130 Facts About Oscar Hammerstein
Featured Fun Facts
1. Oscar Hammerstein II is credited with contributing lyrics to roughly 850 songs in the American songbook. He had a hand in creating 45 musicals with a variety of composing partners for stage, film and television.
2. Some people certainly write like they’re running out of time, and Oscar was one of them – his archives include more than 25,000 letters, which can be accessed at the Library of Congress.
3. Oscar achieved PEGOT status during his lifetime, earning a Pulitzer, Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar and Tony during his illustrious career. He remains the only person named Oscar to have won an Oscar.
4. Though his work today is lauded as the standard of American musical theatre, Oscar was thought to be quite an experimental writer by his contemporaries. His collaboration on Oklahoma! with Richard Rodgers is considered the first “book musical,” which used the songs to propel the plot forward and enrich the characters.
5. Investing in the future of the theatre was and remains a major part of the Hammerstein family legacy. Created in 1988, the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre has been awarded to theatrical legends including Stephen Sondheim, Carol Channing, Susan Stroman and Angela Lansbury.
6. In 1981, the Hammerstein family gifted $1MM to Columbia University to establish the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies.
7. While Oscar was aware of the changes he was making to the conventions of musical theatre, he claimed that his primary goal was something much closer to that of his contemporaries. “Sometimes the revolution comes, but it is incidental to the main aim of trying to write something that’s good,” he said.
8. Oscar was an active member of the theatrical community and sat on the board of directors for several organizations, including the Dramatists Guild and the Screenwriters’ Guild. He consistently advocated for writers’ rights within the theatre industry.
9. In addition to his many awards, Oscar received five honorary degrees – from Drury College, Dartmouth College, Boston University, Columbia University and the University of Massachusetts – mainly in recognition for his contribution to and mastery of the written word.
10. Oscar wrote many of his lyrics in isolation, preferring to work out the intricacies of word play before sending them on to Richard Rodgers to set to music. The final lyrics he wrote were for “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music, written for that musical during the Boston tryout. Aware of his own precarious health, he wrote an early draft reading “Look to your lover and hold him tight/While your health you’re keeping.” It was his 1,589th lyric.
11. Upon his death in 1960, Oscar was honored by theatre communities globally. The lights of Times Square were blacked out for one minute and the lights of London’s West End were dimmed in recognition of his unparalleled contributions.
Childhood & Family
12. Oscar was born on July 12, 1895, in upper Manhattan, New York.
13. The librettist and lyricist’s full name was Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II. He was known as Ockie by close friends and family, a nickname that stemmed from his brother Reggie’s childhood inability to pronounce “Oscar.”
14. The Hammerstein legacy was one enmeshed in the theatre. Oscar’s grandfather and namesake Oscar Hammerstein I was responsible for developing much of the contemporary New York Theatre District. Noticing the busy intersection between Broadway, 42nd Street and 7th Avenue, he bought the entire block and used it as the site of the Olympia Theatre. This block is known today as Times Square.
15. Despite being named for him, Oscar had hardly any relationship with his famous theatrical grandfather. Later in life, Oscar would say that he felt nostalgic learning fascinating things about the grandfather he had only been in proximity to but didn’t know well.
16. Oscar’s mother, Allie, had a passion for moving. From the time Oscar was three until he turned 16, the family moved no less than nine times. She was delighted by the act of redecorating and dismantling homes.
17. Allie and her son were particularly close. While she followed many conventions of the day, she was also strong-willed, impulsive and passionate in her support of causes like the Suffrage Movement and family planning. This passion for social justice would weave itself into Oscar’s future writing and the fabric of his beliefs.
18. Oscar’s younger brother, Reginald (Reggie), was born in 1896. Despite the early strain of being pegged as the “Clown” to Oscar’s “Clever” by their relatives, the brothers remained close throughout both their lives.
19. Though Oscar enjoyed excellent health throughout adulthood, his mother and aunt were convinced that his condition was delicate. At their behest, he would stay inside and read for hours on end, something that perhaps greatly contributed to his later aptitude over language.
