SHAME ON “BABY, IT’S YOU” PUBLICISTS!
April 26, 2011
After writing a few articles about my old boss Florence Greenberg and the Broadway show “BABY, IT”S YOU” I got a letter from the show’s publicist,
”Hope you are doing well! I wanted to follow up and let you know that BABY IT’S YOU will be hosting a Blogger Night! If you are interested, Follow the directions on the page to win a pair of tickets to the show…Let me know if you have any questions!”
Yeah…I’ve got one question, “ARE YOU CRAZY?” WIN a pair of tickets? I’m disabled and I live in the California desert, and I might’ve considered going to New York to see the show when it opens now I DON’T THINK SO! WIN a pair of tickets indeed?
I may not be Perez Hilton, but I have over 1,840,000 views on Artie Wayne on the Web and 40 years worth of credentials as an “underground tastemaker” from helping to break “Jesus Christ Superstar” https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2006/07/31/jesus-christ-superstar-ascends-2/ to being the first to rave about Tommy James book, “Me, The Mob, and The Music” https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/tommy-james-shocking-new-book-methe-mob-and-the-music/
I may not have a huge following, but my readers are amazingly influential as you can see from the comments made at the bottom of these articles https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/ellie-greenwich-r-i-p-rock-in-perpetuity/ as well as https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/whos-going-to-replace-simon-cowell-ron-fair-or-joel-diamond/
BTW, I googled Florence Greenberg “Baby, It’s You” and here’s what came up.
-
News & Reviews – Baby It’s You! – Official Broadway Site
Inspired by the true story of Florence Greenberg, the woman who in the late 1950’s took the male-dominated music industry by storm, Baby It’s You! is a new …
babyitsyouonbroadway.com/news.html – Cached
I wonder how my friend Artie Ripp, one of the producers of “BABY, IT”S YOU” is going to respond when he finds out how his publicity is being handled (he also is one my readers).
I wish the show well, but don’t expect me or any of my inconsequential “blogger friends” to support it.
Regretfully, Artie Wayne https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
P.S. last night I put this article up on Facebook and got these responses.
Todd Everett I should point out that you could have seen the show here in L.A. — it played forever at the Coast Playhouse (where I saw it), then had its “premiere” at the Pasadena Playhouse. Changed quite a bit, I guess, between the two; and probably between Pasadena and Broadway. I paid for my ticket, though through Goldstar
Ellen Sander Jeez if they had to comp every blogger, they’d have nothing left to sell!
Artie Wayne MAYBE I’M SPOILED, BUT THE LAST SEATS I PAID FOR WERE THE BEATLES AT CARNEGIE HALL AND WAS PISSED OFF HAVING TO PAY $10.00 EACH!
Sally Stevens Artie’s point was that he’s been blogging about Florence for quite some time, as he used to work with her back in the day. It’s a little different from “every blogger.” He still comes up in the top three in the Google rankings when you search Florence.
Tom Tom Slocum Artie is correct..
Ellen Sander I do see his point.
Copyright 2011 by Artie Wayne http://artiewayne.com
Here’s my best article on Florence Greenberg and, “BABY, IT’S YOU” https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/a-tribute-to-florence-greenberg/
FLASH!!!!!!!! THIS JUST CAME IN FROM MARK KENNEDY ASSOCIATED PRESS DRAMA WRITER!
By MARK KENNEDY AP Drama Writer
The complaint filed in New York State’s Supreme Court alleges the producers of the musical did not get permission from Warwick, Chuck Jackson or Beverly Lee, Doris Coley Jackson and Addie Harris Jackson of The Shirelles to portray them on stage. It seeks unspecified damages.
“These national treasures were taken advantage of at the infancy of their careers,” said Oren Warshavsky, a lawyer at Baker Hostetler, which filed the lawsuit. “Now they have to watch it done to them again on stage and once more not get paid.” For complete story http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13470008
OK…ENOUGH FRIVOLITY! HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT MY NEW AUTOBIOGRAPHY “I DID IT FOR A SONG”, NOT ONLY DOES IT CHRONICLE MY 50 YEARS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS..IT REVEALS THE SECRET OF LIFE ITSELF! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/53813
BACK TO ARTIE WAYNE ON THE WEB! https://artiewayne.wordpress.com
ARTIE’S PHOTO’S VOLUME ONE
August 12, 2010
A TRIBUTE TO FLORENCE GREENBERG!
