Editing Cole Porter (section)

===WWI, Paris and marriage===
[[File:The Lady in Blue (Mrs. Edward R. Thomas) by Emil Fuchs.jpg|thumb|''Lady in Blue'', 1906 portrait of Linda Lee Thomas by [[Emil Fuchs (artist)|Emil Fuchs]]]]
In 1917, when the United States entered [[World War I]], Porter moved to Paris to work with the Duryea Relief organization.<ref name=Top1>Kimball (1992), p. 1.</ref>{{refn|He subsequently enlisted in the First Foreign Regiment, before moving to other regiments prior to his April 1919 discharge.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 59</ref>|group= n}} Some writers have been skeptical about Porter's claim to have served in the [[French Foreign Legion]],<ref name=bell/><ref name=grove/> but the Legion lists Porter as one of its soldiers and displays his portrait at its museum in [[Aubagne]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legion-etrangere.com/index.php |title=French Foreign Legion Official web site |publisher=Legion-etrangere.com |date=July 13, 2016 |access-date=September 10, 2016}}</ref> By some accounts, he served in North Africa and was transferred to the [[School of Applied Artillery (France)|French Officers School]] at [[Fontainebleau]], teaching gunnery to American soldiers.<ref>Salazar, Jaime. [http://www.legionofthelost.com/famous.html ''Legion of the Lost''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223105621/http://www.legionofthelost.com/famous.html |date=December 23, 2008 }}, Legionofthelost.com, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2016</ref> An obituary notice in ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that, while in the Legion, "he had a specially constructed portable piano made for him so that he could carry it on his back and entertain the troops in their [[Bivouac shelter|bivouacs]]."<ref name=nyt/> Another account, given by Porter, is that he joined the recruiting department of the American Aviation Headquarters, but, according to his biographer [[Stephen Citron]], there is no record of his joining this or any other branch of the forces.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 48</ref>

Porter maintained a luxury apartment in Paris, where he entertained lavishly. His parties were extravagant and scandalous, with "much gay and bisexual activity, Italian nobility, [[cross-dressing]], international musicians and a large surplus of [[recreational drugs]]".<ref name=bell/> In 1918, he met [[Linda Lee Thomas]], a rich, [[Louisville, Kentucky]]-born divorcée eight years his senior.<ref name=NROReview>[[Derbyshire, John]]. [http://article.nationalreview.com/273164/oh-the-songs/john-derbyshire "Oh, the Songs!"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130130001827/http://article.nationalreview.com/273164/oh-the-songs/john-derbyshire |date=January 30, 2013 }}, ''[[National Review Online]]'', July 28, 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2010</ref>{{refn|She divorced newspaper mogul Edward R. Thomas in 1912, receiving more than a million dollars in the divorce settlement.<ref name=McBrien65>McBrien (1998), p. 65</ref>|group= n}} She was beautiful and well-connected socially; the couple shared mutual interests, including a love of travel, and she became Porter's confidante and companion.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 70</ref> The couple married the following year. She was in no doubt about Porter's homosexuality,{{refn|Porter had "frequent homosexual encounters"<ref>Citron (2005), p. 142; and Schwartz (1977), p.114</ref>|group= n}} but it was [[lavender marriage|mutually advantageous]] for them to marry. For Linda, it offered continued social status and a partner who was the antithesis of her abusive first husband.<ref name=McBrien65/> For Porter, it brought a respectable heterosexual front in an era when homosexuality was not publicly acknowledged. They were, moreover, genuinely devoted to each other and remained married from December 19, 1919, until her death in 1954.<ref name=bell/> Linda remained protective of her social position and, believing that classical music might be a more prestigious outlet than Broadway for her husband's talents, tried to use her connections to find him suitable teachers, including [[Igor Stravinsky]], but was unsuccessful. Finally, Porter enrolled at the [[Schola Cantorum]] in Paris, where he studied orchestration and counterpoint with [[Vincent d'Indy]].<ref name=shaftel/> Meanwhile, Porter's first big hit was the song "Old-Fashioned Garden" from the revue ''[[Hitchy-Koo of 1919]]''.<ref name=NROReview/> In 1920, he contributed the music of several songs to the musical ''[[A Night Out (musical)|A Night Out]]''.<ref>[http://www.sondheimguide.com/porter/miscsongs.html "Cole Porter&nbsp;– The Twenties"], The Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide. Retrieved February 28, 2011</ref>

