Oscar Hammerstein II

During the '40s and '50s, lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and composer Richard Rodgers were the most successful composing team on Broadway, writing several long-running shows that were eventually made into movie musicals. Hammerstein was also the second most prolific lyricist of the 20th century, second only to Irving Berlin. Born into a show business family in N.Y.C. on July 12, 1895, as Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein, he later dropped his middle names and adopted the "II." The grandfather he was named after was a theater builder and opera company director, an...