Rodgers and Hart in 1936 In 1919, Rodgers met
Lorenz Hart, thanks to Phillip Levitt, a friend of Rodgers's older brother.
Rodgers and Hart struggled for years in the field of musical comedy, writing several amateur shows. They made their professional debut with the song "Any Old Place With You", featured in the 1919 Broadway musical comedy
A Lonely Romeo. Their first professional production was
Poor Little Ritz Girl (1920), which also had music by
Sigmund Romberg. Their next professional show,
The Melody Man, did not premiere until 1924. When he was just out of college Rodgers worked as musical director for
Lew Fields. Among the stars he accompanied were
Nora Bayes and
Fred Allen. Rodgers was considering quitting show business altogether to sell children's underwear when he and Hart finally broke through in 1925. They wrote the songs for a benefit show presented by the prestigious
Theatre Guild called
The Garrick Gaieties, and critics found the show fresh and delightful. Although it was meant to run only one day, the Guild knew it had a success and allowed it to reopen later. The show's biggest hit—the song that Rodgers believed "made" Rodgers and Hart—was "
Manhattan". The two were now a Broadway songwriting force. During the rest of the decade, the duo wrote several hit shows for both Broadway and London, including
Dearest Enemy (1925),
The Girl Friend (1926),
Peggy-Ann (1926),
A Connecticut Yankee (1927), and
Present Arms (1928). Their 1920s shows produced standards such as "
Here in My Arms", "
Mountain Greenery", "
Blue Room", "
My Heart Stood Still", and "
You Took Advantage of Me". With the
Depression in full swing during the first half of the 1930s, the team sought greener pastures in Hollywood. The hardworking Rodgers later regretted these relatively fallow years, but he and Hart wrote some classic songs and film scores out west, including
Love Me Tonight (1932) (directed by
Rouben Mamoulian, who later directed Rodgers's
Oklahoma! on Broadway), which introduced three standards: "
Lover", "
Mimi", and "
Isn't It Romantic?". Rodgers also wrote a melody for which Hart wrote three consecutive lyrics that were either cut, not recorded or not a hit. The fourth lyric resulted in one of their most famous songs, "
Blue Moon". Other film work includes the scores to
The Phantom President (1932), starring
George M. Cohan, ''
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), starring Al Jolson, and, in a quick return after having left Hollywood, Mississippi'' (1935), starring
Bing Crosby and
W. C. Fields. In 1935, they returned to Broadway and wrote an almost unbroken string of hit shows that ended shortly before Hart's death in 1943. Among the most notable are
Jumbo (1935),
On Your Toes (1936, which included the ballet "
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue", choreographed by George Balanchine),
Babes in Arms (1937),
I Married an Angel (1938),
The Boys from Syracuse (1938),
Pal Joey (1940), and their last original work,
By Jupiter (1942). Rodgers also contributed to the book on several of these shows. Many of the songs from these shows are still sung and remembered, including "
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", "
My Romance", "
Little Girl Blue", "
I'll Tell the Man in the Street", "
There's a Small Hotel", "
Where or When", "
My Funny Valentine", "
The Lady Is a Tramp", "
Falling in Love with Love", "
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", and "
Wait till You See Her". In 1939, Rodgers wrote the ballet
Ghost Town for the
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, with choreography by
Marc Platoff.
Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers's partnership with Hart began to founder because of Hart's unreliability and declining health from
alcoholism. Rodgers began working again with
Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom he had written songs before ever working with Hart. Their first musical, the groundbreaking hit
Oklahoma! (1943), is a notable example of a "
book musical", a musical play in which the songs and dances are fully integrated into the plot. What was once a collection of songs, dances, and comic turns held together by a tenuous plot became a fully integrated narrative.
