Oscar Hammerstein II collection, 1847-2000

Biographical Note

Date	Event
1895, July 12	Born, New York City, to William Hammerstein and Alice (Nimmo) Hammerstein
1910, Aug. 20	Alice (Nimmo) Hammerstein died
1911	William Hammerstein married Alice's sister Anna "Mousie" Nimmo
1912-1916	Attended Columbia University
1914, June 10	William Hammerstein died
1915-1916	Performed in Columbia University varsity shows, one of which featured his first known song
1917, Aug. 22	Married Myra Finn (divorced 1929)
1917	Assistant stage manager on You're in Love Wrote and performed in varsity show Home, James Met Richard Rodgers First professional lyric "Make Yourselves at Home" appeared in Broadway show Furs and Frills
1918, Oct. 26	Son William born (died 2001)
1918 Oct.	Stage manager on Broadway show Sometime
1919	New Haven tryout of his play The Light
1920	Always You opened on Broadway; first professional show as sole lyricist and librettist
1921, May 17	Daughter Alice born (died 2015)
1923	Broadway openings of Wildflower and Mary Jane McKane
1924	Broadway opening of Rose-Marie (with R. Friml)
1925	Broadway opening of Sunny (with J. Kern)
1926	Edna Ferber gave Hammerstein and Kern rights to her novel Show Boat Broadway opening of The Desert Song (with S. Romberg)
1927	Met Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson Broadway opening of Show Boat (with J. Kern)
1928	Broadway opening of The New Moon (with S. Romberg)
1929, May 14	Married Dorothy (Blanchard) Jacobson
1929	Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg signed contract with Warner Bros./First National Pictures for four original screen musicals Broadway opening of Sweet Adeline (with J. Kern)
1930	Warner Bros. released Golden Dawn (with E. Kalman and H. Stothart) and Viennese Nights (with S. Romberg) Warners bought out Hammerstein-Romberg contract Broadway opening of Ballyhoo
1931, Mar. 23	Son James born (died 1999)
1932	Show Boat revived on Broadway Broadway opening of Music in the Air (with J. Kern)
1934	Made one-year contract with MGM and moved to Los Angeles Warner Bros. released Sweet Adeline Fox released Music in the Air
1935	Contract with MGM not renewed; agreement with Paramount was signed
1936	MGM released screen version of Rose-Marie Paramount released Give Us This Night (with E. Korngold) Universal released new screen version of Show Boat with screenplay by Hammerstein and new songs Made chairman of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League
1937	Worked at Columbia Pictures Paramount released High, Wide, and Handsome (with J. Kern)
1938	World premiere of Gentlemen Unafraid (with J. Kern) MGM released The Great Waltz
1939	Elected to ASCAP Broadway opening of Very Warm for May (with J. Kern)
1940	American Jubilee opened at the New York World's Fair Wrote "The Last Time I Saw Paris" MGM released The New Moon Hammersteins buy Highland Farm, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
1941	Richard Rodgers approached Hammerstein about future projects Broadway opening of Sunny River (with S. Romberg)
1942	Worked on adaptation of Carmen Theatre Guild announced Rodgers, Hart and Hammerstein will create musical of Green Grow the Lilacs
1943	Broadway opening of Oklahoma! (with R. Rodgers) Joins leadership of the Writers' War Board Broadway opening of Carmen Jones
1944	Rodgers and Hammerstein awarded special Pulitzer Prize for Oklahoma! Broadway opening of play I Remember Mama, produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein
1945, Nov. 11	Jerome Kern died
1945	Broadway opening of Carousel (with R. Rodgers) Fox released State Fair film (with R. Rodgers) Awarded Academy Award for "It Might as Well Be Spring"
1946	Show Boat revival opened Broadway opening of Annie Get Your Gun, produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein
1947	Hammerstein on the cover of Time Broadway opening of Allegro (with R. Rodgers)
1947-1951	President, Authors League
1949	Broadway opening of South Pacific (with R. Rodgers) New York Critics Award for South Pacific Published Lyrics. New York: Simon and Schuster First performance of The Myth That Threatens the World which explained goals of the United World Federalists
1950	Elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters Rodgers and Hammerstein awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama for South Pacific Broadway opening of The Happy Time, produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein
1951	Broadway opening of The King and I (with R. Rodgers) Hammerstein profiled in The New Yorker MGM released Show Boat Ed Sullivan broadcast two-part tribute to Hammerstein
1953	Broadway opening of Me and Juliet (with R. Rodgers) U.S. State Dept. put Hammerstein on restricted passport due to concerns about alleged communist activity Mayor declared "Rodgers and Hammerstein Week" in New York City Hammerstein delivered Christmas message over Radio Free Europe
1954	General Foods salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein carried on all four television networks Twentieth Century Fox released screen version of Carmen Jones Began filming screen version of Oklahoma!
1955, Oct. 12	Arthur Hammerstein died
1955	Magna Theatre Corporation released screen version of Oklahoma! Broadway opening of Pipe Dream (with R. Rodgers)
1956	Twentieth Century Fox released both Carousel and The King and I
1957	Cinderella broadcast on CBS television (with R. Rodgers)
1958, Aug. 9	Reggie Hammerstein died
1958	South Pacific movie released Broadway opening of Flower Drum Song (with R. Rodgers)
1959	Hammerstein gave major address for United World Federalists Hammerstein was found to have cancer Hammerstein began writing his final song "Edelweiss" Broadway opening of The Sound of Music (with R. Rodgers)
1960 Spring/Summer	Hammerstein worked on television adaptation of Allegro and lyrics for remake of State Fair
1960, Aug. 23	Died, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Biographical chronology is adapted from the one that appears in The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, edited by Amy Asch.