Beautiful Music offered by a Watch Maker

Christmas at the Fireside Longine’s Symphonette Society 1966 

     Perhaps the best part of writing this blog each week is learning something new.  Often we learn something new about Christmas music such as the story of a song’s origin or background of the artist or writer.  Sometimes our research surprises us with new things not directly tied to but connected to the music.  This week is no different.  This week, in seeking the story of the Longines Symphonette Recording Society and the stories behind all those wonderful compilations of music produced by the company we found another interesting “back story”.
     When doing an internet search for “Longines Symphonette Society,” one finds very little real information.  Wikipedia, for instance, says only that “The Longines Symphonette Society was a record label which specialized in releasing classic radio programs and multiple-record box sets.”  There is additional information about the Longines Symphonette musical program on Mutual stations (later moved to CBS) including names of the conductors (Macklin Marrow, initially, followed by Mishel Piastro), the announcer (Frank Knight), the theme song (final movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony), and the sponsor (The Longines Watch Company.)  Wait…the Longines Watch Company….there must be a connection.  We’ll look at that later.           

Christmas at Home Fisher Fazio, Costa Foods

The Joy of Christmas

     What information can we find about the Longines Symphonette Society itself?  Basically, we struck out on the internet searches.  Let’s try the library.  Strike two.  What about liner notes or record jacket covers?  Sometimes those have background information.  Christmas by the Fireside….nothing.  Christmas at Home for Costa Foods, An Old Fashioned Christmas, Home for Christmas with The King Family…nothing.  Some interesting information about the record pressing process on the back of the jackets for Christmas Eve Favorites, Christmas with the Stars, and Silver Bells.  Interesting, but not exactly what we’re looking for.  Sweet Voices of Christmas….hardly a jackpot, but we have some information. 

“The Longines Symphonette Society – an educational service of The Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company, famed for quality for almost a century- is unlike any other organization in the entire world! Devoted totally to service and quality on one hand, with honest value the criteria on the other, The Longines Symphonette is proud to number you among its thousands of friends.”    

“Serving you directly – without a record store or distributor to stand between The Longines Symphonette and its friends, enables us to eliminate many normal costs.  Further, the unique direct-to-you policy allows a huge initial order for each new Treasury or Living Music Program release…affording further economies.  These are passed along directly to you in the form of lower prices, finer, quality, magnificent presentation cases and library albums to protect your investment in beauty, music appreciation, and culture.”

“The Longines Symphonette Board of Advisors now brings together the technical skills, the music publishing knowledge, the composers sensitive intuition, the producers canny insight to the modern methods and fine musicians, the directors encyclopedic background in the music itself.  The blending of these abilities results in the finest possible performances of the world’s most beautiful and popular music.”

Home For Christmas The King Family

An Old Fashioned Christmas

     So, now we know that Longines Symphonette Society is absolutely tied to the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company.  We know they sold directly to consumers apparently by direct mail rather than thru a distribution network of retailers.  We know they assembled a board of advisors.  The album jacket even tells us who comprised the board – Violinist Mishel Piastro, Producer Eugene Lowell, Rudy Sims of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society, Record Company Executive Arnold Maxin, and Composer Rudolf Friml.  The board was certainly comprised of talented men – masters of their crafts.  The back of the jacket also shows an artist’s rendering of Longine’s Symphonette Recording Society’s new headquarters…and an address in Larchmont, New York.  It certainly seems that there must be more information available about such a large organization – an organization with a large headquarters in New York, an impressive advisory board, and the financial backing of a reknowned Swiss watchmaker.  Why can’t we find it?

Shell’s Wonderful World of Music

Silver Bells

     A little more research using the Larchmont, NY lead offers a new turn in our journey.  The Longines Symphonette Society was a direct marketing company working out of Larchmont and, later, New Rochelle, New York.  The company operated from the late 1960s until 1974 and was headed by Alan Cartoun, president and son of Longines Watch Company Chairman, Fred Cartoun.  The Longines Symphonette Society was a direct marketing pioneer using personalized computer letters to promote LP records, 8 track tapes, electronics, books, and collector’s medallions.  It made vintage recordings available again and, by so doing, was a major contributor to a wave of nostalgia that swept the country in the 1960s and 1970s.  A magnet for advertising talent, the Longines Symphonette Society was an incubator for talented marketers and copywriters who helped to shaped direct marketing in the 1980s and 1990s.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians

Christmas Eve Favorites

     In 1969, The Longines Symphonette Society was included in a Congressional investigation looking into lotteries, sweepstakes, and deceptive marketing practices.   In 1966, the number of national sweepstakes exceeded 600 and consumer groups accused them of deceptive practices. An FTC investigation in 1968 into sweepstakes from oil companies and supermarket chains found evidence of deception.  Consumers barraged Congress with letters pleading for intervention often naming specific companies such as Longines Symphonette Society in their accusations of unfair or deceptive practices. 

