{{Short description|American record producer (1906–1968)}} '''Eric Bernay''' (March 25, 1906 – November 2, 1968) was an American record producer, best known for founding Keynote Records.
==Early life== Eric Bernay (né Bernstein) was born in Odessa, Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire; he came to the United States as an infant.<ref name=":"1"">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/11/05/archives/eric-bernay-62-dies-folkdisk-producer.html|title=Eric Bernay, 62, Dies; Folk-Disk Producer|date=1968-11-05|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Keynote years== He started Keynote Records in 1937.<ref name=":"1""/> He had previously been the owner of a mid-town Manhattan record store entitled The Music Room. His primary interest was politics, which were unabashedly left wing; he was devoted to his causes and used Keynote to disseminate his political views. Among his early recordings are the Red Army Chorus<ref name= :"d">{{Citation|last=Washington, Dinah, 1924-1963.|title=Queen : the music of Dinah Washington.|publisher=Verve|oclc=57029262}}p. 45</ref> and the Spanish Republican Army Chorus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.78discography.com/Keynote.htm|title=KEYNOTE 78rpm numerical listing discography|website=78discography.com|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref> Most of the early releases were predominantly left-leaning folk and protest songs,<ref name=encyc>Ronald D. Cohen, "Keynote Records". In Frank W. Hoffmann and Howard Ferstler, ''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1''. 2004, p. 571. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=xV6tghvO0oMC&dq=%22keynote+records%22&pg=PA571 Google Books)]</ref> including works by Woody Guthrie,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.woodyguthrie.de/k5000.html|title=Boomtown Bill/Keep That Oil A-Rollin' (The Almanac Singers) (Keynote 5000 A/B, Jun 1942)|website=Woodyguthrie.de|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref> Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. Among his notable early releases were Songs of the Lincoln Battalion,<ref name=":"1""/> the "spirited and immensely popular" ''Six Songs for Democracy'' (Loyalist music of the Spanish Civil War, sung by Ernst Busch, recorded in Barcelona while under siege in 1938,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80024889|title=Six Songs For Democracy|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en|access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref> with a chorus of veterans of the Thälmann Battalion),<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Alkana|first=Linda|title=American Folk Music and Left-Wing Politics, 1927–1957|journal=History: Reviews of New Books|year=2001|volume=29|issue=4|page=150|doi=10.1080/03612759.2001.10527804|s2cid=143575486|issn=0361-2759}}</ref> Dear Mr. President<ref name=:"s">{{Cite book|last=Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014.|title=Pete Seeger : his life in his own words|date=17 November 2015|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-25427-0|oclc=964355737}} pp. 27, 23</ref> and the Almanac Singers' debut album ''Songs for John Doe''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.woodyguthrie.de/prez.html|title=Dear Mr. President (The Almanac Singers) (1942)|website=Woodyguthrie.de|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref> ''Songs for John Doe'' was released in 1941 before the Soviet Union entered the war, was "vitriolically" anti-war and had a strong response among New York leftists. One song had a chorus:<blockquote>Franklin Roosevelt told the people how he felt. We damned near believed what he said.</blockquote><blockquote> He said I hate the war and so does Eleanor, but we won't be safe till everybody's dead.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Price|first1=Emmett G.|last2=Wald|first2=Elijah|date=2002|title=Josh White: Society Blues|journal=African American Review|volume=36|issue=1|pages=167|doi=10.2307/2903389|jstor=2903389|issn=1062-4783}}</ref></blockquote> ''Time'' magazine "felt a need to warn its readers," describing the album as echoing "the mendacious Moscow line." Eleanor Roosevelt said the songs were clever "but in poor taste."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Klein, Joe, 1946-|title=Woody Guthrie : a life|year=1999|publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=0-385-33385-4|oclc=41127414}}, p. 197</ref> After Russia and the U.S. were allies, Bernay strongly supported the war and released the pro-war ''Dear Mr. President''. Bernay said: "Now is our chance to make up with Franklin Roosevelt, who is not really such a bad guy."<ref name=:"s"/> The title song, "Dear Mr. President", a solo by Pete Seeger, expressed Bernay's newfound support for the war effort.<ref>{{Cite web|website=Genius.com|title=Pete Seeger – Dear Mr. President|url=https://genius.com/Pete-seeger-dear-mr-president-lyrics|language=en|access-date=2020-04-17}}</ref> In 1943, looking for a larger audience he turned to jazz. Recording "the most celebrated jazz soloists,"<ref name=:"Q">{{Cite web|url=https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/keynote-jazz-collection-albums/6062-the-keynote-jazz-collection-1941-1947-11-cd-box-set.html|title=Keynote Jazz Collection - The Keynote Jazz Collection 1941-1947 (11-CD Box Set)|website=Blue Sounds|language=en-us|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref> with Harry Lim as producer, in a span of three years Keynote "produced some of the finest jazz recordings of the era." The Lester Young quartet session of 1943 was Keynote's first jazz effort and marked Young's first as a leader.<ref name=:"M">{{Cite book|last=Morgenstein|first=Dan|title=Living with Jazz|publisher=Knopf|year=2009}}</ref> Dinah Washington's recording debut was with Keynote at the end of 1943. In a session with the Lionel Hampton band, she recorded "Evil Gal Blues".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dinah-washington-mn0000260038/biography|title=Dinah Washington {{!}} Biography & History|website=AllMusic|language=en-us|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref>
