The Letters of Cole Porter

by Cole Porter

  I enclose the lyrics to a new song. It is for the spot where our leading lady is a cashier in a bistro. I still have to write the verse of this song, which will say that if she has done at all well it is because of a little folk song which her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. The music of this number is in three-quarter tempo and has the feeling of a French Java.* I shall send this to you as soon as a lead sheet can be made.

  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this show and how confident I am that you will write a delightful book.

  All my best.

  [signed:] Cole

  Porter continued to work at ‘The Law’ and asked Burrows to return the version he had sent him so that he could replace it with another. He also asks in this letter for advice on how another song was going to fit in the book:

  5 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows78

  Dear Abe[,] Please return to me as soon as possible the lead sheet of the song entitled “The Law” which I sent you. I have greatly improved it. Also let me know as soon as possible the situation for an important ballad which I have written for the male lead entitled “To Think That This Could Happen To Me”[.] I don’t want to write any lyrics of it until I am sure they will fit the situation. The angle which I would like to write would be the happiness of the male lead now that he has found love. I believe it would be better if this song was sung to the girl but perhaps I could write it so he could sing it either to her or alone on stage[.] All my best = Cole

  Parallel to these discussions, Cy Feuer wrote to Burrows, rather discouraged by the quality of Porter’s latest work:

  7 July 1952: Cy Feuer to Abe Burrows79

  Dear Abe:

  As you know, Cole has been writing like hell and, in my opinion, of late not too well. I realize the importance of not stopping a guy when he’s rolling, but I have come to think that one of my problems is to slow him down without actually inhibiting him – if such a thing is possible.

  The LAW song, which you received, is musically clever and would probably orchestrate brilliantly. Lyrically, I’m afraid it leans a bit toward the Gilbert & Sullivan, which early in the show would establish the wrong level. I have pointed this out to Cole and he honestly doesn’t understand it. Not having anything further to go on than the idea, it was difficult for me to carry the argument any further than mere disagreement. Considering that he stayed up all night (finished work at 6 A.M.) it didn’t seem the proper time to put the heavy knock on the material.

  I would like to point out that aside from the Gilbert & Sullivan aspect of the lyrical answers by the BOYS, the lyric itself is not too bad and could possibly be fixed to work. Cole asked me to tell you that what he meant by BOYS was whatever characters would normally be available to do the lyrical answers. He’s afraid that the word “boys” has a chorus connotation that he didn’t actually intend.

  He has an idea for a ballad entitled TO THINK THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME, about which he is very high. He has already written the music and has decided not to write the lyric until getting further information from you. Unfortunately, I find the music very usual and not at all up to the kind of thing to be expected from Porter. Today or tomorrow I am going out to tell him so and have him try to come up with something melodically superior.

  Give my love to Karen [sic]* and Ernie [Martin].† More later.

  Love and kisses,

  [signed:] Cy

  Since he did not know of Feuer’s misgivings, Porter continued to work on the score:

  8 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows80

  Dear Abe:

  After wiring you regarding the ballad I have written entitled TO THINK THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME, saying that I would not write any lyrics to it until I heard from you, I got out of hand and wrote the lyrics which I enclose. I don’t see how this lyric can NOT be correct and, as I believe, it is the best lyric that I have written for a long time, I only pray that it will be correct, bookwise, for the important ballad of the show. Please send me your quick opinion about this.

  I enclose a first refrain of WHAT A FAIR THING IS A WOMAN. Cy Feuer mentioned to me a scene in which you show either a painter or a sculptor in the middle of his work, as he paints or sculpts a beautiful model. I could easily write three more refrains for your three other Quatz Arts* boys. Each refrain would have a surprise ending and perhaps the four boys could dance to this for a finish, as they do in La Boheme in the studio. The music of this song is a lively, faintly Viennese, waltz.

  I also enclose the lyrics of MONTMARTRE, which is a spirited march. This might be useful for the finish or the closing of some scene.

  My very best to you.

