Editing Cole Porter (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Westleigh Farms farmhouse.jpg|thumb|left|Farmhouse at Westleigh Farms]]
Porter was born in [[Peru, Indiana]], on June 9, 1891, the only surviving child of a wealthy family.{{refn|Porter's parents had two children who died in infancy before his birth – Louis Omar (b. and d. 1885) and Rachel (1888–90).<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 11</ref>|group= n}}<ref name=ewen>Ewen, David. [http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/porter002.html "Cole Porter: The Great Sophisticate"], from ''The Story of America's Musical Theater'', New York, Chilton Company, 1961, pp. 134–39</ref> His father, Samuel Fenwick Porter, was a pharmacist by trade.<ref name=shaftel>Shaftel, Matthew. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3090664 "From Inspiration to Archive: Cole Porter's 'Night and Day'"], ''Journal of Music Theory'', Duke University Press, Volume 43, No. 2 (Autumn, 1999), pp. 315–47. Retrieved March 7, 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref>{{refn|Porter's father came to Peru, Indiana, from [[Vevay, Indiana]]. He eventually owned three drugstores in Peru.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 8</ref>|group= n}} His mother, Kate, was the indulged daughter of James Omar "J. O." Cole, "the richest man in Indiana", a coal and timber speculator who dominated the family.<ref name=bell/>{{refn|Porter's great-grandfather, A. A. Cole, had come to Peru, Indiana, in 1834 from Connecticut, as a child. J. O. Cole grew up in Peru but moved west during the [[Gold Rush of 1849]]. He made his fortune in California and invested it in Indiana farmland and West Virginia timber, coal, and oil.<ref>McBrien (1998), pp. 4–5.</ref>|group= n}} J. O. Cole built the couple a house on his Peru-area property, known as Westleigh Farms.<ref>Schwartz (1977), p. 11</ref> After high school, Porter returned to his childhood home only for occasional visits.<ref>Schwartz (1977), p. 18</ref>

Porter's strong-willed mother doted on him<ref name=McB10/> and began his musical training at an early age. He learned the violin at age six, the piano at eight, and wrote his first [[operetta]] (with help from his mother) at ten. She falsified his recorded birth year, changing it from 1891 to 1893 to make him appear more precocious.<ref name=bell/> His father, a shy and unassertive man, played a lesser role in Porter's upbringing, although as an amateur poet, he may have influenced his son's gifts for rhyme and meter.<ref name=shaftel/> Porter's father was also a talented singer and pianist, but the father-son relationship was not close.<ref name=McB10>McBrien (1998), p. 10.</ref>

[[File:Cole Albert Porter Yale College class of 1913.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Porter as a [[Yale College]] student]]
J. O. Cole wanted his grandson to become a lawyer,<ref name=bell>Bell, J. X. [http://www.coleporter.org/bio.html "Cole Porter Biography"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923133945/http://coleporter.org/bio.html |date=September 23, 2010 }}, The Cole Porter Resource Site. Retrieved March 7, 2011</ref> and with that in mind, sent him to [[Worcester Academy]] in Massachusetts in 1905. Porter brought an [[upright piano]] with him to school<ref name=McB21>McBrien (1998), p. 21</ref> and found that music, and his ability to entertain, made it easy for him to make friends.<ref name=McB21/> Porter did well in school and rarely came home to visit.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 26</ref> He became class [[valedictorian]]<ref name=bell/> and was rewarded by his grandfather with a tour of France, Switzerland and Germany.<ref name=time>"The Theater: The Professional Amateur", ''Time'' magazine, January 31, 1949</ref> Entering [[Yale College]] in 1909, Porter majored in English, minored in music, and also studied French.<ref name=Sensational>Kimball (1999), p. 1.</ref> He was a member of [[Scroll and Key]] and [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity, and contributed to campus humor magazine ''[[The Yale Record]]''.<ref>Seuss (2012), p. 10</ref> He was an early member of the [[Whiffenpoofs]] ''[[a cappella]]'' singing group and participated in several other music clubs;<ref name=McB32>McBrien (1998), p. 32.</ref> in his senior year, he was elected president of the [[Yale Glee Club]] and was its principal soloist.<ref name=Sensational/> <!-- While at Yale, he met and befriended, [[Monty Woolley]], and the two became lifelong friends.<ref>Schwartz (1977), p. 3</ref>  So what?  Please explain on the Talk page why you think this is [[WP:NOTEWORTHY]]. -->

Porter wrote 300 songs while at Yale,<ref name=bell/> including student songs such as the football fight songs "Bulldog"<ref>[https://bands.yalecollege.yale.edu/yale-precision-marching-band/music/yale-fight-songs "Yale Fight Songs"], Yale Bands, [[Yale University]]. Retrieved February 21, 2020</ref> and "Bingo Eli Yale" (aka "Bingo, That's The Lingo!") that are still played at Yale.<ref>[[Schiff, David]]. [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/07/one-swell-party/302991 "One Swell Party"], ''[[The Atlantic]]'', July/August 2004. Retrieved April 2, 2020</ref><ref name=ewen/> During college, Porter became acquainted with New York City's vibrant nightlife, taking the train there for dinner, theater, and nights on the town with his classmates, before returning to [[New Haven]], Connecticut, early in the morning.<ref name=McB32/> He also wrote musical comedy scores for his fraternity, the [[Yale Dramatic Association]], and as a student at Harvard – ''Cora'' (1911), ''And the Villain Still Pursued Her'' (1912), ''The Pot of Gold'' (1912), ''The Kaleidoscope'' (1913) and ''Paranoia'' (1914) – which helped prepare him for a career as a Broadway and Hollywood composer and lyricist.<ref name=Sensational/> After graduating from Yale, Porter enrolled in [[Harvard Law School]] in 1913, where he roomed with future Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]].<ref>Algeo, p. 144</ref> He soon felt that he was not destined to be a lawyer, and, at the suggestion of the dean of the law school, switched to Harvard's music department, where he studied harmony and [[counterpoint]] with [[Pietro Yon]].<ref name=shaftel/> His mother did not object to this move, but it was kept secret from J. O. Cole.<ref name=bell/>

In 1915, Porter's first song on [[Broadway theater|Broadway]], "Esmeralda", appeared in the [[revue]] ''Hands Up''. The quick success was immediately followed by failure: his first Broadway production, in 1916, ''[[See America First]]'', a "patriotic comic opera" modeled on [[Gilbert and Sullivan]], with a book by [[T. Lawrason Riggs]], was a flop, closing after two weeks.<ref name=grove>Root, Deane L. and Gerald Bordman. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/22147 "Porter, Cole (Albert)"], ''Grove Music Online''. Retrieved May 21, 2010 (requires subscription)</ref> Porter spent the next year in New York City before going overseas during World War I.<ref name=Sensational/>