Republican farmer., 1919-08-08
Oscar Han1merStein
 Noted IrnpreSario
 Dies In New York
BEGAN CAREER AS EAST SIDE CIGAR MAKER-BUILT ELEVEN THEATRES
 MADE AND LOST THOUSANDS 4i HAD 60 INVENTIONS.

| probably life itself; for his decline dated from the moment that the ' courts finally decided he had fore closed himself for ten years from re- | entering the operatic field ;n oppos- | tion to the Metropolitan by the terms | of an agreement.
 Hammerstein was born ;n Berlin | in 1s47. Until he was sixteen he TO- I ceved a good education, studying the l flute, piano and violin among other
 things. Being whipped by his father | one day he sold his violin and ran | away from home, crossing to England l in cattleboat and making his way | to Liverpool. where he took passage in | the steerage of 2 sailing vessel for America.
 He arrived in this country in 1863. | The Civil War was in progress. The | demand for Northern-made cigars ' was brisk. Through an advertise | ment he found employment, and | learned the trade. working for $2 . | week. He had facility in writing and contributed to the German pa- pers until in 1870 he began the pub | lication of "The United States To-
 bacco Journal" which after a strug- | gle made money.
 
 some sixty in all, gave him capital to speculate in Harlem real estate and he soon had fortune.
 His first theatrical ventures were as the silent partner of Adolph Neuen- dorf, manager of the old Stadt Thea tre in the Bowery, for which he wrote three plays. The two moved up to the Germania Theatre, in Four teenth Street, which later became | l. hvNv h ( over from Germany Heinrich Conried.
 a young actor who was years after
 ward to become the director of the
 Metropolitan Opera House and take
 away Hammerstein's tenors. while the
 latter retaliated by outbidding Tor
 sopranos in the merry opera. war. From this start Hammerstein built his music hall in Harlem, then turned his attention to Broadway. He was the first to introduce to America Yvette Guilbert with a collection of racy songs. He put on living pic lures, which hovered in the twilight zone, and brought over Anna Held, who caused the crash at the Olympia when she left his production La | Poupee."
 The impresario faced much hos tilfty and skepticism when he opened l his Manhattan Opera House in lSoo as a rival to the great Metropolitan. i His subscriptions amounted to $o1,- l 900; his competitors were $4oo,ooo. | He had a hard fight the first season. | but New York finally warmed up 10 | him. Signor CIeofonte Campanint. as conductor, and such stars of the opera as Bonci, Dalmores, Bassi, Re- maud, Sammarco, Ancona, Melba and Ca1ve soon attracted the audiencs. Renaud, in spite of his great reputa-
 tion, opened for a house of $1,SOO, but for his last four performances a total of s35.0O0 was taken in. The
 receipts for the season were $75o,ooo,
 which exceeded expenditures.
 With Hammerstein firmly in trenched, bitter war was waged with
 the Metropolitan until the impresario
 was bought out for something like
 $2,O0O,000 in 1910.
 F. T. Stotesbury and his associates in Philadelphia took over big opera house the New York man had built in the Quaker city. The Man haitian Opera House was given over to vaudeville and motion pictures. It was characteristic of the man that
 with this money at his disposal he at once sank it in a new opera venture which at he outset could have result | ed in nothing but failure. London had never been able to support more
 than one opera house. Yet in face of
 all this MT. Hammerstein decided that
 he would cross the ocean. The result
 was inevitable. He began his cam
 paign with q great blaring of trum-
 pets and beating of drums. He would : give to the British public for the first time in it's history real grand opera,
 but the British public did not respond
 In the end he was forced to quit, and
 his house was turned over to moving pictures.
 i But his restless spirit could not re-
 main content with oblivion, and sud- denly he astonished his friends by an- nouncing that he was about to build a new opera house to be devoted to popular opera in English. Soon, ow-
 ing to the establishment of the Gen. tury Opera Company, he decided to return to his old fight for high priced opera in opposition to the Metropoli- tan. For time it looked as If he
 would succeed. An injunction put a stop to his activities. Beaten and broken-hearted. he retreated into his little room over the Victoria Theatre and the operatic world knew him no nore
 Oscar Hammerstein was not with | out his faults, which in a smaller | man might have been unforgfvapIe. | He was an intense egoist, domineer- | ing, ruthless, unsIupulous when fore | ed into a corner. But he was a man and genius. As a snowman, he knew his public. knew it with all it's strength and weakness and played upon it as master musician plays upon his violin. The result was that he touched its imagination and kindled its interest as few had done before him.
 He was a great snowman, and if there was in him a little of the char latan. this made his appeal only the
 more potent. In an age of advertise ment he realized the value or inc press. He played to the galleris, but 1t was always with a color and an orf- sinality. His witty sayings. his cyn- icism. his utter fearlessness are
 known to all who came in contact
 with him. Whatever he was not. he was not uninteresting.
 His contribution to opera in Amer
 ica was considerable. By his per- formances at the Manhattan Opera House he gave to New York the work.