The Letters of Cole Porter

by Cole Porter

  15. The Times, 10 March 1922, 10.

  16. McBrien, Cole Porter, 89.

  17. Darius Milhaud, Notes Without Music (New York, 1953), 153.

  18. New York Herald Tribune (European Edition), 26 October 1923, 1 and 4.

  19. Only the text survives for ‘Oh So Soon’, which may have been intended for Raymond Hitchcock’s Hitchy-Koo of 1919; see Kimball, The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, 67.

  20. Gilbert Seldes, The Seven Lively Arts (New York, 1924), 92–4.

  21. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 87.

  22. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Charles Green Shaw Papers, Box 1. The date of this postcard cannot be read with certainty but it is likely, given that it was sent from Morocco, to be the 1925 North Africa trip.

  23. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 87.

  24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Charles Green Shaw Papers, Box 1.

  25. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 87.

  26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Charles Green Shaw Papers, Box 1. Although Kate Porter’s letter is undated, the envelope in which it was sent is postmarked Peru, 22 April 1920.

  27. All of these letters survive in Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Charles Green Shaw Papers, Box 1.

  28. On stationery of ‘The Travellers’, 25 avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Postcard from Madeira; the postmark is difficult to read: it could be 1928 or 1929.

  32. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Charles Green Shaw Papers, Box 1.

  33. New York Herald Tribune (European Edition), 1 August 1925, 4.

  34. Richard Buckle, Diaghilev (New York, 1979), 458–9.

  35. NYPL, *ZBD-162, Diaghilev Correspondence: ‘Cher Monsieur Diaghileff. Voulez vous venir diner Dimanche soir a 8½. Nous aurons in[v]ité Tante Winne & je crois qu’elle pourra venir. S’ils pourront, nous serions tres [sic] hereux [sic] d’avoir Lifar & Riete. Boris a déja [sic] accepté . . . Sincerely, Cole Porter.’

  36. Kimball and Gill, Cole, 72 and 75.

  37. McBrien, Cole Porter, 106–7.

  38. CPT, Correspondence 1953 (TLS on stationery of 416 N. Rockingham).

  39. Kimball and Gill, Cole, 70.

  40. Kimball, The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, 87.

  41. New York Times, 22 May 1927, 30.

  42. Helen Josephy and Mary Margaret McBride, Paris Is a Woman’s Town (New York, 1929), 17–18.

  43. https://www.ebay.com/itm/COLE-PORTER-TYPED-LETTER-SIGNED-02-09/372121421108?hash=item56a42a4534:g:FxgAAOSwLdBZ944V (accessed 31 October 2017).

  44. New Yorker, 20 October 1928, 27.

  45. New York Times, 15 April 1928, 34.

  46. New York Times, 19 February 1928, 114.

  47. L’Intransigeant, 21 May 1928, 5.

  48. Victor Glover, ‘Paris Theatres’, New York Herald Tribune (European Edition), 15 May 1928, 8.

  49. http://www.icollector.com/Cole-Porter_i27095675 (ALS on stationery of Carlton Hotel, Lyon, accessed 3 April 2018). The date derives from the postmark.

  3 PORTER’S RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES, 1928–1937

  1. CPT, Correspondence 1928 (TLS).

  2. Vanity Fair 29/4 (1928), 71.

  3. New York Herald Tribune, 28 November 1929, 14.

  4. New York Herald Tribune (European Edition), 17 July 1929, 11.

  5. New York Herald Tribune (European Edition), 23 July 1932, 3.

  6. http://www.lionheartautographs.com/autograph/19790-PORTER,-COLE-Composer-Cole-Porter-Writing-About-Tax-Issues-on-Black-Tuesday-1929. ALS on stationery of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New York.

  7. McBrien, Cole Porter, 134.

  8. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 87.

  9. New York Times, 9 December 1930, 34.

  10. Richard J. Madden to Cole Porter, 13 rue de Monsieur. Source: Indiana Historical Society (image: http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/V0002/id/3792).

  11. CPT, Correspondence 1931.

  12. Ibid.

  13. New York Times, 30 November 1932, 23.

  14. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 49, folder 298.

  15. Kimball and Gill, Cole, 110 (facsimile).

  16. McBrien, Cole Porter, 157. (AQ)

  17. Manchester Guardian, 29 September 1933, 11.

  18. The Times, 7 October 1933, 10.

  19. CPT, Correspondence 1933.

  20. For an account of the disaster and rescue attempts, see New York Times, 9 September 1934, 25.

  21. Time Magazine, 3 December 1934.

  22. New York Times, 22 November 1934, 26.

  23. New York Herald Tribune, 22 November 1934, 14.

  24. Yale University, Gilmore Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 49, folder 299.

  25. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 49, folder 299.

  26. Worcester Academy, Massachusetts.

  27. According to McBrien, Cole Porter, 176, the Porters sailed on 12 January. If Porter’s letter is correct, then they sailed on the evening of 11 January.

