[78-L] Chesterfield Music Shops - CMS Lp's

Wed Aug 26 14:48:16 PDT 2015

  Just a little update - Steve Smolian responded with this interesting
recollection:
  From: Steven Smolian [mailto:smolians at erols.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2015 6:27 PM
To: 'Thomas Stern'
Subject: RE: HI Steven - Can you answer this ??? Chesterfield Music Shops -
CMS Lp's

Hi Thomas,
CMS was on Chambers Street in the NY financial district.  They developed a
mail-order business selling to educational institutions.  They were part of
my Everest Records salesman's route, back in the day.  

The two guys who ran it were pretty sharp.  They began to pick up tiny lines
that focused on the educational market.  Some they had recorded themselves.

Eventually the tail and dog switched places from a profit standpoint.  They
decided to move closer to one of their homes-  in Mt. Vernon, I think- it's
been a while.
By shedding the retail business - no need to keep a broad stock with the
time-consuming process of getting unsold items into the returns chain in the
timely manner that required, and the blessing of shedding the rent in an
expensive area of Manhattan, they continued for some years working out of
Westchester.  I think they once exhibited at a Music Library Association
conference.

I can see their faces even now, 50-plus years later.   Their shop was a
gathering place once a week for all the New York record salesmen to meet up-
I forget what day of the week it was, but  it was in the AM.   I was
mentored by one of them but information was freely exchanged among all.  The
guys with the fat and heavy binders all showed up- Capitol. Columbia,
Stanley Lewis a one-stop- small labels- Westminster & Vanguard were their
biggest classical clients but I think they had Lyricord and Bartok as well..
Also Elektra, , ethnic LP labels, Colonial, maybe Monitor and Folkways, odd
polka labels, etc.  There was another one-stop guy whose company I forget.
It was completely informal.  I think the RCA guy was never part of this
bunch.  

One fellow took his inventory and another would do his sales pitch to a boss
and take the week's order  and the remaining 3 or 4 would perform record
gossip.  For this guy, it was educational, all right.

Steve Smolian
----------------------------------

  I also did a little further searching and
found the following:
  IN "Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and
Children Record Guild Series, 1946-1977" By David Bonner the following
information about CMS:
  "CMS was an outgrowth of Chesterfield Music Shops, which was begun by
Irving Tepper and Jerry Schoenbaum in the 1940's as a wholesaler and retail
mail-order operation, selling discount classical records to schools,
libraries, and the general public. By the early 1960's, longtime
Chesterfield employee LEON GOLOVNER had become a partner in the company, and
began consulting with the New York Library Association on  its annual kidisk
directories. In the 1950s, Chesterfield issued at least one title (Oscar
Brand's Backroom Ballads) under its CMS imprint, but it was not until the
mid-1960's that it became a full-fledged label, and began developing a large
catalog of spoken-word and other literary-type recordings....
  In 1974 Horace Grenell sold DESTO to Golovner, who then reissued Desto
titles on the CMS label...." 
  I saw a 1965 catalog from Chesterfield, celebrating their 20th Anniversary
- that would put the founding of Chesterfield in 1945!
  I just recently discovered the DESTO recording of THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (John
Gay & John Pepusch) directed by Max Goberman was reissued by CMS as 2-LP
gatefold from the original 3-LP box.
  To return to my main interest - were there any other releases in those
very early 100 and 200 series ???
  Many Thanks!
  Best wishes, Thomas.

-----Original Message-----
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Stern
Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2015 8:14 PM
To: '78-L Mail List'
Subject: Re: [78-L] Chesterfield Music Shops - CMS Lp's

Hi David,
  Thanks - hope Steve will enlighten us.
  The only other CHESTERFIELD MUSIC SHOPS Lp I am aware of is CMS 101 a 10"
Lp:
OSCAR BRAND "The Wandering Minstrel"
Back-Room Ballads
 Maid of Amsterdam
 Tom Bolynn
 Early One Morn
 The Fireship
 Ramblin' Wretch
 Sunday School
 Red Light Saloon
 The Bigler

Best wishes, Thomas.

-----Original Message-----
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of David Lennick
Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2015 7:33 PM
To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Subject: Re: [78-L] Chesterfield Music Shops - CMS Lp's

I know of spoken word on CMS, but not vocal reissues. Unless it's a
different CMS. Steve Smolian would know.

dl

> To: ARSCLIST at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV; 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 19:23:11 -0400
> From: sternth at attglobal.net.invalid
> Subject: [78-L] Chesterfield Music Shops - CMS Lp's
> 
> 
> Noticed the following:
> 
>   CMS 201  Fernando de Lucia  Arias & Duets     RESTORATION SERIES
> 
> liner notes by MORRIS M GORDON promise future releases -
> 
>   "CMS will continue to obtain rare opera recordings and assemble
> 
> them through the long playing record medium.  It is felt that the long
> 
> playing assemblies will be a boon to the record collector, bringing
> 
> to his phonograph rare recordings at a reasonable price."
> 
>   Were there any other releases ???
> 
>   Who was Morris M Gordon ???
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Best wishes, Thomas.
> 
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