ABSTRACT
Cole Porter was born only three years after Irving Berlin, and, like Berlin, Porter wrote both the words and the melodies for his songs. Porter's subsequent show, Anything Goes, had traveled a somewhat convoluted path before reaching the stage. The strong cast contributed greatly to the success of Anything Goes. In particular, Freedley had wanted to use the powerhouse singer he had discovered four years earlier, Ethel Merman. Anything Goes does not really contribute to the development of the plot, but its lyrics certainly contribute to the humor of the overall show. Porter's music supports those words in some subtle ways. During the chorus, Porter uses various one-rhymes, two-rhymes, and three-rhymes: knows/goes; stocking/shocking; better words/-letter words. Porter had a special knack for interweaving the music and the lyrics in complementary and novel ways. The financial tribulations of the 1930s had a distinct impact on Broadway musicals, but the theatrical shortage was not unique to the United States.
