The New York Hippodrome
One year following the opening of Luna Park, Thompson & Dundy made a small step and a giant leap towards Manhattan. In 1905 the Hippodrome on Sixth Avenue between 43d and 44th street is built, only one block away from the newly named Times Square. With it, the entrepreneurs radically changed the world of Times Square in two ways. First, its low admission prices were aimed at the middle class, who had thus far been unable to visit the costly legitimate Broadway theatres. Second, it brought the high-tech pleasures of the amusement parks to the inner city. The combination of these two factors made the Hippodrome what Thompson called a "gigantic toy" for the masses. "The toymaker of New York", as he had proclaimed himself, however, had designed it not for children, but for the adult consumer.6 In Thompson's opinion, the turn-of-the-century American adult suffered from too much work and too little play. He had first created the enlarged playground that allowed them to return to their childhoods. As was the purpose of Luna Park, the fantastic shows at the Hippodrome would temporarily offer an escape for its visitors away from their grim world.

The idea of building a hippodrome in New York City was not entirely new. Circus-director P.T. Barnum had built the Roman hippodrome between 26th and 27th streets in Manhattan. Its many imported spectacles were closely related to the circus, such as chariot races and Wild West violence. But even Barnum's 8000-seat circus paled in comparison with the proposal made by Steele Macay for the Spectatorium. The 10,000-seat Spectatorium was to be built as a permanent theatre for the Columbian exposition in Chicago in 1893. Macay's ideals closely resembled those of Frederic Thompson; he dreamt of "subsidizing the genius of the whole world, for the education and inspiration of the masses, while affording them, at moderate prices, and entertainment as irresistibly fascinating as it was ennobling."7 The Spectatorium, however, was never completed, after investors had been frightened away by a stock market collapse known as the Panic of 1893. It is very likely that Thompson, while working at the Columbian exposition, became aware of Macay's plans and subsequently inspired by his ideas.

In 1901 Thompson moved to New York following the Pan-American exposition. Disappointed by the entertainment the city had to offer to the abundant middle-class audience, Thompson & Dundy tried to put a hippodrome at 39th street and 7th Avenue, but were thwarted by opposing neighborhood residents. For the time being, they concentrated on Coney Island.8

Following the success of Luna Park, the two had little trouble finding investors for the Hippodrome. The profits made from Luna Park had been substantial, but not nearly enough to finance the price of the Hippodrome, the property, and its stage entertainment, which Thompson & Dundy advertised as $3,500,000. Together, they were able to convince a number of powerful businessmen and financiers, not impresarios or showmen, of the viability of their unique formula of amusement as a money-making investment.

Construction of the Hippodrome was completed in 10 months, another record-breaking achievement, made possible by the fact that the construction company was owned by one of the financial backers. When construction had begun, residents of the area expressed their disapproval of the project, which had come to them as a great surprise. The Theatre Syndicate, who held a near monopoly on theatrical productions in the US, allegedly tried to delay the Hippodrome's construction through the city Building Department.

Nonetheless, the 5200-seat Hippodrome opened April 12, 1905 performing two double-feature shows six days a week. 9

Department store theatre (democratizing theatre)
The concept of the Hippodrome was also inspired by the fairly new department store, which had begun to increasingly dominate the face of urban retailing at the turn of the century. These enormous stores, offering a lavish amount of different goods attracted millions of consumers, and promoted shopping as an important and entertaining activity. Their innovative advertising and merchandising schemes were particularly aimed at middle-class women. The stores offered various free services available to all customers regardless of their ability to buy. Thus, shopping had been democratized; the city's wealthiest and humblest walked the same aisles even if they could not buy the same products. "We are coming to the age of the department store in theatricals," Thompson stated in 1904. "The masses are ready to welcome it."10

The Hippodrome had, according to Thompson, democratized theatre-going in the same way that department stores had democratized shopping. Like in the department stores, the wealthy and the humble were able to experience together the same abundance of pleasures.11 The masses themselves, however, were an important part of the experience. A smaller theatre-house with a more expensive admission price may well have been able to collect the same amount of money, but would lack the grandeur of a hippodrome. Consequently, the Hippodrome demanded packed houses to afford to present its high-tech theatrical extravaganza.

Oscar Hammerstein, a producer of numerous shows and builder of "the grandest amusement temple in the world," the Olympia, back in 1895, predicted that "The theatres will suffer immensely...for at least the first six weeks." and "The enormous crowds that will naturally be attracted to the novelty of this establishment must come from somewhere, and they will be drawn from the regular theatres." Others predicted an overall decline in theatre ticket prices, and the Theatre Syndicate subsequently brought their prices down to one dollar.12

The Hippodrome's amusement, however, did not only challenge the elite entertainment, but also the popular Barnum & Bailey circus. Thompson & Dundy had raided several circuses for arena acts, including the Barnum & Bailey and the Ringling Brothers Circuses. Barnum & Bailey arranged a non-competition agreement with Ringling Bros., in exchange for which Ringling broke its agreement to provide further acts for the Hippodrome. Thompson & Dundy boasted that they had obtained all the billboard space available in New York. The Barnum & Bailey Circus struck back in 1905 by announcing it would begin the longest circus season in New York's history.13

Thompson & Dundy had collected the greatest talents in choreography, costume and stage design, writers and composers from around the world for their gargantuan opening shows. The shows A Yankee Circus on Mars and A Society Circus were eclectic spectacles combining vaudeville, pantomime, circus and popular songs with technological novelties.

Electricity was used in every conceivable way in the Hippodrome, from the obvious to the inventive. The entire block-long facade was itself an electrical billboard, that "threw a fire and glare of electric illumination for miles." When approaching the theatre, "a tumult of sudden light hit you on the eyeballs ... you couldn't possibly pass it by unnoticed."14 The Hippodrome threw the spark that would forever light Times Square. The inside of the theatre was as much an unequalled lighting spectacle. The amount of current used by the Hippodrome's stage was more than the average electrical station could supply. Electricity also warmed the grease paint and curling irons for hundreds of chorus girls; wardrobes used electric irons to press costumes; carpenters heated their glue with electricity; chefs used electric ovens and dishwashers; the building itself was supplied with an electrified heating and cooling system, water pumps, telephones, hydraulic elevators and mechanical hoists, and numerous other electrical conveniences.15

In 1906, Thompson & Dundy lost their creation to their financial backers. Shocked by an unexpected decline in attendance during the Hippodrome's second season, the investors battled with the producers to raise ticket prices. Furthermore, the investors were concerned by Thompson's plans for an amusement park in Manhattan, which they viewed as a competitor of the Hippodrome. Thompson & Dundy joined the Theatre Syndicate that same year, and continued to produce theatre shows together, until Dundy's untimely death in 1907. In the latter half of the century, an office tower was placed on the site of the Hippodrome; only the name remains in silver-colored lettering on the modernist facade.