by Cole Porter
Porter replied on 18 November, alluding to his upcoming show Something for the Boys:
18 November 1942: Cole Porter to Barney Glazer, Warner Bros41
Dear Barney Glazer:
By all means send me a photostat of the poem that you have discovered. It sounds delightful and twisting it, as you suggest, it would certainly be an excellent theme song for Caitlin.
We went into rehearsal on the Michael Todd* show yesterday so I have been very busy, but I can’t wait to clear this up and work on the picture, as it douns [sic! sounds] interesting.
All my best regards, and thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
[unsigned]
At the start of 1943, Porter’s semi-patriotic Something for the Boys premiered at the Alvin Theatre, New York, on 7 January and ran for 422 performances. With a book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields,† and starring Ethel Merman, Something for the Boys was a critical success. The plot concerns a defence worker, a carnival pitchman and a burlesque queen who transform a Texas ranch into a boarding house for soldiers’ wives. Lewis Nichols wrote in the New York Times, ‘All season long the world has yearned hopefully for a big, fast, glittering musical comedy. It has it now, for last evening the fabulous Mike Todd brought in “Something for the Boys,” and as it danced its way across the stage of the Alvin is [sic] quite clearly was not only something pretty wonderful for the boys, but something for the girls as well. For Cole Porter has taken tunes from his topmost drawer, Herbert and Dorothy Fields have written words that are better than most, Hassard Short‡ has directed in his usual impeccable manner and Ethel Merman gives a performance that suggests all Merman performances before last night were simply practice.’* In mid-January, Porter travelled to California to work on Mississippi Belle; he wrote a newsy letter to William Skipper and continued his correspondence with Barney Glazer. Although no song along the lines suggested by Glazer in his letter of 4 November 1942 was written for the film, for others, as Porter wrote in several subsequent letters, he relied extensively on previously published historical American, English and Irish texts:
21 January 1943: Cole Porter to William Skipper42
Dear Skipper:
I told Dr. Sirmay of Chappell’s to send you the music of “JOIN THE NAVY” from Panama Hattie. Have you received it? Miss Moore will send you the complete lyrics as soon as the box in which they are hiding, is unpacked. I hope they will reach you in time to be useful.
I just arrived on the coast to be here six months, doing a picture for Warner’s and a very interesting picture too, as it’s all about the Erie Canal, Mississippi River and New Orleans, in the period from 1840 to 1860.† I have a lot of research work to do, but it’s so interesting and the story is so good that I’m all excited.
Our little show SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS looks like about the biggest hit I ever had. We were awfully lucky in New York to have the usual dead-pans practically sitting on the edges of their seats, so anxious were they for a big stinkin’ musical.
I saw Jack Riley‡ last night and I’m going to the Philharmonic with Freddie Nay§ tonight. Freddie has landed completely on his feet, he has a xis [sic] months contract at Paramount at $100.00 a week. Betty Grable* has decided she can’t go anywhere without him, so his life is just one beautiful bed of roses.
Left Lew† in fine form, he is playing the piano in the pit of SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS, and he also gets program credit for having staged several of the comedy numbers. Jack Cole‡ did a wonderful job with the dancing boys and girls and received outstanding notices in every newspaper.
Let me know about “JOIN THE NAVY”, and blessings on thee.
Write me when you have time.
[signed:] Cole
20 April 1943: Cole Porter to Benjamin Glazer43
Dear Barney:
For your information the following is a list of my sources for certain lyrics:
(1) AMO AMAS
Adapted from a late 18th Century drinking song entitled “AMO AMAS”. I found the original lyric on page 261 in “Early Songs of Uncle Sam” by George Stuyvesant Jackson, published by Bruce, Humphries, Inc., Boston, Mass.
(2) BROTH OF A BOY
The lyrics are adapted from the lyrics of a song entitled “LULLABY” on page 107 of the Volume “SONGS OF ERIN” published by Boosey & Company, London.
(3) THE GREEN HILLS OF COUNTY MAYO
The melody of this is adapted from the melody of “DOBBINS’ FLOWERY VALE” a traditional Irish air which I found in “Irish Country Songs”, Second volume, published by Boosey & Co., London, edited by Herbert Hughes.
