Cocktails With Clifton and Mabelle - October 19, 1937

One of the joys of writing about Clifton Webb, is that you can't talk about him without talking about the famous, and sometimes infamous, friends he surrounded himself with.

On October 19, 1937, Clifton, and his ever present mother Mabelle, hosted a cocktail party for Cole Porter, who had just returned from Europe. Porter was preparing for his latest Broadway musical "You Never Know."

In attendance were Charles B. "Cockie" Cochran and his wife, Evelyn. Cochran was closely associated with Noël Coward, and produced most of Coward's plays and musicals. Cochran's chief competitor was the European impresario André Charlot. Charlot had hired Webb as a dancer in the 1920's for one of his revues, and it was during this time that Webb and Coward first met and formed a lifelong friendship.

Diana Napier Tauber was the wife of Austrian tenor Richard Tauber. The Tauber's were married from 1936 to 1948. Richard made 13 movie appearances from 1929 to 1946. As Diana Napier, she appeared in 14 films from 1932 to 1936. In 1950 she appeared in 2 films, both British mysteries titled "Bait," and "I Was A Dancer."

Elsa Maxwell, of course, was there. Also, an actress, and old friend of the Webbs, named Dorothy Norman. In an undated letter to "Mr. & Mrs. Webb," Dorothy reported that she is off to London, with a request that they look her up when they "come over." She gives the The Prince of Wales Theatre as her address. In a 1932 letter from Webb to Mabelle, he reports back to his mother "Had dinner with Edward and his sister and he got a box for Cassanova which is awful and poor Dorothy is doing practically chorus."

Constance Collier and Elsa Maxwell were regulars at Webb's parties. Jean Howard was an actress, former Ziegfeld and Goldwyn girl, and close friend of Cole Porter's. Howard was married to the agent and producer Charles Feldman from 1934 to 1948, although they continued to live together until Feldman's death in 1968. She had studied photography, and published 2 books, "Travels With Cole Porter" and "Jean Howard's Hollywood: A Photo Memoir." When Cole Porter died, Howard inherited a fortune in jewels, which allowed her to live comfortably for the rest of her life until her death on March 20, 2000.

Dwight Deere Wiman was a producer, and, more importantly, an heir to the John Deere tractor fortune. He produced on Broadway from 1925 to 1951. Among his productions: "The Country Girl," "Street Scene," "Morning's At Seven," "On Borrowed Time," "Babes In Arms," "On Your Toes," and "The Little Show."

The opera singer and actress Cobina Wright was also there. Wright's second husband, Bill Wright, was a stocbroker and millionaire, and they divorced in 1935. Their only child was Cobina Carolyn Wright, who became known as Cobina Wright, Jr., and the mother started using the name Cobina Wright, Sr. Wright, Sr. wrote a syndicated gossip column and, on her retirement from acting, she pushed her daughter forward. Wright, Jr. appeared in 9 films from 1941 to 1943.

New York Society was represented by Frances Scott Truesdale, Janet Newbold Stewart and her husband, William Rhinelander Stewart. After the Stewarts divorced, Janet married James Smith Bush II, the brother of Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of two Presidents. After her divorce from Bush, Janet was approached by Vincent Astor, who asked her to marry him. Janet turned him down, allegedly saying "I don't even like you." Astor pleaded his case saying that he was sick, not expected to live much longer, and, at his death, she would inherit his fortune. Again, allegedly, Janet asked, "What if you do live?" Instead, Astor proposed to Brooke Marshall.

In 1937, Webb's career was on hold. He had worked almost constantly from his 1913 debut in the operetta "The Purple Road" until 1934 when he closed in Irving Berlin's "As Thousands Cheer" when he made the move to Hollywood. Under contract to MGM, Webb sat for publicity photos with Clarence Sinclair Bull, and read publicity releases for his upcoming musical project "Elegance" which would co-star Joan Crawford. He rented a house from Constance Bennett, where he and Mabelle, met and entertained expats from Broadway, and where he became friends with those parts of Hollywood that he wasn't already friends with.

During that fallow, eighteen month period, he began to call Hollywood "The land of endowed vacations." Finally, when his contract with MGM expired in March of 1936, he returned to New York, his goal was to resurrect his Broadway career. On October 12, 1936, Webb and his co-star, Helen Gahagan, opened in the play "And Stars Remain" which was produced by the Theatre Guild. The authors were Julius and Philip Epstein, who, as screenwriters, would achieve fame with the script for "Casablanca." 

Webb played a boulevardier named Overton Morrell. During the play he lamented that "my dancing days are over." Critics picked up on that line and lamented that they hoped it wasn't true, and that they would get to see Webb back in his dancing form soon. Unfortunately, their opinion of "And Stars Remain" wasn't very high, and the show closed in November, 1936, about a month after opening.

Now, here it was, October of 1937. Webb hasn't worked for a year. And, here he was, entertaining Cole Porter, on the cusp of opening in Porter's newest Broadway outing, "You Never Know," based on the operetta "Bei Kerzenleicht" by Robert Katscher and Karl Farkas. When "You Never Know" opens, Webb will be joined in the cast by Lupe Velez and his old stage comrade Libby Holman. Webb will play the role of Gaston, and introduce the Porter song, "At Long Last Love."

Five days after this cocktail party, on October 24, 1937, Cole Porter was horseback riding at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, NY. Along with him on the ride was Countess Edith Di Zoppola and Duke Fulca di Verdura. Porter's horse was spooked, fell to the ground and crushed Porter's leg. In attempting to get up, the horse fell a second time and crushed the other leg.

"You Never Know" would be delayed another year and would open on September 21, 1938. "At Long Last Love" would become a Porter standard, and "You Never Know" would close on November 26, 1938 after 78 performances.