20. Oscar’s father, Willie, was determined that his sons would not enter a career in the theatre as it was still considered a less respectable profession. However, Oscar had caught the bug and, after much begging, was taken to see his first show, The Fisher Maiden, at his grandfather’s Victoria Theatre.
21. In his youth, Oscar believed he would become an actor. After Willie relented, Oscar’s mother took him to shows at his grandfather’s many theatres, further solidifying this desire.
22. While Oscar’s parents, Allie and Willie, had quite different personalities, they were deeply in love. Oscar carried an impression of their relationship throughout his life, using it as a yardstick for all his romantic relationships.
23. Willie was an extremely jealous man, and his strong feelings, combined with his notorious inability to communicate, manifested in arguments after someone had looked at his wife for too long. Oscar learned that if he cried, the arguments would end immediately, and he employed this tactic often.
24. For much of his early life, Oscar was isolated from any children other than his brother. The two boys played in a private outdoor playground attached to one of their apartments, separated from the other children in the neighborhood.
25. Oscar’s grandmother was invested in her grandson’s cleverness. By the time he started school, she had already taught him the alphabet and basic arithmetic, creating a solid foundation for him to excel at school. He would skip two classes over the next two years.
26. Oscar was an avid reader. He would often go through two books a day, a habit that he attempted to carry on throughout his life.
27. When he was nine, Oscar started piano lessons. His gift for musical mimicry, learned by practicing the songs he watched at his grandfather’s shows, meant he picked up pieces quickly. He bolstered this by learning to read music as well, though he was admired for his dramatic expression more than his musical virtuosity.
28. Oscar was insecure about his height. His grandmother instructed him to lie very straight in bed at night so he would grow tall. He grew to be 6’1”.
29. In 1903, the family moved to a new apartment on Columbus and 76th For Oscar, this represented a new era in his life where, for the first time, he enjoyed friendships with other children in the neighborhood.
30. In his early teenage years, Oscar’s family spent the summers at the Brighton Beach Hotel on the boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York. Oscar loved this hotel, spending the evenings listening to music and staring at the moonlit ocean.
31. Oscar’s mother died when he was 15, when she was only 35, due to pregnancy complications. This formative event permanently changed his outlook on death. He later said that no other deaths were able to shake him; if he didn’t give in to that initial grief, then he certainly wasn’t going to do so later.
32. Willie, Oscar’s father, died a mere four years later, leaving Oscar parentless at 19. At his death, “Taps” was sounded over Broadway.
Young Adulthood
33. Oscar entered Columbia University to study law after promising his father he wouldn't pursue the theatre and would choose a stable career instead. It was at Columbia that he was first introduced to Richard Rodgers.
34. Performance dreams were still alive and well while Oscar studied at Columbia. His senior year, he performed in a play written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who would go on to win an Academy Award in screenwriting for Citizen Kane.
35. Oscar was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Richard Rodgers’ older brother, Morty, was also a member – and it was through Morty that the two young men met. Rodgers was only 14 years old.
36. The first show for which Oscar wrote the libretto was a Varsity Show at Columbia called Home, James. He also starred in it.
37. Feeling his true calling was the theatre, Oscar chose to withdraw from the law program at Columbia, having already received his BA.
38. Even after leaving Columbia, Oscar was still closely involved in the programming of the plays. In 1920, he selected Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart to write that year’s Varsity Show. The following year, he directed the premiere of Rodgers & Hart’s You'll Never Know.
39. Oscar’s first wife was Myra Finn, whom he married in 1917. Married shortly after Oscar got his first job as a theatrical stage manager, they had two children together.
40. Oscar went to his uncle Arthur, also a prominent theatrical producer, and begged him for a job at his theatre as a writer. Despite early misgivings (Arthur had promised Oscar’s father that his son would not pursue the family business), Arthur eventually relented on one condition: during his one-year stage manager apprenticeship, Oscar would not write anything.