“Mr. J. K. Hochgertle, Woodbridge, Virginia: “ * * * Finally someone is doing something about it. * * * Reader’s Digest and Longines Symphony send unsolicited merchandise to your home. Now I have two albums from a company (Longines) that were mailed to me unsolicited with the giant giveaway programs, and billed accordingly. * * * I mailed the album back, and the very day I mailed it back, I received a duplicate, the same album. * * * It is sitting in my closet and it can stay there, I refuse to mail them back. Paying for them—they can drop dead—I am not using them. * * * All I get is more sweepstakes, and bills. There is no way to adequately communicate with these companies. * * * I get a bad rating because I won’t pay for items I don’t want, and didn’t ask for. I’m mad.”

“Donald E. Humphries, San Antonio, Texas: “* * * Having spent several thousand dollars and a year’s time investigating the so-called ”give-aways“ on my own, I support you and Congressman Silvio (Conte) that they should be banned altogether. Many women are spending many ill-afforded dollars each week trying to win something for nothing. * * * Please check up on Longines Symphonette from Symphonette Square, New York, who have been running a sweeps for years, and I’ve never been able to obtain a list of major winners, only those who have won record albums, or some such. * * * Also recently I’ve tried to obtain the winners names in a sweeps sponsored by General Foods Kitchens. They tell me they cannot release the major winners, as it would be an ”invasion of privacy“ * * * I intend to make this my sole work till the truth outs.”

Sweet Voices of Christmas

Christmas With The Stars

     While the 1969 Congressional investigation yielded no legislation to protect consumers from perceived dishonest marketing practices, Congress did pass the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act thirty years later in 1999. 

     This week we began a search into, we believed, a music preservation society who offered for sale recordings of much-loved music.  We discovered that The Longines Symphonette Society was actually a marketing company, backed by a wealthy Swiss watch maker, that forged a new path for direct marketers and schooled a generation of marketing professionals.  The Longines Symphonette Society produced quality recordings of beautiful music that is still loved and enjoyed by many who, like us, had no idea that the company’s marketing practices played a role in forging new consumer protection legislation in our country. 

This blog is written and published by DLF Music Transfer, LLC  dba Christmas LPs to CD.  For more information on Christmas music or to purchase CDs of classic Christmas records on CD, please visit our website www.christmaslpstocd.com , call us 888-384-6970, or e-mail us david@dlfmusic.com.

What happened to Big N and Neisner’s stores?



Christmas Is For Kids Big N Discount Stores Division of Neiser Brothers Department Stores

     We all have our favorite Christmas records.  So many of those favorites were actually premium records offered at low cost by retail stores such as Goodyear Tire, Firestone, TrueValue Hardware, JC Penney, and many others.  Big N Discount stores offered several premium records at low prices in their stores as well – among them Christmas Is For Kids, Home for the Holidays, Christmas American Style, and Christmas Is (not to be confused with the premium record  of the same name sold by Goodyear Tire stores.)  For many of today’s grandparents, these records arouse fond memories of the days of youth… riding bikes around town all day, playing a game of stick ball in the street or alley with friends, or popping into the 5 and 10 cent store to get a nickel’s worth of penny candies. 

Big N  Home for the Holidays

     Big N Discount stores were operated by Neisner Brothers Department stores.  Similar to GC Murphy, WT Grants, and FW Woolworths, Neisner Brothers was a “five cent to one dollar” chain of general merchandise stores.   With a cash investment of $12,000, brothers Abraham and Joseph Neisner organized the company in 1911 in Rochester, NY.  the company grew quickly.  By the time it was incorporated in New York in 1916, it had five stores and annual sales of over $500,000.  In 1921, the chain had grown to six stores and annual sales of $1.2 million.  By 1927, Neisners enjoyed sales of $6.5 million and operated twenty-two stores throughout Deleware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Big N Christmas American Style

     As many corporations do, in December 1928 Neisner Brothers created a subsidiary, Neisner Brothers Realty Company.  After incorporating this new company in Deleware, Neisner transferred to it most of the leases and real estate of the operating company,  In February 1929, Neisner acquired a substantial interest in British Home Stores, Ltd., of England marking the first step in a broad expansion program.  British Home operated a chain of three-pence-to-one-shilling stores located in London and environs.  Besides F.W. Woolworth, British Home Stores was the only other chain store operating in Britain.