  [signed:] Cole

  Of these three titles, only ‘Montmartre’ would make it into the show.

  Burrows continued to be both deferential and patient with Porter in his response, but it is obvious from the following letter that he wanted to encourage the composer to write the score with more consideration of its relationship to the book:

  8 July 1952: Abe Burrows to Cole Porter81

  Dear Cole:

  I have just sent back the lead sheet on THE LAW, as you requested. Of course, I don’t know how you plan to change it but, from what I can see offhand, the feel of the song seems to be very right, and I think it will make a wonderful number.

  In your letter, you ask for some further phrases about the law. I have attached a sheet of random notes on which I have put everything that pops into my head on the subject at the moment.

  In regard TO THINK THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME, I am not quite sure of the situation that will surround it, but I am fairly certain that there will be a situation that such a song would fit.

  Our hero is going to fall in love with the girl and he is going to be astounded by this fact. I should think it would be a good idea if the lyrics would contain, in addition to the hero’s happiness, something about the fact that he is surprised by all this. This is a fellow who never thought he would fall in love with a woman, never thought he was capable of emotions like that. He was sure that his only interest was the law.

  Incidentally, I have developed a little sidelight on this fellow’s character I would like to tell you about: I think the key is the fact that he is a judge at the age of, let’s say, 37, certainly no more than 40. A man who becomes a judge at this age must have really worked hard. He is a sort of legal Wunderkind, and he must have had time for very little else besides the law in his life. Women would have been a distraction; normal emotions would have been a bother. Consequently, there is a whole segment missing from our hero’s life, and, therefore, he has some very unFrench lack of interest in all the amenities and delights of life.

  Consequently, when love hits this man, his reactions will be slightly atomic. He’ll be frightened, happy, chilled, warmed, ecstatic, puzzled, upset, shocked and delighted. This sounds like the love reaction of a schoolboy, but it’s my theory that our hero’s emotional growth stopped temporarily the day he entered school.

  Anyway, you can see from all this that TO THINK THAT THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO ME is actually what our hero would say. However, I do think you are right in not wanting to rush into doing the lyrics until you know a little more about the situation.

  As to whether he sings it to the girl or alone, I couldn’t say anything about that either as yet. Of course, that would affect the song very much. If she is present, I guess he wouldn’t expose his thrilled bewilderment as much as if he were alone.

  I am plowing away at the story back here. I took some penicillin last week and now am covered with a few unsightly lumps. I don’t think any disease is as dangerous as penicillin. Mankind will yet live to regret inventing it. However, I feel good and very happy about the whole project.

  Best,

  [unsigned]

  In his parallel correspondence with Feuer, Burrows confessed that he had invited Porter to suggest song ideas for certain spots but did not want him to start writing ‘until we’ve checked’.82 To Porter himself, he wrot
e gently but critically, warning him against writing generic material:

  14 July 1952: Abe Burrows to Cole Porter83

  Dear Cole:

  I got the lyrics and your note on Saturday, but I wanted to mull the stuff over a bit before answering.

  It’s really quite difficult for me, at this moment, to give you a valid opinion about whether or not any lyric is correct. I’m still striving for a clean overall picture, and so my individual scenic ideas are all vague or half-formed both as to action, content and character.

  I hope I don’t sound ponderous but I always approach these things with the intensity that one devotes to a serious play. I have always felt, and I know you agree with me, that a musical should make as much sense as anything else in the theatre.

  I honestly feel that it is impossible for you to write a bad lyric. Your artistic instincts are too sound and true, but I do know that when I give you some more scenic meat and character content, you will be able to fatten up lyrical content (with all this talk of meat and fat, I sound like a butcher).

  One of the things I always fear in a musical is a preponderance of what I call “generic songs” -- that is, songs that would fit any musical. In our case, this would refer to songs that would fit any French musical. I think the value of our show will be its uniqueness and this uniqueness can only be obtained by a complete unity of characters, scenes and songs.

