Cole Porter, European

This chapter attempts to paint a portrait of Porter's life in Europe between the late 1910s and early 1930s. The persons and places he encountered there left their mark on a multitude of his songs. Porter stood at the center of the Roaring Twenties in Paris and of the 1930s and 1940s in New York and Hollywood, a product of the upper class, the personification of the notion of “style,” and of a philosophy that strives for a quality interpretation of life with an emphasis on creating beauty and well-being. But at the same time, he served as a subversive figure within his social order, openly displaying his considerable empathy for the outcasts of society, for his fellow men both black and white, and for persons whose sexuality differed from societal norms. His songs, some of the most outstanding of the twentieth century, allowed him to transcend life's struggles and hardships. Perhaps through them, both the performer and the audience, coming home with full hands and dancing feet, might do so as well.