Getting to know him: A biography of Oscar Hammerstein II [Hardcover]

Hugh Fordin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1977

Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) forged a remarkable, multifaceted career as a librettist, lyricist, playwright, director, and producer. He wrote Carmen Jones, Carousel, Show Boat, and, with longtime collaborator Richard Rodgers, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Hugh Fordin enjoyed complete access to the Hammerstein archives and conducted numerous interviews with family and colleagues like Rodgers, Berlin, Robbins, and Sondheim. The result is the definitive biography of a creative giant, who changed forever the texture of American theater.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Oscar Hammerstein II was born in New York City in 1895. His first success came in 1924 with Rose-Marie; the following year he began a twenty-year association with composer Jerome Kern. Their eight musicals included the 1927 hit Show Boat. But it was with Richard Rodgers that Hammerstein forged his most memorable partnership. From 1942 until Hammerstein's death in 1960, the team wrote eleven musicals which have collectively earned an astounding 26 Tony awards, 14 Academy awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, and two Grammy awards. One hundred years after he was born, Hammerstein's accomplishments are more timely than ever as productions of his musicals continue in record numbers around the world. In Getting To Know Him: A Biography Of Oscar Hammerstein II, biographer Hugh Fordin draws on archives and interviews with hammerstein's wife Dorothy, his five children, and his friends and colleagues (including Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, Jerome Robbins, James Michener, and Stephen Sondheim) to reveal a man whose homespun sensibility belied his truly complex nature. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Hugh Fordin has been a producer in both theater and film. As head of casting for David Merrick, he was involved in the making of M*A*S*H, Hello Dolly!, and Play It Again, Sam. The author of The Movies' Greatest Musicals: The Freed Unit at MGM, he lives in New York City, where he is the president of DRG Records.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394494415
• ISBN-13: 978-0394494418
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,705,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnifcent, to say the least, September 1, 2000

By 

Robert D. Glover Jr. "robert-g-near-nyc" (Linden, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting To Know Him: A Biography Of Oscar Hammerstein II (Paperback)

A wonderful, warm, authoritative biogrphaphy. It is obvious the Hammerstein family cooperatied fully with the author. The author is meticulous in his research. I advise next reading the autobiography of Richard Rodgers, and then reading the suburb biography of Stephen Soundheim, to whit, "Stephen Sondheim : A Life" by Meryle Secrest. Ockie was a great man...a man who never in his life visited a whore house and yet tried to write lyrics for a musical that was about a prostitute (i.e., the unsuccessful musical "PipeDream"). It fascinating how this book reprints some of the correspondance where John Steinbeck argues, in vein, for Oscar to stop sanitizing PipeDream to the point where the audience never knew the woman character was a lady of the evening. The book tells the story of every musical Hamerstein wrote lyrics for. I found myself buying CD cast albums as I encountered the story of each in the biography. The book is interesting and never boring, not even once.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover a Wonderful Lyricist, January 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Getting To Know Him: A Biography Of Oscar Hammerstein II (Paperback)

This is one of the better books about Oscar Hammerstein, that luckily enough, is now back in print. Hugh Fordin writes a wonderful book that looks at the personal and the professional side of America's pre-eminent lyricist.
While fans of Richard Rodgers may be more inclined to enjoy the cynical wit of Larry Hart's lyrics, after reading this book, you can't help but be made into a Hammerstein convert. Here's a man with a sunny disposition, who believed in happy endings, and the best in people. One of the most telling stories Fordin recounts is how Hammerstein wrote "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (a pre-Rodgers song) because he was devastated by the fall of France in 1940. He would later point to that as the worst day of his life... not finding out his first wife had been cheating on him. That's the sort of guy Oscar Hammerstein comes across as in this book.
You'll also explore his early high-water mark of "Show Boat" and its important role in American Theater, followed by his pre-Rodgers drought.
If you read this book, you'll be glad you've Gotten to Know Him.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical biography of great lyricist!, November 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Getting To Know Him: A Biography Of Oscar Hammerstein II (Paperback)

This is one of the best biographies I have read. The author had full access to the files of Oscar Hammerstein. I was just as fascinated with the life of his grandfather and his father, this is a true theatrical dynasty. Oscar Hammerstein really believed there was a bright golden haze on the meadow and after reading this book I'm inclined to agree.