Willie Hammerstein big draw. Oscar Hammerstein went bankrupt in 1898. The Olympia theater was sold in an auction. Hammerstein managed to raise enough money to build the Victoria Theatre, which opened as a legitimate theater on 3 March 1899. On 26 June 1899 he opened a partially enclosed roof garden theater, the Venetian Terrace Garden, with an outdoor promenade that was attached to the roof garden of Hammerstein's Theatre Republic in 1900. Hammerstein enlarged the roof garden theater and reopened it in May 1901 as the Paradise Roof Garden. In February 1904 Willie Hammerstein took over management of his father's Victoria Theatre.
Arthur Hammerstein productions were "Luana" and "Ballyhoo" in 1930, which were considered failures. Hammerstein suffered bankruptcy in 1931 due to some musical failures and went into retirement. In 1925-1927 Hammerstein built what is now known as the Ed Sullivan Theater at 1697 Broadway in Manhattan. Hammerstein made an appearance as himself in an episode of the film series "Popular Science" in 1949. He was one of the writers of the song "Because of You," a major hit (#1 for 10 weeks) for Tony Bennett in 1951. Hammerstein wrote the song in 1940. It was used in the film "I Was an American