The Letters of Cole Porter
Page 39
P.S. There is no hurry!
Goddard Lieberson (1911–77), who later became the President of Columbia Records, had produced the cast album of Kiss Me, Kate and would go on to produce the recordings of Porter’s Out of This World and Silk Stockings too. Lieberson’s cultural influence and social status was significant, so it is no surprise that he became friends with Porter. He wrote to the composer on 1 March to say that ‘I am sure it’s no simple coincidence that the moment you left the weather turned from spring to winter and I write to you from a promontory facing snow-laden buildings. That is perhaps an inept way of saying that Helen Traubel* is not yet singing, “WERE THINE THAT SPECIAL FACE.” . . . I suspect that someday she will sing some of your songs. These things happen slowly in the world of divas. However, that is not the only front (and it is an extended one) on which I am busy with the works of Cole Porter and I shall write to you whenever anything electrifying happens.’ Porter responded:
5 March 1949: Cole Porter to Goddard Lieberson18
Dear Goddard:
Thanks a lot for your letter of March 1st.
I am very happy that you are still pulling for the works of Cole Porter and I hope you catch some big fish.
All my best,
[signed:] Cole
The same day, the New York Times reported that ‘The seventy-five backers of “Kiss Me, Kate” have received the first payment on their $180,000 investment in the Cole Porter-Sam and Bella Spewack musical. The full investment is expected to be returned to the “angels” by the end of April.’19
Porter liked to keep abreast of the latest musicals. The next letter shows his collegiality: he wrote to congratulate Ray Bolger, who had starred in Porter’s Rosalie (1937), on his performance in the newly released Warner Bros. movie Look for the Silver Lining:
19 March 1949: Cole Porter to Ray Bolger20
Dear Ray:
I just saw you in Silver Lining. All my congratulations. You are magnificent!
Sincerely yours,
[signed:] Cole Porter
He was also sensitive in writing to his friend William Skipper, when the latter was turned down for the role of Bill in the touring production of Kiss Me, Kate:
2 April 1949: Cole Porter to William Skipper21
Dear Skip:
Your letter from Miami Beach reached me yesterday. I am very sorry the deal on the road company of Kiss Me, Kate did not work out for you, but the majority preferred Marc Platt.*
Linda is still recovering from pneumonia in Arizona and will be there for at least another month and I commute to see her every two weeks.
Don’t be upset because you didn’t get the “Kate” job. You have great talent and a delightful personality and somebody is bound to snap you up quick.
All my best,
[signed:] Cole
He also received the following business letter from Max Dreyfus† at the publisher Chappell. Dreyfus explains how they have been taking steps to get the songs from Kiss Me, Kate heard on the radio in an attempt to capitalize on the novelty of the score:
13 April 1949: Max Dreyfus to Cole Porter22
Dear Cole:
Thanks for your letter 8th April quoting paragraph from communication from Mr. St. Subber to you. This has to do with the exploitation of the “KISS ME KATE” music.
As you know we have been working hard, and what we think successfully, on the exploitation of “SO IN LOVE”.
We are still on “WHY CAN’T YOU BEHAVE” and “ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION”.
We are now preparing to work on “WUNDERBAR”.
“TOO DARN HOT” has been banned by the major networks, therefore, under these circumstances, exploitation is almost impossible.
While “WERE THINE THAT SPECIAL FACE” is a wonderful and very valuable asset to your show, we have found that this song does not lend itself to commercial exploitation.
We have tried “BIANCA” in certain spots without much favorable reaction, nevertheless, we are still on it.
It is very true that the “KISS ME KATE” and “SOUTH PACIFIC” songs are “flooding the air” and all the other writers and producers are complaining. Be assured, Cole, that we are giving all our efforts to the songs from “KISS ME KATE” and be further assured that I am on the job and in back of the boys every minute.
[Albert] Sirmay is coming along but it has been a hard pull for him.
We are well, hope you are the same and best love.
