On letterhead of the Manhattan Opera House, Hammerstein I addresses the recent dissatisfaction of the editor of Brooklyn Life, who had complained that he had not been put on the press list for every performance. The impresario kindly but firmly responds that his Press Bureau means no offense, but should it send out such tickets to periodicals, magazines, there would be nobody in the house but journalists, critics, reporters. He closes that he would be only too glad to accommodate the editor should he write for tickets in advance, but no more can I do.

Oscar Hammerstein arrived in the United States from Germany in 1864 and built his fortune in the cigar business before turning his attention to theater in the 1890s. A composer himself, his great love was opera; he opened several theaters, his third venue being the Manhattan Opera House in 1893. He opened many more in the decades that followed and helped to solidify Times Square as the theatrical heart of the city, and eventually, the world. He produced contemporary operas, including Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta and presented the American premieres of European operas. He is also remembered today as the grandfather of the famed playwright-lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II.