[[File:Ca' Rezzonico (Venice).jpg|thumb|left|[[Ca' Rezzonico]] in Venice, leased by Porter in the 1920s]]
Marriage did not diminish Porter's taste for extravagant luxury. The Porter home on the rue Monsieur near [[Les Invalides]] was a palatial house with platinum wallpaper and chairs upholstered in zebra skin.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0609.html "Obituary: Cole Porter is Dead; Songwriter Was 72"], ''The New York Times'', October 16, 1964</ref> In 1923, Porter came into an inheritance from his grandfather, and the Porters began living in rented palaces in Venice. He once hired the entire [[Ballets Russes]] to entertain his guests, and for a party at [[Ca' Rezzonico]], which he rented for $4,000 a month (${{Formatnum:{{Inflation|US|4000|1923|r=-3}}}} in current value), he hired 50 gondoliers to act as footmen and had a troupe of tightrope walkers perform in a blaze of lights.<ref name=nyt/> In the midst of this extravagant lifestyle, Porter continued to write songs with his wife's encouragement.<ref name=Top2>Kimball (1992), p. 2</ref>

[[File:Cole Porter, Linda Lee Thomas, Bernard Berenson, and Howard Sturges in gondola, 1923.jpg|thumb|right|Cole Porter, Linda Lee Thomas, Bernard Berenson, and [[Howard Sturges]] in gondola, 1923]]
Porter received few commissions for songs in the years immediately after his marriage. He had the occasional number interpolated into other writers' revues in Britain and the U.S. For a [[C. B. Cochran]] show in 1921, he had two successes with the comedy numbers "The Blue Boy Blues" and "Olga, Come Back to the Volga".<ref>Citron (2005), p. 58</ref> In 1923, in collaboration with [[Gerald Murphy]], he composed a short ballet, originally titled ''Landed'' and then ''Within the Quota'', satirically depicting the adventures of an immigrant to America who becomes a film star.<ref>Kimball (1991), pp. 4–5</ref> The work, written for the [[Ballets suédois]], lasts about 16 minutes. It was orchestrated by [[Charles Koechlin]] and shared the same opening night as [[Milhaud]]'s ''[[La création du monde]]''.<ref name=kimball5>Kimball (1991), p. 5</ref> Porter's work was one of the earliest symphonic jazz-based compositions, predating [[George Gershwin]]'s ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' by four months, and was well received by both French and American reviewers after its premiere at the [[Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]] in October 1923.<ref name=kimball5/>{{refn|The British classical music journal ''[[The Musical Times]]'' commented, "There was plenty of excitement of a certain kind – at least for the more excitable spectators".<ref>"Paris", ''The Musical Times'', December 1923, p. 874</ref>|group= n}}

After a successful New York performance the following month, the Ballets suédois toured the work in the U.S., performing it 69 times. A year later the company disbanded, and the score was lost until it was reconstructed from Porter's and Koechlin's manuscripts between 1966 and 1990, with help from Milhaud and others.<ref>Kimball (1991), p. 6</ref> Porter had less success with his work on ''The [[Greenwich Village Follies]]'' (1924). He wrote most of the original score, but his songs were gradually dropped during the Broadway run, and by the time of the post-Broadway tour in 1925, all his numbers had been deleted.<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 85</ref> Frustrated by the public response to most of his work, Porter nearly gave up songwriting as a career, although he continued to compose songs for friends and perform at private parties.<ref name=Top2/>