  Now, on the other hand, I know that important ballads must have universal meaning and shouldn’t be overly restricted, otherwhise [sic] you’d have no scope. When a fellow or a girl fall in love, their feelings are of a universal character and I guess love talk is pretty much the same in any language. However, I think even love ballads can be tailored to the level and uniqueness of our particular show.

  For instance, in a song like TO THINK THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME, it would seem to me that the fact that the man is a staid judge, in love for the first time, would make it obligatory for the song to represent an explosion of emotion. I really feel the judge would take the whole thing very big, much bigger than the lyric suggests. Of course, it may be possible that we want to show the judge in two stages of his emotional development: In one stage he is vaguely loved and titillated and, in the next stage, he bursts forth. I think this is open to discussion. If you have any ideas on this, I’d love to hear them.

  Any notions you have about any of the characters would be of enormous help to me. For instance, I am working on a secondary story line which uses one of the Quatre Arts boys and one of the laundresses. Tentatively, he is a sculptor very modern and unsuccessful. At present, he is engaged in making an enormous statue. His stuff is always enormous and unsaleable, but she loves him and she supports him. However, he loves other women for the beauty and symmetry of their bodies, and he cheats on her in the completely unguilty fashion of the French, especially the bohemian French. She accepts his cheating ungrudgingly because she doesn’t want to be thought bourgeois. I wonder if you have any song ideas that might fit into this or that might give the relationship a character twist.

  Another item: Cy has told you about the fact that I’m trying to get a duel scene into the second act. It would obviously be treated tongue-in-cheek. I am sure it would use the Quatre Arts boys and our hero and, probably, Senator Marceaux, who is the man chiefly responsible for the growth of censorship in Paris. I think you and I agree that duels are rather silly things which are taken fairly seriously by the participants. Duels solve nothing except they just vaguely save someone’s honor. Honor in this case is a very pompous and bumptious word. I wonder if you have any ideas for expressing the character of such a duel musically. There might be a funny notion here. The duel proper will be between our hero and the senator. The Quatre Arts boys will be seconds of our hero. Other people present might be a doctor, spectators, etc. There might be a spot for a song at the beginning of the scene if the Quatre Arts boys arrive before the principals. Let me know what you think.

  WHAT A FAIR THING IS A WOMAN looks like a very funny idea. However, here again I am not exactly certain of the situation, although I am sure the basic notion will fit.

  This has been a very long, verbose letter. I do hope it makes some sense. I think the most important thing I’d like to see happen is for us to have a steady exchange of rough ideas. I will not plunge into any scenes until I check with you and I hope you will send me any rough ideas you have. I think this will save us both a lot of work.

  I feel quite diffident about writing this letter. I do hope I haven’t sounded critical. I haven’t meant to. It’s a great thing for me to be working with you and all I want to do is to get complete synchronization between us.

  Please write me soon.

  Best,

  [unsigned]

  Porter does not seem to have been pleased to have ‘To Think That This Could Happen To Me’, his favourite new song, critiqued by Feuer (he had not yet received Burrows’s letter of 14 July), but little could undo his enthusiasm at being at work once more on a musical:

  15 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows84

  Dear Abe:

  Thank you very much indeed for your letter of July 8, 1952.

  I have noted the details about our leading man and when I start writing another ballad for him to sing I shall try to follow them closely. At the moment Cy Feuer doesn’t think TO THINK THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME is an important enough song. Personally, I do, but we may both change our minds.

  I hope your penicillin is much better.

  All my best.

  Sincerely,

  [signed:] Cole

  Two letters from Porter to his lawyer John Wharton show his ongoing business affairs, including a possible movie version of Jubilee;* the second is especially amusing:

  15 July 1952: Cole Porter to John Wharton85

  Dear John:

  Will you please answer the enclosed letter from Ray Stark?* I don’t like this fellow, Ray Stark. Twice in the past he has put me in a most embarrassing position with Paramount, so if you allow him to represent me on this deal concerning JUBILEE I should not be put in an embarrassing position again.

