Something Wonderful
Page 39
“I’ll keep remembering kisses”: Asch, Complete Lyrics, p. 342.
But from then on, Logan recalled: Logan, Josh, p. 289.
“I don’t have one thousand”: Michener, The World Is My Home, p. 294.
On March 5, Howard Reinheimer: Reinheimer memo to producers, South Pacific Correspondence, Green Box, OHII LOC.
DO YOU NEED A GOOD BARITONE?: Stephen Sondheim telegram to OHII, March 7, 1949, South Pacific Correspondence, Green Box, OHII LOC.
But Josh Logan, whose emotions could veer: Logan to OHII, March 7, 1949, Box C, OHII LOC.
His mood was not improved: Logan, Josh, p. 291.
Logan was somewhat reassured: Ibid., p. 293.
Rodgers himself was annoyed: William Stott with Jane Stott, On Broadway: Performance Photographs by Fred Fehl (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1978), p. 139.
“That night she tore the house apart”: Ibid., p. 295.
There were a few other small changes: OHII to Essie Robson, March 9, 1949, South Pacific Correspondence, Green Box, OHII LOC.
Hammerstein was less sympathetic: Exchange with Thomas McWhorter, April 2 and April 11, South Pacific Correspondence, Green Box, OHII LOC.
Oscar happened to leave his overcoat: Pinza, Ezio Pinza, p. 243.
the critics offered raves all around: Steven Suskin, Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre, Oklahoma! (1943) to Fiddler on the Roof (1964) (New York: Schirmer Books, 1990), pp. 639–43.
Helen Hayes wrote Oscar and Dorothy: Helen Hayes to OHII and DBH, April 11, 1949, South Pacific, Box 3, OHII LOC.
For his part, James Michener paraphrased: Stephen J. May, Michener’s South Pacific (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011), p. 111.
An advance sale of $500,000 quickly grew: Business Week, June 18, 1949.
Howard Reinheimer had set up: Ibid.
Each morning at seven o’clock: New York Post, June 7, 1949.
The demand was so intense: New York Herald Tribune, September 19, 1949.
In the end, Janet Blair: May, Michener’s South Pacific, pp. 111–12.
The problem was so severe: OHII to Claudia Cassidy, August 1950, South Pacific Correspondence, Green Box, OHII LOC.
7: PARALLEL WIVES
Dorothy Rodgers had stumbled: Dorothy Rodgers, My Favorite Things: A Personal Guide to Decorating and Entertaining (New York: Atheneum, 1964), p. 4.
She would insist that this reputation: Dorothy Rodgers and Mary Rodgers, A Word to Wives (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), p. 197.
Her standard wedding present: Deborah Grace Winer, On the Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields (New York: Schirmer Books, 1997), p. 179.
“I always felt that I hadn’t washed”: Sheldon Harnick interview with author.
She was a collector: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 144.
“Well, I don’t care”: Ibid., p. 215.
“It is a handsome, exciting room”: Dorothy Rodgers, My Favorite Things, p. 47.
“They were perfectly civil”: Mary Rodgers OH, SMU.
Stephen Sondheim was blunter: Sondheim e-mail to author, October 2015.
“But Rodgers and Hammerstein rejected it”: Ewen, Richard Rodgers, p. 267.
As it happened, Cerf was dining: Helen M. Strauss, A Talent for Luck: An Autobiography (New York: Random House, 1979), pp. 254ff.
Strauss, citing Cerf’s recommendation: Helen Strauss to RR, December 9, 1949, R&H office files.
“This is the book I mentioned”: Liner notes by Ted Chapin, The King and I, 1992 studio cast recording, Philips.
“Can’t talk now, Fanny”: Sheridan Morley, Gertrude Lawrence: A Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981), p. 186.
Oscar, listening from the next room: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 291.
“We were concerned”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 270.
“That did it”: Ibid.
So eager, by Helen Strauss’s later account: Strauss, A Talent for Luck, p. 254.
On February 26, 1950: Fanny Holtzmann to OHII, Box 2 of 9, OHII LOC.
“Oh, she was a fey creature”: John Green OH, SMU.
Her longtime chum: Barry Day, ed., The Letters of Noel Coward (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), pp. 204–6.
That was a message that resonated: Alfred Habegger, Masked: The Life of Anna Leonowens, Schoolmistress at the Court of Siam (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2014), p. 360.
