by Cole Porter
Have you heard from Mrs Bearss?* I believe she is still in New York. I miss her so much, she is so happy and cheerful – a great person. The house seems vacant without her, and also I miss you and all – I gained a lot while resting carefree there!
How is radiant Elise?† I am glad she is having a happy time, give her my love please and tell her I often think of that pretty little tea party at the Waldorf – it was sweet of her. And now I must hie me to the New York Herald Tribune for the late news. Take care of yourself Mrs Smith – perhaps I may hear from you again?
Affectionately K. C. Porter
But Porter seems to have missed the London opening, choosing instead to stay in California, as Linda revealed in a letter to Sam Stark: ‘Cole is so happy in California – his rest has done him endless good – his only worry seems to be the loss of his excellent cook, but perhaps the new one he has engaged will turn out well – I do hope she tries.’20
Nor was Porter interested in further projects that came through, including the idea of turning Fields and Chodorov’s‡ 1940 play and its 1942 film adaptation, My Sister Eileen, into a musical (it became the successful Wonderful Town by Bernstein, Comden and Green):
11 April 1951: Cole Porter to Ben Schankman21
Dear Ben:
In answer to your letter of April 5, 1951, I am not interested in the production which Gloria Safier* and Irene Sharaff† propose for Nymph Errant.
In answer to your letter of April 4, 1951, I have read the play My Sister Eileen and cannot possibly see how it can be made into a musical without hurting the subject matter.
In regard to the Bing Crosby picture, I must stress the fact that no word has ever come to me from Paramount direct, and since Louis Shurr’s departure, I have heard no word at all from Bing Crosby. So all of this enthusiasm may be mostly in Louis Shurr’s mind. Therefore, I suggest that we wait for direct word from Paramount before talking to Paramount through Louis Shurr. Don’t you think this is more dignified?
I have just received notes from ASCAP.22 There is one paragraph entitled Writer’s Representation By Income Classes. It then goes on to mention that there is one writer in the “more than 1,000 point classes”. Under this, it mentions one writer in the “1,000 point class”; and under this, one writer in the “950 point class”; and again under this, four writers in the “900 point class”. Can you tell me where I stand in this rating?
I enclose the vote which I have been asked to make by ASCAP. I have signed it, but I leave it to you to signify my vote and post it to ASCAP, as I don’t know how I should vote.
Sincerely,
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
He also turned down the opportunity23 to turn John Colton’s 1941 movie The Shanghai Gesture into a musical to star Marlene Dietrich, and a proposed Bing Crosby film for Paramount mentioned in the letter of 11 April above (the movie may have been Just For You, which was released in 1952 with a score by Harry Warren):
25 April 1951: Cole Porter to Ben Schankman24
Dear Ben:
Will you please write to Mr. Maurice C. Brockway, whose letter I enclose, telling him that due to previous engagements, I cannot consider writing a score for the Shanghai Gesture.
All my best.
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
2 May 1951: Cole Porter to Louis Schurr, Savoy Hotel, London25
Dear Louis:
Thank you for the long cablegram. I cannot change my mind about the Crosby picture. I am sure that the script, however excellent, is not my dish.
Have a lot of fun, and please come back with a heavy British accent.
All my best to Bob Hope and to you, dear Louis.
Sincerely
[signed:] Cole
[typed:] Cole Porter
By the end of May, Porter was vexed by all the projects that had been proposed to him, as he lamented in the next three letters to Bella Spewack:
29 May 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack26
Dear Bella: –
Thank you so much for the post card with the tinsel on it.
It was nice to hear that Sam [Spewack] is writing the new play, and I wish him great success.
Any number of people have sent me bad ideas for musicals, both for pictures and for New York. I am surprised that you have been so lax as not to have sent something brilliant by now.
All my best to you both,
Sincerely,
[signed:] Cole
30 May 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack27
Dear Bella: –
I am sending you, under separate cover, a copy of the play “Berkeley Square”.* This was suggested to me as a possible basis for a musical. So far, I have read only one act and, with my usual lack of imagination, I can’t see it – but perhaps if you and Sam would look it over, you might find something possible here.
I hope you are having a wonderful time.
All my best to you both,
[signed:] Cole
14 June 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack28
Dear Bella:
As your letter dated June 9, 1951, though full of hysterical charm, contained so many difficult questions, I have forwarded it to Ben Schankman who will answer you direct.
After reading Berkeley Square carefully, I don’t believe it has enough guts for the basis of a musical. Don’t you agree?
My best to you both
Cole.
My address is always ze Waldorf.
In addition to the lack of work, Porter’s fluctuating income affected his taxes, leading to an extended discussion with his advisers as to how to deal with it. He describes some of the issues in the first of the following two letters to Stark, as well as sharing gossip about the affair between the Duchess of Windsor (the former Wallis Simpson) and Jimmie Donahue, the Woolworth heir:
4 June 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark29
Sam lamb –
Endless Theatre Magazines, bound, arrived today. I hate to think of your expressage bill but I thank you.
