The Letters of Cole Porter

by Cole Porter

  P.S. – He took his “Cosmic View” book with him to the Coast (no doubt, to confound his friends). The sister-in-law of the author of the introduction is an old Washington friend of mine.

  The composer himself confirmed to Robert Montgomery that he had made it to California:

  15 July 1961: Cole Porter to Robert Montgomery81

  Dear Bob:

  I don’t want to see Freddie Brisson.* I am not well enough to contemplate a new project. I hope you can get me out of this tactfully.

  The trip out was very easy – five hours and fifteen minutes. I complained to Shadforth before I left that it was too long and he said “Be patient. In a short time you will go to the coast via rocket and it will only take an hour.”

  All my best.

  Sincerely,

  [signed:] Cole

  Porter wrote briefly from California to another of his close friends:

  22 July 1961: Cole Porter to George Eells82

  Dear George:

  I was astounded to get your postcard from Peru† and especially from the Bearss Hotel.83 This hotel belongs to a distant cousin of mine and my grandfather, in his old age, used to sit in the big window with all his pals and watch the world go by.

  I hope you are coming out and I know you do too.

  All my best –

  [signed:] Cole

  Madeline P. Smith’s correspondence to Sam Stark had become flagrantly indiscreet by this point and she wrote to him about Porter yet again in late July: ‘. . . I forgot to mention one item that I meant to include in my last letter: The only thing that Mr. Porter asked to have taken to the Coast with them when they left earlier this month, was that beautiful bottle of Corvoisier that you sent him for Christmas. He really did appreciate it so much – just wanted you to know. And we have little hanging vines growing in the tall, long-stemmed glasses that accompanied the C: one on each side of the sofa. I continue to get cheerful little notes from Mr. P., so all seems to be peaceful and happy there this year. May it continue so. He goes every afternoon to the U.C.L.A. clinic for walking exercises . . .’84 This cheerfulness continued into a brief note from Porter to Albert Sirmay, the composer’s former arranger, in August:

  12 August 1961: Cole Porter to Albert Sirmay85

  Dear Doctor:

  A postcard from Boston made me think of the happy days at the Ritz-Carlton there. How I should love to go back with a brand new show but, alas, there is nothing in the offing.

  Thank you also for sending me the clippings, the program and the sheet music of Noel’s new show.*

  Love –

  [signed:] Cole

  In October, Porter returned as normal to New York for the winter. He continued to hear occasionally from old friends, on this occasion from Richard Lewine, the producer of Aladdin, who had (with Alfred Simon) just published a catalogue of songs written for the theatre:

  22 November 1961: Cole Porter to Richard Lewine86

  Dear Dick: –

  Thank you so much for sending me the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THEATRE MUSIC87 – and please also thank Mr. Simon. How kind of you to be so thoughtful.

  All my best,

  [signed:] Cole

  The composer continued to manage his business affairs where necessary, such as in this letter about George S. Kaufman:

  28 November 1961: Cole Porter to Robert Montgomery88

  Dear Bob: –

  I agree with you that, on account of George Kaufman’s wishes, we had better not negotiate for the presentation of SILK STOCKINGS in Germany.*

  All my best,

  [signed:] Cole

  Again, we rely on Madeline Smith’s letters to Stark to fill in the gaps in Porter’s activities leading up to Christmas. She wrote on 14 December: ‘You will probably like a report on Mr. Porter: Genius is still dormant, alas; but he is much better than he was this time last year. Some days he seems very good, and then again on other days he is not so good – eats little, not very interested, rather difficult to talk to, etc. We try to talk him into taking a nice boat trip, but do not succeed. He goes to the country every week-end on Fridays, and returns on Monday, taking one guest with him; this week it is Lew Kesler, who has just returned from his “Gypsy”† tour.’89 Kesler, who had been a rehearsal pianist and arranger for Porter in the 1940s (including on Mexican Hayride), also wrote to the Starks on 15 December to confirm that ‘Mr. P. is fine and sends his love . . .’90

