Editing Cole Porter (section)

===1930s===
Ray Goetz, producer of ''Paris'' and ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'', the success of which had kept him solvent when other producers were bankrupted by the post-crash slump in Broadway business, invited Porter to write a musical show about the other city that he knew and loved: New York. Goetz offered the team with whom Porter had last worked: [[Herbert Fields]] writing the book and Porter's old friend [[Monty Woolley]] directing.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 100</ref> ''[[The New Yorkers]]'' (1930) acquired instant notoriety for including a song about a [[streetwalker]], "[[Love for Sale (song)|Love for Sale]]". Originally performed by [[Kathryn Crawford]] in a street setting, critical disapproval led Goetz to reassign the number to [[Elisabeth Welch]] in a nightclub scene. The lyric was considered too explicit for radio at the time, though it was recorded and aired as an instrumental and rapidly became a standard.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 101</ref> Porter often referred to it as his favorite of his songs.<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 145</ref> ''The New Yorkers'' also included the hit "[[I Happen to Like New York]]".<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 147</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Welch Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|left|[[Elisabeth Welch]] starred in Porter's ''[[The New Yorkers]]'' and ''[[Nymph Errant]]''.]]
Next came [[Fred Astaire]]'s last stage show, ''[[Gay Divorce]]'' (1932).<ref>[http://www.sondheimguide.com/porter/gaydivorce.html "''Gay Divorce'' – Original Broadway Production"], Sondheimguide.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016</ref> It featured a hit that became Porter's best-known song, "[[Night and Day (song)|Night and Day]]".{{refn|In 1999, Matthew Shaftel wrote, "Less than two months after the show's opening ... the song was featured on two best-selling recordings and was at the top of sheet music sales. Since then, 83 artists have registered with the [ASCAP] ... to legally perform and record "Night and Day." [Even] today, more than 65 years after its composition, the song earns a stunning six figures, making it Warner Brothers' "crown jewel", and placing it on ASCAP's list of top money-earners of all time.<ref name=shaftel/>|group= n}} Despite mixed press (some critics were reluctant to accept Astaire without his previous partner, his sister [[Adele Astaire|Adele]]), the show ran for a profitable 248 performances, and the rights to the film, retitled ''[[The Gay Divorcee]]'', were sold to [[RKO Pictures]].{{refn|The film version, starring Astaire and [[Ginger Rogers]] dropped all of Porter's score except "Night and Day"<ref>Citron (2005), p. 105</ref>|group= n}} Porter followed this with a West End show for Gertrude Lawrence, ''[[Nymph Errant]]'' (1933), presented by Cochran at the [[Adelphi Theatre]], where it ran for 154 performances. Among the hit songs Porter composed for the show were "Experiment" and "The Physician" for Lawrence, and "Solomon" for Elisabeth Welch.<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 158–62</ref>

