Cole Porter

He married a well-off Kentucky divorcee, Linda Lee Thomas on December 18, 1919. This was only a marriage ‘by contract’ as Porter, was infact, gay.

Apart from his career, he is known to have had extremely elaborate and fancy parties in his house in Rue Monsieur, in Paris. At one time, the couple employed the Monte Carlo Ballet for one of their parties.

In 1937, he was badly injured after a horseback riding injury and suffered nerve damage, along with damaged legs. He was hospitalized for nearly two years and had to be restricted to a wheelchair for five years. He also needed nearly 30 surgeries to save his legs over two decades.

Cole Albert Porter was born into a wealthy family, to Samuel Fenwick Porter and Kate in Peru, Indiana.

He began his musical training from a very young age and learnt how to play the violin at the age of 6. He created his first operetta at the age of 10.

He was sent to Worcester Academy in Massachusetts by his grandfather, in 1905, with the hope that he would become a lawyer. He did in the school but found that music was his true calling.

After he graduated from the academy as a valedictorian, he enrolled at Yale University in 1909, where he studied English and minored in music. During this time, he was a member of the Scroll and Key, Delta Kappa Epsilon and was also a member of a number of music clubs.

During his time at the university, he wrote as many as 300 songs and was also elected the president of the ‘Yale Glee Club’, where he was a soloist.

After his first success, ‘Esmeralda’, he produced his first Broadway production, ‘See America First’, in 1916, which was a commercial failure.

In 1917, just before the United States entered the World War I, he moved to Paris to work with the ‘Duryea Relief Organization’. He also claimed to have served in the French Foreign Legion, a military service wing of the French Army exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces.

He earned his first big breakthrough with the song, ‘Old-Fashioned Garden’, which was featured in the revue, ‘Hitchy-Koo’, in 1919. The next year, he composed a number of tunes for ‘A Night Out’, a musical.

He composed a short ballet in conjunction with Gerald Murphy titled, ‘Within the Quota’, in 1923. The next year, he found much less success with his show ‘Follies’. During this time, his songs were diminishing in popularity on Broadway.

In 1928, he reintroduced himself to Broadway and earned his first commercial hit with ‘Paris’, which was commissioned to him by E. Ray Goetz. One of his best-known songs, ‘Let’s Do It’ was featured in the show.

‘Kiss Me, Kate’, which debuted on Broadway in 1948, is to date, considered Porter’s magnum opus. It was the first show where he wrote the music and lyrics in association with the script and it proved to be one of the most rewarding masterpieces of his career. The musical went on to win a number of Tony Awards and earned its first one in 1949. It was also his only show that had more than a 1,000 performances on Broadway.