambridge Theatre to poor reviews. Actress Frances Day was the show's heroine.
Five years later, for the first time since 1933, Posford had sole credit for a musical score. In 1951, Zip Goes A Million, with Eric Maschwitz lyrics, opened at the Palace Theatre and was immediately successful. Tunes such as 'I'm Saving Up For Sally', and 'Ordinary People' captivated audiences. George Formby was the star.
In December 1954, once again as sole composer for his final collaboration with Maschwitz, Happy Holiday opened at the Palace Theatre. It was their attempt to make a musical from Arnold Ridley's tired old comedy-thriller The Ghost Train. The show opened to general derision and closed within the month. Following this catastrophy, Posford and Maschwitz looked at a proposed musical version of the Spanish Bullfighting drama Blood and
Sand, but that never materialized.
Today, much of Posford's music lies in neglect, but his beauriful melodies do deserve listening, and perhaps, will be heard again one day.
Arranged a number of W.C. Handy tunes for band and orchestra.
Some of the other arrangements by Polla include:
Polla was a prolific composer, writing over 60 songs in total, including a large number of popular songs, several ragtime works as well as some orchestral works. Most of his rags were written under the pseudonym "W.C. Powell.
Among the songs that W. C. Polla composed using the pseudonym of W. C. Powell, are:
Just a few of the songs that W. C. Polla composed under his own name are:
An interesting note is that that lyricist Jean LeFavre (dates unknown) may only have written lyrics for W. C. Polla. No other references to LeFavre can be found.
Cole Porter
b. June 9, 1891, Peru, IN, USA. d. Oct. 15, 1964, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
Overview:
Here's a photo (from the cover of the paperback book, "Cole Porter", by William McBrien) of Cole Porter, one of America's finest composer-lyricists. Cole had the rare ability to compose beautiful melodies and combine them with clever, sophisticated lyrics. In a manner of speaking, Porter was born into wealth, the grandson of a coal and lumber magnate, who saw to it that his daughter and her son had every privilege he could give them. At age 6, Cole took his first violin lessons, at age 8, be began studying the piano. At age 10, he wrote the words and music for an operetta. At age 11, one of his songs, "The Bobolink", an instrumental, was published in Chicago.
1929
Fifty Million Frenchmen
"You Do Something to Me" and "Find Me A Primitive Man"
1930
Show: Wake Up and Dream
"What Is This Thing Called Love?"
Show: The New Yorkers
"Love for Sale"
1932
Show: Gay Divorce, starred Fred Astaire & Luella Gear.
"Night and Day",
1934
Show: Anything Goes
"All Through the Night"
"Blow, Gabriel, Blow", sung by Ethel Merman
"I Get a Kick Out of You," sung by Ethel Merman
"You're the Top"
1935
Show: Jubilee
"Begin the Beguine"
"Just One of Those Things"
1936
Show: Red, Hot and Blue
"It's De-Lovely"
1936
Film: Born to Dance
"I've Got You Under My Skin"
"Easy to Love"
1937
Film: Rosalie:
"Rosalie"
"In the Still of the Night"
1938
Show: Leave It to Me:
"Get out of Town", Mary Martin became a star.
"My Heart Belongs to Daddy"
1939
Show: Du Barry Was a Lady: starring with Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman
"Friendship"
"Do I Love You?"
"Katie Went To Haiti"
1940
Show: Panama Hattie: Ethel Merman starred
"Let's Be Buddies"
1941
Show: Let's Face It: Danny Kaye's first starring Broadway role.
"Everything I Love"
1943 Something For The Boys, starred Ethel Merman. Only the show's the themesong became somewhat popular.
"Something For The Boys"
1944 Mexican Hayride:
"I Love You"
1944
Film, Hollywood Canteen.
"Don't Fence Me In" Song was written and discarded in 1934, and revived here when
Roy Rogers sang it, selling millions of records.
1946
Film: Porter's biopix 'Night and Day': Cary Grant starred. While the film bore very little relation to Cole's life, it was never-the-less an entertaining film that showcased 14 of Cole's Hit songs. The film ignored important aspects of Cole's life such as his pampered, controlled youth and his homosexual love escapades. The film also perpetuated some of the 'prevarications' that Cole had invented during WW1, such as his service in the French Army.
1948
Show: 'Kiss Me Kate'. This Broadway show had a run of over 1000 performances. After it's national tour, it opened in Europe. It was the biggest hit in the Vienna Volksopera's 50 year history. It was the first American musical ever presented in Poland. (It sold out the house 200 times!) The hit songs included:
"So In Love"
"Wunderbar"
"Brush Up Your Shakespeare"
"Where Is The Life That Late I Led"
"I Hate Men"
"Were Thine That Special Face"
1953
Show: 'Can Can'. This Broadway show had songs:
"I Love Paris"
"Allez-vous En"
"C'est Magnifique"
1955
Show: 'Silk Stockings', This Broadway show was an adaptation of the Greta Garbo film 'Ninotchka'. The film starred Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and Peter Lorre.
"All of You"
"Paris Loves Lovers"
A number of Porter's songs were interpolated into various Hollywood films, including:
Film Rosalie
"In The Still of the Night"
Film, Something to Shout About
"You'de be So Nice To Come Home To"
Film, High Society.
"True Love"
Molly Picon
b. June 1, 1898, New York, NY, USA. d. April 5, 1992, Lancaster, PA, USA. (alzheimer's disease)
Né: Margaret Pyekoon
Spouse: Jacob Kalich (1919 - 1975 -his demise)
Currently no information.
