![]() ![]() The couple returned to New York in the ‘twenties. The couple became famous for the parties they gave and for Cole’s droll performances of his witty compositions. While living in Paris, he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy socialite. Both a lyricist and a composer, his songs were some of the most sophisticated, witty, and melodious in the American Songbook. Not to be discouraged, Porter moved to Paris and continued to write prolifically. The quick success was immediately followed by failure: his first Broadway production, in 1916, See America First, a “patriotic comic opera” modeled on the work of Gilbert and Sullivan was a flop, closing after two weeks. In 1915, Porter’s first song on Broadway,”Esmeralda”, appeared in the musical revue, Hands Up. During college, Porter became acquainted with New York City’s vibrant nightlife, taking the train there for dinner, theater, and nights on the town with his classmates, before returning to New Haven early in the morning. Porter wrote 300 songs while at Yale, including student songs such as the football fight songs “Bulldog” and “Bingo Eli Yale” (aka “Bingo, That’s The Lingo!”) that are still played at Yale today. Educated at Yale and then at Harvard, his life certainly did not follow the typical path of an artist. He spent his early years learning to play violin and piano, practicing composition, and writing a Gilbert and Sullivan-like operetta at the ripe age of 10. It seems most fitting that Greenwich Village would be the launching pad for his prolific and genre-bending career.īorn on Jin Peru, Indiana, Cole Porter was the grandson of a wealthy speculator. ![]() He was gay, and yet he remained devoted to his wife until her death in 1954. Porter also lived a contradictory lifestyle. Cole Porter was a paradox a musical genius who truly defined a time in musical history, he was at once a privileged sybarite and a bohemian provocateur all at the same time. ![]()
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