T . B . Harms
Who was the owner of Max Dreyfus from 1921 to 1922?
Max Dreyfus Max Dreyfus ( April 1 , 1874 – May 12 , 1964 ) was a German-born American music publisher , arranger and songwriter . Between the 1910s and 1950s he encouraged and published the work of many of the writers of the so-called Great American Songbook , and was president of Chappell & Co. , Inc . American office , the worlds largest music publishing firm . Biography . He was born in Kuppenheim , Germany , the son of a cattle dealer . At the age of 14 he traveled to the USA at the invitation of family friend Aaron Lehman who had immigrated to Jackson , Mississippi . Initially , Dreyfus worked as a travelling salesman selling picture frames , but by the mid-1890s worked on Tin Pan Alley in New York City where he worked closely with songwriter Paul Dresser and transcribed song arrangements . Within a few years he had secured a post with the publishing firm set up by Thomas B . Harms ( 1860-1906 ) , arranging , plugging songs , and doing some songwriting ; his song Cupids Garden , published under the pseudonym Max Eugene , was successful in 1901 . Harms sold his share in the family publishing firm in 1904 to Max and his younger brother Louis Dreyfus ( 1877-1967 ) , who had joined him in the US . The two brothers retained the company name T . B . Harms , and established a partnership with the London firm of Francis , Day & Hunter , allowing them to market their songs in Britain . They also encouraged young new songwriters in New York , most notably Jerome Kern , who soon achieved success and became a partner in the company . After the First World War , the company had commercial success with songs such as Poor Butterfly , and more songwriters joined the company , including George Gershwin , Richard Rodgers , Lorenz Hart , Rudolf Friml , Vincent Youmans , Irving Caesar , and Cole Porter . In 1920 , the brothers were approached by the British publishers , Chappell & Co. , to handle their interests in the US . By 1926 , they had bought Chappell outright , and shortly before the Great Depression they made a highly profitable sale of their interest in T . B . Harms . The companies remained independent of the Hollywood system which bought up many of the other publishing houses , with the result that the brothers retained a strong financial position . In 1935 , they reconstituted their holdings as Chappell , Inc. , with Louis Dreyfus moving to London and Max remaining in control of their New York operations , based in the Rockefeller Center . Max Dreyfus was a softspoken , slightly built man who was reserved almost to a fault . He was seen as a man of integrity and a gifted talent spotter . He helped found ASCAP ( the American Society of Composers , Authors and Publishers ) in 1914 , and served as a board member for fifty years until shortly before his death . He pioneered a new style of orchestration for theatre performances , employing Russell Bennett as the companys chief orchestrator from 1919 . He established a company policy under which composers , lyricists and librettists were all in partnership with the publishing company . He insisted on exclusive contracts for many of his writers and orchestrators working on Broadway shows , with the result that through the thirties and forties , Dreyfus had a virtual stranglehold on the Broadway musical , with almost all of the most successful songwriters ( except Berlin ) under contract . And the best and most knowledgeable theatrical orchestrators as well . He remained in control of Chappell & Co . after World War II , with new writers including Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe , whose My Fair Lady he published . Although other independent publishers took a larger share of the market after the war , Chappell also found success with South Pacific , The Sound of Music , Gypsy , and Funny Girl , among others . Dreyfus was played by Charles Coburn , who was considerably bulkier and more gregarious than him , in the 1945 Gershwin biographical film Rhapsody in Blue . Dreyfus did not like the film , saying to a friend , “Did you ever see me wear a top hat ?” Personal life . Max Dreyfus and his wife , the former Victoria Brill , had no children . They bought a 300-acre summer home near Brewster , New York , Madrey Farm , in 1929 . The property had formerly been owned by Daniel Drew , the 19th century railroad magnate , who is buried on the property . There Victoria Dreyfus raised Percheron horses and cattle , and the couple entertained Richard Rodgers , Oscar Hammerstein , Jerome Kern , Cole Porter and other eminent musicians . Dreyfus died at Madrey Farm in 1964 , aged 90 . The ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship was established in his name . Victoria Dreyfus died at age 95 in March 1976 .