  Porter remained stable through most of the winter – on 26 January 1962 Mrs Smith reported that ‘Mr. Porter is about the same’91 – and on 9 June his seventieth birthday was publicly celebrated, a year late. For example, Alan Jay Lerner wired him:

  8 June 1962: Alan Jay Lerner to Cole Porter92

  DEAREST COLE: WITH ALL MY HEART I SEND YOU BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. PLEASE COME BACK TO US SOON. LIFE IS A LOT LESS GAY WHEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING. AFFECTIONATELY, ALAN

  Mrs Smith wrote to the Starks about the celebrations:

  20 June 1962: Madeline P. Smith to Sam Stark93

  [. . .] I thought you might be interested in a couple of the clippings re Mr. Porter’s birthday, June 9th. Everybody but Mr. Porter celebrated! He spent the weekend quietly in the country.

  He is now in California, having arrived there with his two valets (Henry and Eric), leaving the chauffeur here to have a two-months vacation (which he merits, having had none for a long, long time). Bentley (chauffeur) had a heart attack out there last summer, and has to be rather careful. The cook had one this year, so they have been going the rounds to find a new good cook. Even “Pep”, whom I am sure you remember – our little dog, now 16 years old – had a heart attack about a month ago, but a good vet, brought him back to alertness in good shape, so I sent him off to California all by himself two days before Mr. P.

  We still have no prospects of a new musical in the offing – or any compositions of any kind. However, “The Little Boss” looks fine and is in pretty good health, though very slowed down in any activity – especially walking. [. . .]

  Sam Stark continued to write to Porter directly on a regular basis, and Porter always replied affectionately, albeit in no detail:

  4 August 1962: Cole Porter to Sam Stark94

  Dear Sam:

  Thank you so much for sending me the clipping about Frank Sinatra, Jr.* I am glad he was singing Cole Porter songs.

  My love to Harriette and to you, dear boy.

  [signed:] Cole

  On 24 August, Mrs Smith wrote to Sam Stark to comment that ‘Notes from Mr. Porter all sound cheerful, I am glad to say. He returns Oct. 15th.’95 But his West Coast secretary Tully (Margaret Egan) was more sober in her message to the Starks a day later: ‘Cole seems so much better but he is still seeing only Bobbie [Raison], George Eells, George Cukor, Fred Astaire – goes for a drive every day at 5:30 when he puts on his artificial leg. I don’t think he walks around much on it. He always speaks so fondly of you both – I don’t know why he didn’t come to the telephone when you called. I think this withdrawal from all his friends will pass as he gains more strength. His hands don’t shake this year and he seems to be so much STRONGER – not tired and listless. How sad if this talent dies out and he writes no more.’96

  Porter certainly had the opportunity to work but he always turned down such approaches. The following letter to Anita Loos, written just before his return to New York for the winter, implies he has seriously considered an idea she had suggested but knew his health prevented it:

  13 October 1962: Cole Porter to Anita Loos97

  Dear Anita:

  I have read the first act of Edouard Bourdet’s† play and enjoyed it very much. I am returning it to you as I couldn’t consider working on it at the present as I have too much phantom pain.

  I look forward to seeing you a lot.

  Love-

  [signed:] Cole

  In October, Porter bequeathed his Williamstown home (but not its contents) to nearby Williams College (which sold it in 1966):

  30 October 1962: Cole P
orter to John Wharton and Robert Montgomery98

  Dear John and Bob: –

  Please ask that all objects d’Art and framed photographs be removed from my cottage in Williamstown before it is given to Williams College.

  All my best,

  Sincerely

  [signed:] Cole

  (Cole Porter)

  The following Christmas message confirms that the veteran director George Cukor – of Porter’s Les Girls – was one of the few people with whom he regularly communicated:

  11 December 1962: Cole Porter to George Cukor99

  Dear George: –

  Thank you so much for the beautiful Christmas card.