41. Oscar soon became a production manager for his uncle, meaning he was responsible for supervising all of his uncle’s attractions. When he wasn’t at his uncle’s shows, he was seeing every other Broadway play, resulting in an unparalleled knowledge of the contemporary theatrical industry.
42. Oscar’s uncle was responsible for introducing his nephew to a mentor who would fundamentally influence his approach to writing: Otto Harbach. Twenty-two years older than Oscar, Harbach introduced two rules to their collaboration that Oscar would absorb. First, the story must be interesting. Second, nothing could be included that did not further the plot.
43. The hectic nature of Oscar’s life meant that he initially had very little time for writing, despite having conceived ideas for several shows. But in 1919, Actors’ Equity – which at that time had only been active for six years – went on strike to demand paid matinees and holidays. This strike halted all activity in Oscar’s job for several months, giving him the chance to write his first musical, Joan of Arkansas, with Arthur’s resident musical director, Herbert Stothart.
44. Joan of Arkansas received mixed reviews. To improve sales, Arthur brought in veteran comedian Ralph Herz and ordered a large part be written for him. Though Oscar cried when he learned the news, Oscar and Stothart began rewriting the show to accommodate Herz. The new version, titled Always You, debuted in January 1920 and received positive reviews praising its “touch of originality.”
45. His first play, The Light, opened in 1919 to poor reviews and was deemed a flop. However, Oscar later said that this moment defined the way he approached failure: he formulated the idea for his next project after leaving a particularly disastrous performance.
46. Oscar was first published by Harms & Company, led by music publisher Max Dreyfus. The two became close associates, and Dreyfus would publish every score Hammerstein ever wrote.
47. Rose-Marie was Oscar’s first big musical success. It transferred to the West End in 1925 and ran for two years, holding the record for longevity of an American musical on the West End until Oscar later broke his own record with Oklahoma!
48. Oscar collaborated with Ira Gershwin only once in his career, on Song of the Flame, a musical set during the Russian Revolution. While it was a smooth collaboration, both men were passionate about telling different kinds of stories, and they moved on to other collaborative partnerships. Song of the Flame was a popular success.
49. Oscar’s string of collaborators early in his career was perhaps a result of his desire to explore many mediums of writing. His family’s generational enmeshment, as well as his own cultivated talent in the theatre, meant he never lacked for potential collaborators.
50. One of Oscar’s early and impactful collaborators was Hungarian-born violin prodigy and composer Sigmund Romberg. Oscar credits him with teaching him to work hard, with Romberg persuading him to write another lyric any time one was finished. Romberg’s standard of lyrics fit the structural rhythm of the music, and the spirit and mood became a hallmark of Oscar’s successful collaborations.
51. Famously single-minded about his work, Oscar worked long hours with his collaborators and was often away from home. His first wife, Myra, began a string of affairs, a practice that was not uncommon but never openly discussed in the Hammersteins’ social circle.
52. On an ocean liner taking him on a business trip to Europe, the still-married Oscar met Dorothy Blanchard, who was also married at the time. The attraction was instant, with Oscar later saying, “That was it! It was like the river rushing down to the sea!” Realizing they were unhappy in their marriages, they maintained a friendship until divorcing their respective spouses and marrying each other in May 1929.
Hammerstein & Kern
53. While working on a project with Hammerstein, Otto Harbach brought in Jerome Kern as a third collaborator. This introduction kicked off a fruitful and lengthy partnership between Hammerstein and Kern. Like Hammerstein, Kern believed a score wasn’t important unless it was linked with a good libretto, a mindset that made them particularly well suited to collaborate.
54. Hammerstein & Kern’s first collaboration was on a show called Sunny. The plot had already been decided before Oscar was invited into the show, but Kern always made Oscar’s opinion feel valued. The two soon became close friends.
