From:  "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Fri Oct 8, 2004  1:31 am 
Subject:  This Is My Story : Hy Weiss
 
HY WEISS

Born Hyman Weiss, February 1923, Romania

Hy Weiss was one of the most colourful characters of the New York
independent record business in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Romania,
he moved to New York (The Bronx) with his family when he was just a
few years old. Weiss got his experience in the music industry working
as a salesman for many of the legendary R & B labels, such as Modern,
Exclusive, Jubilee and Apollo. Modern and Exclusive were West Coast
labels, but Weiss handled the New York distribution centre, together
with his brother Sam. The Weiss brothers started their first label, Parody
Records, in 1949, but this was a short-lived affair. More important was
the creation of the Old Town label in August 1953. The rest of this story
will concentrate on the history of that particular label.

Old Town's principal music category was doo wop, but the releases
encompassed R&B, blues, rock 'n' roll, gospel, soul, jazz, even folk,
country and pop. Practically all of the artists on the label were from New
York City and its suburbs. The name "Old Town" came from the Old Town
Paper Corporation, where Sam Weiss was employed in 1953. It was a
successful manufacturer of duplicating machines and carbon paper, with
offices on Madison Avenue. The brothers used the company stationery
for music-related correspondence without the corporation ever finding out
and so Hy and Sam were able to create the impression that "Old Town
Records" had a prestigious Madison Avenue address, while the brothers
actually worked from a small office at the Triboro movie theatre.
Hy Weiss was not afraid of a little payola. In fact, he has bragged that
he was the inventor of the "$50 handshake", which was one of many
ingenious ways of encouraging radio stations to play your releases.
Weiss was able to get a lot of radio exposure on the programmes of
Alan Freed on stations WINS and WABC.

The most prolific group on Old Town was The Solitaires, who had 19
single releases between 1954 and 1963. They are probably best known
for "Walking Along", released in January 1957, which became a hit for
the Diamonds (# 29) in late 1958. Hy Weiss then licensed the original
Solitaires' version to his friend Leonard Chess for national distribution on
his Argo label, but it still failed to dent the charts. It became the only
Solitaires single to get a UK release (London HLM 8745).
More about the Solitaires at:
http://lulusko.www7.50megs.com/oldtown/solitaires2.html

Old Town's first chart entry was "We Belong Together" by Robert (Carr) &
Johnny (Mitchell), which went to # 32 pop and # 12 R&B in the spring of
1958. In 1959, "So Fine" by the Fiestas peaked at # 11 pop and # 3 R&B,
and the next year gave the label its first Top 10 pop hit : "Let the Little Girl
Dance" by Billy Bland (# 7). However, the biggest hit on Old Town was a
reissue of an obscure record from 1958: "There's A Moon Out Tonight" by
the Capris (# 3 in 1961), now a doo wop standard. In 1962, the Old Town
hit momentum was maintained by "Dear One" by Larry Finnegan (# 11)
and "Remember Then" by the Earls (# 24).

The British Invasion hit Old Town as hard as it did every other label, big
and small. Hy Weiss did not try to mimic the English beat groups, but
made a valiant attempt to enter the soul market. Old Town survived into
the 1970s mainly by issuing the recordings of deep-voiced crooner Arthur
Prysock (brother of sax man Red Prysock), who did well in the R&B, pop
and album charts between 1963 and 1977. Generally though, the 1970s,
with its overwrought soul and disco productions, were a musical no-no for
Weiss. But there was enough to keep him busy in the days of cutout and
reissue albums.

In 1996, Hy eventually cashed in his chips by selling the Old Town label
and the valuable publishing offshoot, Maureen Music, to Music Sales of
New York. They keep the Old Town name alive by making licensing deals
with various record labels, especially Ace in the UK.

Ace releases featuring Old Town material:
- Hy Weiss Presents Old Town Records (Ace  CDCH2 979). A two-CD
set issued in 2003, to commemorate the golden anniversary of Old Town
Records. 60 tracks and an informative 28-page booklet by John Broven.
- The Earls, Remember Then : The Best of TThe Earls (Ace 366).
- The Fiestas, The Oh So Fine Fiestas (Acee 382).
- Various artists, Old Town Doo Wop, Vol.  1 (Ace 433).
- Various artists, Old Town Doo Wop, Vol.  2 (Ace 470).