Hippodrome Theatre

Hippodrome Theatre (New York). The largest theatre of its day, it had a seating capacity of 5,200 and room for nearly 800 standees, with a stage 110 feet deep and over 200 feet long. The theatre, which stood on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets and which was the only major legitimate theatre ever built that far east of Broadway, opened in 1905 with the musical spectacle A Society Circus and for the next seventeen years offered similar spectacles annually, generally giving two performances a day. In its heyday the theatre was the most successful in New York, and its productions often chalked up the longest runs of their seasons. Besides choruses that reputedly numbered over five hundred the Hippodrome was famous for its horses, which dove into the huge tank in front of the stage. The productions all featured exceedingly lavish scenery. Between the runs of the major spectacles the house offered vaudeville. But with the growing competition from spectacular films and an increasing sophistication that put an end to the spectacle's attraction, the house was used solely for vaudeville. It later converted to films, but shortly before it was demolished in 1939 it returned to the legitimate fold to house Jumbo (1935).