CINDERELLA TRIVIA
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Oscar Hammerstein II, the lyricist, was born in New York City in 1895. Also an alumnus of Columbia University, Hammerstein collaborated with a variety of composers before meeting Jerome Kern. Kern and Hammerstein produced many successful Broadway shows, most notably Show Boat and the song “Ol’ Man River.”
When Rodgers and Hart separated, Hammerstein and Rodgers collaborated on transforming the book Green Grow the Lilacs into a Broadway musical. This became Oklahoma!, the first of many hit musicals by the pair on Broadway and in Hollywood. Other famous products of this pair were Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, and their last contribution, The Sound of Music. Hammerstein died shortly after the Broadway opening of this musical and did not live to see the movie version. At his death, the lights of Broadway were dimmed in the greatest blackout there since World War II. The songs produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein have reached legendary status: “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “People Will Say We're in Love,” “Oklahoma!” “If I Loved You,” “You'll Never Walk Alone,” “It Might as Well Be Spring,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Getting to Know You,” “My Favorite Things,” “The Sound of Music,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “Climb Ev'ry Mountain,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “Edelweiss.”
Richard Rodgers continued to compose after Hammerstein’s death, including two new songs for the movie version of The Sound of Music. He died in 1979. Rodgers became the first artist in history to receive the EGOT—an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony—and when those awards are placed alongside his Pulitzer Prize, he is one of only two people ever to be awarded the full set of five (Marvin Hamlisch was the other).