Linda & I drove up here in state, last Thursday, to find first, two days of unbearable heat + since then, rain + suffocating humidity so thank heaven for the great air-conditioned indoors.
The big meeting with the lawyers, the tax experts and the accountant took place with a strange result. Instead of giving up the California house, I am practically condemned to six months of it per annum as I can write off 60% of my California expenses but only 50% of my N.Y.C. sejour. As for Williamstown, it is considered pure extravagance. Therefore, if I can make a decent deal with the Hainses, I shall take 416 for another five years after Sept. 1952.
Linda is not as well as she should be but she’s a hell of a lot of fun. She says that Jimmie Donahue’s* valet is quoted as having said “Mr. Jimmie’s relationship with the Duchess,† I realize now, is more than a friendship. After he has been out with her, I always find lip-stick on his shorts.” Linda adds “Tricks she learned in China, I presume.”
Goodnight Sammie. Stay thin + don’t go to Mexico for too long. I return, probably with Sturges at the end of the month. Love to y’all. Cole.
8 June 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark30
Dear Li’l Sam:
Forgive me for flooding your mail-box with letters but I hasten to thank you for the New Yorker article on wines which will help me especially on the coast.
[Howard] Sturges is due in N.Y. in a few days although he is always so intangible that we may not pin this old butterfly down for months.
I enclose a birthday greeting for your files.
Love from us,
Cole
In the background, things were more mixed than Porter had confessed. A letter from his valet Paul Sylvain to Stark reveals that both of the Porters had been suffering from health problems: ‘. . . Mmr. C.P. is in good health and spirits and his appetite has increased somehow. He will soon regain the few pounds he lost in Hollywood if he keeps up eating so much more than he used to. Mrs. C.P. I’m sorry to say is not much b
etter. However her fighting heart is still strong and is still hanging on firmly to life.’31 But Porter’s messages to Stark continued to focus on the lack of excitement in his life (mostly occasioned by the lack of a musical to work on):
18 June 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark32
W’mst’n, Mass.
Dear Sam:
A letter + a theatre program from Guadalajara. I’ll bet that zarzuela you saw was a pip!
Life is very quiet here but Linda + I are having enough fun to make up for terrible weather. After a week of endless rain, we are wilting under a stifling heat-wave. Why did God give all the good climate to California?
[Howard] Sturge[s] + I fly to L.A. on July 2nd where he will stay for two weeks only. After that I shall be entirely alone. Poor Cole, all alone + no friend in Dana Point to come up + visit him.
I envy you your trip, however, so please see everything without taking snapshots.
We send love to you, Sammie + I send my very best to Allen [Walker].
The Dull Mr. Porter.
Indeed, by the middle of June, the composer seems to have started more seriously to consider Berkeley Square as a property after all:
21 June 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack33
Dear Bella: –
Thank you for your letter of June 18th. I am still scared about Berkeley Square; but I am very interested in the fact that Sam has an original idea for a musical. Please tell me more about this. I like very much the idea of Ray Bolger as a lead, with a bevy of beautiful girls. It seems to me that this is important at the present moment. A good example of the lack of colorful background is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.* In spite of George Abbott’s having engaged top artists for the sets and costumes, it is so ugly to look at.
My plans are to go to California for July and August, after which I shall be either here in New York or in Williamstown, Mass. – but my address is always the Waldorf.
I talked to Ben Schankman on the telephone about the matters which you mentioned, and he asked me to forward your letter on to him and he will answer you direct.
All my best to you both,
[signed:] Cole
P.S. – I have no idea whatsoever as to who has the rights for Berkeley Square, nor who would consider producing it. Frances Goldwyn* simply gave me a copy, saying that she thought it might make a good musical.
On 10 July, Porter was given the opportunity to write a musical for Mercury Records, with the idea of launching it as an album before it appeared on the stage. (‘His idea is to start the music prior to its production, using the show album as more or less of a testing ground . . . He is prepared to offer you participation almost at your own price.’)34 One might have thought that kind of music-centred approach would have suited Porter, who does not seem to have particularly enjoyed engaging with book writers on the whole, and it is curious that this idea pre-dated the Lloyd Webber-Rice musicals (several of which started as albums) by nearly two decades. But even this does not appear to have tempted Porter, and the following letters to Bella Spewack and Sam Stark make it sound as if he had settled in for a quiet summer in California:
12 July 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack35
Dear Bella:
Thank you so much for the postcard covered with tinsel. I was very amused to see that the young lady was playing a lute.†
We rented the Chateau de la Garoupe for two summers – 1921 and 1922 – and enjoyed every moment. But in those days we were considered crazy, as it was before the days anyone went to the Riviera in the summer, as the weather was considered too hot.
I shall be here at 416 North Rockingham Avenue, Los Angeles until September first, but it is better always to address me care of The Waldorf.
My best to you both.
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
12 July 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark36
Dear Sam:
Your notes and your theatre programs have kept me in constant touch with you. But your news of yesterday about Dud* has made me very sad indeed and I hope you will keep me posted as to his progress.