The rest of the lyrics and melodies are, as far as I know, original, with the exception of scattered couplets which I have taken for MAMIE MAGDALIN and the LOADING SONG. These I found in “American Ballads and Folk Songs” by John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, published by The MacMillan Company, New York. According to the compilers of this book, all of these couplets are without authors.*
Forgive my not having shown you any more material lately, but Bill Ellfeldt† and I are still very busy putting new numbers down and I shall call you shortly.
Your sincerely,
[signed:] Cole Porter
5 May 1943: Cole Porter to Benjamin Glazer44
Dear Barney:
For your files, my song, “WHO’LL BID?” is adapted from the FEMALE AUCTIONEER, page 58, in the book AMERICANS AND THEIR SONGS by Frank Luther, published by Harper Brothers.‡
Sincerely,
Cole
24 May 1943: Cole Porter to Robert Buckner45
Dear Mr. Buckner:
RE: MISSISSIPPI BELLE
If in Scene 40, you find that you need two numbers instead of 1, I suggest that in addition to AMO AMAS, that you commence the scene with either GAUDEAMUS, on page 141 in the Harvard Song Book, published by the Harvard Glee Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1922, or INTEGER VITAE on page 163 in the same Harvard Song Book.
Sincerely yours,
[unsigned]
About this time, Jack Warner had the idea to produce a biopic of Porter’s life that was eventually released in 1946 as Night and Day, starring Cary Grant as Cole Porter and Alexis Smith as Linda Porter. Warner met with Porter, probably in the second week of May 1943, and subsequently sent him a telegram on 15 May: ‘Dear Cole: After our very lovely luncheon talk the other day I was sure that we would be able to get together and quickly close the deal on the screening of your life, using your great numbers and three or four new ones for what I am sure would make a great film. But the terms that are being outlined by Arthur Lyons . . . are so tough that I am sure it was not your intention to set it up on such a prohibitive plane. Therefore I think you should talk this over with Arthur* and tell him to bring it down to a realm of possibility as we want to go ahead to make what I know will be one of the most important pictures and a great tribute to yourself and your fine spirit.’46 Porter’s telegram of 17 May suggests that negotiations concerning the film had already started:
17 May 1943: Cole Porter to Jack Warner47
DEAR JACK IN REPLY TO YOUR WIRE THE “TOUGH TERMS” WHICH YOU SPEAK OF ARE NOT “TOUGH TERMS” INAUGURATED BY ARTHUR LYONS BUT ARE TERMS WHICH I HAVE DISCUSSED WITH HIM AND ARE THE ONLY TERMS IN WHICH I AM INTERESTED. I AM NOT IN A POSITION TO NEGOTIATE FOR THE RIGHTS OF A PICTURE OSTENSIBLY ABOUT MY LIFE AND USING MY SONGS AND SOME NEW SONGS FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN THE TERMS WHICH I HAVE DISCUSSED STOP I AM EXTREMELY FLATTERED THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUCH A PROPOSITION BUT AT THE SAME TIME I DO NOT WANT TO DISPOSE OF MY LIFES [sic] WORK UNLESS IT CAN BRING ME AT LEAST THE AMOUNT OF SECURITY THAT IS ESTABLISHED IN THE DEAL LYONS HAS SUBMITTED. I DO NOT LIKE TO BE IN THE POSITION OF PUTTING A PRICE ON MY HEAD WHICH SAYS IT IS WORTH A FIGURE WHICH CAN BE ARGUED ABOUT BUT THERE ARE PRECEDENTS IN FORMER PICTURES OF THIS TYPE WHICH INDICATE A STANDARD OF VALUE AND I THEREFORE DO NOT THINK THAT THE TERMS ARTHUR LYONS QUOTED ARE EXHORBITANT [sic]. MY BEST TO YOU BOTH=COLE PORTER.
