On October 24, 1937, Cole was riding horseback at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, NY, when his horse reared at a jump and rolled over him, crushing his legs and leaving him crippled and in pain for the rest of his life. Though the doctors said that his right leg would have to be amputated, and possibly his left as well, he refused to authorize it. Linda rushed back from Paris to be with him and supported his refusal. He remained in the hospital for seven months and then went home to his apartment at the Waldorf Towers. He resumed work, finding that it took his mind off his perpetual pain.
This 1938 musical was a flop, but it produced one success.
Before his radio and TV days, where nobody could figure out what his job really was, Ozzie was a bandleader. In this recording from 1938 he actually sings. It’s a perfect foxtrot.