Cole Porter's music had opened doors for many great actors and actresses of
the early 1900's. Fred Astaire, Victor Moore and Ethel Merman to name a few
have been made famous by Porter's work. Porter began writing songs at the age of
six and attended many prestigious schools for studying music later in life.
Inspiration for Porter's shows were the world war, his private life/feelings and
satire of the 1920's through 1940's. Porter's shows tend to be comical, addicting,
and very reminiscent to the time he lived in. In whichever way one decides to pay
homage to Porter; whether by listening or seeing a show, thereis a large portion of
Porter's heart, soul, and compassion to be found. In each orchestral composition,
song, or stage character, a musician, actor, or actress portraying a character can
relate it to Porter's riches to rags biography.
Likewise, in most of Porter's shows some of the characters in the show were
small portrayals of himself in different stages of his life. For example, Mack
Carter, a character from the production produced by George M. Cohan & Cole
Porter's show All Aboard for Broadway (aka Yankee Doodle Dandy). This show
features a young soldier in the war who documents each day in the trenches in a
personal journal. Mack Carter never believed that he would survive the world war
because his leg wound. Nor, would he ever have songs worthy of recognition once
the war ended. The musical sold itself during the great depression and appealed to
those looking for entertainment. Carter and Porter can relate in the sense that they
were never believed that they were destined for greatness, wrote most of the time,
and had leg wounds. Porter injured his leg in a horseback riding incident as well
while co-writing this musical, Carter ironically has a leg wound as well. Porter's leg wound and
Carter's leg wound alike portrayed an incident in Porter's life where he thought that
he'd never be the man he was before the horse accident. As much as Porter
attempted to separate his himself and his life altering experience, they're evident in
Mack Carter's soliloquies and melancholy scenes in the show. Even though the war
played a role in the patriotic shows that were rolling at this time, Porter was never
involved in battle. During the war, Porter was in France observing the war in
organizations that served wounded soldiers. Thus taking what he witnessed with
soldiers he had seen, Mack Carter became a reality with dreams and aspirations of
Cole Porter. Years after his hit with All Aboard for Broadway, Porter decided to
take his career in a new direction.
As well, Porter tried his luck in a new musical that incorporated popular
music genres of the time which were big band, jazz, and blues which he was overly
familiar with. Jazz and blues were his piano specialties and figured that he would
dedicate the show to America. See America Now, was one of Porter's worst works.
The show featured an uninteresting plot and did not possess any of the upbeat
patriotic ways of All Aboard for Broadway by any stretch of the imagination. The
show was Porter's first show he worked on alone, the show was performed fifteen
times on Broadway before completely ending. Porter looked at this as an
unrecoverable downfall in his career. Being in his mid thirties and desperate for
work, Porter traveled more to find more inspiration. Going as far as meeting other
composers of the time such as George Gershwin (. Gershwin inspired Porter to find
inspiration in anything that he did and accentuated that everything was fair game in
composing. Porter went to synagogue with Gershwin and enjoyed Hebrew songs.
Porter loved the Hebrew musical patterns that defied a lot of what he was taught
about in blues and jazz. Porter utilized Gershwin's theory and had an easier time
with writing successful shows. *With that being said, Porter's new show, Paris,
received world wide acclaim. Porter's hard work on Paris was not in vain, it ranked
him high amongst the greatest writers of his time. After Paris came Porter's
greatest musical comedies and most beautiful adult love songs that had ever
echoed in a Broadway setting. After the success of Paris, there was never a show
performed under four hundred times. Gershwin's influence on Porter survived for
20 years until the illnesses that Porter faced later down the road.

Furthermore, Porter's infectious lyrics kept his career afloat. The songs
knew how to touch the audience's heart and how to get stuck in each member's
head. Love songs and comedic songs were his most popular that reappeared in a
lot of his shows. Porter's lyrics and music together were top notch. Porter's Yale
friends remember him as being a quiet and reserved gentleman who was always
humorous. One characteristic of a Porter song is the high amounts of
onomatopoeia seen in the song "Night and Day". This song was written for Ella
Fitzgerald, a blues singer that Porter was great friends with. Fitzgerald sings, "Like
the beat, beat, beat, of the tom-tom/When the jungle shadows fall/Like the tick,
tick, tock of the stately clock/as it stands against the wall/Like the drip, drip, drip,
of the raindrops/When the summer show'r is through/So a voice within me keeps
repeating, you, you, you./Night and Day" These lyrics are talking about a person in
love and their heart is beating like the repetitive beats of a clock and drum. Porter
could relate this to how he felt about a special someone at one time.

In addition to his sucess, Porter continued searching for elements that made
a good show by meeting with other Broadway geniuses such as Jerome Kern,
Irving Berlin and Richard Rogers. Porter did get married to a lady by the name of
Linda Porter. Linda and Porter were happily married for thirty five years.
However, it's rumored that Cole was homosexual and only married Linda for
friendship and financial status, nothing more. Linda and Cole were friends for a long time but never had intentions on marrying. Perhaps these lyrics were used to impress Linda into marrying Porter, "I was mighty blue/Thought my life was through/
'Til the heavens opened/And I gazed at you/Won't you tell me, dear/
Why, when you appear,/Something happens to me/And the strangest feeling goes through me?" These lyrics are about a man who was once sad and lonely until one day an angel appeared. This angel is his love and they give him tingly feelings.

Linda helped Porter during his trials
with his declining health. Porter neglected his leg injuries for many years and
exceeded his physical limitations to the point of not being able to walk at all the last
few year of his life. Cole Porter decided that the riding incident was not going to make
his final years as miserable as it once had. The result of determination and help of his
wife, Porter's final works Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate were amongst the greatest
works that he had made in his entire career. Up until his death in 1956 Porter still
continued to work on smaller scale projects however none of them measured up to the
success of earlier musicals. Porter's last project was for Aladdin which premiered on
ABC in the 1950's, this project was overlooked.

Aside from his final work on Aladdin, Cole Porter's bizarre lyrics and melodies
have survived the test of time. The song entitled "I've Still Got My Wealth" was
originally sung by Frank Sinatra in the 1950's. Many think these lyrics are relative to
Porter's last years, "My face is my fortune, that's why I'm totally broke./My ship ain't
come in, but I grin while I bear,/'cause I got my vitamins:/A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H/Got
no diamonds, got no wealth./I got no men, but I got my health." Porter passed away
alone without his mother who stuck with him through thick and thin, and his wife
Linda passed away the same year as Kate Porter. Cole Porter's shows livened the
moods for families seeking entertainment during the great depression. Many war
heroes appreciated his patriotic shows and the songs that he wrote in honor of them.
Even though many claim to not know Porter's works, many continue to promote his
catchy songs on patriotic holidays. Songs such as You're A Grand Old Flag and
Yankee Doodle Dandy are amongst the songs taught to many at a young age and are
not easily forgotten. The Can-Can and De-Lovely are amongst the other songs
shouted high and low on stages across the world.