{{Short description|American composer and publisher of popular music (1869–1930)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Leo Feist | image = Leo Feist.jpg | caption = Leo Feist<br />Photo from ''Music Trade Review'', 1922<ref name="MTR 1922 Sep 23">[http://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1922-75-13/MTR-1922-75-13-48.pdf Leo Feist Celebrates 25th Business Anniversary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311020415/https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1922-75-13/MTR-1922-75-13-48.pdf |date=March 11, 2023 }} ''Music Trade Review'' (journal), Vol. 75, No. 13, September 23, 1922, pg. 44</ref> | birth_date = January 3, 1869 | death_date = {{Death date and age|1930|06|21|1869|03|01}} | occupation = [[Executive (management)|Executive]] | spouse = {{marriage|Bessie Meyer|1904}} | children = 3 | relatives = [[Felix F. Feist]] (brother) <br/> [[Felix E. Feist]] (nephew) <br/> [[Raymond E. Feist]] (great-nephew) }} '''Leopold Feist''' (January 3, 1869, [[New York City]] or Mount Verson, New York<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=1999 |title=Leo Feist Collection - Guides to Special Collections in the Music Division of the Library of Congress |url=https://findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/music/2015/mu015004.pdf |website=Library of Congress}}</ref> – June 21, 1930, [[Mount Vernon, New York]]) was a pioneer in the popular music publishing business.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=1996-11-20 |title=Leonard Feist, Music Executive, 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/20/arts/leonard-feist-music-executive-85.html |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1897, Feist 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.<ref name="NYTs 1930 Jun 22">"Leo Feist Dead; Music Publisher," ''[[The New York Times]],'' June 22, 1930</ref><ref name="Grove Musicians 1986">''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|The New Grove Dictionary of American Music]]'' (Feist is in Vol. 2 of 4), [[H. Wiley Hitchcock]] & [[Stanley Sadie]] (eds.), London: [[Macmillan Press]] (1986); {{OCLC|13184437}}</ref><ref name="Jason 2003">''Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song'' (new ed.), by David Alan Jasen (born 1937), [[New York City|New York]]: [[Routledge]] (2003) (biography contains portrait); {{OCLC|51631299}}</ref><ref name="Bio Dictionary of American Music">''Biographical Dictionary of American Music,'' by Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), [[West Nyack, New York]]: Parker Publishing Co. (1973); {{OCLC|609781}}</ref> The company used the motto "You can't go wrong, with any FEIST Song."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll1/id/139 | title=Pal of my cradle days : A beautiful, mother waltz ballad }}</ref>

== Career == Feist started his career as a corset salesman, with songwriting as a hobby. He had trouble selling his music to a publisher, so he formed his own publishing house. He was successful in selling his own music through the new venture, and turned it into a full business, Leo Feist, Inc.<ref name=":03">{{Cite news |date=1930-06-22 |title=Obituary for Leo Feist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-obituary-for-leo-feist/148434881/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=Daily News |pages=306}}</ref>

=== Leo Feist, Inc. === [[File:Geoffrey O'Hara - K-K-K-Katy (cover).jpg|thumb|''[[K-K-K-Katy]]'', cover of the original publication by Leo Feist in New York, 1918]] The first publishing hit was ''Smokey Mokes'' in 1895.<ref name=":3" /> 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."<ref name="NY Clipper 1914 Aug 8" /> Feist also set up branch offices in several locations abroad, increasing the popularity of American music in Europe and Australia.<ref name=":3" />

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.<ref name="NYTs 1920 Aug 4" /> The 7 were [[Consolidated Music Corporation]], [[Irving Berlin, Inc.]], Leo Feist, Inc., [[T.B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.]], [[Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.]], [[Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc.]], and [[M. Witmark & Sons, Inc.]]<ref name="Jasen35">{{cite book |last1=Jasen |first1=David A. |title=Tin Pan Alley: the Composers, the Songs, the Performers, and their Times |date=1988 |publisher=Donald I. Fine, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=1556110995 |page=35}}</ref>

"[[My Blue Heaven (song)|My Blue Heaven]]," written by [[Walter Donaldson (songwriter)|Walter Donaldson]] (music) in collaboration with [[George A. Whiting|George Whiting]] (lyrics), became the biggest song in the history of Leo Feist, Inc. [[Gene Austin]] recorded it ([[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]] 20964), selling over five million copies, and [[Eddie Cantor]] [[Song-plugger|plugged]] it in [[vaudeville]] and in the [[Ziegfeld Follies]] of 1927. It sold over five million copies of sheet music.<ref name="Jason 2003" />

==== Mergers and reacqusition ==== Feist bought competitors Balmer & Weber (1907), and the [[The Morse Music Company|Morse Music Co.]] (1915).

