Leopold Feist (January 3, 1869,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

– June 21, 1930,

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), in 1897 founded and ran a music publishing firm bearing his name. In the 1920s, at the height of the golden age of popular music, his firm was among the seven largest publishers of popular music in the world. Leo Feist, Inc., ran until 1934.

Leo Feist, Inc.

Feist marketed his publications very aggressively, even by

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It origin ...

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." 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. The 7 were

Consolidated Music Corporation Consolidated Music Corporation was a short-lived United States, American music publishing licensing company formed in early 1920 — initially by seven major music publishers, but eventually six — to handle piano roll licensing. Consolidated and ...

Irving Berlin, Inc. Bourne Co. Music Publishers is an American publisher of sheet music, and one of the largest privately held international music publishers in the world,''Billboard'', 12 Nov 2005page 61 with over three thousand titles in their catalogue. Subsidiar ...

, Leo Feist, Inc., T.B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc., Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc., Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc., and M. Witmark & Sons, Inc. " My Blue Heaven," written by

Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the Great American Song ...

(music) in collaboration with

George Whiting George Elbridge Whiting (September 14, 1840 – October 14, 1923) was an American composer of classical music. Early life and career George Whiting was born in Holliston, Massachusetts on September 14, 1840. He founded the Beethoven Society ...

(lyrics), became the biggest song in the history of Leo Feist, Inc.

Gene Austin Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for ...

recorded it ( Victor 20964), selling over five million copies, and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

plugged it in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and in the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...

of 1927. It sold over five million copies of sheet music. In 1935, five years after the death of Leo Feist,

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of Leo Feist, Inc. In 1973, MGM sold Robbins, Feist, and Miller (known as Big 3) to

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

. In 1981, MGM acquired UA and formed MGM/UA Communications Co. In 1983, MGM/UA sold its music publishing business to CBS Records. CBS then sold the print music arm, Big 3 Music, to

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

Personal life

Leopold Feist was the brother of

Felix F. Feist Felix F. Feist (July 15, 1883 - April 15, 1936) was a lyricist and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive. He wrote the lyrics for songs in several Broadway shows. Leo Feist was his brother, Felix E. Feist was his son, and Raymond E. Feist is his grandson ...

(Jul 15, 1883 – Apr 15, 1936), a sales executive at

. His nephew was Felix Ellison Feist (Feb 28, 1910 – Sep 2, 1965), a film and television director. His great-nephew was fantasy author

Raymond E. Feist Raymond Elias Feist (; born Raymond Elias Gonzales III; December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote ''The Riftwar Cycle'', a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and ha ...

. In a pseudo-secret ceremony, Feist married Bessie Meyer on June 24, 1904. They had three children: Leonard S. Feist (1911–1996), Nathan Feist (1905–1965), and Milton Feist (1907–1975). Leonard was a music publisher, copyright expert, and advocate for the music publishing industry; Nathan was a publisher and advertising executive; and Milton was a rabbi, scholar, teacher, publisher, and translator of opera.

References

External links

''Leonard Feist papers, 1901–1991,''

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

Categories for Leo Feist, Inc.

: : : : : {{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Leo Music publishers (people) 1869 births 1930 deaths