Surrey With the Fringe on Top - Claremore, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 36° 18.688 W 095° 36.680
15S E 265551 N 4021660
This surrey is the original one constructed for the production of "Oklahoma".
Waymark Code: WMNNFE
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 04/08/2015
Views: 1
Claremore, OK is the home of Lynn Riggs (1899-1954), a poet and playright whose play
Green Grow the Lilacs was adapted to the Broadway play
Oklahoma! in 1943. The play was performed 2,212 times and was later made into the Rodgers and Hammerstein film of the same name in 1955.
The surrey is on display in the Claremore Museum of History, and commemorates Lynn Riggs and his literary work. The setting for the play was the Claremore, OK area and Claremore has been placed on the Literary Landmarks Registry.
The surrey is a two-seater, with the coach painted white with brown leather seats. The spokes of the four wheels are painted bright yellow. A sign on the surrey indicates it is from the Broadway production Oklahoma; however, a website for the Lynn Riggs Memorial indicates it was the surrey used in the 1955 film. The surrey was featured prominently in the story with the well-known song lyrics:
Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry
When I take you out in the surrey,
When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top!
Watch that fringe and see how it flutters
When I drive them high steppin' strutters.
Nosey pokes'll peek thru' their shutters and their eyes will pop!
The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,
The dashboard's genuine leather,
With isinglass curtains y' can roll right down,
In case there's a change in the weather.
Two bright sidelight's winkin' and blinkin',
Ain't no finer rig I'm a-thinkin'
You c'n keep your rig if you're thinkin' 'at I'd keer to swap
Fer that shiny, little surrey with the fringe on the top!