Oscar Hammerstein II - Assignment Example

Oscar Hammerstein II Introduction Oscar Clendenning Hammerstein II, nicknamed Ockie, was born to William Hammerstein and Alice Nimmo Hammerstein in New York City on 12th July 1895. He came from a celebrated theatrical family – William, his father, was the director of a very prominent vaudeville theater known as Hammerstein's Victoria in Manhattan; Oscar I, his grandfather, was showman as well as an opera impresario; while Arthur, his uncle, was a renowned Broadway producer. Additionally, Reginald Hammerstein, his younger brother, became a theater manager and director (Hischak, 81). Although they were all prominent, Oscar II’s achievement overshadowed them all (Pbs.org, para2). As a youth, Oscar dabbled in theatrical undertakings debuting at his public school in a Christmas procession. He started his piano lessons when he was nine years old. The death of his mother, however, when he was only fifteen ruined his happy childhood (Notablebiographies.com, 3). During his formative years, Oscar was greatly involved in theatrical activities. Nevertheless, when he was choosing a career his father kept him back from theater. He sent him to Columbia University to study law. However, his father died in the year 1914 leaving him reliant on family members who were more theatrically inclined (Notablebiographies.com, 3). While at Columbia University, Oscar essentially started his career in theater. At the age of 19, he became a member of the Columbia University Players and took part in ‘On Your Way,’ the 1915 Varsity review. For several years, he was a close follower of the student shows and he participated both as a performer and a writer (Pbs.org, 2&3). After finishing his first year in law school, Oscar was able to convince his uncle to take him in on one of his shows at the capacity of an assistant stage manager. By the year 1919, his uncle made him the production stage manager for all his shows. In this capacity, Oscar managed to do write and re-write on development scripts. In the long run, he began writing musical comedies of his own (Pbs.org, 3). In the year 1917, Oscar married Mary Flynn, who begot him two children namely Alice and William, who later became a theater producer-director. In the year 1929, Oscar divorced Flynn and married Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson and they got a son called James Hammerstein who became a director of theater (Hischak, 81). Soon after marrying Flynn, Oscar wrote ‘The Light’, his first play. His production started in 1919 but it was stopped after only lasted four performances. He stepped back and evaluated what went wrong with the play, and went on writing librettos, lyrics, and plays to then move into the spotlight slowly (Lombardi, 3). Rapidly, Oscar became a renowned author and a librettist, generally in the operetta style in the beginning. The first of his greatest achievements was in the year 1922 with ‘Wildflower.’ This was a result of collaboration with Otto Harbach, older than Oscar by twenty years, and other co-writers namely Vincent Youmans and Herberrt Stothart. After that came ‘Rose Marie’ in the year 1924, which he did in collaboration with Otto Harbach and with music by Rudolph Friml along with Herbert P. Stothart. This led to a more key success and led to Oscar’s partnership with a composer by the name Jerome Kern. In the year 1925, together with Harbach, Oscar worked on ‘Sunny’ with Jerome Kern, which introduced ‘Who.’ The two had expressed concern with the ‘integrated musical,’ wherein the book, score, as well as lyrics all add to the story line in addition to developing from a central idea. In the year 1926, in collaboration with Harbach too, Oscar produced a classic operetta known as ‘The Desert Song’ written with a composer by the name Sigmund Romberg (Pbs.org, 3). In the year 1927, in collaboration with Jerome Kern, Oscar authored the book as well as lyrics of ‘Show Boat’, one of the best of all musicals. ‘Show Boat’ established the reputation and success of Oscar as a lyricist and writer strongly. It was the earliest contemporary American musical play, and on 15 November 1927, it gained immediate acceptance from Americans in Washington, DC during its world debut. This made Oscar so overjoyed (Lombardi, 4). In 1928, he collaborated with Romberg and Harbach in producing ‘The New Moon’, a classic of the operetta genre that included ‘Lover Come Back to Me’ (Songwritershalloffame.org, 5&6). In the 1930s, Oscar’s career appeared not to fulfill its early promise, despite doing some exceptional pieces on both screen and stage musicals. During that decade, he used most of his time working for various studios on contract in Hollywood (Notablebiographies.com, 3). However, in 1932, he together with Jerome Kern produced the show ‘Music in the Air’ which included ‘The Song Is You’ as well as ‘I've Told Ev'ry Little Star.’ In the year 1939 the two experienced a Broadway flop with a show by the name ‘Very Warm for May.’ This flop included some of their most excellent songs. Other songs that Oscar did with Kern include ‘I'll Take Romance’ and ‘The Folks Who Live on the Hill.’ ‘The Last Time I Saw Paris’ also earned the two an Academy Award, and in 194, it was incorporated in the film ‘Lady Be Good.’ Still, by the end of the 1930s, people were thinking of Oscar as something of a has-been (Songwritershalloffame, 7). Oscar later collaborated with Richard Rodgers, setting off an alliance that would transform the musical theater of the Americans. They started with Oklahoma, a masterpiece that brought a significant advancement of the longtime goal of Oscar of combining all musical theater’s elements into a solitary artistically integrated whole. In 1945, they produced Carousel, another extraordinary masterpiece and their song ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ earned them an Academy Award. Other successes followed and in the year 1959, ‘The Sound of Music’ marked their final big hit (Pbs.org, 6). ‘Edelweiss’ was Oscar’s last song written for ‘The Sound of Music’ during its tryout in Boston (Rnh.com, 7). Oscar and Rodgers set up Williamson Music Inc., a music publishing company, and beginning the year 1949, they were they acted as their own works’ theatrical producers. They also became theatrical producers of lots of other artists (Biography.com, 4). Oscar’s endowment as a librettist and lyricist are incontestable. All his innumerable musical productions on tour, on Broadway, and in amateur, academic and professional theaters allover the world gives evidence of his work’s remarkable quality. In addition, his influence on the next librettists and lyricists’ generation was observable and direct. Most notably, he had a great influence on Stephen Sondheim, a lyricist for such shows as ‘Sunday in the Park with George’, ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘West Side Story.’ Sondheim credited his achievement in theater directly to Oscar’s guidance and influence – since childhood; he had been a close friend of Oscars and his family (Pbs.org, 7). Oscar was also Alan Jay Lerner’s mentor (Songwritershalloffame, 12). He became very influential on these men as well as others and provided them with guidance and wisdom. He always had fervor for the arts, which he shared with everyone who expressed interest (Lombardi, 10). Oscar was a member of many professional organizations’ board of directors, such as the ‘Screen Writers' Guild’ as well as the ‘Dramatists Guild.’ He was awarded numerous personal awards and honors, which included five Tony Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, five honorary degrees and two Academy Awards (Rnh.com, 6). Apparently, more than anyone else, Oscar contributed greatly to the American musical comedy evolution from plain entertainment to a sophisticated and complex form of art. The Houghton Mifflin Company records that Oscar’s sharp dialogue as well as the knack of creating dramatic movement through song aided in the transformation of the United States’ musical theater. Through him, musical comedies ceased being flimsy melodramas with songs tacked on, but powerful as well as seamless dramatic pieces (676). Conclusion Oscar Hammerstein II died of stomach cancer on 23August, 1960 in his Doylestown’s home in Pennsylvania, leaving behind three children, James by Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson and Alice and William by Myra Finn. Globally, people mourned his death. In his memory, lights were put off/dimmed on Broadway on 1September, 1960 at 9 P.M (Pbs.org, 8). Apparently, he left a great legacy and to date, he is celebrated as the most prominent librettist and lyricist of the American theater (Pbs.org, 8). In the year 1995, people all over the world celebrated Oscar’s centennial with commemorative books, concerts, recordings as well as an award-winning PBS special, ‘Some Enchanted Evening.’ the season that followed marked Oscar’s ultimate tribute when his three musicals namely State Fair, Show Boat and The King concurrently played on Broadway (Rnh.com, 8). Oscar reversed the musical writing process, first writing the lyrics followed by the score. As Pbs.org further records, ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Show Boat’, ‘South Pacific’, and ‘The King and I’ were the major musicals that he wrote the lyrics for. A sharp concentration on character, an outer simplicity, and an inner depth of feeling characterize Oscar’s best (Songwritershalloffame, 13). Works Cited Biography.com. Oscar Hammerstein II Biography (1895 – 1960). N.d. Web. Notablebiographies.com. Oscar Hammerstein Biography. N.d. Web. Hischak, Thomas S. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. 2007. Print. Houghton Mifflin Company. The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2003. Print. Lombardi, Laura. Hammerstein II, Oscar. 2005. Web. Pbs.org. Oscar Hammerstein II. 2004. Web. Rnh.com. Hammerstein II, Oscar. (N.d). Web. Songwritershalloffame.org. Oscar Hammerstein II. N.d. Web. Read More