  I also enclose a letter from an old friend of mind [sic], Edward R. Tauch, Jr., 250 East 49th Street, New York, New York. Would you kindly look into the two matters which he mentions in his letter?

  All my best.

  Sincerely,

  [signed:] Cole

  22 July 1952: Cole Porter to John Wharton86

  Dear John:

  Thank you very much for your letter of July 19, 1952.

  Please tell Jane Rubin that I should be very interested in working on a musical version of THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET† if she can guarantee me a singing dog.‡

  All my best.

  [unsigned]

  Another important event from July was the announcement that MGM had bought the screen rights to Kiss Me, Kate, with a view to making it in the coming months.87

  The Can-Can correspondence resumes with a letter from Porter to Burrows in which he announces that he has replaced ‘To Think That This Could Happen to Me’ with a new song and asks for advice on another song:

  22 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows88

  Dear Abe:

  Your very interesting letter of July 14th arrived.

  I now agree with you and Cy [Feuer] about the number called TO THINK THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME and I have written a new song, titled I AM IN LOVE, the lyrics to which I enclose herewith. I have been working on this new song so hard that I haven’t had time to work on anything else but I hope to begin on your idea about the sculptor song shortly. In your letter, however, is [sic] isn’t clear to me whether you want the sculptor to sing it or his laundress girlfriend. Please let me know about this.

  I also enclose the complete lyrics of WHAT A FAIR THING IS A WOMAN.

  All my very best to you, dear Abe, and thank you again for your letter.

  [signed:] Cole

  P.S. I have just played and sang (with my beautiful voice) I AM IN LOVE to Cy and he th
inks that both the music and lyrics are right for the spot. In fact he is very enthusiastic about it and this makes me happy, as it was such a tough job to solve.

  Without waiting for a reply, Porter carried on working and wrote two telegrams in quick succession, informing Burrows of decisions he had made about the lyrics:

  23 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows*

  I WROTE YOU YESTERDAY REGARDING THE SONG YOU MENTIONED FOR EITHER THE SCULPTOR OF [SIC] HIS TOLERANT GIRLFRIEND. I HOPE THAT THIS SONG CAN BE SUNG BY THE TOLERANT GIRLFRIEND AND NOT THE SCULPTOR AS I HAVE NEARLY FINISHED A SONG ENTITLED QUOTE YOU WILL ONE DAY RETURN TO ME UNQUOTE. THIS IS A LIGHT COMEDY SONG IN WHICH SHE SAYS THAT HE CAN PLAY AROUND AS MUCH AS HE WISHES WITH AS MANY GIRLS AS HE LIKES BECAUSE SHE KNOWS THAT ONE DAY HE WILL RETURN TO HER. MAY I GO ON WITH THIS? ALL MY BEST = COLE

  23 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows89

  DEAR ABE SINCE MY FORMER TELEGRAM TO YOU TODAY I HAVE CHANGED THE TITLE OF THE NEW SONG TO “YOU WILL ONE DAY PREFER ME” BEST=COLE

  Burrows’s reply has not survived but the next letter from Porter, written from Peru, Indiana, reveals the sad news that his mother was dying:

  28 July 1952: Cole Porter to Abe Burrows90

  Dear Abe:

  I enclose four lyrics to a new song which I hope can be sung by one of our Quatz’ Arts boys. The tune is a lively fox-trot + it sounds like a hit as the melody is easy + the rhythm makes it good to dance to.

  I write from here as my mother had a serious stroke and is quickly dying. As soon as this is over, I shall return to the coast. Until then, my phone number is Peru, Indiana, 5872. My address is on the back of this envelope.

  Best,

  Cole

  On 31 July, Paul Sylvain wrote to Sam Stark to inform him that ‘Mrs. K.C. is still alive . . . she has lost her reflexes and cannot take any feeding . . . we are waiting for the end to come . . . As for the boss he is behaving very well under the circumstances.’91 But two days later, Mrs Porter died, aged ninety: