Acts which appeared at the Hippodrome included numerous circuses, musical revues, Harry Houdini's disappearing elephant, vaudeville, religious meetings, political rallies, and sporting events.

The spectacle depicted the Union raid on the camp, with gunfire, explosions and cavalry troops on horseback swimming across the huge water tank simulating a lake.

Until the end of World War I, the Hippodrome housed all sorts of spectacles then switched to musical extravaganzas, including Good Times which ran for 456 performances from 1920 to 1921.

[11] and Better Times, which ran for 405 performance in 1922–23[12] When Dillingham left in 1923 to pursue other interests, the Hippodrome was leased to Keith-Albee, which hired architect Thomas W. Lamb[10] to turn it into a vaudeville theater by building a much smaller stage and discarding all of its unique features.

The Hippodrome's huge running costs made it a perennial financial failure, and a series of producers tried and failed to make money from the theater.

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 the Great Depression.

After that, the Hippodrome sputtered through bookings of late-run movies, boxing, wrestling, and jai alai games, then was demolished in 1939 as the value of real estate on Sixth Avenue began to escalate.