Dorothy Hammerstein spouses to marry in 1929. Oscar also had two children from his first marriage: William Hammerstein and Alice Mathias. His marriage to Dorothy lasted until his death in 1960. They had a son together, James Hammerstein. Between the 1930s and the 1950s she operated Dorothy Hammerstein Inc, a high-profile interior design business, with clients on both coasts of the United States. In 1949, along with her husband and the novelists Pearl S. Buck and James A. Michener, she was a founder of Welcome House, an organization that facilitates the adoption of children of American and Asian parents. From its inception
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