Oscar Hammerstein II Romberg; but he is best known for his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein which include "Oklahoma!", "Carousel", "South Pacific", "The King and I", and "The Sound of Music". Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was born in New York City, the son of Alice Hammerstein (née Nimmo) and theatrical manager William Hammerstein. His grandfather was the German theatre impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. His father was from a Jewish family, and his mother was the daughter of Scottish and English parents. He was raised Episcopalian. Although Hammerstein's father managed the Victoria Theatre for his father and was
Carousel (musical) out of that parlor". When Hammerstein inquired where he should put the deity, Rodgers replied, "I don't care where you put Him. Put Him on a ladder for all I care, only get Him out of that parlor!" Hammerstein duly put Mr. God (renamed the Starkeeper) atop a ladder, and Mrs. God was removed from the show. Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest terms this change a mistake, leading to a more fantastic afterlife, which was later criticized by "The New Republic" as "a Rotarian atmosphere congenial to audiences who seek not reality but escape from reality, not truth but escape from