     The year 1929 capped a decade of sensational growth for Neisner.  The Neisner common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October of that year, and sales for 1920 were $15.1

Big N Christmas Is

million, up 39 percent from $10.9 million in 1928.  Beginning in 1930, the effects of the Great Depression and an ambitious expansion program left their mark on the bottom line.  In 1930, sales grew from $15.1 million to $16.5 million, yet the company’s net income fell from $861,639 to $175,642.  In the following two years, sales fell and the company experienced its first losses since 1916.
          As the 1930s progresseed, the company’s fortunes once again started a turn for the better.  Sales and net income returned to 1929 levels in 1934 with earnings of $831, 994 from revenues of $16.6 million.  Income was $1.2 million from sales of $20.9 million in 1936.  Part of this improvement could be attributed to an improvement in the economy, to the company’s reduced inventory, to its selling its entire interest in British Home Stores for one million dollars to an English syndicate, and from insurance proceeds received from the estate of Abraham Neisner, the elder brother, who died prematurely at age 49 while travelling aboard the luxury liner, SS Rex.


Neisner’s Department Store Tampa, FL

Neisner’s Christmas Ad

     By 1937, Neisner was operating 108 stores and still selling merchandise in the five cent to one dollar range.  The company continued its growth and profitable operations for four more decades. 

     In the turbulant 1960s, southern Niesner stores saw the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement.  Just as its competitor, F. W. Woolworth’s, Neisner’s stores refused to serve African Americans at its lunch counters.  Protestors picketted and boycotted these southern stores just as they did Woolworth’s and others.  

Neisner’s lunch counter

     While Neisner’s weathered the storm of Civil Rights, they could not emerge from the storm of increased competition.  In efforts to compete with K-Mart Discount Stores, Neisner’s opened a chain of stores they dubbed “Big N”.  The success of the Big N Discount store was limited.  By 1977, Neisner’s filed for bankruptcy protection.  The following year, Ames Discount Stores acquired the Big N chain as a result of the bankruptcy liquidation, and Neisner’s closed its doors. 

Protestors of Neisner’s and other department stores in downtown Tallahassee, FL

             Unfortunately, Ames would suffer the same fate as the company it acquired.  Following the Big N acquisiton in 1978, Ames would go on to buy out Kings Discount Stores in 1984, GC Murphy in 1985, and Zayres in 1988.  By late 1989 and early 1990, Ames was suffering a significant reduction in profitability.  They found the integration of Zayres stores to be more difficult than expected as Zayres operated in two distinct regions – the Northeast and Florida.  Reminiscent of the WT Grant story, problems related to expansion together with poor decisions in the extension of credit led to the Chapter 11 filing by Ames in 1990.
     Ames emerged from Chapter 11 in 1992 and returned to profitability in 1993.  In 1998, they acquired the Hills chain of department stores making Ames the fourth largest retail chain behind Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target.  In 2000, Ames entered the Chicago market with the acquisition of Goldblatt’s stores.  Just one year later, brought on by the debt they inherited with the Hills acquisition and the expansion of Wal-Mart and Target into Ames’ markets, in 2001 Ames closed its stores and filed bankruptcy once again.
     Though today we cannot walk into a Neisner’s or Big N store, the penny candies, the lunch counters, and those inexpensive premium records that hold so many memories for so many are still very much alive in hearts.

This blog is written and published by DLF Music Transfer, LLC  dba Christmas LPs to CD.  For more information on Christmas music or to purchase CDs of classic Christmas records on CD, please visit our website www.christmaslpstocd.com , call us 888-384-6970, or e-mail us david@dlfmusic.com.

  

Give us some figgy pudding!

Figgy Pudding

    

     “Now, bring us some figgy pudding and bring some out here”. I’m sure you’ve heard this secular carol, but have you ever had the pudding the carolers demanded as a reward for their singing? Both the carol and the pudding have stories that are intertwined. In old England, groups of traveling singers would entertain the wealthy for food or pay. These groups were called “waits” and they were extremely popular at Christmastime. There was a Christian tradition of showering them with gifts to thank them for their music. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” is one of the songs they used to regale their listeners and Christmas pudding is one of the foods used to reward them for their performance.

