T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.

T. B. Harms & Francis, Day, & Hunter, Inc., based in the Tin Pan Alley area of New York City, was one of the seven largest publishers of popular music in the world in 1920. T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc. was one of seven defendants named in a 1920 Sherman antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department for controlling 80% of the music publishing business.[1] The seven defendants were:

Founded in 1881 as the Thomas B. Harms Music Publishing Company,[2] T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc., was eventually incorporated in New York and changed its name to Harms, Inc. in 1921.[3]

Owners and executives
  • Thomas B. Harms (1860–1906)
  • Max Dreyfus (1874–1964) (owned 25% in 1901) — The Harms empire owned or backed by Dreyfus, included Harms, Inc., Chappell-Harms (its "repository for non-production music"), De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson, Remick Music, Green and Stept, Famous Music, T. B. Harms, and George Gershwin's New World Music, publisher of all Gershwin's music" (109).
  • Jerome Kern (1885–1945) — Kern plugged sheet music at a local department store then took a job with T. B. Harms, Inc., and eventually became vice president.
  • Alexander T. Harms (1855–1901)
  • Frederick Day (1878–1975)

History timeline
1875 Brothers Alexander T. Harms (b. 20 Feb 1856, New York City; d. 23 Oct 1901, New York City) and Thomas B. Harms (b. 5 Jan 1860, New York City; d. 28 March 1906, New York City) founded in 1875 what many consider to be one of the first American firms of music publishers. T. B. Harms & Co. sold contemporary popular music, and the success of such early publications as "When the Robins Nest Again" (1883) and "The Letter That Never Came" (1886) led other Tin Pan Alley publishers to emulate the firm's promotional activities.
1901 Max Dreyfus (b. 1 April 1874 Kuppenheim; d. 12 May 1964, Brewster, New York), who had been working for Harms as an arranger, bought a 25% interest in the firm
1903 Dreyfus employed Jerome Kern as a composer
1904 Dreyfus bought out the Harms brothers, but retained the name – T. B. Harms & Co., Inc. – turning it into one of the most prestigious popular music publishers in Tin Pan Alley. Dreyfus discovered, recruited, and promoted Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, Richard Rodgers, and Cole Porter. In time, the firm would publish about 90% of all Broadway scores and show tunes.
1908 The British firm Francis, Day, & Hunter entered into a partnership with T. B. Harms, in which Max and his brother, Louis, ended up owning two-thirds of the business and Fred Day one-third
1917 Songwriter Jerome Kern purchased a quarter share in the firm
1920 William Boosey and Chappell and Company, both of London, offered to purchase and operate the New York division of T. B. Harms & Francis, Day, & Hunter, Inc. Day sold out and returned to London. Louis took over Chappell New York. Max became the manager of the newly named Harms, Inc.
1921 T. B. Harms & Francis, Day, & Hunter, Inc. renamed to Harms, Inc. on March 31, 1921.[3]
1927 Max Dreyfus made a deal with George and Ira Gershwin to form a subsidiary, New World Music Corporation, to hold their copyrights, with Harms owning a large stake
1929 Dreyfus sold his interest in the company to Warner Brothers, who reorganized it as Music Publishers Holding Corporation. Dreyfus stayed on as a consultant until he set up in 1935 the American branch of Chappell, a company affiliated with Chappell of London, owned by his brother Louis Dreyfus (1877–1967). In 1969 that part of Harms connected with the estates of Louis Dreyfus (who had been a director of Harms) and Kern was bought by Lawrence Welk and became part of the Welk Music Group.[4][5]

Tin Pan Alley publisher

"Tin Pan Alley" was a specific area in New York City on 28th Street, between Broadway and 6th Avenue that, at the turn of the 20th century, was the center of the popular music publishing industry. Many publishing firms were not actually located on that particular block, but, "Tin Pan Alley" was also as much a reference to a music industry district as it was to a music genre (popular music, ragtime – the precursor to what became jazz). T. B. Harms & Francis, Day, & Hunter, Inc. was a Tin Pan Alley firm.

Sale to Warner Bros.

As silent pictures evolved to talkies, Warner Bros. had aimed to build its inventory of published music. Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Warner Bros. acquired Harms, Inc., using 140,364 shares of its own stock, then valued at $8,421,840. Warner then reincorporated its acquisition under the laws of Delaware and named it Music Publishers Holding Company, Inc. Also in 1929, Warner Bros. acquired the music publishing company of M. Witmark & Sons.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Music Publishers Sued Here As Trust", The New York Times, Aug. 4, 1920
  2. Cockrell, Dale and Andrew M. Zinck, "Popular Music of the Parlor and Stage", pp. 179–201, in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
  3. "NEW INCORPORATIONS". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-04. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  4. S. N. Behrman, Profiles, New Yorker Magazine, pp. 20–24, Feb 6, 1932
  5. David A. Jasen, Tin Pan Alley, New York (1988)
  6. "Warner Brothers Get Music Concern", The New York Times, Aug. 15, 1929
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