Logan turned them down: Logan, Josh, p. 307.
“I phoned Rex Harrison”: RR to DFR, February 19, 1950, RR NYPL.
Rodgers fought Coward: Hyland, Richard Rodgers, p. 196.
“He scowled in our direction”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 272.
His name was Yul Brynner: Jhan Robbins, Yul Brynner: The Inscrutable King (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987), pp. 10–28.
“Here is a chance for more lusty comedy”: Asch, Complete Lyrics, p. 350.
“Shall I tell you what I think of you?”: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Six Plays, p. 401.
By the fall, Oscar would be exchanging: Jo Mielziner to OHII, October 9, 1950, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
“I hope my memo to you”: Mielziner to OHII, October 16, 1950, Box 2 of 9, OHII LOC.
On December 5, Oscar wrote to Van Druten: OHII to John Van Druten, December 5, 1950, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
Hammerstein was uncharacteristically proud: Logan, Josh, pp. 307–8.
Meantime, Rodgers was having troubles: RR to John Van Druten, November 28, 1950, Van Druten papers, NYPL.
But Rodgers set the lyric in four-four time: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 141.
“I am completely pleased to do just the ballet”: Jerome Robbins to OHII, November 11, 1950, Box 2 of 2, OHII LOC.
Robbins would hire Yuriko: Amanda Vaill, Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins (New York: Broadway Books, 2006), p. 183.
But Rodgers suggested that the ballet: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 274.
Rodgers sometimes chafed: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 142.
“Having had plenty of experience”: RR NYPL.
In January 1951, Reinheimer wrote: Reinheimer memo, Box 2 of 9, OHII LOC.
Helen Strauss passed along: Strauss to OHII, January 11, 1951, Box 2 of 9, OHII LOC.
This was a line of critique: OHII to Strauss, January 16, 1951, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
“By its very nature, the story”: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 138.
At the next day’s rehearsal: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 272.
He was so thrilled: Logan to R&H, January 18, 1951, R&H office files.
The curtain rang down: “A Happy Tune: An Interview with Sandy Kennedy,” Lincoln Center Theater Review, no. 65 (Spring 2015): 25–32.
The reaction of the New Haven critics: Amy Asch e-mail to author, April 22, 2017.
Robert Emmett Dolan was more sanguine: Robert Emmett Dolan to OHII, February 27, 1951, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
She poured out her feelings: Gertrude Lawrence to RR, undated, RR NYPL.
Mary Martin, who claimed to have seen: Martin, My Heart Belongs, p. 122.
There is no record of his reply: Gertrude Lawrence to RR, undated, RR NYPL.
In Yul Brynner’s words, the king: Yul Brynner OH, SMU.
“Dearest Occie,” Lawrence wrote: Lawrence to OHII, undated, R&H office files.
“On the opening night she came on”: Richard Stoddard Aldrich, Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A.: An Intimate Biography of the Great Star (New York: Greystone Press, 1954), p. 365.
Fanny Holtzmann, sitting next to Billy Rose: Edward O. Berkman, The Lady and the Law: The Remarkable Story of Fanny Holtzmann (Boston: Little, Brown, 1976), p. 344.
Howard Dietz, the lyricist and MGM publicist, was so excited: Dietz to OHII, undated, King and I Green Box, OHII LOC.
Oscar’s old partner: Romberg to OHII, King and I Box 8, OHII LOC.
Dorothy Fields described: Ibid.
But as Oscar had feared: Gre
en, Fact Book, pp. 581–84.
8: CATASTROPHIC SUCCESS
One such occasion was a two-part tribute: Ed Sullivan programs are archived in the Moving Image Research Center of the LOC, accessible digitally.
In 1951, Rodgers and Hammerstein would each earn: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 304.
“I don’t believe the firm”: Bennett, The Broadway Sound, pp. 184–85.
Josh Logan once reported: Ted Chapin and Bruce Pomahac, conversations with author.
Rodgers once told the arranger Don Walker: Walker, Men of Notes, p. 219.
During the preparation of the text: OHII to Henry Simon, July 7, 1958, Box 3 of 9, OHII LOC.
The book’s finished text: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Songbook (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968), pp. 180–81.
Dorothy Hammerstein told Stephen Sondheim: Sondheim e-mail to author.
