In 1938, Time magazine wrote these prophetic words: "As Rodgers and Hart see it, what was killing music comedy was its sameness, its tameness, its eternal rhyming of June with moon. They decided it was not enough to be just good at the job; they had to be constantly different also. The one possible formula was: Don't have a formula; the one rule for success: Don't follow it up."

Endowed with both a buoyant wit and a tender sincerity, Hart brought a poetic complexity to his art. In this, he was matched by the wonderful music of Richard Rodgers. Together, they created the finest songs ever written for the American musical theater.

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) wrote their first shows together when both were still students attending Columbia University, and made their professional debut with the song "Any Old Place With You," featured in the 1919 Broadway musical comedy A Lonely Romeo.

Their breakthrough came with the score for a 1925 charity show, The Garrick Gaities, which introduced the classic valentine to their hometown, "Manhattan." At their pinnacle the team was writing an average of four new shows a year.

In 1930 the team relocated to Hollywood, where they contributed songs and wrote the scores for several movie musicals, including Love Me Tonight with Maurice Chevalier; The Phantom President with George M. Cohan; and Mississippi with Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields.

They were lured back to New York in 1935 to write the songs for the circus musical spectacular, Jumbo. Their score introduced "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," "My Romance" and "Little Girl Blue."

From 1936 to 1943 Rodgers & Hart wrote a series of hit Broadway musical comedies. On Your Toes (1936), Babes In Arms (1937), I'd Rather Be Right (1937), I Married An Angel (1938), The Boys From Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Higher And Higher (1940), Pal Joey (1940), and By Jupiter (1942) dazzled Broadway and collectively offered such classic songs as "There's a Small Hotel," "I Wish I Were In Love Again," "My Funny Valentine," "Where Or When," "The Lady is a Tramp," "Johnny One Note," "Spring Is Here," "Falling In Love With Love," "Sing For Your Supper," "This Can't Be Love," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "It Never Entered My Mind," "Bewitched," "I Could Write a Book," and "Wait Till You See Her."

The partnership disbanded temporarily early in 1943 when Rodgers collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on Oklahoma! Rodgers & Hart were back for one more show, a revision of their 1927 musical comedy A Connecticut Yankee, and the new production (which featured six new songs) opened on Broadway in November, 1943. Already ill at the time, Lorenz Hart died less than a week later.

Richard Rodgers then pursued a career with Oscar Hammerstein II, and their collaboration over the next two decades, from Oklahoma! through The Sound of Music (1959). Hammerstein died in 1960, and Rodgers continued to write for the musical stage for the rest of his life. He died December 30, 1979.