BIOGRAPHY OF OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II Research Paper - 1

BIOGRAPHY OF OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II - Research Paper Example As a youth, Oscar dabbled in theatrical undertakings debuting at his public school in a Christmas procession. He started his piano lessons when he was nine years old. The death of his mother, however, when he was only fifteen ruined his happy childhood (Notablebiographies.com, 3). During his formative years, Oscar was greatly involved in theatrical activities. Nevertheless, when he was choosing a career his father kept him back from theater. He sent him to Columbia University to study law. However, his father died in the year 1914 leaving him reliant on family members who were more theatrically inclined (Notablebiographies.com, 3). While at Columbia University, Oscar essentially started his career in theater. At the age of 19, he became a member of the Columbia University Players and took part in ‘On Your Way,’ the 1915 Varsity review. For several years, he was a close follower of the student shows and he participated both as a performer and a writer (Pbs.org, 2). After finishing his first year in law school, Oscar was able to convince his uncle to take him in on one of his shows at the capacity of an assistant stage manager. By the year 1919, his uncle made him the production stage manager for all his shows. In this capacity, Oscar managed to do write and re-write on development scripts. In the long run, he began writing musical comedies of his own (Pbs.org, 3). In the year 1917, Oscar married Mary Flynn, who begot him two children namely Alice and William, who later became a theater producer-director. In the year 1929, Oscar divorced Flynn and married Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson and they got a son called James Hammerstein who became a director of theater (Hischak, 81). Soon after marrying Flynn, Oscar wrote ‘The Light’, his first play. His production started in 1919 but it was stopped after only lasted four performances. He stepped back and evaluated what