Leo Feist

Leo Feist
Leo Feist, from the article, Leo Feist Celebrates 25th Business Anniversary, The Music Trade Review (journal), pg. 44, Sept. 23, 1922
Born	1869
Died	June 21, 1930(1930-06-21) (aged 61)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Executive

Leopold Feist (b. 1869, New York - d. 21 June 1930, Mount Vernon, New York) founded and ran a music publishing firm bearing his name that — in the 1920s, at the height of the golden age of popular music — was among the seven largest publishers of popular music in the World.^[1]

Leo Feist, Inc.

Feist marketed his publications very aggressively, even by Tin Pan Alley standards. He maintained offices in most major cities, each with a regional manager (in Boston, for instance, his delegate was Billy Lang). Favored employees were rewarded with corporate largesse; in 1914, for instance, selected managers gathered in Atlantic City, where it was said that "money flowed like water."^[2]

As evidence of the size of his firm, Leo Feist, Inc., was one of seven defendants named in a 1920 Sherman antitrust suit brought by the US Justice Department for controlling 80% of the music publishing business.^[3] The seven defendants were:

• Consolidated Music Corporation – 144 W. 37th St., New York, NY
• Irving Berlin, Inc. – 1567 Broadway, New York, NY
• Leo Feist, Inc. – 231 W 40th St, New York, NY (in 1904, 134 W 37th St, New York, NY)
• T.B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc. – 62 W. 45th St., New York, NY
• Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. – 218 W. 47th St., New York, NY
• Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc. – 1571 Broadway, New York, NY (sold in bankruptcy to Mills Music in 1929)
• M. Witmark & Sons, Inc. – 144 W. 37th St, New York, NY

My Blue Heaven, written by Walter Donaldson (music) in collaboration with George Whiting (lyrics), became the biggest song in the history of Leo Feist, Inc. Gene Austin recorded it (Victor 20964), selling over five million copies, and Eddie Cantor plugged it in vaudeville and in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It sold over five million copies of sheet music.^[4]

In 1935, five years after the death of Leo Feist, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of Leo Feist, Inc.^[5]

Family

Spouse

In a pseudo-secret ceremony, Leopold Feist married Bessie Meyer June 24, 1904.^[6]

Siblings

Felix F. Feist (15 Jul 1883 – 15 Apr 1936), Leo's brother, was a sales executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Felix Ellison Feist (28 Feb 1910 – 2 Sept 1965) — a film and television director — was the son of Felix F. Feist. Felix Ellison Feist, as stepfather, adopted Raymond E. Feist.

Children

• Leonard S. Feist (1911–1996) – Leo and Bessie's son – was a music publisher, copyright expert, and advocate for the music publishing industry.

External links

• Leo Feist Collection, Library of Congress, donated in 1977 by Leonard Feist
• Leonard Feist papers, 1901–1991, New York Public Library

References