Show Boat is considered the earliest example of a book musical, but
Oklahoma! epitomized its innovations and is considered the first production in U.S. history to be intentionally marketed as a fully integrated musical. In 1943, Rodgers became the ninth president of the
Dramatists Guild of America. In November 1943, he and Hart mounted a revival of
A Connecticut Yankee; Hart died from alcoholism and pneumonia just days after its opening. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote four more hits that are among the most popular in musical history. Each was made into a successful film:
Carousel (1945),
South Pacific (1949, winner of the 1950
Pulitzer Prize for Drama),
The King and I (1951), and
The Sound of Music (1959). Other shows include the minor hit
Flower Drum Song (1958) and the relative failures
Allegro (1947),
Me and Juliet (1953), and
Pipe Dream (1955). They also wrote the score to the film
State Fair (1945, remade in 1962 with
Pat Boone) and a special TV musical of
Cinderella (1957). Their collaboration produced many well-known songs, including "
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'", "
People Will Say We're in Love", "
Oklahoma" (which became Oklahoma's state song), "It's A Grand Night For Singing", "
If I Loved You", "
You'll Never Walk Alone", "
It Might as Well Be Spring", "
Some Enchanted Evening", "
Younger Than Springtime", "
Bali Hai", "
Getting to Know You", "
My Favorite Things", "
The Sound of Music", "
Sixteen Going on Seventeen", "
Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "
Do-Re-Mi", and "
Edelweiss", Hammerstein's last song. 's
Toast of the Town television show in 1952 Much of Rodgers's work with Hart and Hammerstein was orchestrated by
Robert Russell Bennett. Rodgers composed 12 themes that Bennett used in preparing the orchestra score for the 26-episode
World War II television documentary
Victory at Sea (1952–53). This
NBC production pioneered the "compilation documentary"—programming based on preexisting footage—and was broadcast in dozens of countries. The melody of the popular song "
No Other Love" was later taken from the
Victory at Sea theme "Beneath the Southern Cross". Rodgers won an
Emmy for the music for the ABC documentary
Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years, scored by
Eddie Sauter,
Hershy Kay, and
Robert Emmett Dolan. He composed the theme music, "
March of the Clowns", for the 1963–64 television series
The Greatest Show on Earth, which ran for 30 episodes, and contributed the main title theme for the 1963–64 historical anthology television series
The Great Adventure. In 1950,
Rodgers and Hammerstein received
The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Rodgers, Hammerstein, and
Joshua Logan won the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama for
South Pacific. Rodgers and Hammerstein had won a
special Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for
Oklahoma!. In 1954, Rodgers conducted the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra in excerpts from
Victory at Sea,
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, and the
Carousel Waltz for a special LP released by
Columbia Records.
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals earned a total of 37
Tony Awards, 15
Academy Awards, two
Pulitzer Prizes, two
Grammy Awards, and two
Emmy Awards.
After Hammerstein Rodgers composed five more musicals after Hammerstein's death in 1960:
No Strings (1962),
Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965),
Two by Two (1970),
Rex (1976), and
I Remember Mama (1979). Rodgers wrote both words and music for
No Strings, which earned two Tony Awards and played 580 shows. The show was a minor hit and featured the song "
The Sweetest Sounds". Rodgers also wrote both the words and music for two new songs used in the film version of
The Sound of Music. (Other songs in the film are by Rodgers and Hammerstein.) Rodgers's final Broadway musicals had declining success as Rodgers was overshadowed by up-and-coming composers and lyricists. This was evident by the steady drop in run times and critic reviews.
Do I Hear a Waltz? ran 220 performances;
Two by Two, 343;
Rex, only 49; and
I Remember Mama, 108. Rodgers worked with lyricists
Stephen Sondheim (
Do I Hear a Waltz?), a protégé of Hammerstein;
Martin Charnin (
Two by Two, I Remember Mama); and
Sheldon Harnick (
Rex), but never found another permanent partner. Sondheim's reluctance to participate in
Do I Hear a Waltz? led to tension between the two. Charnin and Rodgers had opposing ideas when creating
Two by Two. At its 1978 commencement ceremonies,
Barnard College awarded Rodgers its highest honor, the
Barnard Medal of Distinction. Also in 1978, Rodgers was an honoree at the first
Kennedy Center Honors. At the 1979 Tony Awards ceremony (six months before his death), he received the Lawrence Langner Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre. One of Rodgers's final works was a revival of
Fly With Me for the 1980 Varsity Show, to which he added several new songs. He died less than four months before its premiere in April 1980. ==Personal life==