All during the 1930s and 1940s, this actress was extremely popular on the Second Avenue Yiddish Stages in New York City. She toured world wide performing in Poland, England and France. While primarily a wonderful actress, she is included here because she did write the lyrics to many tunes that she sang on stage. The songs, listed here, all had a Yiddish lyric by Molly, and the music by Abraham Ellstein:
"Abi Gezunt" (As Long As You're Healthy")
"Libe" (Love)
"Maz'l" (Good Fortune)
"Oygn" (Eyes) A lovely Tango. Faye Kellersteyn included it on her CD "A Feygele Zingt"
"Ikh Zing" (I Sing)
George Posford
b. March 23, 1906, Folkestone, England. d. April 24, 1976, Worplesdon, Surrey, England.
né: Benjamin George Ashwell
Overview:
A visitor has sent this photo of George Posford an energetic, hard-working and highly talented English composer, much of whose work is, sadly, neglected today. He is well recalled as the 'music' half of a team that included the 'words' of
Eric Maschwitz. Posford originally studied for the legal profession, at Downside and Christ's College, Cambridge. However, by 1930, he decided to become a professional composer after he and Rodney Hobson contributed 'additional' numbers to Robert Courtneidge's touring musical 'Lavender'. His regular collaborator, Eric Maschwitz, has said that Posford then studied at the Royal College of Music. In addition to his musical theatre output, Posford also composed some light orchestral music (e.g. 'Transatlantic Rhapsody' and 'Broadcasting House'), as well as some film scores.
W. C. Polla
b. August 12, 1876, New York (Manhattan), NY, USA d. Nov. 4, 1939, New York (Manhattan), NY, USA
né: William Conrad Polla
One of the least known of the novelty pianists, W.C.Polla was also a leader, arranger, and composer. In the early 1920s, he led his own W.C.Polla Orchestra (well recorded on Edison Diamond Discs) but disbanded in 1925, just two years before his 1927 hit song "Dancing Tambourine" was recorded by Paul Whiteman, The Radiolites and others. Aside from this one popular work, he is completely forgotten today., Still, he did enjoy a varied career, mostly as a conductor and arranger for New York musical productions. Polla also owned his own publishing house, the W.C. Polla Company, for a few years. ( W. C. Polla & Co., Inc, 1545 Broadway, R305, New York, New York, NY, USA - He may also have had an office in Chicago, IL, - W.C. Polla Company, Publishers, Grand Opera House Block, Chicago, U.S.A.)
"Stomp Up-Stairs". music by W.C. Handy, and arranged by W.C. Polla. New York,
Triangle Music Pub. Co., 1926.
"Aunt Hagar's Blues". music by W.C. Handy, and arranged by W.C. Polla. New York,
Richmond-Robbins Inc., 1922.
"Symphonic Medley of Foster Songs", arr. W.C. Polla,
"Down South" (with ukulele arrangement) Composer: Wm. H. Myddleton, lyricist: Sigmund Spaeth
(arr. By W.C. Polla) (1927)
"Dope Rag" (as W. C. Powell 1909)
"Johnny Jump Up" (as W.C. Powell 1910)
"Funny Folks" (as W. C. Powell)
Jolly Jingles" (as W. C. Powell)
"Missouri Rag" (as W.C. Powell 1907)
"The Gondolier" m: W C Powell and w: Harry Williams (1903)
The Irresistible Rag" (as W. C. Powell)
"Baby (Everybody Calls Her Baby", ( W.C. Polla, Chas. Tobias & Harry Tobias) 1921.
(A hit for Eddie Cantor)
"Buddy", m: W. C. Polla w: Jean Lefavre (1919)
"Dancing Tambourine", (w: Phil Ponce - m: W. C. Polla) (Aug 4, 1927) Perhaps
his most famous work, The song has been played/recorded by
such artists as the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (with Myron Floren
on accordion), Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra recorded
the tune (Victor40230=3 (NYC) 9/22/1927), and the 'Robin Hood
Dell Orchestra', -conducted by Morton Gould (who also did the
arrangement).
"Dear Heart", m: W. C Polla and William Goldsmith, w: Jean Lefavre (1919)
"Down South", m: W C Powell and w:Wm. Myddleton (later recorded by B. A. Rolfe
& His Palais D'or Orchestra
"Drifting", m: W.C. Polla, w: Arthur J. Lamb (1920)
"Girl Of My Dreams", m: W.C. Polla, w: Harry & Chas. Tobias (1920)
"I'm Telling The World (That I Love You)", m: W. C. Polla w: Amy Ashmore Clark.
(later recorded by Al Lynn's Music Masters)
"Just Like A Baby", m: W. C. Polla w: Arthur Short, Harry Tobias
"Mama's Gone Goodbye" (1924)
"My Castles In The Air Are Tumbling Over", m: W. C. Polla, (1919)
(The sheetmusic was in library of Pres,. Rutherford B. Hayes)
"My Sunshine Rose", m: W. C. Polla w: Jean Lefavre (1920)
"Night In June" (1927)
"Some Day", m: W. C. Polla, w: Larry Spier (later recorded by Duke Yellman and
his Orchestra)
"The Melody That Made You Mine", ( m: W. C. Polla, w: Cliff Friend) The tune
was recorded by the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra, Victor: 5848-1, 2/12/25
"To-Night You Belong To Me", ( m: W. C. Polla, w: Billy Rose & Lee David)
"You Know", (w: Phil Ponce - m: W. C. Polla) (1919)
"Weep No More My Mammy" (W.C. Polla ) (1921)
