Willie Hammerstein Willie Hammerstein 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 Theatre 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
Rodgers and Hammerstein Mauceri's Philips Records CD of the complete overtures of Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. It was also included in Rodgers' rare 1954 album for Columbia Records with the composer conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1945, a Technicolor musical film version of Phil Stong's novel "State Fair", with songs and script by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was released. The film, a remake of a 1933 non-musical Will Rogers film of the same name, starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, and Vivian Blaine. This was the only time the pair ever wrote a score directly for film.