==Left-wing activist== thumb|The Communist magazine ''The New Masses''; Bernay was a publisher in the 1930s He has been described as a member of the Communist underground.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Romerstein, Herbert.|title=The Venona secrets: exposing Soviet espionage and America's traitors|date=2001|publisher=Regnery Pub.|isbn=0-89526-225-8|oclc=49507486}}</ref> He testified that he was a member of the Communist Party from 1936 to 1938, and was publisher for the official Party organ ''The New Masses'' during that time. He employed both Irving Lerner and Arthur Adams at Keynote. Lerner had to leave the Office of War Information after being caught photographing the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name=:"V"/> Adams, a Soviet atomic spy, was hired in 1945 for $75 per week as a plastics consultant.<ref>{{Cite book|last=United States. Congress. House. Un-American Activities.|title=Excerpts from hearings regarding investigation of communist activities in connection with the atom bomb. Public Law 601. September 9, 14, and 16, 1948.|oclc=80968021}} p. 74</ref> In 1945 he helped Adams escape FBI surveillance and leave New York City, accompanying him to Chicago.<ref name=:"V">{{Cite journal|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim130090228|title=Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America|journal=The SHAFR Guide Online|access-date=20 October 2023|doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim130090228|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He advanced Adams money to make his way to Portland, Oregon, where he was stopped by the FBI trying to leave the country. Bernay claimed that he never suspected Adams was a spy, but although he knew he had been under constant surveillance. The conclusion of the HUAC was that "it is unquestionable that persons associated with Adams ... furnished him with assistance with his espionage activities."<ref>{{Cite book|last=United States. House of Representatives. Committee on Un-American Activities (Wash.)|title=The shameful years: thirty years of Soviet espionage in the United States: prepared and released by the Committee on Un-American Activities, U.S. House of Representatives.|date=1952|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|oclc=68837846}} pp 37-38</ref>
==Later years== Capitol Records did his record pressing, but became too busy in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/encyclopedia/detail.php?s=2005|title=Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music - KEYNOTE|website=Donaldclarkemusicbox.com|access-date=2020-04-19}}</ref> An "ill-advised investment" in a pressing plant led to Keynote's demise.<ref name=:"M"/> To avoid bankruptcy in 1948 he sold Keynote to Mercury Records. In 1965, he started the music division of the United Jewish Appeal. He managed prominent theatrical figures, including Eartha Kitt, Charlotte Rae, and Dorothy Dandridge. At the time of his death, he was president of a record distribution company.<ref name=":"1""/>
==Legacy== In 1986 and 2013, there were reissues of the 1941–1947 Keynote jazz collection.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Billboard review|publisher=Billboard|pages=39}} August 30, 1986; vol. 98, #35</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Keynote-Jazz-Collection-1941-1947/release/13485973|title=Various - The Keynote Jazz Collection, 1941-1947|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2020-04-17}}</ref> The reviews were strongly positive, noting that Keynote "made a very strong contribution to the world of jazz,"<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Complete Keynote Collection - Various Artists {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-keynote-collection-mw0001883444|language=en-us|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2014/03/cd-recommendation-the-keynote-box.html|title=CD Recommendation: The Keynote Box | Rifftides|website=Artsjournal.com|access-date=20 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jazzweekly.com/2014/02/reissue-of-the-yearthe-keynote-jazz-collection-1941-1947/|title=Reissue of the year|work=Jazz Weekly}}</ref> and the reissue "contributed greatly to documenting the jazz history of 40s America."<ref name=:"Q"/> He released the first early Almanac albums; he helped introduce artists such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Lee Hays, and Josh White. They used song "as a weapon in the struggle for a fair, equal and peaceful society"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/remembering-pete-seeger-on-his-100th-birthday-a-peoples-singer-who-made-history|title=Remembering Pete Seeger on his 100th birthday: A people's singer who made history|website=National Herald|date=4 May 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref> and "led to a rediscovery of our popular musical roots...and a retelling of our American story."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyons, Paul, 1942-2009.|title=New Left, new right, and the legacy of the sixties|date=1996|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=1-56639-477-5|oclc=34472091}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernay, Eric}} Category:1906 births Category:1968 deaths Category:American communists Category:Jews from Odesa Category:People from Manhattan Category:Jazz record producers Category:Record producers from New York (state) Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States