PORTER, COLE. (1891-1964). American composer and lyricist of such hits as Night and Day, Anything Goes, and I Love Paris. DS. (“Cole Porter”). 1p. 4to. N.p., December, 1952. A signed carbon of a contract regarding the sale of two trucks from the estate of his mother Kate C. Porter to first cousin once removed, James O. Cole.
Born into a wealthy family in Peru, Indiana, Porter’s early interest in music was supported and nurtured by his mother, Kate Porter (née Cole). She arranged his music education, falsified his age to make him seem like a prodigy and paid to have his earliest compositions published. After leaving his hometown for boarding school in Massachusetts, Porter rarely returned to Peru.
Cole Porter
A sophisticated and superb craftsman, Porter enjoyed a successful career in both theater and film. In 1928, his musical Paris debuted on Broadway, which included the hit song “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love.” The musical secured his place as one of America’s leading songwriters whose elegant fusion of “graceful melody and rhyming ingenuity with a mixture of sexual innuendoes, offbeat humor, colloquialisms, and topicality” won the esteem of admirers the world over, (DAB). He followed up his success with the shows Fifty Million Frenchmen, Anything Goes and many other Broadway hits. Among his most memorable songs are “Night and Day,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Tops,” and “In the Still of the Night.” In 1937, Porter fractured both of his legs in a tragic horse-riding accident, a severe blow to the active and proud composer. His long convalescence did not stop him from composing Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love, From Now On and Get Out of Town.
Boldly signed with some minor wear; otherwise in very good condition.
