Chicago Auction Of Cole Porter Chattels

Rare family sale of Porter's Art Deco Life goes under the hammer

Chicago auctioneers Leslie Hindman has announced a sale of the Property of the popular American songwriter Cole Porter. It comes directly from the Estate of Cole Porter's second cousin. It will be included in the February 12-14, 2012 Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts auction. The forty-one lots include Continental and Asian furniture, Chinese ceramics, English silver, Baccarat and Steuben stemware, and other fine table wares. A pair of Italian bergères come from Porter’s Manhattan library, which the decorator Billy Baldwin famously outfitted with brass étagères fabricated by P.E. Guerin. The property comes to the auction house from the living trust of Porter’s first cousin’s daughter, Louise Cole Schmitt.
Cole Porter was born on June 9, 1891 in Peru, Indiana, the only child of a well-established family. Porter’s talent and affinity for music became evident at a young age and was central to his studies at Worcester Academy and Yale University. After his education at Yale, he moved to Paris where he kept a luxurious apartment. It was there that he met his wife Linda Lee Thomas and received his first commission for music. Cole Porter’s brilliance as a composer and songwriter, in particular for Broadway musicals, made an indelible impression in the history of American popular music. The sophistication evident in his musical compositions carries over to his masterfully cultivated collection of furnishings.

His first Broadway show was 'See America First,' which was a 1916 flop despite the social luminaries in the early audiences -- a feature of hiring Bessie Marbury as theatrical producer. It was described by the New York American as a "high-class college show played partly by professionals." Cole later claimed to be in hiding after the failure of the show but he actually was prominent in the New York social scene and continued to live at the Yale Club in New York.In July of 1917, he set out for Paris and war-engulfed Europe. Paris was a place Cole flourished socially and managed to be in the best of all possible worlds. He lied to the American press about his military involvement and made up stories about working with the French Foreign Legion and the French army. This allowed him to live his days and nights as a wealthy American in Paris, a socialite with climbing status, and still be considered a "war hero" back home, an 'official' story he encouraged throughout the rest of his life. The parties during these years were elaborate and fabulous, involving people of wealthy and political classes. His parties were marked by much gay and bisexual activity, Italian nobility, cross-dressing, international musicians, and a large surplus of recreational drugs. By 1919, Cole was spending time with the American divorcee Linda Thomas. The two became close friends quickly. Their financial status and social standing also made them ideal candidates for marriage as a business contract, not for passion. The fact that Linda's ex-husband was abusive and Cole was gay made the arrangement even more palatable. Linda was always one of Cole's best supporters and being married increased his chance of success, and Cole allowed Linda to keep high social status for the rest of her life. They married on December 19, 1919 and lived a happy friendship, a mostly successful public relationship, but a sexless marriage until Linda's death in 1954. For those interested in the poets, politicians, patricians, and places Cole knew in the next two decades, they were fairly well documented.
After early success with one-off songs like Don't Fence Me In, which was re-released in a World War II musical called Hollywood Canteen, Cole signed some contracts with the film industry. The first film with a Cole Porter song was The Battle of Paris from 1929, but his two tunes from that movie had little impact on his career because of the film wasn't very good overall.Cole was happy with many aspects of the Hollywood community, including the liberal gay enclave called the movie industry population. Although there is some dispute about the reasons why Linda did not like the Hollywood home, research indicates that the primary friction was Cole's relatively more public sexual escapades. At the time, it was much less acceptable to be an eccentric gay artist and Linda feared for Cole's reputation and career. And her social standing was threatened by such activities, since it reflected poorly in hushed rumors within upper-crust social circles.

In 1937, Cole was involved in a horse riding accident and fractured both of legs. This was a personal tragedy for a vain man who placed an enormous value on looks for both social and sexual reasons. His vibrant energy and obsession to maintain his looks through elaborate daily rituals could not (in his opinion) compensate for such a debilitating blow at his health and his ego. He was in the hospital for months, but his mental and physical health waned. It got worse with the eventual amputation of one of his legs. This did not stop Cole from writing music. During this period were Cole's popular songs Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love, From Now On, and Get Out Of Town. In 1945, he lent his permission but minimal creative energy to the movie Night and Day, allegedly about the life of Cole Porter. Although great for his ego and likely hysterically funny for his friends, history suffers because this movie had very little relationship to the actual life of Cole Porter. The movie purposely left out important parts of life, like his overly pampered and controlled youth, his gay life, his sexless marriage of convenience, his 'business' marriage, and furthered the fantastic tall tales that Cole spread about himself. For instance, although he had never served in the French Army, the movie faithfully "showed" his exploits and his fake war injuries. Cole reportedly enjoyed the movie's wildly fictional account, and he had the privilege of seeing movie superstar Cary Grant play a well-hyped heroic (and straight) version of himself. After this point, he had one major production, Kiss Me Kate, which was based on the Shakespeare classic Taming of the Shrew. Cole was very skeptical of this production but eventually lent his hand to the production and it became very successful, eventually spawning a moderately successful movie. Porter produced fewer successful productions in the later days, but Cole wrote songs for the musicals Can Can and Silk Stockings during this period.

Doctors amputated Cole's injured right leg in 1958. After the amputation, Cole's creative productivity, his social power, and his happiness plummeted. He died on October 15, 1964. In accordance with his wishes, official reports say that he was buried between his wife Linda and his father Sam Porter. Howver, perhaps because of his father's trivial role in Cole's upbringing, other reports circled that he was actually buried between his mother Kate and his wife Linda. The popularity of his individual songs lasted far beyond the common knowledge of the man himself. Many of his most famous songs were presented to the public only in the context of musicals or movies which contained non-Cole Porter songs. Other famous songs have come from Cole Porter musicals or revues that failed miserably, but made up their exposure via sheet music and recordings from popular singers like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. For more information about Cole Porter albums, see the CD section of Cole Wide Web. Sometime in the 1990s, ASCAP reported that the sales of the song Night and Day from the musical Gay Divorce were the highest numbers of all time.

A 1990 album brought Cole Porter music to many younger listeners as the fundraising album Red, Hot, and Blue. The album features Cole Porter songs sung by popular musicians of the 1980s and 1990s. Porter songs still maintain a strong presence in movie soundtracks (from Woody Allen Movies, to Tank Girl), with the most popular songs Lets Do It (Let's Fall In Love) and Night and Day.The 2004 movie De-Lovely, named after a silly Cole Porter song title, rekindled the nation's love for Cole Porter's music due to the beautiful sets, all-star actors, famous musicians, and a well-hyped Hollywood marketing campaign for the movie and the soundtrack. Bio Info - by JX Bell

Cole Porter passed away in 1964. He is buried with his wife in his hometown of Peru, Indiana and his property has withstood descent through the family for more than forty-five years. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is honored to conduct the sale of these objects in memory of one of twentieth century music’s greatest luminaries. Preview exhibition for the sale begins February 8. For more information please contact Corbin Horn at 312.280.1212.

 Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has been an industry leader combining recognition as one of the nation’s foremost fine art auctioneers with a global base of buyers. Founded in 1982, sold to Sotheby’s in 1997 and reopened in 2003, Leslie Hindman has remained a constant force behind high profile auctions of everything from contemporary paintings and fine jewelry to French furniture and rare books and manuscripts, and always achieves the highest prices while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and customer service.