Richard Rodgers (1902-79) and Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) were a musical odd couple. Rodgers was a straight forward and sober personality who
wrote wonderful melodies. Lorenz Hart was a troubled alcoholic whose mood swings found him in his more focused periods writing lyrics that celebrated the beauty and complexities of life. Their collaborations, which took place over a 20-year period, resulted in one memorable gem after another. Writing for a Rodgers & Hart songbook in 1951, Richard Rodgers remembered: “Only one thing remained constant in Larry’s approach to his job. He hated doing it and loved it when he was done. There was the never-ceasing routine of trying to find him, locking him up in a room, and hoping to fire his imagination so that actual words would get down on paper. It wasn’t wise to leave him alone for a moment because he would simply disappear and have to be found all over again.” Richard Rodgers began playing the piano when he was six. He first composed songs as a young teenager. Lorenz Hart, who wrote lyrics from an early age, had been working as a translator of German plays when he met Rodgers in 1918. At the time Richard Rodgers was just 16 and the more worldly Lorenz Hart was 23.Their first collaboration was the long-forgotten “Any Old Place With You.” It would be five years before their songs began to take off. In 1925 Rodgers & Hart wrote for the Garrick Gaieties, a fundraising revue that included their first hit, “Manhattan.” The 1926 version of the Garrick Gaieties included “Mountain Greenery.” For the next five years the team of Rodgers & Hart wrote for several major shows including Dearest Enemy, The Girl Friend, Peggy-Ann, A Connecticut Yankee and Present Arms. Among their songs from that era were “Blue Room,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “Thou Swell,” “A Ship Without A Sail,” “Dancing On The Ceiling” and ‘You Took Advantage Of Me.” Seeing greater work opportunities in Hollywood, Rodgers & Hart began writing for the movies in the early 1930s. While few today would remember the movies Love Me Tonight, The Phantom President and Hallelujah, I’m A Bum (which starred Al Jolson), the songs “Lover” and “Isn’t It Romantic” became standards. One of their biggest hits, “Blue Moon,” was their only significant song not introduced on Broadway or in movies. The team returned triumphantly to Broadway in 1935 where they had one hit after another including the shows Jumbo, On Your Toes, I Married An Angel, The Boys From Syracuse, and Pal Joey. This period yielded such classics as “My Romance,” “There’s A Small Hotel,” “Little Girl Blue,” “Where Or When,” “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is A Tramp,” “Have You Met Miss Jones,” “Spring Is Here,” “Falling In Love With Love,” “This Can’t Be Love,” “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “I Could Write A Book,” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.” It was quite a string of superior songs, all of which are still performed today. The material ranged from love songs to the ironic “The Lady Is A Tramp,” the wistful “Falling In Love With Love,” the humorous “This Can’t Be Love” and the rather sad “It Never Entered My Mind.” In 1940 Rodgers was still just 38 while Hart was 45. With luck their successes should have continued for another 20 or 30 years. But Hart’s declining health and erratic behavior was making it impossible for Rodgers. They collaborated for the last time for 1942’s By Jupiter which included “Nobody’s Heart Belongs To Me.” However when Hart turned down the opportunity to turn the story Green Grow The Lilacs into a musical, Rodgers had enough. For the first time in his life, he chose to collaborate with a different lyricist than Hart. He teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein III. for the play, which was renamed Oklahoma. Lorenz Hart died in 1943 when he was just 48, shortly after Oklahoma became a giant success. Rodgers and Hammerstein would build their own rather impressive musical legacy which lasted until Hammerstein’s passing in 1960.