Ethel Waters - Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today) (Cole Porter) 1934

Details

Description

8-20-1934 Miss Otis Regrets

Songs Of Cole Porter. Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 -- October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Peru, Indiana.
Cole Porter grave site - Mt. Hope Cemetery Peru, Indiana.
He lived at swell-egant addresses in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Berkshires, but the ultra-sophisticated Cole Porter (1891-1964) chose to be buried in his hometown of Peru, Indiana, with an unassuming marker. Porter was the son of a local druggist, and at age 8 was enrolled at the nearby Marion Conservatory of Music. There the boy first studied violin and piano and performed at recitals dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy in a velvet suit with lace cuffs. Though one of his biographers claims young Porter was "no prodigy," he played with a vigor and zest that stole the show. At 10, he composed his first song, "Song of the Birds." Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 -- September 1, 1977) was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.
"Miss Otis Regrets" is a song about the lynching of a society woman after she murders her unfaithful lover. It was composed by Cole Porter in 1934, and first performed by Douglas Byng in Hi Diddle Diddle, a revue that opened on October 3, 1934, at London's Savoy Theatre.