In 1929, Feist negotiated a merger of his company into the [[NBC|National Broadcasting Company]] (NBC), along with rival sheet music publisher [[Carl Fischer Music]], which was also a family-owned business.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1929-12-15 |title=Music Publishers in Huge Combine - Carl Fischer and Leo Feist Concerns are in Merger; NBC Has Part |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-music-publishers-in/148384971/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The Birmingham News |pages=83}}</ref><ref group="Note">Fischer's obituary indicates that the merger involved his company and Harms, which appears to refer to [[T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.|Harms, Inc.]] Harms was bought by Warner Brothers in 1929, and not RCA/NBC, and the obituary writer may have confused Harms and Fischer, since they both were merged in separate transactions in 1929.</ref> The two merged units operated somewhat independently, with the former owners acting as principals and as board members of the new holding company.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ussher |first=Bruno David |date=1929-11-08 |title=Music and Musicians |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-music-and-mu/148434555/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |pages=28}}</ref> The combined company was capitalized at $6.6 million<ref name=":233">{{Cite news |date=June 24, 1930 |title=Leo Feist, Music Publishing King, is Dead at Sixty |url=https://www.jta.org/1930/06/24/archive/leo-feist-music-publishing-king-is-dead-at-sixty |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027171430/https://www.jta.org/1930/06/24/archive/leo-feist-music-publishing-king-is-dead-at-sixty |archive-date=October 27, 2019 |access-date=October 27, 2019 |newspaper=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]}}</ref> and did $3.6 million of business annually at the time.<ref name=":03"/> Feist died less than a year later, and the two families took their two companies private again less than two years after that, buying them back from NBC.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1932-01-30 |title=2 MUSIC PUBLISHERS QUIT RADIO MERGER; Carl Fischer, Inc., and Leo Feist, Inc., Effect Transfer of Stock Ownership. PLAN HELD IMPRACTICABLE Firms Had Functioned for 2 Years as Units in Radio Music Company, N.B.C. Subsidiary. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/01/30/archives/2-music-publishers-quit-radio-merger-carl-fischer-inc-and-leo-feist.html |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The company published about 2,000 titles in its founder's lifetime.<ref name=":3" />

In 1935, five years after the death of the founder, and three years after the company was taken private again, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM) acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of Leo Feist, Inc.<ref name="NYTs 1935 Oct 29" />

In mid-1973, MGM consolidated the offices of its four music publishers, sold Robbins-Feist & Miller (known as Big 3), and Hastings.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1973-06-12 |title=New Office Unites MGM Music Firms |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-new-office-unites/148438426/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=68}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-04-03 |title=Obituary for JAY LEIPZIG |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-santa-fe-new-mexican-obituary-for-ja/148438517/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The Santa Fe New Mexican |pages=A007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gilbert |first=Justin |date=1940-06-05 |title=Scene On Broadway |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-scene-on-broadway/148438734/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The Record |pages=15}}</ref> The same year, it sold the Big 3 to [[United Artists]] (UA).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LwkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Big 3 Sold to UA; Plus 1/2 Can. Co. |newspaper=Billboard Magazine |date=October 27, 1973 |page=3 |access-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-date=March 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307172223/https://books.google.com/books?id=LwkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1973-10-19 |title=United Artists to distribute MGM films |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-united-artist/148438319/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=46}}</ref> In 1981, MGM acquired UA and formed MGM/UA Communications Co.<ref name="fu">{{cite book|title=International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 25|date=1999|publisher=St. James Press|location=Detroit|isbn=9781558623675|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/metro-goldwyn-mayer-inc-history/|accessdate=February 13, 2015|archive-date=February 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213144356/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/metro-goldwyn-mayer-inc-history/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1983, MGM/UA sold its music publishing business to [[Sony Music|CBS Records]].<ref>{{Cite news| last = Irv Lichtman| title = CBS Songs Grows With MGM/UA Deal| magazine = Billboard| date = 1983-01-08| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PSQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT2| via = Google Books| access-date = September 1, 2019| archive-date = March 11, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230311020429/https://books.google.com/books?id=PSQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT2| url-status = live}}</ref> CBS then sold the print music arm, Big 3 Music, to [[Columbia Pictures]].<ref>{{Cite news| last = Irv Lichtman| title = Columbia Pictures To Acquire Big 3| magazine = Billboard| date = 1983-02-12| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9iMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT39| via = Google Books| access-date = January 2, 2022| archive-date = March 11, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230311020409/https://books.google.com/books?id=9iMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT39| url-status = live}}</ref>

== Personal life ==

In an unannounced ceremony, Feist married Bessie Meyer on June 24, 1904.<ref name="Evening World 1904 Aug 29" /> They had three children: Leonard S. Feist (1911–1996),<ref name=":4" /> Nathan Feist (1905–1965), and Milton Feist (1907–1975).

* Leonard Feist was a music publisher, copyright expert, and advocate for the music publishing industry. He was still in college at the time of his father's death.<ref name=":03"/> He was married in 1937 to Mary Regensburg.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-12-07 |title=Marriage of Regensburg / Feist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-marriage-of-regensbur/148439607/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=10}}</ref> He ran the classical music publishers Century Music, Mercury Music, and [[Associated Music Publishers]].<ref name=":4" /> Leonard was leader of industry trade group [[National Music Publishers' Association|National Music Publishers Association]], and an officer of the [[National Music Council]], the [[National Academy of Popular Music]], and the [[Copyright Society of the U.S.A.|Copyright Society of the United States]].<ref name=":4" /> He led efforts at copyright and royalty legal reforms in the United States.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wage |first=Walter |date=1980-10-29 |title=The Songwriter's Worth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-songwriters-worth/149128907/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=Daily News |page=53 (archive p. 190) |pages=}}</ref> He died November 18, 1996.<ref name=":4" /> * Nathan Feist was a publisher and advertising executive. He was a member of his father's firm at the time of its sale to NBC.<ref name=":03"/> He was born April 17, 1905, in New York City, and died there December 2, 1965.<ref name=":53">{{Cite news |date=1965-12-04 |title=Obituary for Nathan Feist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-obituary-for-nathan-f/149130741/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=2}}</ref> Nathan lived in Mount Vernon for 50 years, and was married to Beatrice Friedman in 1934;<ref>{{Cite news |date=1933-04-24 |title=Marriage of Feist / Friedman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-marriage-of-feist-f/149131423/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=8}}</ref> they had two children, Richard and Marilyn.<ref name=":53" /> * Milton Feist, also known by his Hebrew name, Meir, was a rabbi, scholar, teacher, publisher, and translator of books and opera.<ref name=":233"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Affelder |first=Paul |date=1954-08-11 |title=Spicy French Comic Work Presented by Punch Opera |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-spicy-french-co/149134047/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |pages=11}}</ref> He contracted polio when he was four years old, and was disabled thereafter,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Feist v. Fifth Avenue Bank of New York, 255 App. Div. 324 {{!}} Casetext Search + Citator |url=https://casetext.com/case/feist-v-fifth-avenue-bank-of-new-york |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519184519/https://casetext.com/case/feist-v-fifth-avenue-bank-of-new-york |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 19, 2024 |access-date=2024-05-19 |website=casetext.com}}</ref> using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Milton was also a member of the firm at the time of its sale to NBC.<ref name=":03" /> Rabbi Meir "Milton" Feist became attracted to Orthodox Judaism in his youth, through rabbis Joshua Mereminsky and [[Mendel Zaks]], two scholars with familial and religious association with the [[Yisrael Meir Kagan|Cofetz Chaim]] and his [[Radin Yeshiva|Radun yeshiva]].<ref name="flora">{{cite web |title=The Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim Of Radin |url=http://www.flora-and-sam.com/finalversion/finishedversion/pages/RadinHistory.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1933-09-08 |title=Rev. Joshua L. Mereminsky To Be Installed Sunday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/893260219/?clipping_id=167068728 |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=4}}</ref> As a result, Feist was involved in the translation and printing of books written by the Chofetz Chaim. Feist spent the last four years of his life studying Torah full-time at [[Beth Medrash Govoha]], in Lakewood, NJ.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hertsman |first=Elchanan Yosef |url=https://www.amazon.com/face-that-shone-instigation-outstanding/dp/B0007ATAKY |title=The face that shone: Rabbi Meir Feist |date=1981-01-01 |publisher=[s.n.] |language=English}}</ref> Milton also ran [[Mercury Music]] Corp.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1967-06-15 |title=Selected Short Subjects |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-selected-short/149133499/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=Newsday (Suffolk Edition) |pages=82}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-05-19 |title=Here and There About the State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-barre-daily-times-here-and-there-abo/149133669/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=The Barre Daily Times |pages=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1968 |title=ACDA Industry Associate Members Listed |url=https://acda-publications.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/choral_journals/CJ%20-%20November-December%201968.pdf |journal=The Choral Journal |pages=26}}</ref>

=== Death === Feist died at home in Mount Vernon, New York, on June 21, 1930.<ref name=":03"/>

=== Relatives === Leopold Feist had several other well-known relatives in the entertainment industry. His brother, [[Felix F. Feist]] (Jul 15, 1883 – Apr 15, 1936), was a sales executive at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]. His nephew, [[Felix E. Feist|Felix Ellison Feist]] (Feb 28, 1910 – Sep 2, 1965), was a film and television director. His great-nephew was fantasy author [[Raymond E. Feist]].

== Notes == {{Reflist|group=Note}}

== References == {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="NY Clipper 1914 Aug 8">''[[New York Clipper]]'', August 8, 1914, p. 5 (with photo)</ref> <ref name="NYTs 1920 Aug 4">"Music Publishers Sued Here As Trust," ''[[The New York Times]],'' August 4, 1920</ref> <ref name="NYTs 1935 Oct 29">"Metro Acquires Leo Feist, Inc.," ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 29, 1935</ref> <ref name="Evening World 1904 Aug 29">[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1904-08-29/ed-1/seq-5/ "Band and Friends Greet Bridal Pair,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415125729/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1904-08-29/ed-1/seq-5/ |date=April 15, 2015 }}, ''[[Evening World]]'' (Evening Edition), August 29, 1904, pg. 5</ref>

}}

== External links == {{commons category}} {{Archival records|title= Leo Feist collection, 1880-1930|location= [[Music Division, Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu015004}} * [http://www.nypl.org/archives/2547 ''Leonard Feist papers, 1901–1991,''] [[New York Public Library]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Leo}} [[Category:American music publishers (people)]] [[Category:1869 births]] [[Category:1930 deaths]]