  28. Heritage Music & Entertainment Memorabilia. Signature Auction #616, 8 October 2005, Dallas, Texas, lot 20286.

  29. Swann Galleries, sale 2367, 20 November 2014, lot 240.

  30. CPT, Correspondence 1935 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  31. Theatre World 23/24 (London, September 1935), 107.

  32. https://www.ebay.com/itm/COLE-PORTER-Songwriter-Composer-SIGNED-AUTOGRAPH-Letter-To-MONTY-WOOLLEY-2Noms-/112716526332?nma=true&si=t%252BtgdvxAkP7jUBilBOyLSPtOHjU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557_ (ALS on stationery of the Beverly Wilshire apartment-hotels, Beverly Hills).

  33. New York Times, 5 December 1936; Variety, 31 December 1936.

  34. Variety, 2 and 9 December 1936.

  35. New York Times, 14 October 1935, 20.

  36. New York Herald Tribune, 30 October 1936, 22.

  37. Time Magazine, 9 November 1936.

  38. Kimball and Gill, Cole, 145.

  39. TLS from 501 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cole-PORTER-Songwriter-Typed-Letter-Signed-to-Monty-WOOLLEY-at-Christmastime/382323054085?hash=item59043ad605:g:suYAAOSwCtJaRSFk (Schubertiade Music & Arts, accessed 12 February 2018).

  40. New York Herald Tribune, 20 December 1936, F2.

  4 SETTLED – AND INJURED – IN NEW YORK, 1937–1944

  1. Irving Berlin Collection, Library of Congress.

  2. Source: Princeton University, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Brooks Bowman Papers (AC #165), Box 9, folder 5.

  3. New York Times, 20 July 1937, 19 and 14 August 1937, 39.

  4. Swann Galleries, New York, sale 2367, 20 November 2014, lot 241; Schubertiademusic.com, spring 2015 catalog, lot 152; TLS on stationery of North Country Community Hospital, Glen Cove, New York.

  5. Goldberg Auctions, sale 24, lot 444, http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/lot_auc.php?site=1&sale=24&lot=444&lang=1. TLS on stationery of Doctors Hospital, New York.

  6. We have not seen the original of this document but it is reproduced in David Grafton, Red, Hot & Rich! An Oral History of Cole Porter (New York, 1987), 114–16.

  7. Present location unknown; auctioned on 18 June 2014 at http://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=629 (accessed 16 June 2014). It is not out of the question that the song may also have been intended for Greek to Me, or possibly whichever of the two shows would eventually be produced.

  8. SOA, Show Series, Box 85, folder 7.

  9. SOA, Show Series, Box 85, folder 7.

  10. Florence, Villa I Tatti.

  11. USC, Eells Collection, folder 5.

  12. Florence, Villa I Tatti.

  13.
Jean Howard, Travels with Cole Porter (New York, 1991), 15.

  14. McBrien, Cole Porter, 225.

  15. New York Herald Tribune, 7 December 1939, 26.

  16. New York Times, 7 December 1939, 34.

  17. McBrien, Cole Porter, 235.

  18. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 14.

  19. McBrien, Cole Porter, 236.

  20. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 16.

  21. Ibid. Linda Porter’s letter is dated only ‘Saturday’; since Panama Hattie had opened on Tuesday 8 October, the date of Linda Porter’s letter is almost certainly 12 October.

  22. https://www.ebay.com/itm/COLE-PORTER-TYPED-LETTER-SIGNED-10-29-1940/282714518487?hash=item41d31933d7:g:pD0AAOSwCPdZ9430 (accessed 31 October 2017). TLS on Waldorf stationery.

  23. New York Herald Tribune, 31 October 1940; New York Sun, 31 October 1940; New York Times, 31 October 1940.

  24. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 17.

  25. Swann Galleries, sale 2367, 20 November 2014, lot 239.

  26. New York Journal-American, 30 October 1941; New York Times, 30 October 1941.

  27. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 17; Linda Porter’s letter is postmarked 21 December.

  28. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 87. Porter wrote the song ‘What Am I to Do’ for the film.

  29. Georgia State University, Johnny Mercer Papers, shelfmark M001.

  30. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 300.

  31. Ibid.

  32. See the New York Times for 22 July 1942, 22.

  33. Bonhams, 26 June 2011, sale 19045, lot 2021.

  34. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3.

  35. CPT, Correspondence 1942.

  36. New Yorker, 19 September 1942, 2.

  37. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 300.

  38. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  39. Ibid.

  40. CPT, Correspondence 1943. The story recounted by Glazer appears to have been first reported in The Cambridge Chronicle for 1854 as ‘Father Abbey’s Will. To which is now added, a Letter of Courtship to his virtuous and amiable Widow. Cambridge, December 1730’. See Evert A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck, Cyclopaedia of American Literature (New York, 1856), vol. 1, 126–7.

  41. CPT, Correspondence 1942 (copy).

  42. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3 (written on Waldorf stationery but sent from 416 N. Rockingham).

