Iconic Piece Of Musical Theatre History Returns Home To Bucks Co. Farm

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The standing desk where Oscar Hammerstein II penned the lyrics to some of Broadway’s most memorable musical numbers, has come home.

During a ceremony on Saturday, leaders of the Oscar Hammerstein Museum joined members of the Hammerstein family to welcome the desk back to Highland Farm and Oscar Hammerstein’s second floor study - “the room where it happened.”

It is in this second-floor room and at this desk where the lyrics to some of the world’s most beloved songs and musicals were written down for the first time and immortalized by the hand of Oscar Hammerstein.

Members of the board of directors join museum administrators at the unveiling of Oscar Hammerstein's writing desk. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Calling it “one of the most important pieces of American musical theatre history,” the writing desk of Oscar Hammerstein II, the iconic desk on which he composed lyrics to the titlest Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals of stage and screen, including “Oklahoma,” State Fair,” “Carousel,” “The King & I,” “South Pacific” and the “Sound of Music,” arrived at the farm on Monday, July 14 at 12:30, said Greg Roth, president of the museum’s board of directors.

The iconic desk was donated to the museum by Oscar’s grandchildren Melinda Mathias Walsh and her brother Peter Mathias who inherited it from their mother, Alice, who died in 2015. She asked that the desk be donated to an appropriate museum or cultural institution.

In donating the desk to the museum, Melinda shared in a letter, “I know the desk will be in good hands and happy to be home again. Years ago, Loretta Ables Sayre - ‘Bloody Mary’ from Lincoln Center’s production of South Pacific - came to my home for dinner and she asked to see the desk. When she ran her hand over it she wept taking in the fact that Oscar had written his songs on that surface. I hope it has that effect on visitors to the Oscar Hammerstein Museum.”

Melinda also shared with the museum that their decision was to donate the desk to either the Smithsonian or to the Hammerstein Museum.

“It is with deep reverence and respect that we thank you - Peter and your sister, Melinda - for choosing here - your grandfather’s beloved home - for the desk to live on and be seen by the world for the first time starting today.”

On Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 7:35 p.m., Roth said “the writing desk - this Doylestown treasure, this Bucks County treasure, this international treasure - by unanimous vote was officially accessioned into the permanent collection of the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center and for the first time ever - starting today - will be on view for the world to see.”

Roth continued, “To quote Ted Chapin, producer, performer, presenter, and former president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, ‘There are precious few tangible items associated with the creation of the great American musicals. Many pianos played by composers have existed and changed hands but there is one - and only one - item as iconic to the history of musical theatre as the standing desk at which Oscar Hammerstein II created all of his great, now classic works.”

With Oscar Hammerstein's grandson, Will, center, are, from left, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, Doylestown Township Supervisor Jenn Herring, Doylestown Borough Mayor Noni West and Kyle Melandra, representing U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Highland Farm - the home of the Oscar Hammerstein II museum in Doylestown Township. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

“This is huge,” said Will Hammerstein, Oscar’s grandson and a founding museum board member, of the return of the desk to Highland Farm.

“This was a dream of mine going back to the beginning. I’ve told people that if you could put the house back together, if you could find every artifact that still exists out there and get them all back, if you did not have this desk it would be a tragedy. If you had this desk and the house was nothing but bear walls, that would be great. This desk makes the house. This is the surface where he wrote most of the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue. This place should be a place of inspiration,” he said.

“Oscar was not only a genius at lyric writing and book writing and stage craft but he was also a good man and a great humanitarian,” his grandson added. “He came into this study every day at 8:30 a.m. and he left every afternoon at 4:30 p.m. He left all his troubles inside that door. He helped found Welcome House. He was on a committee to end Jim Crow in baseball. He was an early advocate for the United Nations.

“This desk will add immeasurably to that inspiring effect that this place should have on children and adults alike. This is truly, truly a great day and one of the proudest days of my life having played a part in getting this desk here,” he said.

In Hollywood, in 1937, Hammerstein was writing the book and lyrics for the movie musical "High, Wide, and Handsome," when he complained to his then-writing partner Jerome Kern that he found working at a standard desk uncomfortable and confining. Kern gifted him a Victorian traveling desk.

Oscar’s wife, noted interior decorator Dorothy Hammerstein, had the desk mounted on legs tall enough for Oscar, who stood 6-feet, 2 inches tall, to work while standing. Oscar used the desk for the rest of his life, including his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, beginning in 1942, until Hammerstein’s passing on August 23, 1960. Numerous publicity photographs from the 1940s and 50s show Hammerstein working at the desk in the study of this Doylestown home that is now the core of the museum.

Oscar’s other grandson, Peter Mathias, who helped deliver the desk to the museum in July, joked that he had done his best coloring book exercises at the desk as a child, adding, “I had no idea what it was really about.

“It was an honor” to bring the desk back home, he said. “It was lovely to see the farm again. I hadn’t seen it since I was four or five years old. I’m glad the desk is there,” he said, adding that the family will be making another donation to the museum this fall.

Peter revealed some interesting facts about the desk, including boasting several secret compartments, which few knew about. “Once I knew about it, I kept things in there, too,” he said.

Kyle Melander, the district director for U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, presented a citation and a flag flown over the U.S. Capital to the museum to mark the occasion.

“In Bucks County we’re so proud to have such rich history here. This is one of the most historic places in all of America. We have Washington Crossing where one of the most pivotal moments in American history happened and we have places like this - a place that was at the heart of Broadway’s Golden era.”

Regular tours, which include the writing desk, are held Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the museum through October. The 45-minute tours include riveting stories about Hammerstein’s musical family, how his groundbreaking musicals forever changed the modern-day book-musical, and additional insight into his contributions to society through his many humanitarian acts. Advance tickets are required for all tours. Tickets and information are available by clicking here.

The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center, located at 70 East Road in Doylestown is a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of Oscar Hammerstein II’s Doylestown home and telling the story of his legacy as a librettist, lyricist, humanitarian, and mentor. The Hammerstein family resided at Highland Farm from 1940-1960.

Hammerstein composed the lyrics to his best-loved musicals while in residence at the farm, including “The Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma!” “South Pacific” (inspired by Doylestown’s James Michener’s novel Tales of the South Pacific), and others.

A friendly neighbor, Hammerstein was known to fly a flag when local children could come to use his swimming pool or play tennis. He also met and mentored a young Stephen Sondheim while living at Highland Farm.