     The tradition and this carol were resurrected in Victorian England by carolers who included the song in their repertoire. The distribution of the pudding is even older than the carol and dates back to to 16th century. At that time, the Catholic Church decreed that it should be made on the Sunday before the beginning of Advent, also known as Stir-Up Day. The pudding traditionally would contain 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles. Every member of the family was expected to help stir the pudding , rotating from east to west to commemorate the path traveled by the Magi as they searched for the Christ child. As time went on, coins and other small treasure were buried in the batter and steamed with the pudding. These tokens were thought to bring luck to the person who found them.

     We are including below a recipe for this Christmas dessert.  Maybe you will try it and learn what all that Victorian fuss was about.

This blog is written and published by Christmas LPs to CD, operated by DLF Music Transfer, LLC.  If you have questions about Christmas music or would like to purchase cds of your favorite old Christmas records, visit our website or call us.  1-888-384-6970.   www.christmaslpstocdscd.com/shop/index.php

      

Figgy Pudding

Ingredients:
12 plump dried Calymyrna figs, snipped into small pieces
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dark rum
1/3 cup cognac or brandy
1/2 cup raisins
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 (packed) cup brown sugar
2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (made from about 8 inches of baguette)
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup dried cranberries
Optional: 1/3 cup brandy, cognac or rum, to flame the pudding
Lightly sweetened whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or applesauce for serving

Directions:
1) Getting ready: You’ll need a tube pan with a capacity of 8 to 10 cups — a Bundt or Kugelhopf pan is perfect here — and a stock pot that can hold the pan. (If you’ve got a lobster pot, use that; it’ll be nice and roomy.) Put a double thickness of paper toweling in the bottom of the pot — it will keep the pudding from jiggling too much while it’s steaming. Spray the tube pan with cooking spray, then butter it generously, making sure to give the center tube a good coating
2) Put the figs and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and, keeping an eye on the pan, cook until the water is almost evaporated. Add the cognac or brandy, rum and raisins and bring the liquids back to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, make sure it’s in an open space, have a pot cover at hand and, standing back, set the liquid aflame. Let the flames burn for 2 minutes, then extinguish them by sealing the pan with the pot cover. For a milder taste, burn the rum and brandy until the flames die out on their own. Set the pan aside uncovered.
3) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt and keep at hand.
4) Working in a mixing bowl with a whisk, beat the eggs and brown sugar together until well blended. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the bread crumbs, followed by the melted butter and the fig mixture (liquids included). Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and gently mix them in — you’ll have a thick batter. Fold in the cherries and cranberries.
5) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and seal the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Set the pan into the stock pot and fill the pot with enough hot water to come one-half to two-thirds of the way up the sides of the baking pan. Bring the water to a boil, then cover the pot tightly with foil and the lid. Lower the heat so that the water simmers gently, and steam the pudding for 2 hours. (Check to make sure that the water level isn’t getting too low; fill with more water, if necessary.)
6) Carefully remove the foil sealing the pot — open the foil away from you to protect your arms and face — and then take off the foil covering the pan. To test that the pudding is done, stick a skewer or thin knife into the center of the pudding — the skewer or knife should come out dry.
7) To remove the pudding from the pan (a tricky operation), I find it easiest to carefully empty the water into the sink, and then carefully ease the baking pan out on its side. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the pudding cool for 5 minutes. Detach the pudding from the sides of the pan using a kitchen knife, if necessary, then gently invert it onto the rack. Allow the pudding to cool for 30 minutes.
8) If you’d like to flame the pudding — nothing’s more dramatic — warm 1/3 cup of brandy, cognac or rum in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour the warm liquid over the top of the pudding, and then, taking every precaution that Smokey Bear would, set a match to the alcohol. When the flames die out, cut the pudding into generous pieces. Actually, there’s so much fruit in the pudding, the only way to cut neat slices is to make the slices generous. Serve the pudding warm with whipped cream, ice cream or apple sauce. Alternatively, you can cool the pudding completely, wrap it very well in several layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to two weeks. When you are ready to serve, butter the pan the pudding was cooked in, slip the pudding back into the pan, seal the pan with foil, and re-steam for 45 minutes. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

"Santa Baby"



Santa Baby Eartha Kitt with Henri Rene Orchestra RCA Victor. 1953 45rpm single. Catalog #20-5502

