Editing Cole Porter (section)

===Broadway and West End success===
[[File:Irène Bordoni 01.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Irène Bordoni]], star of Porter's ''[[Paris (1928 musical)|Paris]]'']]
At the age of 36, Porter reintroduced himself to Broadway in 1928 with the musical ''[[Paris (1928 musical)|Paris]]'', his first hit.<ref name=Sensational5>Kimball (1999), p. 5</ref> It was commissioned by [[E. Ray Goetz]] at the instigation of Goetz's wife and the show's star, [[Irène Bordoni]].<ref name=Sensational5/> She had wanted [[Rodgers and Hart]] to write the songs, but they were unavailable, and Porter's agent persuaded Goetz to hire Porter instead.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 73</ref> In August 1928, Porter's work on the show was interrupted by the death of his father. He hurried back to Indiana to comfort his mother before returning to work. The songs for the show included "[[Let's Misbehave]]" and one of his best-known [[list song]]s, "[[Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love]]", which was introduced by Bordoni and [[Arthur Margetson]].<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 101 and 104</ref> The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1928. The Porters did not attend the first night because Porter was in Paris supervising another show for which he had been commissioned, ''La Revue des Ambassadeurs'' at the [[Café des Ambassadeurs|Les Ambassadeurs]] music hall.<ref>Citron (2005), pp. 74 and 79</ref><ref>McBrien (1998), [https://archive.org/details/coleporterbiogra00mcbr_0/page/119/mode/1up p. 119]</ref> This was also a success, and, in Citron's phrase, Porter was finally "accepted into the upper echelon of Broadway songwriters".<ref>Citron (2005), p. 78</ref> Cochran now wanted more from Porter than isolated extra songs; he planned a [[West End theatre|West End]] extravaganza similar to [[Ziegfeld]]'s shows, with a Porter score and a large international cast led by [[Jessie Matthews]], [[Sonnie Hale]] and [[Tilly Losch]]. The revue, ''[[Wake Up and Dream (musical)|Wake Up and Dream]]'', ran for 263 performances in London, after which Cochran transferred it to New York in 1929. On Broadway, business was badly affected by the 1929 [[Wall Street crash]],{{refn|The Porters were not greatly affected by the crash, having their assets in safe investments and held in a number of foreign banks, which remained solvent.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 85</ref>|group= n}} and the production ran for only 136 performances. From Porter's point of view, it was nonetheless a success, as his song "[[What Is This Thing Called Love?]]" became immensely popular.<ref>Citron (2005), pp 80–82</ref> Porter's new fame brought him offers from [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]], but because his score for [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]'s ''[[The Battle of Paris]]'' was undistinguished, and its star, [[Gertrude Lawrence]], was miscast, the film was not a success.<ref>Citron (2005), pp. 82–83</ref> Citron expresses the view that Porter was not interested in cinema and "noticeably wrote down for the movies."<ref>Citron (2005), p. 83</ref>

Still on a [[France|Gallic]] theme, Porter's last Broadway show of the 1920s was ''[[Fifty Million Frenchmen]]'' (1929), for which he wrote 28 numbers, including "[[You Do Something to Me (Cole Porter song)|You Do Something to Me]]", "You've Got That Thing" and "The Tale of the Oyster".<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 117–29</ref> The show received mixed notices. One critic wrote, "the lyrics alone are enough to drive anyone but [[P. G. Wodehouse]] into retirement", but others dismissed the songs as "pleasant" and "not an outstanding hit song in the show". As it was a lavish and expensive production, nothing less than full houses would suffice, and after only three weeks, the producers announced that they would close it. [[Irving Berlin]], who admired and championed Porter, took out a paid press advertisement calling the show "The best musical comedy I've heard in years. ... One of the best collections of song numbers I have ever listened to". This saved the show, which ran for 254 performances, considered a successful run at the time.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 84</ref>