The Letters of Cole Porter
Page 24
Your life in that fascinating country sounds delightful – or is that the wrong word? I beg you as it [sic] did in my note the other day, see every sight you can. It may be difficult now but do it. It will color your whole life & make you happier later on.
If you have hardships & become homesick, think of one major hardship that people like myself have. I’m so sick of having wonderful kids like yourself saying goodbye & disappearing for so long and feeling so damned inadequate to help get them back home again to their families & their friends. Every Sunday lunch here now is a farewell party & in spite of the laughs, the under-current is sad as hell.
Goodbye Barclift. Tell that Artie how great he is & how super great you are. I enclose a clipping & a few photographs.
Best – Love from Linda* and C.
*Linda sent it from the Berkshires.
Billy Rose continued to correspond with Porter concerning arrangements for Seven Lively Arts; in a telegram of 27 June he asked Porter whether Alexander Smallens would be a satisfactory conductor and informed him that Robert Russell Bennett would probably be available to orchestrate the songs.† Porter replied by telegram on 29 June:
29 June 1944: Cole Porter to Billy Rose80
WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO HAVE ALEXANDER SMALLENS. PLEASE COUNT ME OUT FOR CBS ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL JULY FIFTH. ARRIVE WALDORF ON JULY SIXTH AND FROM THEN ON WILL BE ENTIRELY AT YOUR DISPOSAL. AM PRAYING THAT YOU GET BEA LILLIE. HAVE BEEN PUTTING PRESSURE ON FANNIE* AND SHE BECOMES MORE AND MORE ENTHUSIASTIC. IF SHE KNEW YOU HAD BEA LILLIE I THINK SHE WOULD LEAP AT IT. WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE RUSSELL BENNETT THAN ANY ONE ELSE. LET ME TALK TO YOU ABOUT [ANTONY] TUDOR AS CHOREOGRAPHER WHEN I SEE YOU. JUST SPOKE TO BUDDY [DE SYLVA] AGAIN. HE FINDS THAT DUBOIS HAS ASSIGNMENT FOR A PICTURE FOLLOWING THE ONE HE IS NOW MAKING, BUT BUDDY IS DOING HIS BEST TO GET DUBOIS OUT OF IT SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE HIM. HE WILL LET ME KNOW BEFORE TOMORROW NIGHT.† ALL MY BEST COLE
In the midst of his work on Seven Lively Arts Porter continued to correspond with Arthur Schwartz concerning both Mississippi Belle and Night and Day:
15 July 1944: Cole Porter to Arthur Schwartz81
Dear Arthur:
I immediately got busy about the transcription of I’m Dining With Elsa.‡ Unluckily, it was not taken off the air by Frank Black’s outfit, but Eddie Wolpin thinks there is a possibility of tracking it down by asking other people connected with the broadcast.* In case this fails and you still want it, I can make a lead-sheet for you and send it out.
I shall be very happy indeed to get the revised version of Mississippi Belle.
Regarding the Night and Day picture, I agree with you completely about throwing the hospital out of the frame and if you can’t find a decent substitute, to throw the frame out altogether. I like the idea very much of starting the picture with Cole as an undergraduate at Yale. The more I think of the childhood sequences on the farm, the more I dislike them.†
I talked to Jack Warner and congratulated him on the idea of putting Monty Woolley in the Night and Day picture, and he seemed very sanguine about getting him. Since coming East, I find that The Beard is being sought after by several Broadway producers for winter productions. I know of one which, if it goes through, would make it impossible for Monty to appear in the picture, so I hope you can settle this as soon as possible.‡
The Billy Rose show sounds very exciting and he has so many ideas definitely mapped out that I’m already hard at work and having a wonderful time. Bea§ is signed, but for some reason, there is great difficulty about getting her over. Billy has at least appealed to Max Beaverbrook¶ who thinks he can wangle it. A buzz bomb hit the Panama Hattie Theater in London and nearly destroyed it. Luckily, it was between performances, so no one was killed.**
All my best,
Sincerely,
[unsigned]
Porter also reported on Seven Lively Arts to Sam Stark, writing the same day to William Skipper as well:
4 August 1944: Cole Porter to Sam Stark82
Dear Sam:
Your letter of August 1st arrived and made me very happy.
