Farming
words & music by Cole Porter

    Cholly Knickerbocker – a pseudonym used by a succession of columnists writing chiefly for the New York Journal-American. It was first used by John W. Keller in 1891; by the time Cole Porter wrote “Farming,” Maury Henry Biddle Paul had been writing under that name since 1919.
    Katharine “Kit” Cornell (1893-1974) – An American theater presence, famous as an actor, writer, and producer. She is best known for portraying Elizabeth Barrett Browning in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” (1931), as well as roles in “The Letter (1927), The Alien Corn (1933), Romeo and Juliet” (1934), and “No Time for Comedy” (1939). She disdained appearing on the screen.

    Elsie de Wolfe (Lady Mendl) (1859-1950) – American actor and interior decorator. She had a marriage of convenience with English diplomat Sir Charles Mendl, and a Boston marriage with Elisabeth Marbury. She is considered the founder of the concept of interior design.
    Mae West (1893-1980) – Actor, singer, and writer known for a succession of plays and movies that pushed the boundaries of permitted sexuality far enough to ger her arrested by NYC vice police in 1927 (for her Broadway show “Sex”) and to cause Hollywood to adopt the stringent Production Code in 1934.
    Wendell Willkie (1892-1944) – Republican Presidential nominee in 1940, Willkie was an interventionist Democrat who changed his part affiliation in 1939 in order to oppose Franklin Roosevelt’s candidacy. Nevertheless, he fully supported FDR when the latter was re-elected.
    Look – Bi-weekly general-interest pictorial magazine published from 1937 to 1971, positioning itself to compete with the Henry Luce’s “Life.” Known for its artistic photo spreads, it launched the career of Stanley Kubrick, whose first photo ran in that magazine when he was 17.
    Peek – Monthly pictorial magazine initially billing itself as a journal of humor, eventually segueing into gosssip-fueled general interest, always with an attractive female on the cover and some provocative photos inside. Published from 1937 to (as far as I can determine) 1948.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) – Playwright, social activist, freethinker, vegetarian; author of over 60 plays, including “Arms and the Man,” “Heartbreak House,” and “Pygmalion,” the last-named serving as the basis for the musical “My Fair Lady,” which had a book by Moss Hart (see below).
    Moss Hart (1904-1961) and George S. Kaufman (1889-1961) – Playwrights whose collaborative efforts included “You Can’t Take It with You,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” and “Merrily We Roll Along.” They also had many individual successes, as well as collaborations with others. They helped turn Bucks County, PA, into a theatrical artists’ mecca.
    Joe Miller (1684-1738) – Actor, friend of Congreve and Hogarth, who posthumously lent his name to the book Joe Miller’s Jests, or The Wit’s Vade-Mecum. Subsequent editions were titled Joe Miller’s Joke Book. Eventually a “Joe Miller” joke was anything predictable, cornball, or simply not very funny, and those who offered lousy jokes were said to have gotten them from “Joe Miller.”
    George Raft (1895-1980) – Actor and dancer who became typecast in gangster movies in the 1930s and 40s, but who notoriously turned down the role of Sam Spade in the 1941 film “The Maltese Falcon.” One of his later film appearances was in “Some Like It Hot.” His gangster persona may have spilled over into real life, as he was rumored to have had mob connections.
    Margie Hart (1913-2000) – Burlesque artist who was working at Minsky’s in 1935 when she was arrested for giving an “indecent performance.” Although NYC mayor LaGuardia tried to close such theaters, Hart headlined in a 1942 show called “Wine, Women, and Song,” in which her performance was provocative enough to prompt a court order to close the show at the end of that year.