Background
Oscar Hammerstein was born on May 8, 1848, in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland).
(He lived in an age of flamboyant characters, yet he was h...)
He lived in an age of flamboyant characters, yet he was himself flamboyant enough to make more newspaper copy than any man of his time, with the single exception of our flamboyant President, Theodore Roosevelt. He operated in a rarefied medium-grand opera, yet the general public, who did not know a mezzo from a mezzanine, followed his ups and downs as eagerly as if he were a movie star. And that was because everything he did and was had style, distinction, drama. Here are some of the things he did that captured the imagination of millions: He invented a cigar-making machine-and used the proceeds to start an opera company. He built theaters in Harlem when only a few hundred people lived there-and made the rest of New York come miles to see his shows. He was involved in forty lawsuits simultaneously. His love letters-made public through one of these lawsuits-were followed on the front pages of newspapers. He hissed one of his stars from a box-and vas sued for it by his partners. He vowed to ruin those partners, and did¬ruining, himself at the same time. He brought to America the most glamorous of stars-Mary Garden, Nellie Melba, Luisa Tetrazzini-and created riots in the streets with one of them. He attempted to ruin the Metropolitan Opera Company with his competition-and almost succeeded. On the point of failure in this opera war, he was bought out by the Metropolitan for over S 1,000,000-and used the money to start over again in London. He fought with his stars as much as with his rivals-and they loved him for it. And every bit of it made news. This is the story of that man, that poverty-stricken German immigrant who, in Prince Albert coat and striped trousers, with goatee, cigar, and unique silk hat, dominated a portion of our cultural life for years. Vincent Sheean's account records a chapter of operatic history; even more, it presents a warm, entertaining, absorbing portrait of a man alternately comic and tragic (and often both) who was always a great showman.
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Oscar Hammerstein was born on May 8, 1848, in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland).
Oscar Hammerstein came to New York a penniless run-away some time before the close of the Civil War. His first employment was in a Pearl Street cigar factory filling rush orders for the army. After he had been at work for a while, he devised and patented a machine for spreading and shaping the tobacco leaf by air suction. From this and from several later inventions he is said to have made over $1, 000, 000. Meanwhile he used his first royalties to start the United States Tobacco Journal, which he conducted successfully until 1885, began to speculate in Harlem real estate, and then, in accord with his strongest inclinations, ventured into the theatrical business.
In 1868, Hammerstein wrote three one-act comedies in German and got them produced in New York. Some years later, when he was well established as a manager, he made a wager with Gustave Kerker, the composer of The Belles of New York, that he could write an operetta, words and music, in forty-eight hours. He locked himself in a hotel room and set to work; a relay of organ-grinders, subsidized by Kerker, played in the street beneath his window; trays of cocktails and ham sandwiches were passed through his transom, and returned empty; and at the end of the stipulated period Hammerstein emerged smiling with the manuscript of The Kohinoor. Considerably revised, it was produced a few months later and made money.
Hammerstein's first venture in management was the Stadt Theatre, in New York, which he leased in 1870. In 1880 he completed the Harlem Opera House, where, against the advice of his friends, he produced several operas in English. They were failures artistically and financially; but Hammerstein recouped his losses by erecting the Columbus Theatre. Among his other New York properties were the Olympia Music Hall (1895), the Victoria Music Hall (1899), which opened to the strains of his own “Victoria Festival March, ” and the Republic Theatre. He was also part-owner of Koster and Bial’s vaudeville house and of other theatres.
His lifelong ambition was to give grand opera in the English language at popular prices. The most gigantic of all his attempts to realize this ambition was the building of the Manhattan Opera House, on 34th Street. Before it was finished he decided to make it a rival of the Metropolitan and opened it December 3, 1906, with a lavish production of Bellini’s I Puritani. For some three years the two establishments engaged in furious and costly competition. Hammerstein forced his rivals to extend their repertoire and to improve their standards of production, but single-handed could not continue to maintain the struggle. In April 1910 he was compelled to sell his interests to the Metropolitan for $2, 000, 000 and to agree not to produce grand opera in their territory until April 1920.
Hammerstein built the Philadelphia Opera House, opened November 17, 1908, but sold it two seasons later. After his New York defeat he went to England and opened his London Opera House, November 13, 1911, with a sumptuous performance of Nougues’ panoramic Quo Vadis, but at the end of the season was forced to close for lack of patronage. Upon his return to New York he built the American Opera House (1912), but was enjoined from using it for opera. He renamed it the Lexington Theatre and devoted it to ordinary forms of entertainment. Probably no other theatrical manager of his day spent money more lavishly to realize his own artistic ideals. He died in New York City.
Oscar Hammerstein was a well-known theater impresario. During his life he built nine theaters, most famous of which was the Manhattan Opera House. It successfully competed for some time with the Metropolitan Opera House. Hammerstein also invented and patented several cigar machines, thus industrializing cigar manufacturing.
(He lived in an age of flamboyant characters, yet he was h...)
Hammerstein was thrice married: first, to Rosa Blau; in 1879 to Malvina Jacobi of Selma, Alabama; and in 1914 to Mary Emma (Miller) Swift, who survived him.