[handwritten:] as always,
Max
Buried in the New York Times on 22 March was a brief mention of Porter’s new project, which would become Out of This World. Under the subheading ‘Porter Plans Greece Trip’, Louis Calta revealed: ‘If his wife’s health has sufficiently improved, Cole Porter will depart on April 15 for Greece where he would complete the score of the contemplated “Amphitryon 38” in the locale of the Jean Giraudoux play.’23 As Calta hints, Porter was writing the score for an adaptation of S. N. Behrman’s* English translation of Giraudoux’s 1929 play Amphitryon 38. Behrman’s play had been a success for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne† in 1938, providing a link with Kiss Me, Kate: Saint Subber, the latter’s producer, had supposedly witnessed the Lunts’ backstage squabbles during a production of Taming of the Shrew, thus inspiring the backstage plot of Kiss Me, Kate.24 The Amphitryon musical would tell the exploits of Jupiter, who pursues a mortal American, Helen, much to the disdain of his wife, Juno, and with the help of his son, Mercury. Saint Subber and Ayers were to produce the show, following their success with Kiss Me, Kate, but it would take another twenty months before it opened on Broadway. The principal problem was the book: on 3 April, the New York Times suggested Paul Osborn* might write the script, which was eventually written by Dwight Taylor.† That Porter had already apparently been working on the score indicates the difference of approach compared to his close collaboration with Spewack on Kiss Me, Kate (which won the first Tony Award for Best Musical on 24 April).25
The New York Times cynically reported on 8 May that ‘Somewhat optimistically, Cole Porter and Dwight Taylor have reported from the coast that they expect to have the first draft of their new musical ready by Sept 1.’26 Despite his work on the new musical, most of Porter’s correspondence that survives from the first half of this year focuses on personal matters. The next two letters are trivial requests from Porter to Stark, still one of his closest friends, while the third is a rare surviving letter from Linda to Cole. Although brief, the message from wife to husband is a vivid example of their affection for and closeness to one another. Of particular interest is Linda’s dismissive reaction to hearing Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin singing songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s new show, South Pacific, on the radio. This musical would prove to be the main competition for Kiss Me, Kate throughout its Broadway run.
30 April 1949: Cole Porter to Sam Stark27
Dear Sam:
Will you please send to Ed Tauch,‡ from me, some of those wonderful dates which you brought up a short time ago from Palm Springs? Send the bill to me. Please put in a card saying Love from Cole.
His address is:
Room 305,
Neurological Institute of New York
Fort Washington Ave. & W. 168th St.,
New York 32, New York.
Love,
[signed:] Cole
7 May 1949: Cole Porter to Sam Stark28
Dear Sam:
Thank you so much for sending two more of those delightful postcards to me.
Thank you also for the note from the Hollywood Reporter, dated May 3rd, 1949, and for recommending the story in the New Yorker. Robert* read it last night and said it is delightful. I shall get to it shortly.
I found the article on Elsie† excellent.
The Yosemite trip fell through.
[signed:] Cole
[17 May 1949]: Linda Porter to Cole Porter29
Tues 17th
Darling: The [illegible] arrived in good condition. Ernest unpacked them and put them away in
your cottage.
At nine o’clock last night I listened to the Telephone Hour with Pinza and Mary Martin.‡ My goodness! How can either music or lyrics be compared with yours? The critics are damn fools, but then I always thought they were. And who cares?
I am trying to get off the 27th or 28th – the dentist, as usual, holds me up. Jean§ is not well + must have a complete rest. Fortunately Miss Ellis can look after me.
How is Paul?¶ Dreadful after all the care he has taken, himself that this should happen. Two servants in our family with ulcers is too much. Two servants in one family with ulcers is too much.
