Oscar Hammerstein II Mathias by his first wife, and James Hammerstein by his second wife, with whom he also had a stepdaughter, Susan Blanchard. Hammerstein was one of the most important "book writers" in Broadway history – he made the story, not the songs or the stars, central to the musical and brought musical theater to full maturity as an art form. According to Stephen Sondheim, "What few people understand is that Oscar's big contribution to the theater was as a theoretician, as a Peter Brook, as an innovator. People don't understand how experimental "Show Boat" and "Oklahoma!" felt at the time they
Oscar Hammerstein II Show, entitled "On Your Way". Throughout the rest of his college career, Hammerstein wrote and performed in several Varsity Shows. After quitting law school to pursue theatre, Hammerstein began his first professional collaboration, with Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. He began as an apprentice and went on to form a 20-year collaboration with Harbach. Out of this collaboration came his first musical, "Always You", for which he wrote the book and lyrics. It opened on Broadway in 1920. In 1921 Hammerstein joined The Lambs club. Throughout the next forty years, Hammerstein teamed with many other composers, including Jerome