55. Jerome Kern, called Jerry by friends and collaborators, was known for being difficult to work with. He had little patience for any perceived falseness or incompetence and would quickly deliver vicious reprimands. Oscar was never on the receiving ends of these “blasts,” but reported feeling great sympathy for those who were.
56. Kern’s process influenced Oscar’s later approach to writing. Their first meetings always prioritized story and showmanship, with Kern often not playing a single note until the story and structure had been developed.
57. For the first several years of his career, prior to his collaboration with Kern, Hammerstein had followed the standard convention of writing lyrics to fit the melody. This was because of the prioritization of a good dance melody. The Hammerstein & Kern collaboration prioritized plot and characterization, hence the switch to Oscar writing the lyrics before Kern set them to music.
58. In 1926, Kern called Oscar, having just read a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edna Ferber called Show Boat. Oscar read it and agreed that it was perfect for an adaptation. After a chance meeting with Ferber at the theatre, an official meeting was scheduled, and the rights were secured.
59. Show Boat is Hammerstein & Kern’s best-known musical and a staple of American musical theatre. It is considered the first musical to have a true book.
60. Florenz Ziegfeld, the producer of Show Boat, was suspicious of the show, as it had no chorus line, spectacles or burlesque comedy routines. The precise seriousness and commitment to maintaining the story of the novel – which had persuaded Edna Ferber to give the composing duo the rights – made Ziegfeld uneasy. He delayed the start of production for over a year from its proposed initial opening.
61. With Kern, Oscar discovered that his ideal medium was adaptation rather than the creation of an original story. Adaptation gave him the scope and permission to distill rich psychological lives and themes into the libretto, with the original intellectual property providing him the excuse to depart from writing conventions of the time.
62. In Show Boat, Hammerstein & Kern produced one of their most lasting songs, “Ol’ Man River.” Once it was finished, Kern raced to Edna Ferber’s apartment to play it for her. By the final notes, tears were streaming down her face.
63. Show Boat was rapturously received on Broadway. The original production ran for 572 performances and marked a turning point for the sensibilities of American musical theatre.
64. Jerome Kern and his wife, Eva, purchased a boat, which they named Show Boat. Oscar would often come visit them, enchanted by the ceremony of life on a boat and deep-sea fishing.
65. Kern famously hated the word and metaphor of “Cupid,” which he thought represented every platitude and lazy lyric writing tendency of old-fashioned musicals. Oscar wrote a song titled “Why Do I Love You?” and blithely handed the lyrics to Kern to play. It was entirely a metaphor based around Cupid. Initially furious, Kern then saw the joke and burst into laughter. He framed the original and hung it on his wall.
66. Kern sent Oscar and Dorothy’s son James his first telegram on the day of his birth. It read “Welcome Old Man in case you grow up anything like your father how about holding the season of nineteen forty seven open and you and I will do a show for Ziegfeld Cheerio Jerome Kern.” Like Kern, James’ nickname was Jimmy.
67. The economic difficulties of the 1930s put a strain on Broadway, making Hollywood a far more tempting location. While Oscar accompanied Kern there, he wouldn’t stay permanently. However, after 1935, Kern would spend the rest of his career there.
68. Kern had impeccable taste and was particular about the combination of beauty and function. After hearing Oscar complain of the pains of writing at a desk, he gifted Oscar a Victorian desk mounted on tall legs, which allowed for work to be completed while standing. Oscar would use the desk for the rest of his career.
69. During his collaboration on Gentlemen Unafraid with Kern and Larry Harbach, Oscar met the 25-year-old Mary Martin for the first time. He would work closely with her throughout his career, and she would become a muse for him and Richard Rodgers in later years.
70. Hammerstein & Kern collaborated on Sweet Adeline, Music in the Air and Three Sisters, all of which were well received and adapted for the screen. None of them, however, had the same staying power as Show Boat.
71. In 1939, Kern returned briefly to Broadway for his final collaboration with Oscar: Very Warm for May. Though it ran for only 59 performances, it featured the lasting classic “All the Things You Are.”
