Word: oklahomas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Died. Arthur Hammerstein, 82, old-time Broadway producer (Rose Marie, Naughty Marietta), son of Impresario Oscar Hammerstein, uncle of Librettist Oscar Hammerstein II (Oklahoma!, South Pacific); in Palm Beach...
...Oklahoma! (Magna Theater Corp.) shows how far a man can go with one word of Choctaw. The Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein musical opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943, and enjoyed the longest run (2,248 consecutive performances) of any musical in world history. Counting the road companies (four) and the foreign productions (six), Oklahoma! was seen by more than 10 million and made more than $30 million. But that, as Rodgers & Hammerstein were well aware, was only the beginning. If Oklahoma! could make $30 million from 10 million theatergoers, what Mississippis of money might not pour back from...
Rodgers & Hammerstein premeditated their killing carefully, and the screen version of Oklahoma!, which cost $12 million to make and distribute, seems sure to knock 'em dead in numbers perhaps without precedent-some observers are already predicting a $75 million gross. At least on the billboards, this dollarpalooza has everything that the Broadway musical had, along with Eastman Color, famous names, and a technique called Todd-AO-a brand-new, giant-screen process all its own. Oklahoma! will run at advanced prices (from $1.50 to $3.50) in 50 cities from coast to coast before it is distributed through regular channels...
...biggest musicals ever put on film. The Todd-AO screen is 50 ft. wide and 25 ft. high, and the picture lasts 2½ hours with one intermission. They will also get a picture that, whatever its merits as mass entertainment, bears about as much relation to the Broadway Oklahoma! as a 1956 Cadillac does to the surrey with the fringe...
...spite of its age and the fact that its 145-minute mass is sometimes dragging, Oklahoma! hollers itself home as a handsome piece of entertainment. The plot, to begin with, is just about perfect for a musical: cowboy loves farmgirl, sinister farmhand menaces farmgirl, cowboy kills farmhand, cowboy weds farmgirl, everybody rides into sunset. It is as simple and innocent as a birthday cake, in which the songs are set as naturally as candles-and dazzling good songs they still...