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100 YEARS OF WHACKING THE MUSIC MELON
(April 2, 2021) 100 years ago this month, songwriters in the United States received their first-ever royalties for the public performance of their works, as the Directors of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers inaugurated a quarterly ritual that Variety would dub “whacking the music melon.” [N.B.: The title of this post is…
Read MoreCHARLIE IN THE HAREM
Charlie Chaplin’s films represented only a small fraction of the commerce being transacted in his name, image, and antics during the World War I era. Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer recounts how Chaplin’s lawyer, Nathan Burkan, chased down spurious Chaplin films that he considered “vulgar, suggestive, and obscene.”
Read MoreLITTLE GLORIA
At the moment of her death this past June, it could fairly be said that Gloria Vanderbilt, at the age of 95, had been a celebrity longer than anyone on earth. My forthcoming book, Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture, recounts the remarkable events, including the…
Read MoreCEASE AND DESIST LETTERS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE – CIVIL RIGHTS HEROS EDITION
With the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act fast upon us, the market for papers, ephemera, and memorabilia of the civil rights movement seems to heating up, bringing with it a wave of legal activity by the heirs, assigns, and executors of some of its most iconic figures, what we cheekily call “cease and desist…
Read MoreCHUNGA'S REVENGE
The lead vocals for Frank Zappa’s fine 1970 Chunga’s Revenge album were performed by a duo billed as the THE PHLORESCENT LEECH & EDDIE. It was a badly kept secret that this was actually Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, founders of the 60s soft rock band the Turtles, who used the pseudonym due to a lingering contractual dispute…
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