The Hippodrome first opened in 1905 and is still considered as one of the true wonders of theatre architecture. Its stage was 12 times larger than any Broadway "legit" house and capable of holding as many as 1,000 performers at a time, or a full-sized circus with elephants and horses. It also had an 8,000-gallon clear glass water tank that could be raised from below the stage by hydraulic pistons for swimming-and-diving shows. In 1923, the Hippodrome was leased to Keith-Albee, which hired Thomas Lamb to turn it into a vaudeville theatre by building a much smaller stage and discarding all of its unique features. In 1925, movies were added to the vaudeville, but within a few years, competition from the newer, more sumptuous movie palaces in the Broadway-Times Square area forced Keith-Albee, by then merged into RKO, to sell the theatre. Several attempts to use the Hippodrome for plays and operas failed, and it remained dark until 1935, when producer Billy Rose leased it for his spectacular Rodgers & Hart circus musical, "Jumbo," which received favorable reviews but lasted only five months due to Depression conditions. After that, the Hippodrome sputtered through bookings of late-run movies, boxing, wrestling, and jai lai games before being demolished in 1939 as the value of real estate on Sixth Avenue began to escalate. In 1952 it was taken over for a combination office building and parking garage.
From the description of Belknap Collection, Theatre and theatre groups ca. 1905-1916 : Hippodrome. (University of Florida). WorldCat record id: 60564467