All love, my darling
Linda
Porter was also close, albeit in a contrasting sense, to Irving Berlin. They were contemporaries, and despite coming from different backgrounds (Berlin was a Jewish immigrant and never had a formal education of any kind) the pair held each other in particular regard. Not even Richard Rodgers could match them in terms of numbers of hit songs: they saw each other as peers. The next five letters are on the subject of Miss Liberty, Berlin’s forthcoming musical. Porter had heard that Berlin had recorded some of the numbers for his private use and wrote to request a copy. He seems to have responded particularly well to the number ‘Home Work’ and also mentions playing the records for Mr and Mrs Fred Astaire:
27 May 1949: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin30
Dear Irving:
I am tired of people telling me about this wonderful album you have made, in which you sing the numbers from MISS LIBERTY. Considering the fact that I have always been your No. One Fan I am a little bit shocked that you didn’t send me the first album. Will you please rectify this mistake and send me one quick, quick, to 416 North Rockingham Avenue, West Los Angeles 24.
I hear nothing but delightful reports about your new score.
Lots of love to you and Ellen [sic].*
[signed:] Cole
4 June 1949: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin31
Dear Irving:
The records arrived but so far I have only played one of them, which is HOME WORK. This I have played over and over again with great joy, as it is delightful and unadulterated Berlin.
I shall give all the other songs the same treatment and report to you at the finish.
Oh, how I wish I could be in New York for that opening. It will be something!
Thanks an awful lot, dear Irving, and love from
Your fan,
[signed:] Cole
11 June 1949: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin32
Dear Irving:
The Astaires* came to dinner last night and we had a great session with your recordings. The final report is that all of these songs are so wonderful that we can’t pick our pets.
Thanks again for your great thoughtfulness in sending them to me.
Love,
[signed:] Cole
14 July 1949: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin†
LUCK AND LOVE
COLE=
[?] July 1949: Cole Porter to Sam Stark33
PLEASE SEND ON THOSE MISS LIBERTY NOTICES TO FRED ASTAIRE LOVE FROM US ALL=
=COLE=
By the end of June, Kiss Me, Kate had set in for a long run. There were rumours about interest from studios including MGM for the movie rights, countered by the claim that ‘Porter and the Spewacks have been entertaining the idea of doing the film version themselves.’34 But since it was selling on Broadway to capacity, there was no rush to produce a Hollywood version yet. As the New York Times reported on 23 June, the show had achieved its 200th performance the previous night, with more than $75,000 of profits already having been returned to investors. (By October, that figure hit $300,000 and because the production had settled in for a long run, the sets and costumes were ‘completely refurbished’.)35 On 20 July, Porter wrote in response to a letter from Patricia Morison, in which she apologized for comments she had been quoted as making in an interview. While the matter is trivial, Porter’s response is of interest for its insights into his attitudes to the press:
20 July 1949: Cole Porter to Patricia Morison36
Dear Pat:
Your very sweet letter arrived. I was never upset about the interview which you were supposed to have given but I was upset by the fact that several people seemed to believe it. I have gone through life being misquoted so I am not at all surprised that you were. Don’t worry, dearest Pat, as I shall always love you dearly and, as far as I go, you could do no wrong.
Lots of love,
[signed:] Cole
Over the summer, Linda’s health suffered a further decline, as Porter reports in this letter to Sam Stark from August. He also mentions the casting of the upcoming Out of This World, which had not yet been given its final title:
16 August 1949: Cole Porter to Sam Stark37
Dear Sam:
I enclose The New Yorker article which you sent me. I read it with great interest. Also I enclose the letter from Majorie [sic] Gateson.* Please write to her and tell her that the part for which she would have been very good has disappeared from the script.
I haven’t written you before because until very lately Linda was so ill that I did not want to spread the bad news. She is back from the hospital at last, and as I bought an oxygen unit for her to be next to her bed, there is no more danger of these sudden crises. She is very weak, can barely walk, and her voice trembles a great deal when she talks. It is pitiful. She has, however, great courage and a will to survive which will help her during the future. She doesn’t realize how ill she is, thank God. She will never be much better.
Sturge* is here with all the gossip of the Continent and I think he has done her a lot of good.
