Cole Porter Summary and Reviews

Cole Porter
by William Mcbrien

Cole Porter
List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $5.99
You Save: $10.96 (65%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.94 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: William Mcbrien
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-12-05
ISBN: 0679727922
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Vintage

Book Reviews of Cole Porter

Book Review: A Memorable Biography of a Brilliant Artist
Summary: 5 Stars

Cole Porter (1891-1964) worked hard to create 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 even 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

Biographies & Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in There's no one around. Let's misbehave.
Killer Killer ImageKiller Killer
York; Release date: 2007-08-07; DVD
Best price: $3.89
Price in other shops: $19.98
Dead Clowns ImageDead Clowns
Lions Gate; Release date: 2007-07-31; DVD
Best price: $5.10
Price in other shops: $14.98
Mr. Halloween ImageMr. Halloween
York; Release date: 2007-07-17; DVD
Best price: $13.65
Price in other shops: $24.99
Assorted Halloween Mr Potato Head Pumpkin Kit Choose: Witch, Vampire, Princess or Pirate ImageAssorted Halloween Mr Potato Head Pumpkin Kit Choose: Witch, Vampire, Princess or Pirate
Paper Magic Group; Paper Magic; Toy
Best price: $9.99
Mr. Potato Head Trick or Tater ImageMr. Potato Head Trick or Tater
Hasbro; Hasbro; Toy
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops: $9.99
Werewolf & Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Halloween at Radio Spirits) ImageWerewolf & Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Halloween at Radio Spirits)
Radio Spirits; Published: 2001-09; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.48
Price in other shops: $4.98
Unwelcome Bodies ImageUnwelcome Bodies
by Jennifer Pelland
Apex Publications; Published: 2008-02-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.06
Price in other shops: $14.95
Strange Stories of Sand and Sea ImageStrange Stories of Sand and Sea
Fine Tooth Press L.L.C.; Published: 2008-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops: $19.95
Sick: An Anthology of Illness ImageSick: An Anthology of Illness
Raw Dog Screaming Press; Published: 2003-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.54
Price in other shops: $15.95
Captain William Kidd, and Others of the Pirates or Buccaneers Who Ravaged the Seas, the Islands, and the Continents of America Two Hundred Years Ago ImageCaptain William Kidd, and Others of the Pirates or Buccaneers Who Ravaged the Seas, the Islands, and the Continents of America Two Hundred Years Ago
by John Stevens Cabot Abbott
Adamant Media Corporation; Published: 2005-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.18
Price in other shops: $26.99
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter, Vol. 1 ImageMusic and Lyrics by Cole Porter, Vol. 1
by Cole Porter
Hal Leonard; Hal Leonard Corporation; Published: 1981-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.12
Price in other shops: $18.95
The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty ImageThe House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty
by Wilfrid Sheed
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.52
Price in other shops: $16.00
Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy ImageMaking It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy
University of California Press; Published: 2007-08-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.68
Price in other shops: $34.95
Travels With Cole Porter ImageTravels With Cole Porter
by Jean Howard
HNA Books; Published: 1991-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.00
Price in other shops: $39.95
It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection ImageCole Porter - It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection
Release date: 2004-06-22; Music CD
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops: $13.98
Noel & Cole - The Sophisticates (Book) ImageNoel & Cole - The Sophisticates (Book)
by Stephen Citron
Hal Leonard; Published: 2005-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.90
Price in other shops: $16.95
De-Lovely ImageCole Porter - De-Lovely
Release date: 2004-06-15; Music CD
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops: $13.98
Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story ImageEverybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story
by Amanda Vaill
Broadway; Published: 1999-04-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $16.95
Cole Porter: A Biography (Da Capo Paperback) ImageCole Porter: A Biography (Da Capo Paperback)
by Charles Schwartz
Da Capo Press; Published: 1979-03-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.54
Price in other shops: $18.00
De-Lovely ImageDe-Lovely
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2004-12-21; DVD
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops: $14.98