Hammerstein II Oscar

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Biography

Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Awards|Academy Award for " Best Original Song ". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for singers and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. Hammerstein was the lyricist and playwright in his partnerships; his collaborators wrote the music. Hammerstein collaborated with composers Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans , Rudolf Friml and Sigmund Romberg , but his most famous collaboration was with Richard Rodgers .

Early life

Hammerstein was born Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein in New York City , the son of Alice (née Nimmo) and William Hammerstein. His grandfather was German-born Jewish theater impresario Oscar Hammerstein I , and his mother was the daughter of Scottish and English parents. Hammerstein was raised an Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian .
Although Hammerstein's father managed the Victoria Theatre for Oscar Hammerstein I and was a producer of vaudeville shows (he is generally credited with inventing the "pie-in-the-face" routine), he was opposed to his son's desire to participate in the arts. Hammerstein attended Columbia University from 1912–1916 and studied at Columbia Law School until 1917. It was not until his father's death on June 10, 1914, that he participated in his first play with the Varsity Show , entitled On Your Way . Throughout the rest of his college career, Hammerstein wrote and performed in several Varsity Shows.

Early career

After quitting law school to pursue theatre, Hammerstein began his first professional collaboration, with Herbert Stothart , Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel . He began as an apprentice and went on to form a 20-year collaboration with Harbach. Out of this collaboration came his first musical, Always You , for which he wrote the book and lyrics. It opened on Broadway theatre|Broadway in 1921.

Throughout the next forty years, Hammerstein teamed with many other composers, including Jerome Kern , with whom Hammerstein enjoyed a highly successful collaboration. In 1927, Kern and Hammerstein had their biggest hit, Show Boat , which is often revived and is still considered one of the masterpieces of the American musical theatre. "Here we come to a completely new genre – the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity.", theatrehistory.com, republished from The Complete Book of Light Opera . Mark Lubbock. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962. pp. 753–56, accessed December 3, 2008

Other Kern-Hammerstein musicals include Sweet Adeline (musical)|Sweet Adeline , Music In the Air , Three Sisters (musical)|Three Sisters , and Very Warm for May . Hammerstein also collaborated with Vincent Youmans ( Wildflower ), Rudolf Friml ( Rose-Marie ), and Sigmund Romberg ( The Desert Song and The New Moon ). songwritershalloffame.org

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Hammerstein's most successful and sustained collaboration began when he teamed up with Richard Rodgers to write a musical adaptation of the play Green Grow the Lilacs (play)|Green Grow the Lilacs . Rodgers' first partner, Lorenz Hart , originally planned collaborate with Rodgers on this piece, but his alcoholism had become out of control, and he was unable to write. Hart was also not certain that the idea had much merit, and the two therefore separated. The adaptation became the first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, entitled Oklahoma! , which opened on Broadway in 1943. It furthered the revolution begun by Show Boat , by thoroughly integrating all the aspects of musical theatre , with the songs and dances arising out of and further developing the plot and characters. William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird wrote that this was a "show, that, like "Show Boat", became a milestone, so that later historians writing about important moments in twentieth-century theatre would begin to identify eras according to their relationship to "Oklahoma."Everett, William A. and Laird, Paul R. (2002), The Cambridge Companion to the Musical , Cambridge University Press, p. 124, ISBN 0-521-79639-3 "After Oklahoma! , Rodgers and Hammerstein were the most important contributors to the musical-play form – with such masterworks as Carousel (musical)|Carousel , The King and I and South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific . The examples they set in creating vital plays, often rich with social thought, provided the necessary encouragement for other gifted writers to create musical plays of their own".

The partnership went on to produce these and other Broadway musicals such as Allegro (musical)|Allegro , Me & Juliet , Pipe Dream (musical)|Pipe Dream , Flower Drum Song , and The Sound of Music , as well as the musical film State Fair (1945 film)|State Fair (and its State Fair (musical)|stage adaptation of the same name ), and the television musical Cinderella (musical)|Cinderella , all featured in the revue A Grand Night for Singing . Hammerstein also wrote the book and lyrics for Carmen Jones , an adaptation of Georges Bizet 's opera Carmen with an all-black cast that became a 1943 Broadway musical and a 1954 film.

Death

Hammerstein died of stomach cancer at his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania , at 65,"Oscar Hammerstein II Is Dead", The New York Times , p. 1, August 23, 1960 shortly after the opening of The Sound of Music on Broadway. The final song he wrote was " Edelweiss (song)|Edelweiss ", which was added during rehearsals near the end of the second act.Maslon, Lawrence. The Sound of Music Companion (2007), p. 177, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 1-4165-4954-4 rnh.com, accessed November 2011 This was not an Austrian folk song but had been written specifically for the musical.November 7, 2006. BBC. After his death, The Sound of Music was made into The Sound of Music (film)|the hit 1965 film adaptation , which won the Academy Awards|Academy Award for Best Picture.

