Willie Hammerstein two Eunuch Servants." Hammerstein also put on novelties like Don the Talking Dog. Sports celebrities like boxer James J. Corbett and baseball pitcher Rube Marquard also drew audiences. Hammerstein was unusual in making a sharp separation between his work in the theater, which he loved, and his home life. He would not pose for a photograph, and told his press agents not to use his name in publicity. Hammerstein married Alice Nimmo in 1893, and they had two sons, Oscar and Reginald. They lived at 315 Central Park West. His wife died in 1910 and he married her sister, Annie
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