Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was born on July 2, 1895, in New York City to a Jewish father and a Scottish mother. The first Oscar Hammerstein (with whom he is often confused) was his grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, who was a great opera impresario and builder of theaters. His father, William, managed the Victoria Theater, and was a vaudeville producer who is said to have invented the pie-in-the-face routine. But he did not want his son, Oscar, to pursue a career in the arts, and so a dutiful Oscar Hammerstein II entered Columbia University where he studied pre-law. After his father’s death in 1914, the call of the theater was too loud to ignore, and he went on to participate in his first play, “On Your Way.” And he was.
Throughout his time in college, he wrote and performed in several “Varsity Shows.” He quit law school and began his first real musical collaboration with Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. His collaboration with Harbach would last twenty years, and out of it came his first musical, “Always You,” for which he wrote the book and the lyrics. For the next forty years of his life, he would team up with many others including Jerome Kern, with whom in 1927 he produced among others, one of the masterpieces of the American musical theater, “Showboat.”
He also collaborated with Vincent Youmans, Rudolph Friml and Sigmund Romberg. His most successful partnership was formed in 1943 with Richard Rodgers for the screen adaptation of “Green Grow The Lilacs.” The resulting screenplay was “Oklahoma.” This creative duo produced “Carousel,” “The King and I,” “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music,” Flower Drum Song,” “Me and Juliet” and “Pipe Dream.”
The key to Hammerstein’s musical genius lay in his ability to make the story, not the songs or the stars, move and mature as an art form. Today, he is considered the most important figure in the history of the American musical theater.
He died on August 23, 1960, at the age of 65, shortly after the opening night of “The Sound of Music” on Broadway. His last song, “Edelweiss” was written for Theodore Bikel.
What are some of YOUR favorite Oscar Hammerstein tunes?