She's The Top

Happy birthday, Irene Bordoni.  She's all but forgotten now, but in her day she was a major Broadway star.  One of her best known roles was the lead in Paris (1928), Cole Porter's first successful Broadway show.

She introduced Porter's classic "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)." That song had actually replaced another Porter number which gained fame on its own--"Let's Misbehave"--presumably helped by Bordoni's recording. (I did Anything Goes in high school, a version based on the 1962 revival, and got to sing this song.)



Cole Porter was so taken with his star that he memorialized her in "You're The top":

"You're a prize
You're a night at Coney
You're the eyes
Of Irene Bordoni"