  43. CPT, Correspondence 1943.

  44. USC, Jack Warner Collection, Box 26, folder ‘Mississippi Belle’.

  45. CPT, Correspondence 1954. Robert Buckner (1906–89), screenwriter.

  46. CPT, Correspondence 1943.

  47. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, William McBrien Papers, Series IV, Box 4, folder 105.

  48. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (handwritten postcard).

  49. Ibid. August was the only month in 1943 when the 14th fell on a Saturday.

  50. https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/porter-cole/autograph-letter-signed/102278.aspx, seen 22 April 2017. ALS on Waldorf stationery.

  51. American Heritage Center, Jean Howard Papers, Box 6 (handwritten postcard).

  52. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 18.

  53. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  54. CPT, Correspondence 1943.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (handwritten postcard).

  58. CPT, Correspondence 1943.

  59. Copy at ibid.

  60. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (ALS written at Williamstown).

  61. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/382428581841?ul_noapp=true (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  62. Stanford (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  63. Ibid.

  64. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  65. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5.

  66. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  67. CPT, Correspondence 1944 (telegram).

  68. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  69. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (telegram).

  70. New York Herald Tribune, 29 January 1944, 8A.

  71. New York Times, 29 January 1944, 9.

  72. Porter Collection, Library of Congress.

  73. CPT, Correspondence 1944 (telegram).

  74. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 300.

  75. Ibid.

  76. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  77. Ibid.

  78. Ibid.

  79. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 300.

  80. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  81. Ibid.

  82. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  83. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3 (on Waldorf stationery).

  84. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  85. 18 August 1944. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  86. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  87. Ibid.

  88. Ibid.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Ibid.

  91. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  92. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  93. Ibid.

  94. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 19.

  95. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (telegram).

  96. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  97. Ibid.

  98. Ibid.

  99. NYPL, William Skipper Papers.

  100. American Heritage Center, Jean Howard Papers, Box 6.

  101. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  102. Ibid.

  103. NYPL, JPB 82–75, no. 10.

  104. Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers, sale 6, lot 796.

  105. Swann Galleries, sale 2244, 21 April 2011, lot 295.

  106. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 301.

  107. http://www.schulsonautographs.com/pages/books/2452/cole-porter/typed-letter-signed-4to-on-the-barclay-hotel-stationery-philadelphia-nov-29-1944. TLS on stationery of the Barclay Hotel, Philadelphia.

  108. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  109. American Heritage Center, Jean Howard Papers, Box 6.

  110. Letter of 1 December 1944. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 304.

  111. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 20.

  112. CPT, Correspondence 1944 (copy).

  113. CPT, Correspondence 1944 (unsigned copy).

  114. CPT, Correspondence 1944.

  115. Ibid.

  5 A PORTER BIOPIC AND TWO FLOPS, 1945–1947

  1. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Variety, 31 January 1945, 26.

  4. CPT, Correspondence 1945 (unsigned copy).

  5. Herrick Library, Hedda Hopper Collection, Box 2648 (telegram).

  6. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  7. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–1945 (handwritten note on index card).

  8. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3.

  9. Letter of
14 February. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  10. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  11. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–1945 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  12. Variety, 24 March 1945, 1 and 55.

  13. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  14. Ibid.

  15. See ‘How to Beget a Musical Comedy by Cole Porter as told to Richard G. Hubler’, Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, 2-9, Manuscripts, 8.

  16. Kimball, The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, 208.

  17. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  18. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection MSS 82, Box 48, folder 300 (ALS).

  19. Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, shelfmark YCAL MSS 468 (TL).

  20. Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Cole Porter Collection, MSS 82, Box 49, folder 300.

  21. Ibid.

  22. CPT, Correspondence 1945 (copy).

  23. Washington, Library of Congress.

  24. NYPL, William Skipper Papers, (S)*MGZMD 185, Box 3.

  25. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Indiana, The Lilly Library.

  28. CPT, Correspondence 1945.

  29. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1943–5 (ALS on ‘NO TRESPASSING’ stationery).

  30. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1946 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  31. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1946.

  32. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1946 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  33. CPT, Correspondence 1946.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Ibid (probably a transcription of a telegram).

  36. Both contracts are in CPT, 014 Around the World.

  37. Herrick Library, Hedda Hopper Collection, Box 2648 (telegram).

  38. Daily Boston Globe, 29 April 1946, 8.

  39. Daily Boston Globe, 28 April 1946, 30A.

  40. Stanford University, Cole Porter Collection, shelfmark FE209, Correspondence: 1946 (TLS on Waldorf stationery).

  41. Ibid.

  42. CPT, Correspondence 1946 (transcription of a telegram).

  43. Both letters in CPT, Correspondence 1946.

  44. Arthur Schwartz Collection, LC.

  45. Howard, Travels with Cole Porter, 21. Although Linda Porter’s letter is dated only ‘Monday 13 1946’ the month must be May, the only month in 1946 when Monday fell on the 13th.