letrouvere's Full Review: William McBrien - Cole Porter: A Biography
William McBrien, a professor of English at Hofstra University, has written "Cole Porter: a Biography" about the famous Broadway composer and lyricist. The only child of a prosperous family in Peru, Indiana, Cole Porter entered Worcester Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, at the age of fourteen, and went on to Yale as an undergraduate and to Harvard for graduate studies. He had a distinguished career as a major writer of songs for the Broadway stage from the 1910’s through the 1950’s. He also wrote some songs for Hollywood movies. His songs were not noted not only for their catchy melodies, but also for their sophisticated and witty lyrics.
For several years after his student days, Porter lived in Europe, where he moved in fashionable circles and married his wife, Linda Lee, a woman a little older than he was. According to McBrien, the couple had a sexless marriage. Porter was attracted to men, and engaged in a series of affairs with men through his life. In the 1930’s before the war, the couple returned to America, where they would spend time on both coasts, so that Porter could work on Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. McBrien devotes much attention to Porter’s career, and describes the preparation of such shows as "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me, Kate" for the Broadway stage. The book includes excerpts from the lyrics of a number of Porter’s songs.
Although the book is very competently written, I found it a pleasant but not terribly interesting read. Perhaps it is that what is interesting about Cole Porter is the songs that he wrote, not the life that he led.
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