The Billy Rose show* progresses nicely. We have auditions every Wednesday night as we are looking for seven kids, six girls and one boy and each one of them with an outstanding personality and voice. The result of this instead of being discouraging is extraordinary. There is so much talent in this country that it makes you want to sit back and gloat. We have found one girl called Mary Roach† who has the looks and personality of a young Mary Pickford. She has a lovely, though not big voice, but it is highly schooled and she can dance. There are others that have walked in about which we are not sure, but all of them wreak [sic] of talent and ambition. As I sit there I feel very proud of my own country.
Sturge leaves with me today for Williamstown for the usual Friday to Tuesday week-end. How he bears up during this terrible heat I cannot understand, as he still spends Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night way down deep in the Pennsylvania station where the temperature averages 110.‡
Do not mention it to Linda, but she is not very well and I am worried about her. She seems to be so tired all the time and this in spite of the fact that she lives the quietest of lives and the climate up there agrees with her perfectly. Len Hanna is staying with her now and that’s a man you must meet. I shall fix it the next time you come East. Please arrange the next time you come East not to fail to give Williamstown some of your free days. I think you will like it.
I am delighted to hear that Jimmie [Shields] is doing so well. [Bill] Haines sat down and wrote me a telegram about him which relieved my worries a lot. If I had only known in time that he was going to be operated upon, I would have forwarded some kind of jewelry to be put into him instead of the hernia. I am sure that if he were lined with gold he would never be ill again. When my grandfather was 75 years old and about to die, we shipped him to the Mayo Brothers.* They took out all of his fleshy tubes and substituted copper. The result was that he lived until he was 95. But of course Jimmie could not rough it on copper. Tell him that the Duc† is making me a flamboyant cigarette case to replace the lost “ROSALIE” etui. I got the insurance on it and am adding a bit of dough that I have saved in my “piggy bank”.
Thank little Paul [Armstrong] for the batteries which came as a God-send. I shall write him as soon as possible.
Love from us all and blessings on Thee, dear Sam.
[signed:] Cole
4 August 1944: Cole Porter to William Skipper83
Dear Skipper:
It was very nice to receive your letter of August 2nd. I am delighted to hear that you will be on leave within a short time. My program is as follows: I hit New York every Tuesday at 5 p.m. and return to Williamstown every Friday at 1:30 p.m. I am always free Tuesday and Thursday nights but never Wednesday night, as Billy Rose and I have auditions then at the Alvin Theatre. During the day I am always with Dr. Sirmay of Chappells and could not even see God if he called. So please make your plans accordingly and decide how often you are going to have dinner with me.
Linda speaks of you constantly and still has, I think, a rather indecent passion for you.
Goodbye my child and don’t forget to write again,
Your old pal
[signed:] Cole
An undated letter from Porter to Sam Stark in the Cole Porter collection at Stanford University is filed with letters from the summer of 1943 but apparently – based on Porter’s reference to Yamanaka & Company – more properly belongs in 1944:
[1944]: Cole Porter to Sam Stark*
Lamb Samb –
I should not worry you with this item what with Italy being invaded et. cet. But this is a serious crisis. I showed Fulco the beautiful bottle-opener that Charlie Tate, out-of-you, gave me + at once he cried “Santa Maria, what a great idea for Xmas presents. I can put a few bits of gold in them and make a fortune!” It was too late to tell him that I had brought a dozen of them east with practically the same idea as far as Noël [Coward] went. He did however get the name of the firm out of
me so in case he was sober enough to remember it + writes to you on this subject, you are at least warned.
The Duca, Natasha Wilson + Nicky de Quinsbourg [Guinsbourg?] are here for the week-end. But they are staying in the château, not in la petite chaumière.† Not that I don’t love them but oh how the French does fly! and one tires of that constant merde instead of good old fashioned shit.
Tell Paul [Armstrong] that John‡ is slightly shocked that he has to have all of the tires re-capped or re-taped or re-decorated before he will accept that car. John says that all that was done just before he, John, left. But whatever it is, have somebody pay for it quick, quick + send me the bill. I can’t write a new show and at the same time feel that my beloved Paul is starving because he must use up all his income to re-do tires before he can face that elderly Phaeton.