In 1934, producer [[Vinton Freedley]] came up with a new approach to producing musicals. Instead of commissioning book, music and lyrics and then casting the show, Freedley sought to create an ideal musical with stars and writers all engaged from the outset.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 108</ref> The stars he wanted were [[Ethel Merman]], [[William Gaxton]] and comedian [[Victor Moore]]. He planned a story about a shipwreck and a desert island, and for the book he turned to P. G. Wodehouse and [[Guy Bolton]]. For the songs, he decided on Porter. By telling each of these that he had already signed the others, Freedley gathered his ideal team together.{{refn|Freedley told Bolton and Wodehouse that he had secured Merman, then contacted Gaxton, Moore, and finally Merman.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 109</ref>|group= n}} A drastic last-minute rewrite was necessitated by a major shipping accident that dominated the news and made Bolton and Wodehouse's book seem tasteless.{{refn|In 1934, the [[SS Morro Castle (1930)|S.S. Morro Castle]] caught fire off the New Jersey shore, killing more than 100 people.<ref>Kimball (1992), p. 70, and McBrien (1998), p. 164</ref> Bolton and Wodehouse were by then engaged in other work, and Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse rewrote the book almost completely.<ref name=Citron110/>|group= n}} Nevertheless, the show, ''[[Anything Goes]]'', was an immediate hit. Porter wrote what many consider his greatest score of this period. ''[[The New Yorker]]'' magazine's review said, "Mr. Porter is in a class by himself",<ref name=Citron110>Citron (2005), p. 110</ref> and Porter subsequently called it one of his two perfect shows, along with the later ''[[Kiss Me, Kate]]''.<ref name=Citron110/> Its songs include "[[I Get a Kick Out of You]]", "[[All Through the Night (Cole Porter song)|All Through the Night]]", "[[You're the Top]]" (one of his best-known list songs), and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow", as well as the [[Anything Goes (Cole Porter song)|title number]].<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 167–76</ref> The show ran for 420 performances in New York (a particularly long run in the 1930s) and 261 in London.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 111</ref> Porter, despite his lessons in orchestration from d'Indy, did not orchestrate his musicals. ''Anything Goes'' was orchestrated by [[Robert Russell Bennett]] and [[Hans Spialek]].<ref>McGlinn, John (1989), "The Original ''Anything Goes'': A Classic Restored", Notes to EMI CD CDC 7 49848 2</ref>{{refn|Other Porter shows were orchestrated by Maurice B. DePackh, Walter Paul, [[Don Walker (orchestrator)|Don Walker]] and [[Philip J. Lang]]: see Kimball (1991) pp. 2–3. Porter checked the orchestral parts and amended them as he felt necessary.<ref name=shaftel/>|group= n}} Now at the height of his success, Porter was able to enjoy the opening night of his musicals; he made grand entrances and sat in front, apparently relishing the show as much as any audience member. [[Russel Crouse]] commented "Cole's opening-night behaviour is as indecent as that of a bridegroom who has a good time at his own wedding."<ref name=Citron110/>

''Anything Goes'' was the first of five Porter shows featuring Merman. He loved her loud, brassy voice and wrote many numbers that displayed her strengths.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 141</ref> ''[[Jubilee (musical)|Jubilee]]'' (1935), written with [[Moss Hart]] while on a cruise around the world, was not a major hit, running for only 169 performances, but it featured two songs that have since become standards, "[[Begin the Beguine]]" and "[[Just One of Those Things (song)|Just One of Those Things]]".<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 183–96</ref> ''[[Red, Hot and Blue]]'' (1936), featuring Merman, [[Jimmy Durante]] and [[Bob Hope]], ran for 183 performances and introduced "[[It's De-Lovely]]", "[[Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor)]]", and "[[Ridin' High (song)|Ridin' High"]].<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 205–16</ref> The relative failure of these shows convinced Porter that his songs did not appeal to a broad enough audience. In an interview, he said "Sophisticated allusions are good for about six weeks ... more fun, but only for myself and about eighteen other people, all of whom are first-nighters anyway. Polished, urbane and adult playwriting in the musical field is strictly a creative luxury."<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 205.</ref>

Porter also wrote for Hollywood in the mid-1930s. His scores include those for the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] films ''[[Born to Dance]]'' (1936), with [[James Stewart]], featuring "[[You'd Be So Easy to Love]]" and "[[I've Got You Under My Skin]]", and ''[[Rosalie (1937 film)|Rosalie]]'' (1937), featuring "[[In the Still of the Night (1937 song)|In the Still of the Night]]".<ref name=Top9>Kimball (1992), p. 9</ref> He wrote the score of the short film ''[[Paree, Paree]]'', in 1935, using some of the songs from ''Fifty Million Frenchmen''.<ref>[http://www.sondheimguide.com/porter/paree.html ''Paree, Paree''], SoundheimGuide. Retrieved February 13, 2013</ref> Porter also composed the cowboy song "[[Don't Fence Me In (song)|Don't Fence Me In]]" for ''Adios, Argentina'', an unproduced movie, in 1934, but it did not become a hit until [[Roy Rogers]] sang it in the 1944 film ''[[Hollywood Canteen (film)|Hollywood Canteen]]''.<ref>Kimball (1992), p. 7</ref> [[Bing Crosby]], [[The Andrews Sisters]], and other artists also popularized it in the 1940s. The Porters moved to Hollywood in December 1935, but Porter's wife did not like the movie environment, and Porter's closeted homosexual acts, formerly very discreet, became less so; she retreated to their Paris house.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 143</ref><ref>McBrien (1998), pp. 189, 193, 206 and 209</ref> When his film assignment on ''Rosalie'' was finished in 1937, Porter hastened to Paris to make peace with Linda, but she remained cool. After a walking tour of Europe with his friends, Porter returned to New York in October 1937 without her.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 209.</ref> They were soon reunited by an accident Porter suffered.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 144</ref>

