Porter, Cole
Porter, Cole,1891–1964, American composer and lyricist, b. Peru, Ind., grad. Yale, 1913. Porter's witty, sophisticated lyrics and his affecting melodies place him high in the ranks of American composers of popular music. He was an elegant and debonair man, in spite of a riding accident (1937) that left him crippled. He studied music at Harvard and with D'Indy at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. After one early failure, most of his musicals were vastly successful. They includeGreenwich Village Follies(1924);Gay Divorce(1932);Anything Goes(1934);Jubilee(1935);Red, Hot and Blue(1936);Du Barry Was a Lady(1939);Panama Hattie(1940);Something for the Boys(1943);克义斯s Me, Kate(1948);Can-Can(1953); andSilk Stockings(1955). Among Porter's film scores areBorn to Dance(1936) andHigh Society(1956). His most popular songs include
Night and Day,
Begin the Beguine,
Let's Do It,
Just One of Those Things,and
In the Still of the Night.
SeeThe Cole Porter Song Book(1959) and R. Kimball, ed.,The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter(1983) andCole Porter: Selected Lyrics(2006); C. Eisen, ed.,The Letters of Cole Porter(2019); biography by W. McBrien (1998); R. Kimball, ed.,Cole(1971, repr. 2000).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,6th ed. Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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