The lights of Times Square "Blackout on Broadway to Honor Hammerstein", The New York Times , p. 52, September 1, 1960 were turned off for one minute, and London's West End of London|West End "London Honors Hammerstein", The New York Times , p. 14, August 26, 1960 lights were dimmed in recognition of his contribution to the musical. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York ."Rites for Hammerstein", The New York Times , p. 29, August 25, 1960. A memorial plaque was unveiled at Southwark Cathedral , England, on May 24, 1961."Hammerstein Honored", The New York Times , p. 32, May 24, 1961: "Mrs. Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, widow of the lyricist, unveiled a plaque today to his memory in Southwark Cathedral.... Mr. Hammerstein's will provided £2000 to support two choir-boys at Southwark Cathedral." He was survived by his second wife Dorothy (Blanchard) Jacobson (m. May 13, 1929) and his three children, William Hammerstein and Alice Hammerstein Mathias by first wife Myra Finn, and James Hammerstein by Blanchard.
Dorothy, b. June 7, 1899, died Aug. 3, 1987 in New York.

Reputation

He was probably the best "book writer" in Broadway history – he made the story, not the songs or the stars, central to the musical and brought musical theater to full maturity as an art form. According to Stephen Sondheim , "What few people understand is that Oscar's big contribution to the theater was as a theoretician, as a Peter Brook, as an innovator. People don't understand how experimental Show Boat and Oklahoma! felt at the time they were done. Oscar is not about the 'lark that is learning to pray' – that's easy to make fun of. He's about Allegro ."Rich, Frank. "Conversations with Sondheim", The New York Times Magazine , pp. 38ff, March 12, 2000

His reputation for being sentimental is based largely on the movie versions of the musicals, especially The Sound of Music , in which a song sung by those in favour of reaching an accommodation with the Nazis, " No Way to Stop It ", was cut. As recent revivals of Show Boat , Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The King and I in London and New York show, Hammerstein was one of the more tough-minded and socially conscious American musical theater artists. According to Richard Kislan, "The shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein were the product of sincerity. In the light of criticism directed against them and their universe of sweetness and light, it is important to understand that they believed sincerely in what they wrote." According to Marc Bauch, "The Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are romantic musical plays. Love is important."
According to The Rogers and Hammerstein Story by Stanley Green, "For three minutes, on the night of September first, the entire Times Square area in New York City was blacked out in honor of the man who had done so much to light up that particular part of the world. From 8:57 to 9:00pm, every neon sign and every lightbulb was turned off and all traffic was halted between 42nd Street and 53rd Street, and between 8th Ave and the Avenue of the Americas. A crowd of 5,000 people, many with heads bowed, assembled at the base of the statue of Father Duffy on Times Square where two trumpeters blew taps. It was the most complete blackout on Broadway since World War II, and the greatest tribute of its kind ever paid to one man."

Songs

Hammerstein contributed the lyrics to 850 songs, according to The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II , edited by Amy Asch.Jones, Kenneth. , playbill.com, December 1, 2008 Some well-known songs are " Ol' Man River ", " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man|Can't Help Lovin' That Man " and " Make Believe (Jerome Kern song)|Make Believe " from Show Boat , " Indian Love Call " from Rose-Marie , " People Will Say We're in Love " and " Oklahoma (song)|Oklahoma " (which has been the official state song of Oklahoma since 1953) from Oklahoma! , " Some Enchanted Evening (song)|Some Enchanted Evening ", from South Pacific , " Getting to Know You (song)|Getting to Know You " and Shall We Dance from The King and I , and The Sound of Music (song)|the title song as well as " Climb Ev'ry Mountain " from The Sound of Music .

Several albums of Hammerstein's musicals were named to the " Songs of the Century " list as compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts , and Scholastic Corporation :

The Sound of Music — # 36

Oklahoma! — # 66

South Pacific — # 224

The King and I — # 249

Show Boat — # 312

Awards and legacy

Hammerstein won two Oscars for best original song—in 1941 for " The Last Time I Saw Paris (song)|The Last Time I Saw Paris " in the film Lady Be Good (1941 film)|Lady Be Good , and in 1945 for " It Might as Well Be Spring " in State Fair (1945 film)|State Fair . In 1950, the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein received The Hundred Year Association of New York 's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."

Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards , six for lyrics or book, and two as producer of the Best Musical ( South Pacific and The Sound of Music ). Rodgers and Hammerstein began writing together before the era of the Tonys: Oklahoma! opened in 1943 and Carousel in 1945, and the Tony Awards were not awarded until 1947. Rodgers and Hammerstein received a special Pulitzer Prize for Oklahoma! in 1944. pulitzer.org, accessed December 1, 2008 The Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theater Studies at Columbia University was established in 1981 with a $1 million gift from his family. The New York Times , February 13, 1983

His advice and work influenced Stephen Sondheim , a friend of the Hammerstein family from childhood. Sondheim has attributed his success in theater directly to Hammerstein's influence and guidance., pbs.org, accessed November 29, 2008

The Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre is presented annually. The York Theatre Company in New York City is the Administrator of the award. yorktheatre.org, accessed December 8, 2008 The 2009 awardees are Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick .Hetrick, Adam. playbill.com, November 23, 2009 Past awardees are composers such as Stephen Sondheim and performers such as Carol Channing .Gans, Andrew. playbill.com, May 31, 2005 The 2010 award will go to Thomas Meehan (writer)|Thomas Meehan .

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