Willie Hammerstein Sullivan and Percy G. Williams. Later the Keith-Albee circuit booking office gave Hammerstein a monopoly on big-time vaudeville in Times Square. Willie's father was much more interested in grand opera, and in 1906 opened the Manhattan Opera House. Revenue from the Victoria kept the opera house running. At one point Oscar Hammerstein, always short of money, moved to sell the Victoria to the Shubert family. Willie and his brother Arthur, who produced shows, blocked the attempt. In March 1913 Keith and Albee paid Oscar Hamilton a reported $225,000 to give up his monopoly. They opened the Palace Theatre at 47th
Oscar Hammerstein I machine's worth to around $200,000. Another invention that Hammerstein created was a more efficient plumbing system for his sink when it had leaked one night. He also moonlighted as a theater manager in the downtown German theaters. He became wealthy industrializing cigar manufacturing, and his tobacco fortune provided the money he used to pursue his theater interests. Hammerstein built his first theater, the Harlem Opera House, on 125th Street in 1889, along with 50 housing developments. His second theater, the Columbus Theatre, was built in 1890 on the same street, featuring light theatrical productions. His third theater was the first