Victory Theatre

THE VICTORY THEATRE was built in 1900 by Oscar Hammerstein, who originally called his small theater the Republic. Designed by architect J.B. McElfatrick, the theater’s interior was painted green, ivory and gold, and it had marble stairways, carved balustrades, a gilded dome, and decorative features with classical designs and allegorical figures, including life-size representations of Harmony and Melody. Opening night was September 27, 1900 and the main attraction was Lionel Barrymore starring in James A. Herne’s Sag Harbor, which was followed by a six-month run of In the Palace of the King.

In 1902, Hammerstein sold the theater to its manager, David Belasco, who renamed it after himself. Belasco made extensive interior and exterior renovations, adding a glass canopy to the front entrance, redecorating in subdued greens and browns and creating the most technically-advanced backstage of the time, with traps, elevator lifts and turntables. For the next eight years, the theater housed a series of hits, with stars David Warfield, Jane Cowl, George Arliss, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Tyrone Power, Cecil B. de Mille, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish. Among the Belasco’s successful plays were Common Clay, Lilac Time, Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, and The Sign on the Door. But by far the theater’s biggest sensation was the Irish-Jewish comedy, Abie’s Irish Rose, which played 2,327 times over six seasons starting in 1922 and still remains one of Broadway’s longest running shows.