Oklahoma!
It's Here!
Country
Production
Budget
$5 000 000
Box office
$0
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Arthur Hornblow Jr., Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Oliver Smith
Audition
Jack Friedkin, William Maybery, Ted Stanhope
Editing
George Boemler, Gene Ruggiero
Whole Team (56)
Whole Team (56)
Short description
In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with a violent ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.
What's left behind the scenes
- Finding 'corn as high as an elephant' proved difficult – it simply wasn't the season. Help had to be sought from the agricultural department of the Amazon University. They managed to grow corn over seven meters high, so producer Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) even joked that 'the corn is now as high as an elephant standing on the back of another elephant'.
- When, in one scene, the heroines Lisann Trues (1931-2013) and Jane Fisher (1930-2018) jump from a moving train straight into the arms of cowboys, everything had to be calculated very precisely. Just before the first take, a representative of the Screen Actors Guild suggested 'changing something', and it turned out that due to the danger of this action (jumping from the train), the actresses were entitled to additional payments of $250. The scene was shot in seven takes. Trues was delighted because she had recently purchased a 1951 Ford and was just making payments on it at the time.
- The film was shot in Arizona because Oklahoma was already so developed and densely built up by 1955 that it would have been difficult to find sparsely populated and underdeveloped areas from the beginning of the century, where the musical's plot unfolds.
- Preparation for filming began a year before the actual shooting commenced. During preparation, the film's art director, Joseph S. Wright (1892-1985), learned that spring floods occurred in the areas where filming was planned. The budget-conscious producers objected, but he insisted on building a dam for $15,000 anyway. When the spring waters came as he had warned, the dam saved the sets worth over $250,000 from destruction.
- “Oklahoma!” was the first widescreen film in history shot using the Todd-AO system. Simultaneously with the 70mm widescreen version, the film was shot in the more common widescreen system “CinemaScope” on standard 35mm film. This was done to allow cinemas without 70mm equipment to show the film. As a result, the two versions of the film differ significantly, as each uses different camera positions and editing plans.
- Finding 'corn as tall as a full-grown elephant' proved difficult because it simply wasn't the season. They had to seek help from the agricultural department of Amazon University. They managed to grow corn over seven meters tall, leading producer Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) to joke that 'the corn is now as tall as a full-grown elephant standing on the back of another elephant.'
- In one scene where the characters played by Lisanne Trux (1931-2013) and Jane Fisher (1930-2018) jump from a moving train directly into the arms of cowboys, everything had to be precisely calculated. Right before the first take, a representative from the screen actors' union suggested 'a slight change,' and it turned out that due to the danger of the action (jumping from the train), the actresses were entitled to an additional payment of $250. The scene took seven takes to film. Trux was thrilled because she had recently purchased a 1951 Ford and was paying it off at the time.
- Preparation for the shoot began a year before filming actually started. During this process, the production designer, Joseph S. Wright (1892-1985), learned that the areas where filming was planned were prone to spring floods. The budget-constrained producers objected, but he insisted on building a dam for $15,000. When the spring floods arrived, just as he had warned, the dam saved sets worth over $250,000 from destruction.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
