Stella Hammerstein was an American actress. She was sometimes billed
as Stella Steele.Hammerstein was the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein I
and Malvina Jacobi Hammerstein, both of whom initially opposed her
going into show business as a profession. In 1908, she told a New York
Times reporter of her father's reaction when, at age 20, she told him
that she was going into musical comedy: "Papa without more ado piled
me over his knee and applied the hairbrush vigorously." Eventually he
accepted her desire to be an actress.In 1902, Hammerstein joined the
stock theater company headed by Daniel Frohman. She debuted on January
7 of that year in Frocks and Frills. In 1904, she went to London to
study drama and soon joined an opera company. Her stay was cut short
when her father ordered her home as a way of breaking up a romantic
relationship that she had developed with a magazine publisher. She
returned to London in April 1907 to join one of the theatrical
companies of George Joseph Edwardes. In 1908, she returned to the
United States to perform in George M. Cohan's The Yankee Prince when
it had its premiere in Hartford, Connecticut.Hammerstein's hopes of
eventually singing grand opera and becoming a prima donna were dashed
when her father's throat specialist told her in 1908 that her vocal
cords were "much too weak for really great music".
as Stella Steele.Hammerstein was the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein I
and Malvina Jacobi Hammerstein, both of whom initially opposed her
going into show business as a profession. In 1908, she told a New York
Times reporter of her father's reaction when, at age 20, she told him
that she was going into musical comedy: "Papa without more ado piled
me over his knee and applied the hairbrush vigorously." Eventually he
accepted her desire to be an actress.In 1902, Hammerstein joined the
stock theater company headed by Daniel Frohman. She debuted on January
7 of that year in Frocks and Frills. In 1904, she went to London to
study drama and soon joined an opera company. Her stay was cut short
when her father ordered her home as a way of breaking up a romantic
relationship that she had developed with a magazine publisher. She
returned to London in April 1907 to join one of the theatrical
companies of George Joseph Edwardes. In 1908, she returned to the
United States to perform in George M. Cohan's The Yankee Prince when
it had its premiere in Hartford, Connecticut.Hammerstein's hopes of
eventually singing grand opera and becoming a prima donna were dashed
when her father's throat specialist told her in 1908 that her vocal
cords were "much too weak for really great music".
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