Willie Hammerstein
| Willie Hammerstein | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William Hammerstein September 26, 1875 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 10, 1914 (aged 38) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Theater manager |
| Known for | Victoria Theatre, Freak acts |
| Spouse(s) | Alice Nimmo Annie Nimmo |
| Children | 2, including Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Parent(s) |
Oscar Hammerstein I Rose Blau |
| Relatives | Arthur Hammerstein (brother) |
William Hammerstein (26 September 1875 – 10 June 1914) was an American theater manager. He ran the Victoria Theatre on what became Times Square, Manhattan, presenting very popular vaudeville shows with a wide variety of acts. He was known for "freak acts", where celebrities or people notorious for scandals appeared on stage. Hammerstein's Victoria theater became the most successful in New York.
William Hammerstein was born in New York City on 26 September 1875, son of Oscar Hammerstein, the theater impresario, and his first wife, née Rose Blau. He started work as a press agent, then built a vaudeville theatre on 110th Street, Manhattan, called Little Coney Island. He also managed burlesque shows. Willie Hammerstein managed his father's Olympia Theater, which opened in 1895. In November 1896 Willie Hammerstein brought the Cherry Sisters to the Olympia roof garden. The sisters put on a terrible act where they sang sentimental, dialect or patriotic songs. One of them played the piano and another banged a drum. Willie knew how bad they were. He provided a net that protected them when the audience, as expected, started throwing produce and garbage at the stage. The word spread, and the sisters became a big draw.
Oscar Hammerstein went bankrupt in 1898. The Olympia theater was sold in an auction. Hammerstein managed to raise enough money to build the Victoria Theatre, which opened as a legitimate theater on 3 March 1899. On 26 June 1899 he opened a partially enclosed roof garden theater, the Venetian Terrace Garden, with an outdoor promenade that was attached to the roof garden of Hammerstein's Theatre Republic in 1900. Hammerstein enlarged the roof garden theater and reopened it in May 1901 as the Paradise Roof Garden.
In February 1904 Willie Hammerstein took over management of his father's Victoria Theatre. He was talented at promoting his shows, and was skilled at finding and booking profitable acts. The Victoria had been staging variety acts, plays and musicals. Willie Hammerstein started putting on popular low-brow vaudeville shows at low prices. He signed up stars and unknown new performers, celebrities of all types, physical freaks, illusionists and risqué exotic dancers. The highly varied programs drew large and often noisy audiences.
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