The place is beautiful what with an excellent gardner [sic] and two very competent assistants. We have a wonderful French cook who use [sic] to work for Pat Boyer† and later for Annabella, and if Andre starts acting up when I come back to the coast I shall send for this great girl.
We lost Carol Channing‡ for the part of Juno in the new show§ and I am brokenhearted. I thought of a very good title for the show yesterday. Please write it down and see if you like it. It is -- Sacred and Profane.
Robert¶ can tell you more Linda news when he sees you as I talk to him twice a week and give him all the details. My arrival here from the coast was far from cheerful.
All my best to you and Allen.**
Your pal,
[signed:] Cole
The following letter to Porter’s friend Roger Davis provides further details of Linda’s health, as does the next one to Stark. There is a clear sense of Porter trying to carry on with his busy social and professional lives while being keenly aware of his wife’s fragility:
19–20 August 1949: Cole Porter to Roger Davis38
Roger –
Linda showed me your roller-skating* postcard tonight before dinner + she laughed so much that it did her more good than all the doctors.
[Howard] Sturges is here + he fills her with gossip from all the capitols [sic] of Europe, with laughs.
This is what she needs most, – to laugh.
She is far from well but she is in great form. And she is very beautiful for her hair is grey, the grey that Mona† had for a while + gave up for the brass.
We have had visitors. Hanna‡ passed through + out, several times. Wimsey appeared + disappeared, sober. He is more amusing, drunk.
Tell Sam [Stark], if you still speak to him, that I have met something here in Williamstown that defies all discription [sic].
Tell him also that I miss you, Mr. Davis.
Goodnight
Cole.
22 August 1949: Cole Porter to Sam Stark39
Dear Sam:
Thank you for your note regarding Robert§ and his dining with you. I enclose the names of three books which Linda says you must read if you have not already done so. I also enclose a clipping from the New York Times regarding a new book by Ward Morehouse¶ which I think might interest you.
Linda is slightly better but very weak. [Howard
] Sturge[s] is here and he is a joy.
All my best.
[signed:] Cole
Although no new Porter musicals appeared in 1949, a new song (or at least a new lyric) was premiered. In the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film Adam’s Rib, the actor David Wayne* performs a song called ‘Farewell, Amanda’. Porter had recycled the music from a song called ‘So Long, Samoa’, a trunk song from 1940, although he did not admit as much to his publisher, Max Dreyfus, at the time:
22 August 1949: Cole Porter to Max Dreyfus40
Dear Max:
The following is the dope on Farewell Amanda. The picture, Adam’s Rib, had a sneak preview last Wednesday night at the Pacific Palisades. According to the response, this Metro picture looks like a terrific box office hit. It stars Katherine [sic] Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. In the picture, Dave Wayne sings Farewell Amanda first. In a later sequence a radio is turned on and one hears Frank Sinatra singing it.† The music of Farewell Amanda is used as background music throughout the entire picture. Everyone connected with this new film feels that Farewell Amanda looks like a palpable hit.
So my request to you now is to get Larry Spier‡ busy on the exploitation of the song. He should arrange broadcasts and recordings and quick because they expect to release the picture in six weeks. I always dread asking you to call for action from Larry Spier, but I feel very strongly in this case that he do much better than in the past what with all profits going to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.*
I hope you are feeling fine, dear Max. I shall call you when I come next to New York and force you to lunch with me. All my best.
Sincerely,
[unsigned]
On 4 September, Linda reported to Jean Howard that ‘Cole arrives back at the Waldorf on the 7th – I shall go down to meet him and spend several days before returning to Buxton Hill.’41 It seems the Porters were communicating separately with Howard at this point, because Cole wrote to her a day later, providing further details of his activities and of Linda’s deteriorating health:
5 September 1949: Cole Porter to Jean Howard42
Jean –
I wrote to Bob Bray tonight + told him that you had asked me to tell him to phone you, any day, during the week, at noon. So please don’t leave instructions with your Personal Maid to say, when he calls, “She says she’s out!”