  All my best,

  [signed:] Cole

  Yet the composer remained indolent when it came to work, as Mrs Smith wrote on Christmas Eve to Sam Stark: ‘. . . Mr. P. is really considerably better this year – but he just won’t be pushed into doing anything at all; so, we accept him as he is and try to make his life as pleasant as possible . . .’100 Early in 1963, Porter and Mrs Smith helped Stark with an exhibition of theatre memorabilia he was curating at Stanford University; Porter lent him a manuscript from his Yale days and another from See America First.101 But by April, another letter from Smith to Stark begins: ‘I write instead of Mr. Porter, as he is again in the Hospital (Harkness Pavilion) after a set-back.’102 A month later, she wrote again to Stark: ‘. . . I shall see Mr. Porter at Harkness Pavilion this afternoon and I do hope to find him EATING – but I know I won’t because nobody, but nobody, can make him eat enough. However, he does not seem to mind being in the hospital; I suppose he feels secure there and knows that all his affairs will be loyally taken care of, so he will probably be there until he goes to California. “Pep” has already gone to the Coast . . .’103 She wrote again on 27 May from the Harkness Pavilion:

  27 May 1963: Madeline P. Smith to Sam Stark104

  Dear Mr. Stark: –

  Mr. Porter dictated the enclosed letter at the hospital. He does very little dictating, so you are evidently one of the chosen few.

  I meant to mention previously that the Performing Arts society of San Francisco honoured Mr. Porter – and he was “delighted to accept”. He no doubt has you to thank for this.

  I am sad to say that our little “Pep” died last week at 416 in California. His heart just gave out. However, he had had such a long, good life.

  Best,

  [signed:] M.P.S.

  From hospital Porter wrote to congratulate Irving Berlin on his seventy-fifth birthday, and thanked Sam Stark for sending an article on the same subject:

  9 May 1963: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin105

  Dear Irving,

  Birthday greetings to you, young fella!*

  I recently heard about this “vintage Berlin” folio† you’re planning and I just wanted to tell you that I hope it will include some of my long time favorites such as “Play a Simple Melody,” “International Rag,” “I Love a Piano,” and “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody.” After all, Irving, your copyrights aren’t staying as young as you are.

  Again, happy birthday.

  Cole

  27 May 1963: Cole Porter to Sam Stark106

  Dear Sam: –

  Thank you so much for the article on Irving Berlin.

  Love to you and Harriette,

  [signed:] Cole

  But his stay in hospital continued:

  3 June 1963: Madeline P. Smith to Sam Stark107

  Dear Mr. Stark: –

  I am returning herewith the Frank Scully article, which I read to Mr. Porter at the hospital, to his great interest. (And I, too, was fascinated as I read along). I looked for the May 15th VARIETY among the magazines that Mr. P. always has, so I could include an extra copy of this article, but alas, it had been thrown out.

  Personally, I was particularly interested to learn how your research collection had come down through the generations. People don’t realize how much of one’s “life’s blood” goes into these things.

  I shall see Mr. P. this afternoon; he seemed rather downhearted last Friday when I was there. I hope I find him more cheerful today. He seemed to think he could get off to the Coast about the 21st of June – but that really remains to be seen.

  Yours sincerely,

  [signed:] Madeline P. Smith

  By the time Porter wrote to Jean Howard in early July, he was still in hospital:

  8 July 1963: Cole Porter to Jean Howard

  Dearest Jean: –

  The balloon arrived and changed my dreary room into a big Fourth of July celebration. Thank you so much.

  Things are going slowly here but I hope to get out one day.

  Lots of love,

  [signed:] Cole

  Nor had he been released by 2 August, when Tully Egan wrote to the Starks: ‘. . . Thank you so much for the birthday card. As Cole says, it cheered me. He is still in New York, in the hospital. Mrs Smith probably wrote you about it. He wasn’t eating this spring and they finally put him in the hospital and fed him through a nose tube. When he was about to leave he had to have a minor operation so he is still there . . .’108 Porter made it to California for the end of the summer and then returned to New York in the second week of November. He appeared to be improving, according to Mrs Smith’s postscript to the following letter from Porter to Stark:

  19 November 1963: Cole Porter to Sam Stark109

  Dear Sam: –

  I was very interested in the Gleeson Library Association card telling me about the First Edition of More’s Utopia,* with your note attached.