I talked to Li’l Roger [Davis] on the telephone + he sounded surprisingly normal. Tell him that Bobbie Raison* called up today + as a consequence he is coming to N.Y.C. to spend the week-end of September 18th with me. I have to stay in N.Y.C. because of auditions + now that I have kicked Miss Moore out of my back room, he will be très comfortable. Barclift has been occupying that back-room over every week-end + it must be a lucky room for each time he emerges from it in the morning, he is wearing a new ring. The only bore connected with these rings is that most of them are too big + Miss Moore spends much too much time at Cartier’s having them re-fitted for Barclift’s little finger.
I can’t talk to you about this Williamstown place. You will have to come here to give me the words. For everything about it is so beautiful + so bang-up. And the bang-up part of it is all due to the wonderful Linda. You must arrange your next visit to include these remote Berkshires for it’s all that’s pleasant + peaceful + Perino.
As for [William] and [unreadable] Fickheisen, ask them to spread the moth-balls, but well, around Rockingham.†
I arrived in N.Y.C. to find that Dobbs had packed all my trunks – and there were plenty – without the moth treatment – I mean the trunks had been left at the Waldorf before I went to Calif. – and all my old pet complets had been eaten to death.
Goodnight. Thank you for the post-cards, especially for that lovely old photo of our child.
Tell Willie [Haines] – or rather, ask him to try the Japanese screen that I bought at Yamanaka* for a nickel. I think it is swell but if it destroys the room, to hell with it. Yamanaka has been taken over by the government – that is, the U.S.A. Linda tipped me off on this + the treasure for sale for practically nonsence [sic] that might interest Mr. Haines, Inc. Yamanaka has Chinese loot too.
Take Jimmie [Shields] into some secluded corner + talk to him about rare perfumes, soaps + cigarette-cases. Find out what he needs most + report.
I said goodnight to you pages ago + this is the finale. I love you so much, dear Sam.
Good morning
Cwole [sic]
Among the songs Porter was composing at this time for Seven Lively Arts was ‘Wow-Ooh-Wolf!’; in a letter of 15 August 1944, Billy Rose suggested a number of possible ‘wolf lines’ to Porter, more punch-lines to jokes than song lyrics, including ‘The only difference between a Hollywood wolf and a Broadway wolf is 3000 miles’, ‘He’s A W O L . . . A Wolf on the Loose’, ‘The wolves in my hotel are so old, they hire the bell-hops to howl for them’, ‘A mink in the closet usually means a wolf at the door’ and ‘He’s a wolf in cheap clothing.’84 Arthur Schwartz reported that filming of Night and Day would probably start in the autumn and that he was trying to finalize the dialogue for Mississippi Belle; the problem with starting to shoot, he said, was that ‘Technicolor commitments are very hard to get.’85 A few days later he wrote to ask Porter, with respect to casting Night and Day, to approach ‘. . . the many stars who are indebted to you because of your great contribution to their success [who] would surely be more receptive if approached by you rather than the studio.’ These included Fred Astaire, Mary Martin, Danny Kaye, Sophie Tucker, Betty Hutton, Jimmy Durante, Bert Lahr and Irene Dunne; Schwartz added that ‘If Fred Astaire or Mary Martin, or both let us say, should tell you they would be delighted to oblige, were it not for their picture contracts, we on this end would then try to arrange with Metro and Paramount respectively.’86 Porter followed up on Schwartz’s request in early September, writing to Danny Kaye:
6 September 1944: Cole Porter to Danny Kaye87
Dear Danny:
You probably know that Warner Brothers is doing a supposed biography of me called NIGHT AND DAY.
Would you consider appearing in this picture, singing either FARMING or LET’S NOT TALK ABOUT LOVE? I should certainly appreciate it a great deal if you would. If you would consider this, then Arthur Schwartz would talk money to your agent. I imagine they will start shooting this picture in December.