On the other hand, Dorothy Rodgers: Nolan, The Sound of Their Music, p. 215.
When Rodgers learned: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 307.
Their office secretary, Lillian Leff: Bennett, The Broadway Sound, p. 251.
“I am sorry that the lyrics”: John Van Druten to OHII, December 1950, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
“But the plot has a lot of hackneyed playwriting”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 308.
The revival opened in New York: Green, Fact Book, pp. 223–24.
“For the difficult task of timing”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 279.
In his memoir, Bennett would acknowledge: Bennett, The Broadway Sound, p. 210.
And from almost the opening night: Morris Jacobs memo to file, May 8, 1951, Box 2 of 9, OHII.
“Well as I know and mistrust”: John Cornell to Morris Jacobs, October 3, 1953, RR NYPL.
Still, by the end of the Broadway run: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 146.
“This is my official and documentary”: OHII to Gertrude Lawrence, April 3, 1951; Lawrence to OHII, April 10, 1951, Box 2 of 3, OHII LOC.
“This is fanned into nothing by 3 o’clock”: Lawrence to Van Druten, Van Druten papers, NYPL.
In April, Dick and Oscar asked Noël Coward: Day, ed., Letters of Noël Coward, p. 202.
Her friend Daphne du Maurier: Ibid., p. 206.
“Eight times a week”: R&H to Lawrence, May 20, 1952, R&H office files.
Lawrence wrote Dorothy Hammerstein: Undated letter, Box 8, OHII LOC.
On Friday, September 5: Howard Reinheimer to Fanny Holtzmann, R&H office files.
Only after an autopsy: Morley, Gertrude Lawrence, pp. 197–98.
Oscar wrote a gently teasing tribute: Town & Country, June 1952, Box 33, OHII LOC.
“One of our aims was to avoid”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 281.
He, too, told an interviewer: Nolan, The Sound of Their Music, p. 218.
Don Walker—not the stately Russell Bennett: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 318.
“From the start we ought to have known”: George Abbott OH, SMU.
Abbott hoped that when the action: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 309.
“In some quarters we may be criticized”: OHII to Van Druten, April 30, 1953, King and I Green Box, OHII LOC.
For his part, Rodgers would recall: Nolan, The Sound of Their Music, p. 222.
“To this day, if I sing it”: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, pp. 318–19.
Throughout the rehearsal process: OHII undated notes, Me and Juliet Green Box 12, OHII.
“A big black giant”: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Six Plays, pp. 486–87.
Because Mielziner’s sets were so cumbersome: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 157.
Jimmy Hammerstein, who joined the company: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 310.
The number proved prophetic: Green, Fact Book, p. 603.
Oscar’s verdict was even more succinct: John Steele Gordon interview with author.
“The hell with them”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 312.
“The gesture of hosting”: Ibid., p. 313.
In 1950, as president of the Authors League: OHII affidavit of November 23, 1953, Box 8 of 9, OHII LOC.
Oscar told reporters he was surprised: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 270.
Now, Hammerstein’s outspoken advocacy: All information relating to OHII FBI file obtained by Joan Saltzman, September 6, 2010, FOIPA No. 1146557–000, 112 pages.
“It would be dishonest of me not to confess”: OHII affidavit of November 23, 1953, Box 8, OHII LOC.
“The public tells us what it likes”: Script for broadcast, November 23, 1953, Box 8 of 9, OHII LOC. Also reviewed entire broadcast at Paley Center, https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=dinner+with+the+president&f=all&c=all&advanced=1&p=1&item=T77:0132.
In his own remarks, Eisenhower: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9770.
What’s more, Hammerstein was not thrilled: Nolan, The Sound of Their Music, p. 231.
In the spring of 1954: OHII souvenir program note on Pipe Dream, Box 8 of 9, OHII LOC.
“Whether we can get away with a factual house of prostitution”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 323.
“I don’t see how I can wedge her in”: OHII to Steinbeck, July 26, 1955, Box 2 of 3, OHII.
“Doesn’t that belting disturb you”: Stott and Stott, On Broadway, p. 276.
“It isn’t too early”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 285.
“When he finally got cancer”: Mary Rodgers interview in Maslon, Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds.
“Before that happened”: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 330.
“The next thing I knew”: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 286.
“I am delighted with Pipe Dream”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 326.
“Pipe Dream became full of doilies”: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 327.