72. Kern died in 1945 at the age of 60 following a heart attack. Oscar was by his side for six days in the hospital and hummed one of Kern’s favorite songs, “I’ve Told Ev’ry Star,” which Kern had composed after hearing a sparrow singing. Oscar knew Kern had died when he stopped getting a response.
Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Early Years
73. Edna Ferber, author of Show Boat, provided an important reintroduction between Oscar and Richard Rodgers. She offered a letter of introduction with the desire for Oscar to work with Rodgers & Hart to adapt her novel Saratoga Trunk. Though the project stalled, it opened the door to their collaboration.
74. In 1942, Oscar agreed to write a musical adaptation of Lynn Riggs’ Green Grow the Lilacs. Coincidentally, Rodgers had read the play separately and wrote to Hammerstein asking him to collaborate on it. This coincidence started the journey to their first collaboration, which would eventually become Oklahoma!
75. A year before this collaboration was solidified, Rodgers visited Oscar at his farm, seeking his advice surrounding his unpredictable partner of 20 years: Lorenz “Larry” Hart. Hart was becoming increasingly erratic, and Rodgers felt torn between his emotional commitment to Hart and his desire to propel his career forward. After thinking for a moment, Oscar simply said, “I think you ought to keep working with Larry just as long as he is able to keep working with you. It would kill him if you walked away while he was still able to function. But if the time ever comes when he cannot function, call me. I’ll be there.”
76. The first song they wrote together was “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” inspired by Lynn Rigg’s beautiful stage directions, and this dictated their collaborative practice. “It is a radiant summer morning several years ago, the kind of morning which, enveloping the shapes of earth – men, cattle in the meadow, blades of young corn, streams – makes them seem to exist now for the first time…” Oscar took three painstaking weeks to finish and deliver the lyrics to Rodgers. Rodgers took one look at what he described as the “perfect words” and wrote the accompanying melody in 10 minutes.
77. Rodgers claimed that getting the lyrics from Oscar gave him the freedom to deviate from the traditional AABA song structure to better support the lyrics. This began the trend of having beautiful variation throughout their scores.
78. Though they worked very closely together at their office in Rockefeller Center to determine the blueprint of their shows, the team would then return to their respective homes to work separately on the individual elements of their projects before reuniting to finesse the final book and score.
79. Oklahoma! was considered to be the first of a new genre: the musical play. This genre unified Rodgers’ skill with musical comedy and Oscar’s aptitude for operetta.
80. Oscar would use a variety of mediums to jog his creativity. Through a combination of pencil, typing and images, fragments of songs would emerge before being wrestled together into their deceptively simple final form.
81. Just as Oscar was beginning his new collaboration with Rodgers, a new pupil and future mammoth of musical theatre entered his life in the form of 12-year-old Stephen Sondheim. Precocious, musically gifted and terrifyingly adept at word puzzles, Sondheim quickly became a regular guest at the Hammerstein farm, where he would go to avoid his complicated home life.
82. Oklahoma! initiated a career collaboration with the young choreographer Agnes de Mille. Like Rodgers & Hammerstein, de Mille saw dance as a tool to enhance character and plot, and her choreography (specifically her “Dream Ballets”) became a hallmark of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.
83. After the success of Oklahoma!, Rodgers & Hammerstein cautiously wanted to take a break before choosing the inspiration for their next collaboration. Oscar returned to his pet project, Carmen Jones, which was an all-Black adaptation of Bizet’s opera Carmen. Carmen Jones opened to rave reviews in 1944. It would run for just over 500 performances.
84. In the summer of 1943, Rodgers & Hammerstein accepted an offer to write a musical remake of the 1933 family comedy State Fair. It was the only project of the duo’s that was written originally for the screen rather than the stage.
85. Despite being flush with recent success and finding a collaborator with whom magic seemed to happen, Oscar was very well aware of the possibility of returning to a decade-long dry spell. In December 1944, he took out an ad in Variety listing all of his previous shows that had been declared flops, ending the notice with the words “I’ve done it before and I can do it again.”