    In 1953, Eartha Kitt was a sultry nightclub performer who had just earned a recording contract with RCA Victor.  In an effort to capitalize on the sophisticated vamp’s sex-appeal, RCA recorded her first single, C’est Si Bon (It’s So Good), and people took notice.  RCA wanted a follow up and contracted Joan Javits through a third party to write it.  She, in turn, tapped Philip Springer as her writing partner. 
     In an interview with digital sheet music supplier, Musicnotes, Philip said that the songwriting process was almost instantaneous.  Joan had a lyric… “Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me.”  Hearing that lyric, Philip was inspired and the music for the song was written in five minutes.  He and Javits, then worked for about three weeks to fit the lyrics and music together.
     The song is credited to Joan Javits, Philip Springer, and Tony Springer though Tony played no part in writing the song.  Both Joan and Philip worked for the publishing company ASCAP.  In order to get the song recorded, Joan and Philip gave credit to Philip’s brother, Tony, who was employed by rival publishing company, BMI.  The legal fiction worked, and, as Philip recalled, “Santa Baby was an immediate hit in October 1953.”  The following year, though, BMI would make a move that essentially ended the song’s commercial success for many years.  In that year, BMI asked Joan to publish five different sets of lyrics for the song.  It is easy to understand how this move confused the public.  No one knew which set of lyrics was the “right” one, and “Santa Baby” lost its holiday sparkle.  The song received little air play until the end of its copyright term in 1981 when the rights reverted back to Joan Javits and Philip Springer.
     In his own words, Philip “really believed that this song was something, so I begged Joan not to sell the rights to anyone but me.”  In 1981, Joan did sell her rights to Philip, and he became the sole owner of “Santa Baby.”  Thus began a seven year labor.  Philip pounded the pavement begging DJs to play the song and artists to record it.  He believed the song was special, and he would not give up though friends, family and colleagues believed his endeavor to be a lost cause.

A Very Special Christmas Special Olympics

     In an ironic twist of fate, Philip would see his song become a major hit again ….but he had to give up his royalties to make it happen.  In 1988, A&M records approached Philip asking him if he would give up royalties for record sales if his song was released by a major recording artist.  If he agreed, it would mean that Philip would receive no money from the recording.  He had been working for seven years to bring “Santa Baby” back to the air waves.  Now it seemed, he had an opportunity to do just that but give up all royalties on the recording?  When Philip learned that the artist was Madonna and that all proceeds from the sale of the recording would be donated to the Special Olympic Fund, he agreed.
     “Santa Baby” was originally recorded by Eartha Kitt with Henri Rene and his Orchestra in 1953.  The song, a huge hit for Kitt, was, she has said, one of her favorite songs to record.  She reprised the song in the 1954 film “New Faces” and again in a 1963 recording for Kapp Records.  The Kapp Records release was a more up-tempo arrangement and served as the basis for Madonna’s rendition for the Special Olympics Fund album.
     After Madonna recorded “Santa Baby”, Philip indicated that “It was no longer an obscure Christmas song.  In quick order, other great things started happening.  Santa Baby was included in the award-winning film Driving Miss Daisy, then everybody wanted to do Santa Baby.  One by one, every major television show put this song into their annual Christmas Special.”  The song has been recorded in recent years by major artists such as Taylor Swift, Kylie Minogue, Natalie Merchant, The Pussycat Dolls, LeeAnn Rimes, Faith Evans, and Kellie Pickler.
     One must enjoy the irony of this song’s story.  A Christmas list of extravagant and luxurious gifts regained commercial success because the copyright holder gave to charity all his earnings for a particular recording of the song.  How’s that for a Christmas story?

Santa Baby

Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree,
For me.
been an awful good girl,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.                               

Santa baby, a 54 convertible too,
Light blue.
I’ll wait up for you dear,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.

Think of all the fun I’ve missed,
Think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed,
Next year I could be just as good,
If you’ll check off my Christmas list,

Santa baby, I wanna yacht,
And really that’s not a lot,
Been an angel all year,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.

Santa honey, there’s one thing I really do need,
The deed
To a platinum mine,
Santa honey, so hurry down the chimney tonight.

Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with a duplex,
And checks.
Sign your ‘X’ on the line,
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight.

Come and trim my Christmas tree,
With some decorations bought at Tiffany’s,
I really do believe in you,
Let’s see if you believe in me,

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing,
A ring.
I don’t mean on the phone,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry, tonight.

This blog is written and published by DLF Music Transfer, LLC  dba Christmas LPs to CD.  For more information on Christmas music or to purchase CDs of classic Christmas records on CD, please visit our website www.christmaslpstocd.com , call us 888-384-6970, or e-mail us david@dlfmusic.com.