Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father.

I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays, to move a song from point A to point B dramatically.

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein generation, popular hits came out of shows and movies.

I have been on my own all my life except during those touring days.

After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

In those days I was mortified, because I was a serious actor in my own mind, and then all of a sudden I'm this hunk.