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stars later," says Dick Rodgers, "but
there haven't been many Mary Mar
tins or Gertrude Lawrences in our
shows when they first came to Broad
way. It's exciting to work with new
people as we're doing with 'Flower
Drum Song.
Yul Brynner is a good example.
"He came in cold to audition for
'The King and I' just like any chorus
boy," Rodgers recalls. "I'll never for
get : him sitting cross-legged on the
floor of an empty stage, strumming a
guitar and singing some gibberish I
couldn't understand. He was perfect
and we signed him on the spot."
Breaking theatrical rules is an old
story to R & H. They've done it many
times and not always successfully, as
witness "Allegro" but the results
have always been provocative and ex
citing. I visited with them at a back
stage party given to celebrate the 15th
anniversary of the opening of "Okla
homa!" which was revived on Broad
way this Spring. Both R & H watched
the performance that night even
though they have seen the show sev
eral hundred times.
Afterward, Dick Rodgers was
thinking back to the March night in
1943 whenjthe first Rodgers and Ham-
Theatrical geniuses Richard Rodgers (left) and Oscar Hammerstein.
Since "Oklahoma!" first
burst upon Broadway,
no two men have
given America more
sheer enjoyment than
Rodgers and Hammerstein.
few times in the history of the enter
tainment profession have a pair
men so endowed appeared.
Such a pair is Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II. They have
probably brought more genuine pleas
ure to more people than any two men
alive today. Yet they never do it self
consciously or with any thought that
they are contributing to humanity.
They're just good guys with tremen
dous talents which they enjoy sharing.
Next November, Rodgers and Ham
merstein's 10th collaboration, "The
Flower Drum Song," will open on
Broadway. As in so many other R &
H operettas, "Flower Drum Song" will
break with theatrical convention in
several ways. This warm story of the
efforts of a Chinese family to adjust to
a new life in contemporary San Fran
cisco is certainly a long way from the
experience of most theater-going
Americans. The show is being cast al
most entirely with real Chinese
Americans, and there will be no stars.
"A lot of our people have become
merstein show burst upon Broadway.
'Oklahoma!' broke all the conven
tions," he mused. "It opened with an
off-stage song; we didn't bring any
girls on for 40 minutes, and when we
did they were wearing high-necked
dresses; we had a villain who was
motivated and we killed him which
just wasn't done in musical plays."
One reason that R & H have been
able to get away with this sort of thing
is that they are professionals through
and through competent, thorough,
sensitive, sympathetic, and wonder
fully gifted. There isn't a neurotic or
temperamental impulse in either man;
yet they are decidedly different.
D
ick Rodgers is the businessman of
the team. Rather short, broad
of shoulder, slightly paunchy,
with thinning gray hair carefully
combed, he is genial, considerate,
polite, and dapper. He keeps regular
hours in a mid-town New York office
and handles the team's business affairs.
When Hammerstein was asked to
describe how the team collaborated
on a song, he answered: "I labor for
weeks over a lyric, deliver it to Dick
then get out of the way." Rodgers'
speed with melodies is legendary. (
"This makes for good conversation,
6
Family Week I u, August 24, 195S