I love Cole Porter —

1st October 1933: Cole Porter (1891 – 1964), American songwriter and composer of musicals. (Photo by Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Well, I love his music. 

He had an ear for how we are, and put that into lilting and lovely music that made sense to me even in the 1960’s! (That Old Black Magic, I Get a Kick out of You, Night and Day — ) 

The man was as complicated as he was  creative— (The Pleasure and Pain of Being Cole Porter )

Of course I have always imagined Cole Porter as Cary Grant played him in Night and Day.*

How I picture Cole Porter

His Music in Context 

But I have never seen any of the musicals showcasing all the songs I love. So, we recently watched Anything Goes  on Great Performances.  

What a Show!

Wow — even on TV the costumes, choreography and singing were stunning; and the storyline resonated with old jokes from 1934 that were spot on for 2022. 

Truly, the more things change, the more they stay the same — greed, pride, lust; miscreants, even the virtuous — our foibles and follies don’t change much in almost nine decades!  

Yes Anything Goes is a wee bit  racy — but hardly more than what’s in the new Disney or Hallmark movies.  Frankly, it’s a realistic intro to this old world as we find it!**  

There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know. ~ Ambrose Bierce 

 Truly, the longer I live, the less I realize I know.  Repeating myself here, I know.  

But, I Still Love Cole Porter

 I keep humming Anything Goes. — and of course, You’d Be So Easy to Love . . . So much of what is true packed in with what is  naughty and fun.  Kind of a like a Christmas Meme I found:

Isaiah 5:20

Don’t be surprised. There is nothing new under the sun. Only endless repackagings —John Piper   

 I wonder if — how  — the grandkids would like it? 

*That wasn’t the most accurate biography; in 2004, Hollywood presented a newer version:  De-lovely. (which I haven’t seen— maybe too much reality. ) 

  ** The Original Serenity Prayer:

Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.