By Steven Suskin
01 Jan 2006

When Oklahoma! appeared in 1943, it was unclear just how long a superhit could run on Broadway. Still, the authors knew enough to hold off on the motion picture rights. (It wasn't until 1970 that anybody thought to release a film while the original production was still running.) When Rodgers and Hammerstein, in the first flush of Oklahoma!, were approached by Hollywood, they understandably demurred. Even so, their unhappy studio experiences surely left them with the feeling that they ought to find some way to take the money.

The result was not Oklahoma! Part II, but Iowa! More specifically, a second film version of Philip Stong's 1932 novel State Fair [Fox Home Entertainment]. Stong was an Iowa boy, bred and born. The Iowa state fair was part of the life he lived; his grandfather, at one point, had been superintendent of the swine division. (The plot centers around a humorous old geezer set upon winning a blue ribbon for his prize pig.) With the money he earned from "State Fair," Stong ultimately bought back the old family ranch.

The novel was an immediate success, resulting in a filmed version the following year; Will Rogers starred as the father, with Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor as the daughter of the family. A dozen years later, Fox's Daryl F. Zanuck figured that "State Fair" — with songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein — would be box-office bait for moviegoers who couldn't expect to make it to Oklahoma! in the foreseeable future.

A full-scale musical, "State Fair" was not. Rodgers & Hammerstein were content to pen six songs to insert in the story, as opposed to devising a score around which to build a plot. The songs were of high caliber, not surprising in that they were written simultaneously with Carousel. Most were more than fine, while two were extra special. "It's a Grand Night for Singing" was a sweeping waltz, of the sort that Rodgers reveled in throughout his career (such as "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," "Lover," and the one from Carousel.) "It Might As Well Be Spring," meanwhile, ranks high on the list of the best of R&H. A fine companion to Hammerstein's "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" (with Kern), and pretty much perfect. "Spring" won Rodgers his one and only Oscar, with Oscar himself picking up his second.

Fox has seen fit to include "State Fair" in its current parade of new-and restored Rodgers & Hammerstein DVDs. Is "State Fair" in a class with the others? No, and understandably so. This is not a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, but a middling and dated film enhanced with Rodgers & Hammerstein songs. Yet here it is, fitted out on two discs with all sorts of extras. The most interesting elements, unsurprisingly, are the songs. Also of note are Vivian Blaine, some five years before she entered Frank Loesser's Hot Box as Miss Adelaide; and Charles Winninger, who eighteen years earlier had created the immortal Cap'n Andy in Hammerstein's Show Boat.

Otherwise, spells of commentary add some interest to the proceedings. The big feature of this release, at least in theory, is the first-time-on-DVD appearance of the 1962 remake of "State Fair," starring Pat Boone, accompanied by Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret and Alice Faye. The film was reset in Texas, with a clutch of new songs with music and lyrics by Rodgers (as Hammerstein had died in 1960). This "State Fair" was all but unwatchable in 1962, and ain't much better nowadays.

Even so, Fox is saluted for going all out for R&H. They are following "Oklahoma!," "State Fair" and "The Sound of Music" (which was reviewed in our last column) with the forthcoming releases of the other two Rodgers & Hammerstein classics, "Carousel" and "The King and I."

—Steven Suskin, author of the forthcoming "Second Act Trouble" [Applause Books], "A Must See!," the "Broadway Yearbook" series and "Show Tunes." He can be reached by E-mail at Ssuskin@aol.com.