  Love to you and Harriette.

  [signed:] Cole

  P.S. from M.P.S. – Mr. Porter has been back from California just a week looking remarkably well, and seemingly much, much better than he has been for a long time. I hope it will last.

  My regards,

  [signed:] M. P. Smith

  By this point, Mrs Smith had practically become a friend of Sam Stark’s in her own right, and in a letter from 5 January 1964 she remarked on Porter’s attitudes towards faith: ‘. . . I was happy to read your remarks about Mr. Porter saying his prayers on the trips with you in earlier days. He told me he did not believe in a hereafter, which made me sad, for I knew if he had more faith and a little more of spiritual values he would have been a happier man, and a stronger one, better equipped to handle his ailments. But he was not receptive to discussions on this subject, though his cousin, Mrs. Bearss, tried many times to interest him. I’m sure his early youth was directed in the right direction, but perhaps the materialistic world in which he later travelled led him astray. Though he mentioned more than once during his late illnesses, “How am I going to meet my God?” . . .’110

  On 28 January, Porter was the subject of a special episode of the Bell Telephone Hour – an hour of television devoted to his music, hosted by and starring Ethel Merman:

  29 January 1964: Cole Porter to Harriette and Sam Stark111

  Dear Harriette and Sam: –

  Thank you so much for the wire regarding the Bell Telephone Hour. It was most thoughtful of you.

  Love,

  [signed:] Cole

  But Porter himself did not participate in the show and his work as a songwriter had finished more than six years earlier. Ironically, on 17 March, Irving Berlin wrote to inform Porter that the two of them continued to head the list of the ‘top ten ASCAP writers’, based on performance income, despite no new Porter songs having appeared for some time.112 Berlin remained a close friend through Porter’s final days and on 11 March, Berlin sent him a copy of the new songs for his projected new MGM film musical Say It With Music (it went unproduced). The previous night the Berlins had dined with Porter – ‘I don’t have to tell you, Cole, how wonderful it was for me and Ellin to be with you’113 – and Porter was delighted by both the scores and the ASCAP news:

  11 March 1964: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin114

  Dear Irving: –

  Thank you so much for sending
me the new songs that you have written for “Say It With Music”. I shall always treasure these.

  It was a joy to see you and Ellin last night.

  Love,

  [signed:] Cole

  19 March 1964: Cole Porter to Irving Berlin

  Dear Irving: –

  Thank you so much for sending me the list of the Top Ten writers in ASCAP. It is most interesting.

  Love,

  [signed:] Cole

  On 19 June, Mrs Smith wrote to Stark with news of yet another setback in Porter’s health (the reference to Kiss Me, Kate is probably regarding a BBC television adaptation starring Howard Keel and Patricia Morison, which had been broadcast in colour on 20 April and designed to launch BBC2):

  19 June 1964: Madeline P. Smith to Sam Stark115

  Mr. Porter asks me to send you his very appreciative thanks for all the good clippings. We shall put them in our K.m.K. Scrap Book. It was most thoughtful of you to send them.

  Now, I am sorry to have to report that, alas, Mr.P. is again in the hospital – Harkness Pavilion. A few days ago – just before he was to take off, with his retinue, for California – he fell in the bathroom and fractured his right hip. The valet had gone out of the room, so C.P. was there alone at that moment. He never wants to go to the hospital, so we had to use subterfuge, pretending to start off for the country (as it was Friday) but just going on to his “old stamping ground”. What would Columbia Medical Center do without Cole Porter - - or, we might add, “What would Cole Porter do without the hospital.”

  Well, anyway, it is getting discouraging. However, having put his hip in a splint, they can, at least, feed him intravenously to offset his predisposition to eat next to nothing. When recovered enough, I am sure he will go directly to the Coast, where poor Max keeps having the stop and go sign for summer cooks, always a problem.

  Smith updated the concerned Starks again just five days later:

  24 June 1964: Madeline P. Smith to Sam Stark116