86. Theresa Helburn of the Theatre Guild proposed an adaptation of Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 play Liliom to follow Oklahoma! Molnár had been reluctant to release the rights, even turning down Puccini, but after being treated to the sold-out Oklahoma!, he enthusiastically trusted his play to Rodgers & Hammerstein.
87. Oscar’s daughter Alice became his new research assistant at the outset of Carousel. Her notes on every aspect of New England life were so enthusiastically compiled that Oscar told her she had research poisoning. Nevertheless, her research made it into the libretto: Her precise description of a recipe for Cod’s Head Chowder influenced the lyrics for “A Real Nice Clambake.”
88. Carousel received rapturous reviews and ran for 890 performances on Broadway. Amidst the trauma of World War II, the darker themes of grief, death and violence resonated in a different way than Oklahoma! had two years earlier.
89. Following the premiere and immediate success of Oklahoma!, the composing pair was determined to match their desired creative output with financial stability. Oscar’s childhood friend and fellow Columbia graduate Howard Reinheimer was recruited for the job (having actually completed his law degree, unlike Oscar). An expert in intellectual property and taxation, and well-versed in the world of New York theatre, Reinheimer assisted the pair in ensuring that they would always own the rights to their own work – a safeguard that set the standard for future composing teams.
90. Rodgers & Hammerstein worked closely with the Dreyfus brothers to publish and promote the individual songs from their musicals, even creating piano arrangements for small scale playing. This gave their work widespread access and appeal, contributing to their financial success and legacy.
91. Oscar continued to be interested in challenging conventions of form, and had long been interested in writing the story of one man’s life from birth to death. This concept became Allegro, widely considered the first “concept musical,” a work in which avant-garde theatrical techniques and devices are used to comment on the action, and in which traditional linear narrative is often secondary to style, metaphor or message. Allegro was the only one of Oscar’s “flops” to which he felt any loyalty; he often expressed a desire to give it another chance with a future production or rewrites.
92. Oscar hired Stephen Sondheim to work on Allegro as a gofer for the summer. Sondheim adored the show, later saying, “That’s why I’m drawn to experimentation. I realize I’m trying to recreate Allegro all the time.”
93. Rodgers & Hammerstein didn’t initially own the rights to Tales of the South Pacific, the book that would inspire their own South Pacific. It was instead Broadway director Joshua Logan and producer Leland Heyward who were in talks to buy the rights. They then planned to pitch the adaptation to Rodgers & Hammerstein, who always demanded 51 to 49 percent control. Notoriously indiscreet, Logan let his excitement slip to both Rodgers & Hammerstein at separate cocktail parties and the team pounced, buying the rights for themselves.
94. South Pacific gained added momentum when, while Oscar was still hammering out plot and character details, its source material Tales from the South Pacific won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1950, Oscar’s stage adaptation won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making it unique in the musical theatre canon.
95. Preproduction for South Pacific was uncommonly financially smooth. Backers were so willing and anxious to gain a slice of Rodgers & Hammerstein property that producers had to limit the number of investors to 10.
96. The themes of racism in South Pacific were highly personal to Oscar. His sister-in-law, Eleanor, was married to Jerry Wantanabe, who was half British and half Japanese. Oscar saw firsthand the difficulty and prejudice Jerry faced in the midst of and aftermath of the World War II, and he brought it to the public in the best way he knew how – through the theatre.
97. South Pacific’s biggest hit of the time, “Some Enchanted Evening,” was inspired by Oscar’s first meeting with his wife Dorothy on an ocean liner years earlier. It captured the power of instantaneous attraction and entranced audiences from the get-go.
98. Mary Martin, who starred in South Pacific, gave Oscar a picture someone had sent her as a gawky teenager wearing men’s shorts, a long shirt, a sailor’s hat and a men’s tie. He put it by his mirror and affectionately wrote underneath it, “This proves there is hope for everyone.” This picture inspired the oversized sailor suit Martin wore in “Hunny Bun.”
