Desk Used To Pen Iconic Musicals To Go On Public View At Hammerstein Museum

DOYLESTOWN, PA — “Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'” it will be on Saturday, Aug. 23 when Oscar Hammerstein II’s writing desk goes on public view at the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center.

The iconic desk is where Hammerstein composed lyrics to the timeless Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals of stage and screen, including Oklahoma!, State Fair, Carousel, South Pacific, Cinderella, and more. This is the first time the desk has ever been put on view for the public.

The standing desk’s historic unveiling will be marked by a press conference and celebratory reception for the museum’s donors, Hammerstein family members, and local officials at noon on Aug. 23.

The invitation-only program will be followed by special first viewing tours open to the public with advance admission. These tours will highlight the desk and additional Hammerstein family treasures from the museum collections.

These special tours will be led by Hammerstein Museum Board Vice President and Collections Committee Chair, Mike Adams.

In 1937 while in Hollywood, 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.

Oscar Hammerstein II at his writing desk. (Hammerstein Museum)

Hammerstein Museum board members Greg Roth, Tara Haurin and Christine Junker receive Oscar's standing desk from Peter Mathias and daughter Juliette.

Oscar's writing desk on display at the Hammerstein Museum.

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.

The desk was gifted to the museum from the Estate of Alice Hammerstein Mathias, Oscar’s daughter who passed away in 2015. Alice’s daughter (Oscar’s granddaughter) Melinda Mathias Walsh, a member of the Museum’s Honorary Advisory Board, made the announcement of the gift at the museum’s 2024 gala in a letter read by Board President Gregory Roth:

"Congratulations on the purchase of Highland Farm. Now that the farm is secure, my brother Peter [Mathias] and I would like to present Highland Farm with a housewarming gift. My mother, Alice Hammerstein Mathias, inherited her father’s desk and it resided in her home until her death in 2015. The standing desk is part of the history of musical theatre, where our grandfather wrote his lyrics and librettos. In her Will she instructed that the desk be donated to a cultural and/or educational institution. Over the years we have explored possible placements, none of which panned out to our satisfaction. We kept Highland Farm in the back of our minds, but its future was not guaranteed so we hesitated to proceed with the notion of donating the desk to the farm. Peter and I think it’s now time for the desk to return home."

Mathias Walsh’s letter continued: “Years ago, Loretta Ables Sayre, Bloody Mary from Lincoln Center’s revival of South Pacific, came to our home for dinner and she asked to see the desk. When she ran her hand over it, she wept, taking in that Oscar had written his songs on that surface. I hope that it has that effect on visitors to [Hammerstein Museum].”

Ted Chapin, former President and Chief Creative Officer of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization and a Hammerstein Museum Honorary Advisory Board Member, wrote, "There are precious few iconic, tangible items associated with the creation of the great American Musicals. Many pianos played by composers have existed and have changed hands... But there is one – and only one – item as iconic to the history of musical theater as the standing desk at which Oscar Hammerstein II created all his great, now classic works...”

The standing desk will go on display as part of museum tours following the press conference and celebration. On August 23, special first-viewing Family Treasures Tours will be held at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., led by Hammerstein Museum Vice President and Collections Committee Chair Mike Adams.

Tour participants that day will be among the first to see Hammerstein’s iconic writing desk along with other historic items not typically on display and receive a Hammerstein Museum gift.

Regular tours, which will include the writing desk, resume the next day. 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.