In June, Porter received a mug as a present from Lauren Bacall �
�� a sign of his increasing intimacy with the Hollywood crowd – and shortly afterwards, on 18 July, while he was travelling in Mexico, he sent a postcard to Sam Stark, co-owner of the jewellery shops located in the I. Magnin stores, a recent friend who from this time on was a regular correspondent of Porter’s.* Coincidentally, the same month he signed the contract for his next Broadway musical, Mexican Hayride. The show is only occasionally alluded to in his surviving correspondence. Instead, it was his work with Warner Brothers – on Mississippi Belle and Night and Day (which at the time was tentatively titled Cavalcade) – that was the chief concern of his correspondence for the next several years, both with the studio and with his lovers and his friends, foremost among them Stark.
10 June 1943: Cole Porter to Lauren Bacall†
Dear Betty:
Thank you again for the super mug. You were sweet to think of me, and I love you dearly.
[signed:] Ole Cole
18 July 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark48
Dear Sam –
This is just one great laugh after another + the only blot is the absence of our beloved Sam.
I miss you awfully + I love you deeply – Cole
14 [August] 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark49
Sat. 14, 43 Williamstown
Sam,
You are a lamb to have sent me all those films! And your letters have been so swell. Why are you tellement good to me? I don’t get it. It couldn’t be – but Sam, I’m so old. So Sam, let’s drop it – that is, all but my gratitude which is vast.
This place is Heaven-in-the-mountains + the peace + privacy of it, not to mention the comfort and the food – well, my pretty, you’d approve. Lytell [sic] and Helen Hull* are here too + Hubert Le Jeune but they are in the main house + as I breakfast here in Ze Cottage + never lunch, we only meet at dinner. Which is a blessing as Porter is at work and hard, writing a show† so that he can afford to open Camp Cole again in January.
Please tell all this to dear little Roger as I know how he resents getting letters. Tell him also that the carload of Chiclets arrived for which I bless him. Don’t mention the fact, however, that he wrote to me saying he was sending me Choclits!
I enclose a clipping for Paul‡ from Lew.
Thank that old miner, Jim Shields§ for the postcard from Morelia which I could read and warn Willie that Linda is coming out to visit me next spring so for Christ’s sake, will he please plan to whip up that damned pergola.
Goodnight Sam + my great love to you + all that gang that I miss but oh so much.
Cole
Also, tell Roger that Linda is in top form + calls all the flowers by their Latin names. And I forgot, give Paul a beega Keess.
9 June 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark50
Sam –
It’s 4 A.M + I’m slightly plastered but you must know that my big event of 1943 was the Great Gertzen.*
As for the gifts, Number One, Number Two and Number Three, they merely make me repeat the fact that
Cole Loves Sam!
Isn’t it curious how quickly one moves†
In the summer of 1943, Cole and Howard Sturges travelled to Mexico. Shortly after his return both he and Linda wrote to Jean Howard:
15 August 1943: Cole Porter to Jean Howard51
Dear Jeannie –
This is everything that’s wonderful – Linda is in top form and the place is all in technicolor. I miss you lots and love you more.
My love to Charlie et pour La Ess,‡ a beega goose.
Your slave –
Cole.
18 August 1943: Linda Porter to Jean Howard52
Is Ess still with you? . . . She does, as you say, make a house come alive. Cole has that same wonderful quality! . . . Cole & [Howard] Sturges came up for a long weekend after they finally got back from Mexico where they spent a very exciting two weeks. Coley looked well, but tired. No wonder! They missed plane connections in Brownsville, Texas & lost days on the return trip! I have turned Buxton Hill over to Coley and he invites whom he pleases for weekends. Last week we were entirely alone as he wanted to work but this Friday he is bringing [Howard] Sturges & Ollie Jennings . . . I wish you were here, Jeannie, to see the changes I have made in the garden & grounds – the place is beginning to look RIGHT. Should you come to N.Y. before I close the house you must come up & see for yourself. I never think about the house – only about the shrubs & flowers and I do without clothes to buy them. Coley has been an angel & helped me out just as I was getting into debt. That was heaven.
During the first week of August, Porter sent Sam Stark a collection of English and American short stories:
3 August 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark53
Dear Sam:
A book entitled MODERN ENGLISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE, by Somerset Maugham,* will arrive shortly for you. I highly recommend it as being beautifully edited.
There are two stories especially that I want you to read, the first is THE FOG HORN by Gertrude Atherton, the second is ROMAN FEVER by Edith Wharton.