99. The songs in The King and I proved to be the some of the most challenging lyrics Oscar ever wrote. Though he had a clear idea of the plot, the lyrics became increasingly complex sketches of character motivation, and Oscar’s standards were high. He spent a month on the song which would become “Hello, Young Lovers,” writing five different versions for different melodies before landing on the version that appeared in the show. He considered the song to hold some of his finest lyrics.
100. Though the partnership was not without its tensions, Rodgers & Hammerstein presented a united front and cared for and valued each other deeply. In an era of great social reserve and less open affection (especially between men), the duo unfailingly signed off their correspondence to each other with ‘Love.”
101. Gertrude Lawrence was the one to approach Rodgers & Hammerstein about the possibility of a collaboration, gifting them the book Anna and the King of Siam. It was the first show they wrote with a specific leading actress in mind, and Oscar especially tried to incorporate her “magic light” into the strength of Anna’s character.
102. Gertrude Lawrence originated the role of Anna in The King and I and played the role until her death. She was buried in the beautiful mauve ball gown she wore during the “Shall We Dance?” number. She and Oscar were close throughout the collaboration, and he delivered her eulogy.
103. Of all of their musicals, Me and Juliet was unquestionably Oscar’s least favorite (even though it featured a 19-year-old Shirley MacLaine!). When later asked by his secretary how it had gone, Oscar paused for a moment before succinctly replying, “I hate that show.”
104. Oscar was a generous member of the theatrical community and actively supported people and institutions he believed in. When Agnes de Mille approached him for financial assistance for her Ballet Theatre, he offered her the necessary funding before she could complete her pitch.
105. In 1951, Oscar’s political beliefs were investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was declared a risk, and his application to renew his passport was denied. As he had four productions simultaneously running in London, Oscar had to write to the authorities in Washington, defending his patriotism. Though his request was approved, he was on a watchlist until 1959.
106. Oscar was close personally and professionally with American author John Steinbeck, and he and Rodgers were approached by Steinbeck’s representative lawyers with the prospect of adapting one of Steinbeck’s novels, Sweet Thursday. The pair’s adaptation became Pipe Dream, and it was during the audition process that they first met Julie Andrews. Though they were enchanted by her, she had already been offered a role in the stage version of My Fair Lady, so she did not appear in Pipe Dream. It was not the last time she would be involved with Rodgers & Hammerstein.
107. The tenth anniversary of Oklahoma! triggered Rodgers & Hammerstein’s interest in making a film adaptation of the musical. They were heavily involved in its production and were responsible for casting Shirley Jones as Laurey. Jones was the only performer ever to be under personal contract with the composers. Oscar in particular was delighted by her clear voice.
108. At the time, the film version of Oklahoma! was the highest budget motion picture ever made. Its final cost totaled nearly $7MM.
109. Rodgers & Hammerstein were as interested in experimenting with medium as they were with form. They wrote Cinderella for a live TV broadcast starring Julie Andrews in 1957.
110. Oscar was interested in creating a musical adaptation of the Cinderella story everyone remembered from childhood, rather than resetting it in modern day. In the original score, Oscar added the middle named “Elvis” to the Prince’s character name before deciding it was too anachronistic and opted for the less period-specific “Sidney.”
111. Cinderella was not written for the stage and would not appear on Broadway until 2013, a full 56 years after its initial premiere on television.
112. Oscar considered Flower Drum Song to be his “lucky hit.” Though he was passionate about the adaptation, it was around this point that he realized the landscape of Broadway was changing stylistically.
113. Oscar kept more detailed notes for The Sound of Music than for any other show. The song “The Sound of Music” was the first one he finished, after which he realized that its title should be the name of the entire musical – rather than the original working title, Love Song.
114. Writing the libretto for The Sound of Music involved making a lot of lists. Sensitive to the precision and impact of single words, Oscar listed pages and pages of descriptors, including for Maria, delightful things, and homonyms for the solfege, or “do re mi,” scale.
