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Broadcast: August 15, 2004
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the life and music of American songwriter Cole Porter.
((MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
That was "Begin the Beguine" played by Artie Shaw's orchestra in nineteen-thirty-eight.
It is one of almost one-thousand songs Cole Porter wrote. In his seventy-three years, more than five-hundred of those songs were published. Porter wrote most of his songs in the nineteen-twenties, thirties and forties. Yet they remain as fresh as when he wrote them.
Cole Porter's songs are still being sung and played today. They are performed at musical theaters, jazz clubs, even rock-and-roll concerts. A movie about his life, called "De-Lovely," was released in two-thousand-four. Kevin Kline stars in the movie as Cole Porter. Ashley Judd plays his wife, Linda Porter. Popular young performers of today sing his songs in the movie. We will play some songs from that movie later in this program.
VOICE TWO:
Cole Porter was born June ninth, eighteen-ninety-one, in the middle western state of Indiana. His family was wealthy and educated. His mother, Kate, guided him to music at an early age. He wrote his first song at the age of ten.
As a young man, he was sent east to study at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In his extra time, he continued to write songs. Two were for the university: the "Yale Bulldog" song and "Bingo Eli Yale." They are still sung there today.
After finishing his studies at Yale, Cole Porter went to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to study law. That plan lasted only a year. At a party one night, he played some of his songs for the students and professors. The head of the law school spoke to him. "Why are you studying law?" he asked. "You are no good at it. Why don't you go to Harvard's Music School and then write for the musical theater?" Later, Porter said, "That idea had never entered my head before. "
VOICE ONE:
At the time, musical theater was extremely popular in America. This is because there were few music records. And radio programs were still being developed. So, songwriters had to work in the musical theater to be successful. Cole Porter wrote his first musical show in nineteen-sixteen. He was still a student at Harvard. The show
was called "See America First." It was produced in the Broadway theater area of New York City.
The show was a complete failure. Porter wanted to leave town until people forgot it. So, he went to Europe. He stayed there for most of the next thirteen years.