Thank you for your nice wire, and please take goo [sic] care of that little pal, as he is very delicate.
I shall write you shortly.
Love,
[signed:] Cole
And Porter’s agent, Arthur Lyons, concluded the deal with Warner Bros. for Night and Day; Jack Warner telegrammed Porter on 7 August: ‘DEAR COLE: HAVE JUST CULMINATED THE DEAL WITH ARTHUR LYONS FOR THE STORY OF YOUR MOST WONDERFUL LIFE. AM POSITIVE WE HERE AT THE STUDIO WITH YOUR AID WILL MAKE A PICTURE WE WILL ALL BE PROUD OF.’54 Porter replied by telegram on 9 August:
9 August 1943: Cole Porter to Jack Warner55
DEAR JACK. I AM DELIGHTED TO HEAR THAT DEAL HAS BEEN SET AND I AM SURE WE CAN MAKE A SWELL PICTURE. LOVE TO ANNIE AND YOU. COLE
Negotiations concerning Night and Day – continued through the summer. Jack Warner dealt primarily with Arthur Lyons, but on 14 August wrote to Porter directly in an attempt to secure publishing rights for new numbers in the film: ‘I have been talking to Arthur Lyons about the additional new numbers to be written for the picture . . . we are very anxious to have our own music company publish these numbers, the same as we do with the rest of our pictures . . . I realize that you have an understanding with Chappell and Max Dreyfus, but I think this picture is a little different and that our music company should handle the publishing of these few numbers . . . I am writing directly to you because I think it is a question that you will have to answer, as you are the only one to determine who should publish the music.’56 In the event, no new numbers were composed for Night and Day.
That summer, Porter and his friend Howard Sturges had travelled to Mexico for two weeks and, though tired upon their return, enjoyed a visit at Buxton Hill from friends such as Nelson Barclift and Ollie Jennings. Porter mentioned his visitors in a postcard to Sam Stark of 27 August. And he was increasingly impatient for a contract to be signed with MGM:
27 August 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark57
Dear Sam –
Thank heaven Daisy + her pals are safe. Barclift + Artie + Sturges are here with us. Barclift + Artie go to England in a month to play London for 12 weeks, then the provinces, then etc. My love to you + all your wicked gang.
C.
13 September 1943: Cole Porter to Arthur Lyons58
WHAT IS THE REASON FOR DELAY IN SUBMITTING TO ME WARNER BROTHERS CONTRACT FOR CAVALCADE. I SUPPOSED ALL DETAILS HAD BEEN WORKED OUT. IS THERE ANYTHING OF IMPORTANCE HOLDING IT UP. PLEASE ADVISE ME. COLE
Porter finally signed a contract with Warner Bros. on 29 December 194359 and during the autumn of that year, and well into 1944, he wrote frequently to Sam Stark and occasionally to Monty Woolley:
14 September 1943: Cole Porter to Sam Stark60
Sammie –
Extraordinary postcards continue to arrive from you for which I am always grateful. But where in hell do they come from? Have you a secret cave somewhere? I don’t get it.
Tell Roger that I dined with Louisa Wednesday n
ight, in her apartment. Ernest was there and Alex and all the dogs and great quantities of wonderful champagne. Of course, he has the news of Nonny’s 8 ½ pound boy.
Please congratulate Paul on his acceptance of the jalopy. I received word from Bill Gray that the transfer had been arranged + I’m so grateful to Paul that, at last, he came off his high horse.*
To get back to Topic A. I’m really at work.* Therefore, I make very little sense. This may account for the fact that I lost your letter, giving me the dates of your visit to N.Y.C. So please write or wire all details, once more. Give me time to get you seats for Oklahoma.† Also let me know when or if I can steal you for a week-end here. In any case, give me the data as to when I can see you. If I could see you all the time + throw you a ball, every night, that would make me happiest but I know that you + Allen‡ will be in New York together + naturally will prefer to remain, more or less, unmolested. But it would be le grand luxe to steal you away from time to time, without destroying your binge.
My love to my favorite firm, Haines§ + Fickeisen + my blessings upon you, dear Sam. You might also embrace Rodger + Laverne for me.