“C’est Magnifique” was first performed in “Can Can”, Porter’s show about Paris set in the 1890s, a time remembered for artists, music, dance and most of all, love. The story concerns the lives, loves and pure zest for life of some of the more Bohemian citizens of Paris. “It’s All Right with Me”, (see my […]

Published in 1950 for a show called “Out of this World”, “From this Moment On” became the show’s best-known song and a favorite of dance bands of the era. Surprisingly, it was dropped during off-Broadway tryouts only to become famous later through numerous recordings once it was finally introduced in a film version of “Kiss […]

“Fifty Million Frenchmen” (1929), see my posts of 6/18/17 and 1/13/18, was one of Cole Porter’s first successful, Broadway shows. The timing of its opening was problematic as it was introduced in the midst of a stock market collapse to mixed reviews. The panicked producers were so anxious to stimulate good publicity that they even […]

This song is another survivor (along with “Dream Dancing”, see my post of 10/23/2018) from the 1941 film “You’ll Never Get Rich” starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth (Astaire’s favorite dancing partner). The picture was very successful at the box office, turning Hayworth into a major star and reenergizing Astaire who was feeling that his […]

“I Love You” is the only song of 26 (!) that Porter wrote for “Mexican Hayride” (1944) which is still performed today. Had the original title “It All Belongs to You and Me” not been changed, it strikes me that this song too would have vanished without a trace. Instead, every performing artist imaginable has […]

“Dream Dancing” was written for the 1941 film, “You’ll Never Get Rich”, which starred Fred Astaire and the extraordinarily beautiful, Rita Hayworth. While Porter had been particularly looking forward to working on this assignment as Astaire was his favorite male star (Ethel Merman was his favorite female performer), he found himself amused but slightly disconcerted […]

“Kiss Me Kate” (1948), one of Porter’s most successful shows (1,077 performances) and his most fully integrated book musical, was packed full of gold standards; “Another Op’nin, Another Show”, WunderBar, “So in Love”, “Too Darn Hot”, “Always True to You in My Fashion”, “Brush up Your Shakespeare” and “Why Can’t You Behave”.  He described the […]

“The New Yorkers” (1930) featured several songs that are still sung today; “Where Have You Been?” the ever popular “Love for Sale”, “I Happen to Like New York” and “Let’s Fly Away”. The musical, starring Jimmy Durante, satirized New York (‘Park Avenue, the place where bad women walk good dogs’) ultra-jaded types, from high society […]

Introduced by Ethel Merman in the 1940, Broadway musical “Panama Hattie” (a takeoff on Panama Hat), you might not be surprised to learn that this is a drinking song as the singer wants to take to drinking after having been rejected in love. The NY Times of the day characterized “La Merman” as “a coarse-timbered […]

This is a follow-up post to my first effort of June 10, 2016. Written for the 1932 musical “Gay Divorce” (“Night & Day”, “How’s Your Romance” and “I’ve Got You on My Mind” also debuted in this show), this song was introduced to Broadway by Fred Astaire. “Gay Divorce” seems to have lived a charmed […]