From Pants to Pearls: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Affect on Post WWII Women

Abstract

American theatre world. These musicals contained plots which focused on patriotism and primarily featured male leads. In Strike up the Band, the two male mangers of a cheese factory wage war against Switzerland ("Strike up the band," 2013). In This is the Army, an all-male cast sang about the trials which come with being in the Armed Forces (Kenrick, 1996). Theatre producers' primarily focused on the war raging in Europe and Japan. While actors sang about the harsh reality of war, men were actually living it. Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, countless men left home to fight for American freedoms overseas while women became the power which fueled the American home front. From Rosie the Riveter to articles which talked about different ways to wear your hair at work, the nation attempted to bring glamour to the women who traded their home life for a job in a factory. The Sperry Company even created a Miss Victory pageant where "women were encouraged to wear slacks and keep their hair hidden for safety" (Patnode, 2012). These pageants gave working class women a chance to model their work clothes all in hopes to support the company's campaign which "focused on safety practices that eliminated traditional markers of femininity such as long hair and skirts" (Patnode, 2012). This support for women in the work force radically differed from the decade before. During the 1930's, many women felt the harsh judgement from those around them for taking jobs to help support their family. Due to the "high unemployment during the Depression, most people were against women working because they saw it as women taking jobs from the unemployed me" ("Women At Work", n.d.) In 1945, Europe and Japan fell to the Allied Powers and World War II was officially over. The brave American troops who fought the war started to return home. The men who bravely defeated the Axis Powers dramatically changed the work force. Due to the increase in male workers, many women became unemployed or were demoted to jobs receiving less pay. Thousands of women who had broken away from the chains of the house were forced to return to domestic life. During this time of demotion for these riveters of war, composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein decided to form a partnership. They both wanted to create the next 'big thing' and as John Nolan (2002) stated, "something unmistakably …