JUNE
28, 1919
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
55
CONDUCTED BY V. D. WALSH
FEIST MANAGERS HOLD NOTABLE CONVENTION IN N. Y.
Rep'resentatives of Leo Feist, Inc., From All Sections of the Country Gather at Headquarters to
Map Out a ' Strenuous Campaign for Next Season-Listen to Some Impressive Talks on
Business-The Annual Dinner the Big Feature of the Convention-A Most Enjoyable Event
~
The annual cOllvention of the executives and
branch managers of Leo Feist, Inc., was held
throughout the week of June 16. A meeting
was held on Monday afternoon at 'the Feist
executive offices, and Tuesday was devoted to
the formal opening of the new Feist profes
sional studios at 711 Seventh avenue. On Wed
nesday the meetings were in the morning and
in the aft ernoon. On this occasion the gathering
was addressed by Carl Kaufman, of the Federal
Advertising Agen cy, his topic being "National
Advertising." On \i\1 ednesday evening the con
ventioners and their guests enjoyed a theatre
party.
Meeti ngs were also held Thursday morning
and afternoon, and Thursday evening the an
nual dinner of the organization took place.
'This was in the form of a su r prise, and the party
was called together in front of the new profes
sional rooms, and much speculation resulted as
to just where th e dinner was to be held. Shortly
after 7 o'clock the doors of the new studio were
opened and a unique Chinese dinner was
served. Each guest found a paper Chinese head
piece at h is plate and after everyone disposed
of their coats a photograph of the gathering
was tak en. As usual, the entertainment opened
up with a special song, written for the occa
sion by Howard Johnson and Cliff Hess, the
words of which, all in a humorous lyrical vein ,
brought out the idiosyncrasies and secrets of
thos e presen t which delighted those on hand,
and repeated applause result ed. At the end of
the meeting a song tribute was paid to Leo
Feist in a verse set to the chorus of the song
success, "Friends," as follows:
But there's one more Friend-who is my and
your Friend
To do him honor, we're more than proud
For he's a real man-a fair sq uare-deal man
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Write for samples.
Chicago McKINLEY MUSIC CO. New York
And just like one of our big crowd
So let all these new things-spur on us to do
things
For that's the way we can mak e him glad
The name of Feist we'll cherish-t'will never
perish
He's. the best Friend we ever had . . . .
Abe Gilbert, of the law firm of Gilbert & Gil
bert, made a shor t address. He reviewed much
join and to-da y it is still an active part in the
Feist plan s for placing music in the hands of
the orchestra leaders. Mr. Feist stated that
advertising was the foundation of all business,
that they had made progress because they let
people know what th ey had. In the early days,
because the songwriters were tied up with
other and more prosperous hou ses, it was neces
sary for the Feist firm to cre ate their own writ
ing staff, originating styles of music, and mak
ing the firm the cradle for composers and lyric
writers. They hav e ne ver, even in the least de
gree, re cognized any competition, as they had
their own plans and their own methods. The
slogan of the organization personally is "Feist
~-
Seventh Annual Dinner of the Feist Managers
1, Theoo{)re Morse; 2, Floyd Ken ny; 3. John White; 4, Leste r Sanlly; 5. Lew Mahan; 6. Mo·r t Schaffer. 7. Leo Wood;
8 . Felix Feist; 9. Francis Gilbert; 10, A. S. Gilbert; 11 , Leo. Feist; 12, Fred Wright; 13, Mr. McClelland; 14, V. D.
Walsh; 15, Elm er Setzler; 16, Otis Spencer; 17, Bob Miller (N. Y.); 18, Chick Story; 19, AI. Kornheiser; 20, Lee
O. Smith; 21, M: Schl{)ss; 22. Lou';s Piotti; 23, Sam Danks; 24, Albert Munser; 25. Fred 'Veidenhamer; 26, Milt
Stevens; 27, Ernest Vogel; 28, Fred Auger; 29 . H. C. Johnston; 30, Irvi ng Masloff ; 3J. Arthur Husk ins; 32. Charles
CordrQY;' 33, Sidney Mitchell; 34, Ern;e Golden; 35. Archie Uoyd; 36, Joe Santley; 37. J<>hnny Nestor; 38, J oe
McCarthy; 39, Archie Gottl er; 40, Arthur Fields; 41, Sidney C lare; 42, Harry 'I'ie rney; 43, Jimmy Flynn; 44 , Walter
Donovan; 45, Solly Cohen; 46, Ben Alberts; 47, Milton Ager; 48, George Meyer; 49, Mr. Burns; 5·0, E. F. Bitner; 51,
Herman Klein.; 52, Jo Jo; 53, Ira Kesner; 55. Abe Frankel; 56, Ira Schuster; 58. Walter Vaughn; 59, Walter Part;
60, Ernie Hughes; 61, AI. Doyle; 62, Ben Ed wards ; 63, AI. Sather; 64. Earl Carroll; 65. Raymond Peck; 66, Jack Rich
mond; 67 , Harry Coe; 68, Percy Wenri ch; 69, Arthur Thornton; 70, Ph.il Kornheiser; 71, Wm. Teller; 72, Joseph Sher·
idan; 73 , Arthur Hoffmann; 74, L . G. Battin; 75, Karl Kaufman; 76, Irwin Dash; 77. Meyer Jacobs ; 78 , Henry Heine;
79, Cljff Od oms; 80, J. A. Decatur; 81, Cliff Hess; 82, Fred Kemlo; 83. ChestJer Cohn; 84, Rocco Vocco; 85, Billy
J erome ; 86, Howard J{)hnson; 87, Larry Come r; 88. MiLton Weil; 89, Joe Fuchs; W, Bob Miller.
of the early history of the Feist organization
and told of the principles laid down by Feist
when the business was created, including the
fact that Mr. Feist went into business to· pub-
lish his own so ng because he could find no one
else to publish .it.
Despite his great con
fidence th e number proved a failure. At the
close he presented Leo Feist and Edgar F. Bit
ner, general manager of the company, with a
token of appreciation fr om the out-of-town
managers, in the form of gold cuff links with
diamond settings, after which Mr. Feist made
his annual address.
Mr. Feist, in reviewing the remarks of the
previous sp eaker, stated that most of what he
said was true, excepting the fact that they did
not start the publishing firm till they had busi
ness.
Mr. Feist told of a circular that he still re
tains, which they printed in th e early days, the
caption of which was "We Have a Healthy Am
bition," and the Feist organization seem to
still carry out the spirit of that caption very
prominently in their make-up .. He told some of
the secrets of the firm's success, how there was
practically no change in years in the musical
publishing field until their entry, and how they
hav e always done things differently. Before
their entry into th e publishing business, it
was the custom for the music publisher to give
his orchestrations away. Feist organized an
orchestra club an d enco uraged the lead ers to
Can Do It." '''Without doubt, every man in the
organization is imbued with this spirit," said
Mr. Feist. He paid a tribute to the Chicago
(Continued on page 56)
•
ttt
Artmusic Gems
"Forever Is A Long,
Long Time"
"When the Evening
Bells Are Ringing"
"Oh! You Don't Know
What You're Missin'"
"Waters of Venice"
(Instrumental)
"Floating Down the
Sleepy Lagoon"
(Song version "Waters of Venice")
ARTMUSIC, Inc.
145 West 45th St.
NEW YORK