April 21, 2010
“In the ‘50s I grew up in the Bronx and worked in my aunt’s candy store after school. I was somewhat of a nerd, but I got hipper listening to what the kids were playing on the jukebox, especially “Met Him On A Sunday” and “Tonight’s The Night”. I never dreamed that one day I’d be working for the woman behind those records, Florence Greenberg, who describes herself as “a white woman in a black business who couldn’t carry a tune.”
Artie Kornfeld, “The Father Of Woodstock”, who co – wrote “Tonight You’re Gonna’ Fall In Love With Me”, for the Shirelles remembers, “Florence Greenberg was quite a gal! She was as strong as Morris Levy in business, but always kind to me. I do think that Marv Schlacter ran a lot of the company. I had no problem with Scepter Records…but I never checked my royalty statements back then either.”
Singer/Songwriter Larry Weiss (“Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Bend Me, Shape Me”) adds, “I REMEMBER FLORENCE GREENBERG WAS A DYNAMIC INDEPENDENT RECORD COMPANY OWNER, WHO PEOPLE HAD TO CHASE FOR AN HONEST ACCOUNTING..INCLUDING BACHARACH & DAVID..BUT SHE WAS A STRONG FORCE IN NYC FOR MANY YEARS WITH THE SHIRELLE’S, B.J. THOMAS, AND A NUMBER OF OTHER R&B ACTS.”
Russ Regan, former CEO of UNI Records and 20th Century Records adds, “I loved Florence Greenberg!! I worked for her for 3 happy years. She loved the music business; she had great Instincts for hit songs!! She loved her artists!! She was passionate about her employees!! She was truly a great human being!! They don’t make them like her anymore!!”
Ed Silvers, former president of Warner Brothers Music, fondly remembers, “Florence gave me a great opportunity, when she and Marv Schlacter offered me a job to run the publishing arm of Scepter Records, and co-own all new copyrights I could bring to the company. During my time at Scepter, I signed Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, along with their pal Joshie Armstead. Florence was a source of information on how record companies functioned in the 60’s. She had a great feel for talent–Luther Dixon, the hot producer, Hal and Burt doing Dionne, and signing The Kingsmen from a deal she had engineered with a Seattle producer.
Florencealso knew how to deal with promotion of her releases–DJ’s came to Scepter often to receive encouragement!!! I miss her to this day.”
After being unceremoniously fired from a song plugging job four days after I got married, my old friend Ed Silvers hired me to write and produce for Scepter. I got a chance to work with some of the most talented people in the world. I did demos with Nick, Valerie and Joshie, and even co-wrote a couple of songs with Nick.
Florence was very sensitive to her employees. When Ed went on a 2 week business trip to the UK, I’ll never forget that Florence gave me a chance to write and produce some sides on the Shirelles, the Kingsmen, and the Guess Who, as well as gave me unlimited time to experiment in her new 8-track state of the art studio. If only Ed had stayed away another week, I’m sure would’ve gotten Florence to let me cut Dionne Warwick and B.J.Thomas!”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
photo at top l-r Luther Dixon, Florence Greenberg, Chuck Jackson, and Marv Schlacter
photo in the middle l to r Joshie Armstead, Nick Ashford, Artie Wayne, Valerie Simpson, bottom- Ed Silvers
thanks to Brian Gari for the middle picture from his collection
Regards, Artie Wayne http://artiewayne.com
Copyright 2011 by Artie Wayne https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
EXTRA! EXTRA! YOU CAN BUY MY BOOK ,“I DID IT FOR A SONG” AT AMAZON or Barnes & Noble or 
BACK TO ARTIE WAYNE ON THE WEB! https://artiewayne.wordpress.com
Artie Wayne On The Web 
