James Hammerstein James Hammerstein Hammerstein was the son of Oscar Hammerstein II, and his Australian-born second wife, Dorothy Kiaora Blanchard. He had four half-siblings, two through each of his parents' earlier marriages: William and Alice Hammerstein, and Henry and Susan Jacobson. The best known of these was Susan, whose husbands included Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark. Hammerstein attended George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he met fellow student Stephen Sondheim. He began his Broadway career as a stage manager, notably for shows such as "South Pacific", "Me and Juliet", and "Flower Drum Song", all co-written by his father Oscar Hammerstein II and
Willie Hammerstein one-week engagements in 1912 and 1913, a good fit with the audience through her suggestion of notoriety. Hammerstein often booked acts from Europe, who sometimes made up half the show. He introduced the dancers Gertrude Hoffmann and Constance Stewart-Richardson to the vaudeville stage. A review in the "New York Dramatic Mirror" of 12 August 1905 gives a sense of the shows: Willie Hammerstein became known for his "freak acts". Typically these featured people who had scandalized the public and gained notoriety. Members of love triangles involving murders or suicides were popular, if one of their members was free to appear