Career
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 Language). 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."
As evidence of the size of his firm,, was one of seven defendants named in a 1920 Sherman antitrust suit brought by the United States Justice Department for controlling 80% of the music publishing business.
Consolidated Music Corporation – 144 West. 37th Saint, New York, New York
Irving Berlin, Incorporated. – 1567 Broadway, New York, New York
– 231 West 40th Street, New York, New York (in 1904, 134 West 37th Street, New York, New York)
T.B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Incorporated.
– 62 West. 45th Saint, New York, New York
Shapiro, Bernstein & Company, Incorporated. – 218 West. 47th Saint, New York, New York
Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Incorporated.
– 1571 Broadway, New York, New York (sold in bankruptcy to Mills Music in 1929)
M. Witmark & Sons, Incorporated.
– 144 West. 37th Street, New York, New York
"My Blue Heaven," written by Walter Donaldson (music) in collaboration with George Whiting (lyrics), became the biggest song in the history of Gene Austin recorded it (Victor 20964), selling over five million copies, and Eddie Cantor plugged it in vaudeville and in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. lieutenant sold over five million copies of sheet music In 1935, five years after the death of Leo Feist, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of
Spouse
In a pseudo-secret ceremony, Leopold Feist married Bessie Meyer June 24, 1904.
Siblings
Felix F. Feist (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1936), Leo"s brother, was a sales executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Felix Ellison Feist (February 28, 1910 – September 2, 1965) — a film and television director — was the son of Felix F. Feist. Felix Ellison Feist, as stepfather, adopted Raymond East. Feist.
Children
Leonard South. Feist (1911–1996) – Leo and Bessie"s son – was a music publisher, copyright expert, and advocate for the music publishing industry.