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The first comprehensive collection of the letters of one of the most successful American songwriters of the twentieth century From Anything Goes to Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter left a lasting legacy of iconic songs including \"You're the Top,\" \"Love For Sale,\" and \"Night and Day.\" Yet, alongside his professional success, Porter led an eclectic personal life which featured exuberant parties, scandalous affairs, and chronic health problems. This extensive collection of letters (most of which are published here for the first time) dates from the first decade of the twentieth century to the early 1960s and features correspondence with stars such as Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman, and Orson Welles, as well as his friends and lovers. Cliff Eisen and Dominic McHugh complement these letters with lively commentaries that draw together the loose threads of Porter's life and highlight the distinctions between Porter's public and private existence. This book reveals surprising insights into his attitudes toward Hollywood and Broadway, and toward money, love, and dazzling success.

The material runs from ''Duffy's Tavern'' (his earliest success as a writer on radio) to ''Guys and Dolls'' and his subsequent Broadway shows. There are letters from three Allens -- Fred and Steve as well as [Woody Allen] -- and from Burrows's principal collaborators, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter and George S. Kaufman. Burrows was a compulsive letter writer who seems to have saved almost every scrap of paper that passed through his hands, including copies of opening night telegrams. For five years he was the head writer on ''Duffy's Tavern.'' The popular radio series began every evening with Ed Gardner, the show's creator and star, answering the telephone and saying, without pause: ''Hello Duffy's Tavern where the elite meet to eat Archie the manager speaking Duffy ain't here oh hello Duffy.'' Burrows was then living in Los Angeles and entertaining at Hollywood parties, singing his song parodies (''The Girl With the Three Blue Eyes''). Frank Loesser, who had already written war songs like ''Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,'' soon became his friend and collaborator. Long before ''Guys and Dolls,'' they dashed off comedy songs together. In May 1944, Loesser wrote him that he was submitting their song, ''You Haven't Got Cheeks Like Roses'' to Paramount. ''which ought to mean five hundred bucks in the kick for you again.'' In a long-distance correspondence, Porter and Burrows worked on the musical ''Can-Can,'' with the composer sending his songs from Los Angeles and the writer offering his comments from New York. In June 1952 Porter sent two new songs, ''I Do'' and ''I Love Paris,'' to Burrows. After praising the songs, Burrows suggested that the composer write one about the law to use in the show.