Goodbye, dear Danny, and all my best to you and Sylvia [Fine],
That old*
[unsigned]
Mike Curtiz,† who was to direct Night and Day, sent Porter a telegram on 28 August, responding to an apparently lost telegram of Porter’s – ‘I JUST RECEIVED YOUR WIRE AND HASTEN TO TELL YOU HOW DELIGHTED I AM TO BE THE DIRECTOR OF NIGHT AND DAY[.] BY NATURE I AM VERY CRITICAL AND SKEPTICAL ABOUT STORY PROBLEMS UNTIL THEY ARE COMPLETELY LICKED[,] ESPECIALLY BIOGRAPHICAL STORIES[.] BUT THINGS HAVE FALLEN INTO PLACE FOR US IN THE LAST TEN DAYS OF CONFERENCES WITH THE WRITERS AND ARTHUR SCHWARTZ AND I AM NOW CONVINCED THAT WE ARE WELL ON THE WAY TO CONSTRUCT A STORY WITH GREAT WARMTH AND ORIGINALITY AS WELL AS HUMAN CHARACTERIZATION[.] I ALWAYS HAVE FELT THAT WITH THE FABULOUS STORE HOUSE OF MUSICAL MATERIAL IN YOUR CATALOG TO WORK WITH WE COULD MAKE AN ENTERTAINMENT[,] BUT NOT UNTIL THIS PAST WEEK HAVE I FELT THAT IN ADDITION TO THAT WE COULD CONTRIBUTE A GREAT HUMAN AMERICAN STORY’ – and Porter wrote to Jack Warner, seemingly anxious to get on with the production:
29 August 1944: Cole Porter to Jack Warner88
Dear Jack:
I just heard from Arthur Schwartz and I can’t tell you how happy I am that Mike Curtiz will direct Night and Day. How soon will it be ready for production? I want to arrange my dates. Love to you and Annie.
Cole
As the movie began to take shape, Arthur Schwartz wrote concerning some possible changes to the lyrics of ‘In the Still of the Night’:
. . . at the moment I want to tell you about a lyric problem. We are planning to use the song “In The Still Of The Night” twice in the picture. The second time will be deep in the story and with a production. We propose to use it for the first time in a scene in a church in Peru, Indiana. Cole has come home from Yale for the Christmas Holiday and the family has donated a beautiful organ to the church. It is Sunday morning and Cole is at the organ. A choir of twenty or thirty boys is singing the melody of “In The Still Of The Night”, and during its rendition we cut to Cole’s mother and grandfather sitting proudly below. My immediate question is: Would you consider re-writing the lyrics of the song to make it suitable for a rather Hymnal interpretation, still keeping the title? The melody is as beautiful and pure as any piece of church music I know, and if you agree to make the lyric change, Curtiz and I guarantee to you a scene of overpowering beauty which will add to the story immeasurably. Following the church scene there are several others in and around Cole’s home and at the end of the Indiana sequence Cole has told his grandfather that he has definitely decided against a legal career because he wants to pursue his music. Cole’s mother, who has been his champion all along, approves of his decision. We see that she is greatly influenced by the deep impression the song in the church has made upon her.89
Porter replied on 6 September:
6 September 1944: Cole Porter to Arthur Schwartz90
Dear Arthur:
I have thought seriously about changing the lyric of IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT to make it fit a hymnal interpretation. I don’t like the idea at all. I think the present lyric makes it a good romantic song, but that a lyric which would make it suitable to be sung in a church would make it a much too s
accharine bit of religious material. Perhaps you could get some one else to write this lyric, some one who had not had previous association with the song. Of course, I should want to approve of this lyric were it done. Of one thing I am sure and that is I could not do it.
It makes me very unhappy also to hear that you brought back that Peru, Indiana business into the picture. I thought you had definitely thrown that out, of which I highly approved. If all of this Peru stuff is back in the picture, I want to read every line of it as the last version would have been extremely embarrassing had it been retained and I don’t want in any way to upset my family.
The Billy Rose show* is a fascinating job but oh so tough. I have written two numbers for Bea Lillie and one for Bert Lahr. I have three more to do for them, besides any number of others. Billy Rose, however, is a great relief after Mike Todd† as he is an excellent editor and a very constructive one.