Well, Did you Evah!

Basildon Room - Waldorf-Astoria

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/08/basildon-park.html

The recent Blog on Basildon Park and how fixtures from it formed the “Basildon Room” at the Waldorf- Astoria in New York City brought back memories of my first night in America in 1981. For on that occasion I had a somewhat distorted view of America for I stayed at 301 Park Avenue within walking distance of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Rockefeller Centre. That address is better known as the Waldorf -Astoria and I was stunned at this 48 storey Art Deco landmark. I stayed in the Towers and before I got to enjoy the wonderful vistas from our room at the “top of the house” you experienced the basement car park with its wall-to-wall limos and its lift which could take Franklin D. Roosevelt’s car directly from the platform at the adjacent Grand Central Station as he went to the Presidential Suite where all US Presidents stay when they are in New York. Then you had to walk through six lobbies to get to the huge reception (the hotel has 1,450 rooms) where by tradition all reception staff are mother tongue French speakers. Only then did you go to the room in the Towers to enjoy awe inspiring views of Manhattan.


Waldorf-Astoria Park Avenue entrance



But above all what I remember is Cole Porter’s piano for this great American songwriter lived here for 30 years (he had family money and his wife was rich) and the Waldorf would only allow Cole Porter songs to be played on it. Cole Porter lived in several suites in The Waldorf Towers from 1934 to 1964, eventually settling on room 33A. This spacious and grand suite later became the home of Frank Sinatra. The Waldorf Towers are the super-luxury, high-security, residential “hotel within a hotel” in the Waldorf-Astoria.


Cole Porter’s piano

Cole Porter’s piano – a small mahogany Steinway with Louis XVI courtly figures – is on display in the Park Avenue cocktail terrace of The Waldorf-Astoria. If you’re a Cole Porter fan, it’s definitely worth a visit. He composed many of his most famous songs on this piano, including I’ve Got You Under My Skin.


Plaque

Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate, Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". He was noted for his sophisticated bawdy lyrics, clever rhymes, and complex forms. He was one of the greatest contributors to the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter is one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers to have written both lyrics and music for his songs.





On October 24, 1937, taking a break from a re-write of what would be his weakest musical, "You Never Know", visiting as a guest at a countess' home, Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, New York, he was badly injured in a fall while horseback-riding. Both of his legs were smashed and he suffered a nerve injury. He was hospitalised for two years, confined to a wheelchair for five years and endured over 30 operations to save his legs over the next 20 years. During his recuperation he wrote a number of Broadway musicals.

On August 3, 1952, his beloved mother died of a cerebral haemorrhage. His wife, Linda, died of cancer on May 20, 1954. On April 3, 1958, he sustained his 33rd operation, and still suffering from chronic pain, his right leg was amputated. He refused to wear an artificial limb and lived as a virtual recluse in his apartment at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. He sought refuge in alcohol, sleep, self-pity and sank into despair. He even refused to attend a "Salute to Cole Porter" at the Metropolitan Opera on May 15, 1960, and the commencement exercises at Yale University in June of 1960 when he was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, or his 70th birthday party arranged by his friends at the Orpheum Theatre in New York City in June 1962.


Cole Porter



After what appeared to be a successful kidney stone operation at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, California, he died very unexpectedly on October 15, 1964. His funeral instructions were that he have no funeral or memorial service and he was buried adjacent to his mother and wife in Peru, Indiana. What a sad end for a gifted songwriter whose music more than anybody’s caught the zeitgeist of America over 30 years and whose legacy endures today. This rich and gifted man became a virtual prisoner in his gilded cage of suite 33A at The Towers of the Waldorf-Astoria.


Main Lobby, Waldorf-Astoria

At his best his songs use slang, bawdy allusions, irony, sarcasm and wit and for me they are best represented by the wonderful cover of Well, Did you Evah! These qualities are there in large measure in this wonderful version of my personal Cole Porter favourite by Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop. Debbie was the post-punk priestess of New York City and with Blondie produced some perfect pop songs, many of which celebrated the rawness and energy of The Union City. As for Iggy (yes I know it’s not his real name and he is from Michigan where he played in a High school Band The Iguanas = Iggy; geddit?) whether with Nico, Tom Waits or David Bowie he is an original force.


Debbie & Iggy



Well, Did You Evah! Debbie and Iggy in 1990.

Lyrics:

Debbie: I have heard, among this clan, you are called the forgotten man.
Iggy: is that what theyre saying? well, did you evah!
Both: what a swell party this is!
Iggy: and have you heard the story of a boy, a girl, unrequited love?
Debbie: sounds like pure soap opera. I may cry.
Iggy: aw...
Both: what a swell party this is!

Iggy: what frails!
Debbie: what cocks!
Iggy: what broads!
Debbie: what jocks...
Iggy: what furs! they’re beautiful!
Debbie: why, I’ve never seen such...
Both: yuppity!
Debbie: neither did I.
Iggy: its all just too...
Both: swellegant!



Andy Warhol's picture of Debbie Harry

Debbie: this French champagne...
Iggy: (domestic!)
Debbie: so good for the brain.
Iggy: that’s what I was gonna say!
Debbie: well, you know you’re a brilliant fellow.
Iggy: thank you, I am!
Debbie: he he, drink up Jim.
Iggy: so... have you ever been out to L.A. lately?
Debbie: well no, not recently.
Iggy: well, I went there and had a rent-a-car and all...
Debbie: oh, really?
Iggy: yeah and I got invited to Pia's house... Pia Zadora's house...
Debbie: really? oh.
Iggy: yeah.
Debbie: was it nice?
Iggy: well, I didn’t... I didn’t go!
Debbie: oh! He he.
Iggy: it would a been swell though!





Debbie: should a gone!
Iggy: it would a been elegant!
Debbie: elegant.
Oh wait, look... look who’s coming in now... can you believe it?
Iggy: ...I hear they dismantled Pickfair.
Debbie: they did.
Iggy: it wasn’t elegant enough. He he!
Debbie: yeah. probably full of termites.
Iggy: yeah.



Both: its great!
Its grand!
Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wonderland!
La la la la la la la la la la la la la.
We sing so rare, like old camembert.

Iggy: have you heard that Diane Star - she got bit in the Astro bar.
Debbie: sauced again! well, did you evah...
Both: what a swell party this is!
Have you heard?
It’s in the stars.
Next July we collide with Mars.
Well did you evah!

What a swell party.
What a swell party.
What a swellegant elegant, (sm) party...
Debbie: smarty?
Iggy: party... yeah!
Debbie: a smarty party?
Iggy: I am! a smarty! Im pretty smart!

Debbie: you are a smarty for coming to this party.
Iggy: yeah, that’s right!
Debbie: well piss off.
Iggy: he he he, that’s good! I like that.



The Waldorf-Astoria

To check out the Waldorf=Astoria see;

http://www.waldorfnewyork.com