[Howard] Sturges received bad news also yesterday. A cable arrived, saying that Christos had had a terrible automobile accident. He fractured his hips in seven places and his right arm in eleven places. He is in a hospital in Bayonne.
At the present moment, [Howard] Sturges decided not to rush back, as Christos’ sweetheart and her husband are both living nearby and promised to take excellent care of him. So Sturges will leave here Saturday to stay with Whitney Warren† for a bit and then spend most of August with Linda before returning to France.
We have been having a whirl here, due mostly to Sturges being with me. It is wonderful to watch him weave his magic spell upon everyone he meets. In fact, it is going to be very lonesome without him, as he – like you – has the rare genius of companionship with humor.
Even if you do come back earlier than you anticipated, I don’t see how you can spend much time with me, what with Dud being so laid up. But I shall continue here in my little home until September first, notwithstanding.
Sturges and I both send you love and our best to Allen [Walker]. Thank you again for the programs and the letters.
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
18 July 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark37
Dear Sam:
Your letter dated July 18th arrived. Naturally, it alarmed me greatly, as if Allen [Walker] expects a very fine position in Mexico it will mean that you will never come back.
The rat movement which you started here is growing. First, you ratted on me. Then Sturge came and filled in all Southern California with his blythe light. Then he ratted on me. Merle [Oberon], who had intended to stay practically all summer, rats on me. She flies to Monte Carlo to do a picture. Jean [Howard Feldman] rats on July 16th, when she and Charley [Feldman] go to Europe.
I practically never see Robert,* as he is so busy being a father and mother to his children. Roger Davis is so angry with Fannie [sic] Brice for not leaving him a fortune, that he has a hate for everyone who loved Fannie. He is, therefore, out of my life also.
I blame all the above on you. It is wonderful, however, to hear of your having a whirl in Mexico, and I wish you many happy days and nights.
Linda’s health is only fair, but you are not supposed to know this. She has cronies staying with her until August first, when Sturges goes back to stay a month. Then I appear for September and October.
It was very nice to read your letter that Dudley is improving. Please give Allen and him all my best and continue to write to me – even if you do contemplate becoming an ex-patriate.
Love,
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
In mid-July, still with no new musical on the horizon, Porter reacted well to the suggestion of a studio album of Nymph Errant (1933), an early Porter show that was not performed live in America until 1982:
25 July 1951: Cole Porter to Ben Schankman38
Dear Ben:
Thank you for your letter of July 20, with check enclosed from the Music Publisher Holding Co. I shall welcome the other checks as soon as you can have them sent, for you know what a great amount out of each check must go for taxes.
I return to you the letter from Stan Stanley, and I wish you would speak to him directly regarding this. I agree with you that I see no reason for having a show record album made of an unproduced musical. But I also think that it might be an excellent idea to make an album of my English show, Nymph Errant. This score is in the hands of Chappell in London. It would be a wonderful idea if we could get Mary Martin to do most of the numbers.
As for the other show, Wake Up and Dream, I don’t think this score contains enough interest for an album.
All my best wishes.
Sincerely,
[signed:] Cole
By August, Porter and the Spewacks were starting to have discussions about the film version of Kiss Me, Kate, now that the London and national tour productions were
open:
1 August 1951: Cole Porter to Bella Spewack39
Dear Bella:
Thank you very much for your letter of July 25, 1951. I immediately called up Rita Hayworth and asked whether she would consider the possibility of Kiss Me, Kate as a picture. Her reply immediately was that she liked it enormously, but found that the part of Kate was much too vocal for her. I asked her whether she had mentioned Kiss Me, Kate to Harry Cohn* and she said she had not, but that she would. I have heard nothing since and from her attitude, I am afraid it is a lost cause.
Her remarks about the part being too vocal had nothing to do with the fact that the part was written for a soprano. I agree with you perfectly that it could be sung in a picture by a mezzo-soprano, or by a contralto. But if the part is to be sung at all, it must be well sung to be effective. I believe it would have been tactless of me to mention the fact that her, Rita’s, voice could be dubbed.
I am sending you a play, entitled A Tailor-Made Man,* for you and Sam [Spewack] to look over as a possibility for a musical. It was sent to me by John Wharton, who thinks that it has great possibilities. I doubt these possibilities.
I arrive in New York on the night of August 31 and intend to leave for Williamstown the next morning. I plan to return to New York on September 12, to be there until September 14, but if you and Sam have any ideas as to what you want to talk to me about, I could come down to the city sooner.
All my best to you, dear Bella. I am so glad that you are enjoying Antibes so much.
Sincerely,
[signed:] Cole
Cole Porter
Porter’s continued boredom is apparent from the following letter to Stark, whose return from a trip was a great relief to the composer:
1 August 1951: Cole Porter to Sam Stark40
Dear Sam:
Thank you very much for the alarming paragraph regarding male hormones. I immediately called up Jack Schwab,† who told me that my Creon tablets were quite harmless, and that I need not worry in the least. Aren’t you the one to cause trouble!
I received also two more programs from you, which interest me a great deal, and today a letter saying that you would arrive in Dana Point around August 14. Please call me up quick upon your arrival, as I leave here on August 31.