Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960), born Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein, was an American writer, producer, and director of musicals for almost forty years. He was twice awarded an Oscar for "Best Original Song," and much of his work has been admitted into the unofficial Great American Songbook. He worked mostly in collaboration with Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern and then, most famously, with Richard Rodgers.

Quotes

 * If you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught.
 * "Getting to Know You", The King and I (1956).


 * I hand him a lyric and get out of his way.
 * On his partnership with Richard Rodgers, widely quoted, for example in

About

 * He's a meticulously hard worker and yet he'll roam the grass of his farm for hours and sometimes for days before he can bring himself to put a word on paper.
 * Richard Rodgers, quoted in
 * I beg your pardon. My husband wrote "Ol' Man River." Jerome Kern wrote "da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da."
 * Dorothy Hammerstein, irritated at a woman who neglected her husband's contribution to Showboat