On October 24, 1937, Porter was riding with Countess Edith di Zoppola and [[Fulco di Verdura|Duke Fulco di Verdura]] at [[Piping Rock Club]] in [[Locust Valley, New York]], when his horse rolled on him and crushed his legs, leaving him substantially crippled and in constant pain for the rest of his life. Though doctors told Porter's wife and mother that his right leg would have to be amputated, and possibly the left one as well, he refused to have the procedure. Linda rushed from Paris to be with him, and supported him in his refusal of amputation.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 145</ref> He remained in the hospital for seven months before being allowed to go home to his apartment at the [[Waldorf Astoria New York|Waldorf Towers]].<ref name=Citron162>Citron (2005), p. 162</ref><ref>Harriman, Margaret Case. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1940/11/23/words-and-music-3 "Words and Music"], ''The New Yorker'', November 23, 1940. Retrieved June 17, 2018</ref>{{refn|Linda, appraising the deteriorating political outlook in Europe, closed the Paris house in April 1939.<ref>Citron (2005), p. 168</ref>|group= n}} He resumed work as soon as he could, finding it took his mind off his perpetual pain.<ref name=Citron162/>

Porter's first show after his accident was not a success. ''[[You Never Know (musical)|You Never Know]]'' (1938), starring [[Clifton Webb]], [[Lupe Vélez]] and [[Libby Holman]], ran for only 78 performances.<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 225</ref> The score included the songs "From Alpha to Omega" and "[[At Long Last Love (song)|At Long Last Love]]".<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 227 and 229</ref> He returned to success with ''[[Leave It to Me!]]'' (1938); the show introduced [[Mary Martin]], singing "[[My Heart Belongs to Daddy]]", and other numbers included "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love" and "From Now On".<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 241 and 243</ref> Porter's last show of the 1930s was ''[[DuBarry Was a Lady]]'' (1939), a particularly risqué show starring Merman and [[Bert Lahr]].<ref>Citron (2005), p. 184</ref> After a pre-Broadway tour, during which it ran into trouble with Boston censors,<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 260</ref> it achieved 408 performances, beginning at the [[46th Street Theatre]].<ref>Kimball (1984), p. 256</ref> The score included "But in the Morning, No" (which was banned from the airwaves), "[[Do I Love You?]]", "[[Well, Did You Evah!]]", "Katie Went to Haiti" and another of Porter's up-tempo list songs, "[[Friendship (Cole Porter song)|Friendship]]".<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 259–67</ref> At the end of 1939, Porter contributed six songs to the film ''[[Broadway Melody of 1940]]'' for Fred Astaire, [[George Murphy]] and [[Eleanor Powell]].<ref>Kimball (1984), pp. 252–54</ref>

Meanwhile, as political unrest increased in Europe, Porter's wife closed their Paris house in 1939, and the next year bought a country home in the [[Berkshires|Berkshire mountains]], near [[Williamstown, Massachusetts]], which she decorated with elegant furnishings from their Paris home. Porter spent time in Hollywood, New York and Williamstown.<ref>McBrien (1998), p. 225</ref>