Willie Hammerstein Nimmo. He never took part in Broadway night life, and he did not want his two sons to get involved in theater. However, Oscar Hammerstein II became famous as a lyricist and musical comedy writer. Willie Hammerstein suffered from a disease of the kidneys, and died in New York on 10 June 1914. He was aged 38. He had made the Victoria his own. His brother, Arthur, took over management but was unable to recapture the spirit. The theater soon had to be closed. The Victoria Theatre was pulled down two years after Willie Hammerstein died, and the Rialto was
Oscar Hammerstein II Kern, with whom Hammerstein enjoyed a highly successful collaboration. In 1927, Kern and Hammerstein had their biggest hit, "Show Boat", which is often revived and is still considered one of the masterpieces of the American musical theatre. "Here we come to a completely new genre — the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now ... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now ... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity." Many years later, Hammerstein's wife Dorothy bristled when she heard a remark that