115. Heavily influenced by his locale and current events, Oscar occasionally peppered his drafts with references that didn’t quite fit the show. When he was writing “So Long, Farewell,” Hawaii became the 50th state – inspiring him to write (and then discard) the lyrics “So long, farewell/Auf wiedersehen, aloha.”
116. While working on the musical, many members of the creative team went to meet the real Maria von Trapp. She’d later confess to not remembering anyone except for Oscar, who made a deep impression on her. She said, “I would describe him as a living saint. That means that a person is as close to perfection as one can get and still be alive. It just emanated from him, and I’m sure he didn’t know it himself.”
117. Only two weeks into rehearsal for The Sound of Music, Oscar was diagnosed with stomach cancer and scheduled in for surgery. The day before, Oscar delivered the lyrics to “Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise)” to Mary Martin. She treasured the handwritten words for the rest of her life.
118. Oscar was in recovery for several weeks following his surgery, so he didn’t see The Sound of Music until into the out-of-town Boston tryout. He loved it from the beginning, giving the cast meticulous and supportive notes.
119. Rodgers & Hammerstein were aware that The Sound of Music would be their last show together and, in Oscar’s case, likely his last musical entirely. The pressure for it to be a hit was high. As was his practice, Oscar watched the audience closely and proclaimed to Rodgers, “This is a hit… Just look and listen to that audience!” Despite the initially lukewarm reviews, he was right. It was his 44th
120. Even into his illness, Oscar was tempted by new projects for the duo. Elizabeth Spencer’s short story The Light in the Piazza had been published, and Oscar was sorely tempted to adapt it. Though they never got the chance, Rodgers’ grandson, Adam Guettel, would decades later win the Tony Award for Best Original Score for his musical The Light in the Piazza.
121. Nearing the end of his life, Oscar invited his young prodigy Stephen Sondheim to a family lunch at the farm. For the first time in their long relationship, Stephen asked Oscar for an autograph. Surprised, Oscar agreed, and after pausing to think to a moment, he inscribed the photo with words referencing The King and I: “For Stevie, My friend and teacher.”
122. Aware that his health was failing, Oscar had a typically eloquent and simple approach. He told his son Jimmy, “I’ve had a very happy childhood, I’ve had a good time as a young man. And I’ve had a terrific middle age. The only thing I’m really disappointed in is that I was looking forward to having a really good old age, too.”
123. Oscar Hammerstein II died at age 65 at his farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on the morning of August 23, 1960. He was survived by his wife and children.
124. Oscar said of Richard Rodgers, “Of all the composers I ever worked with, he gave me so much more than anyone.” Following Oscar’s death, Rodgers would say that he was “permanently grieved.”
Legacy
125. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals have earned Tony, Oscar, GRAMMY, Emmy and Olivier awards, along with Pulitzer Prizes, making them one of the most decorated composing teams in American musical theatre history.
126. In 1949, Oscar and his wife, Dorothy, helped create Welcome House, the United States’s first interracial, international adoption agency.
127. Rodgers & Hammerstein signed a groundbreaking deal with Jack Kapp, head of Decca records, to produce an album of 78 RPM recordings of the score of Oklahoma! performed by the Broadway cast and orchestra. While it was not the first record of a Broadway show, it was unmatched in quality, setting a new standard in industry practice that continues today.
128. In 1995, Oscar’s centennial was celebrated worldwide with commemorative recordings, books, concerts and an award-winning PBS special, Some Enchanted Evening. The ultimate tribute came the following season, when he had three musicals playing on Broadway simultaneously: Show Boat (1995 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival), The King and I (1996 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival) and State Fair (1996 Tony Award nominee for Best Score).
129. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Estate remained a family operation well into the 21st century, initially helmed by the composers’ widows and descendants, successively.
130. In 1998, Rodgers & Hammerstein were cited by Time Magazine and CBS News as among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th