Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928 - photo 1
Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928 - photo 2

Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928

Lot 150
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 3 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1016532
Lot 150 | Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928

Cole Porter

Cole PORTER (1891-1964).



Autograph lyrics for the song Looking At You from Cole Porter’s 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up And Dream, c.1928, the 29 lines inscribed in pencil on the reverse of a 'Princess Hotel, Paris' telegram form, the lyrics representing Porter’s original spelling and syntax, which were fine-tuned for the final version.



Looking At You was first performed in the 1928 Parisian nightclub production the Revue des Ambassadeurs. ‘Eventually Clifton Webb and Dorothy Dickson joined the cast’ writes William McBrien, ‘and they inspired Porter to write one of his loveliest songs’. Writing for New Theatre Quarterly, James Ross Moore elaborates, ‘Porter had written this lilting song, so evocative of swinging on a summer’s day, for Webb to sing to Dorothy Dickson’, and credits the Revue des Ambassadeurs with signalling Porter’s ‘coming-of-age’. The song was so popular that Porter later included it in his 1929 London and Broadway musical Wake Up and Dream, where it was sung by Jessie Matthews. From the collection of Porter’s close friend Clifton Webb, one of the inspirations for the song. Webb worked primarily on Broadway until the mid-1940s when his Hollywood career took off with an Academy Award nominated performance in the 1944 noir Laura. McBrien, 119. Moore, in New Theatre Quarterly, May 1992, 113-122.



One page, 275 x 145 mm; in modern custom clothbound folder. Provenance: Clifton Webb (Hollywood actor and Porter’s close friend).

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

Red Hot and Blue. A Musical Comedy
Red Hot and Blue. A Musical Comedy
£1 500
Autograph music manuscript for 40 bars from a song, untitled but possibly from the 1938 Broadway musical comedy You Never Know
Autograph music manuscript for 40 bars from a song, untitled but possibly from the 1938 Broadway musical comedy You Never Know
£3 000
Red Hot and Blue
Red Hot and Blue
£1 200
Typed document signed
Typed document signed
£1 200

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.