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
Elaine Hammerstein were traveling at high speed up a curving hillside road when they struck an oncoming car. The six occupants of the Mexican vehicle all survived with minor injuries, but Hammerstein and her companions were trapped when their car skidded off the embankment and tumbled down the hill. Hammerstein, Kays and their three passengers – Los Angeles residents Jane Shafer Richards, Gladys Goldie Hall, and Richard Garvey Jr. – were all killed. At her death Elaine Hammerstein Kays was 51 years old and her husband was 66. They are interred at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles. More than half of