Customer Reviews

Cole Porter: A Biography

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Cole Porter (1891-1964) determinedly created the image of an extremely wealthy man who traveled the world, played with the rich and famous, and now and then wrote a Broadway show or two for the pure pleasure of it. But although he was in some respects a shallow man who lived largely for personal pleasure, he was also a very driven and complex one, a man whose fame on the stage did not come easily and who faced a series of horrific hurdles in his private life.

Porter risked his grandfather's ire--and the family fortune he controlled--by settling on a career in music, and while he earned early fame at Yale through his compositions, his first Broadway venture, See America First, was a humiliating fiasco. Homosexual in an era when it was flatly unacceptable, he would marry to retain respectability and forge a remarkable emotional (if completely platonic) relationship with wife Linda Lee Thomas--even while conducting a series of same-sex affairs that would prove frustratingly superficial. Near the height of his career, a horseback riding accident would leave him crippled and in physical agony for the rest of his life, and the pressures of pain and keeping up appearances would plunge him into fits of depression that seemed to border on the psychotic.

Biographer William McBrien is meticulous in his research and his recreation of Porter's very high society, and in other hands such a weight of knowledge might plunge a book into absolute impenetrability--but although McBrien sometimes errs by flooding the reader with inconsequential detail, by and large he keeps a fine balance on his very difficult subject, tracing the arc of Porter's life from Indiana to Yale to New York to Europe to Hollywood, tracing the arc of his career from the humiliating fiasco of Porter's first Broadway show "See America First" to the brilliance of such successes as "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me Kate."

In the process McBrien not only seems to capture Porter, but an entire era as well--a world of sharp sophistication when terms like "star" and "toast of two continents" and "gentlemen" still had meaning, when the "have-nots" danced to the tempo of the "haves" and the wealthy went slumming for a thrill. Filled with numerous photographs and large chunks of Porter's memorable lyrics, this is one biography that truly does its subject justice.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Night and Day this is the best biography of the great Cole Porter (1891-1964). Porter was the scion of a wealthy family from Peru, Indiana. As a lad he excelled in music making and
graduated with a degree from Yale University. After a year of Law School at Harvard the travel loving Porter journeyed to Paris. He wed Linda Lee Thomas a wealthy woman several years his senior. Porter was gay and the marriage to Linda was sexless. The couple did love one another and Porter was never the same following Linda's death in 1954.
Porter wrote one fabulous musical after another for over 40 years. He lived in luxury with staff to attend his every need. He had a wide circle of friends from among the cultural and literary elite but was an aloof, fastidious, secretive man. Porter was a hard man to know and this biography is about as close as we will ever get to the inner core of the composer.
Porter was a genius in the witty line, the fetching tune and had the ability to make Broadway take notice during his fabulous career.
His life was placid but painful following his fall from a horse and the amputation of a leg. He was alcoholic and probably took durgs.
McBrien is an English professor who has written a well cratede book rich in anecdote. The book is well illustrated with photos from the Porter legacy. Several of Cole's famed lyrics are recorded to the delight of the reader.
With the new movie on Cole Porter this is a good supplement to the film. Well recommended.

WILLIAM McBRIEN has done it;he has given all the PORTER fans of this world the biography they were waiting for for thirty-four years.What this book gives us is an accurate account of the composer's life including his well known homosexuality, even if he married for respectability.PORTER's early years were quite different when compare with the other composers of his generation;he had a millionnaire grandfather and a rather aloof father with whom he didn't really communicate.He led a rather easy going life until he finally decided at the age of 37 to let his talent bloom on BROADWAY.There is considerable irony to the fact that from his riding accident in 1937,that man who had everything suffered a great deal until his death in 1964.You end up knowing what was this thing called love.

I'd managed to drag myself through about a quarter of "Last Train to Memphis" when Peter Guralnick droped yet another superfluous detail about a Memphis DJ (Pete, you already told us twice that Bob Neal did the noon "hillbilly" show) and I just couldn't take it no more. Away went the King and out came the incomparable Cole.

Where Guralnick's bio is dense and chewy, William McBrien's treatment on the serious work of being Cole Porter is a melt-in-your-mouth delight. And not without sustenance. McBrien's business is to give analysis of Porter's lyrics through insights into the man's background, actions and relationships. And then comes a cornucopia of society gossip and backstage anecdotes. The juicy stories are not overdone, in fact I would have liked a few more as well as more pictures.

A nonchalant reference to a love letter to another man is McBrien's introduction of Cole Porter's homosexuality. I thought I missed an earlier more formal reference. From there it is treated no more nor less seriously than his marriage, wealth or manners--a major factor in his life that molded his work. Porter's crippling riding accident is handled in the same fashion-a clear report uncluttered by romance or irony.

"Cole Porter" shows that it is possible to write a critical biography that weighs less than a toddler and is a real pleasure to read.

This is one of the most comprehensive biographies of Cole Porter out. There are few stones that are not looked under but the detail becomes cumbersome and the prose style is awkward and often confusing. The cast of characters reads like a list of the "rich and famous" of the 20th century but the story gets lost in "who knows who", "who is related to who" and "who is doing what to whom". Still, the book is invaluable for its information and well worth the read.

I very much agree with the reviewer from Sicily, but there is much more to this book. There is much F.Scott Fitzgerald, an era long about a time and place many of us have not experienced...It is society, alcohol, party, good friends, drugs, and sex---this time homosexual. It is all fun and games, good times, and famous people. Sometimes, however, it is best not to know the personal life as it may spoil the song, the movie, the performance...but if you rise above this, as I did, here is a very skillfully written book with much information, perhaps too much information, but fascinating nevertheless. I am sorry I never got to see him sing and play in person as he was a very talented man and helpful to many of his friends.

After finally realizing that many of my favorite songs through the years were written by one man, namely Cole Porter, I searched for a biography and found this one. I had recently finished a biography of Gershwin and thoroughly enjoyed it. Comparing the two men was inevitable. They both composed a tremendous amount of music and were very disciplined when it came to their craft. There the similarity ended. Gershwin was always pushing his limits and developing as a composer. Cole Porter pretty much settled for being a tunesmith- a very clever and witty one, though. Gershwin was always working and learning. Porter was always partying - booze, drugs, and sex. It is amazing that he was able to stand up, nevermind sit down for several hours at the piano everyday to compose, no matter what his activities of the night before. While Gerhswin's life reveals a composer striving for ever increasing greatness, Porter's life is pretty superficial and shallow - consisting of one party after another with the "beautiful people". It was a bit of a shock to see that his life was as shallow and mindless as it was and wouldn't add up to much of anything if it were not for his incredible talent. Wealthy beyond most of our dreams, he seems to have been oblivious and/or indifferent to the Depression and the great World War - my guess is that he probably saw them as little more than pesty distractions from his round of parties. With Gershwin, you admire his talent, his discipline, his striving, his willingness to take musical risks after he had become wealthy. With Cole Porter - well, there is always his talent.

I had this book in my hands before I could think about it. Great Service!!!

marvelous insider info about the subject,his life, friends, and what was happening in the world that shaped his life and music. a great read.

Well written and interesting book on an enigmatic figure. Service was fast and as promised.