“like an off-duty visiting nurse”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 326.
“One of the most serious criticisms”: Ibid., p. 327.
The sole dirty joke: Ibid., p. 218.
Dick Rodgers was apparently aware: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 268.
It isn’t clear precisely when: Owen Shribman, telephone interview with author.
“contemplated calling a lawyer”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 247.
Moss Hart detected a surprising lack of feeling: Moss Hart Diary, https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999465334502121.
Steinbeck complained: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 327.
“I have heard others describe”: John Steinbeck to OHII, in John Steinbeck, Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, ed. Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten (New York: Penguin Books, 1989), pp. 516–17.
And when the show opened: Suskin, Opening Night, p. 554.
In a letter to the casting director: Steinbeck letter to John Fearnley, spring 1959, R&H office files.
“The guy has never been in a whorehouse”: Fordin, Getting to Know Him, p. 328.
9: BEYOND BROADWAY
In the spring of 1954: Norton speech, March 31, 1954, Box 29, OHII LOC.
Hollywood’s interest in Oklahoma!: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 283.
Fred Zinnemann was less impressed: Zinnemann to OHII, September 30, 1953, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
Zinnemann was more impressed: Ibid.
But Hammerstein wrote: OHII to Joseph Schenck, October 22, 1953, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
“You and I seem to be standing”: RR to OHII, Box 8 of 9, OHII LOC.
And Oscar, belying his reputation: OHII to Schenck, October 22, 1953, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
Jan Clayton asked Oscar: Clayton OH, SMU.
At virtually the same time: Shirley Jones, Shirley Jones: A Memoir (New York: Gallery Books, 2013), p. 46.
For Jones, it was a Cinderella story: Ibid., p. 42.
“Richard—boy, you sang it”: Gene Nelson OH, SMU.
Zinnemann was acutely conscious: Zinnemann notes on final shooting script, June 1, 1954, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
/>
That last desire proved: Fred Zinnemann, A Life in the Movies: An Autobiography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1992), p. 147.
Agnes de Mille had been hired: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 285.
Rodgers himself tangled: RR memo to file, August 23, 1954, RR NYPL.
“Before anything appears on the screen”: RR to Hornblow et al., October 29, 1954, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
That same week, George Skouras: Skouras to R&H, October 27, 1954, Zinnemann papers, AMPAS.
Total box-office receipts: Tally sheet, May 2, 1957, Arthur Hornblow papers, AMPAS.
Late in life, though: Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, p. 285.
Fox’s production chief Darryl Zanuck: Zanuck to OHII, May 12, 1955; OHII to Zanuck, May 17, 1955; Zanuck to OHII, May 20, 1955, Box 3 of 9, OHII LOC.
“tears rolling down his cheeks”: Jones, Shirley Jones: A Memoir, pp. 82–83.
But the biggest problem: Geoffrey M. Shurlock to Frank McCarthy, June 27, 1955, Box 21, OHII LOC.
When the film opened: Green, Fact Book, p. 545.
Rittmann had a screen credit: Rittmann to sister Lotte Krebs, July 4, 1956; Susanna Krebs Drewry to author, May 13, 2017.
“The king dies because he has no will to live”: Brynner OH, SMU.
The film opened: Green, Fact Book, p. 592.
But in an unhappy postscript: Mielziner settlement papers, R&H office files.
“I look at television a great deal”: OHII speech, February 17, 1957, R&H office files, copy provided by Amy Asch.
He noted that it typically took him: Ibid.
Some of the early collaboration: OHII to RR, November 10, 1956, R&H office files.
“I’m a sailor in the battle of Trafalgar”: Cinderella Green Box 4, Misc. Notes, OHII LOC.
Hammerstein initially named: OHII lyric sketches, Cinderella Green Box, OHII LOC.
They had nothing for her at the time: Mordden, Rodgers and Hammerstein, p. 152.
In later years, Julie Andrews: Julie Andrews, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (New York: Hyperion, 2008), pp. 227ff.
It was all she could do: Ibid., p. 230.
“If I weren’t King”: Asch, Complete Lyrics, p. 384.
“At the stroke of 8, on Sunday night”: Newspaper clip of CBS advertisement, Cinderella Green Box 4, Misc. Notes, OHII LOC.
“Apparently I picked up a bug”: Secrest, Somewhere for Me, p. 334.