Arthur Shimkin

Arthur Shimkin was the leading children’s music maker from the baby-boomer period. The longtime mind of the tiny Golden Information label, he gained a Grammy for his focus on Leonard Bernstein’s famous documenting of Prokofiev’s Peter as well as the Wolf. Given birth to Oct 8, 1922, in Brooklyn, Shimkin analyzed economics at Columbia University or college, and upon graduating in 1943 he offered in the Military Air flow Corps. Upon coming back from World Battle II, he worked well being a freelance article writer, and in 1948 became a member of publishing company Simon & Schuster. Designated to develop brand-new marketing principles, Shimkin poured over comment credit cards mailed to Simon & Schuster by parents tired by reading the same tales to their kids over and over. In response he pitched creator Max Shuster the idea of Small Golden Information, the initial U.S. label solely specialized in children’s music. Initially producing colorful plastic material discs tailored designed for children’s record players, by the first ’50s Small Golden shifted into traditional vinyl fabric releases aswell, attracting A-list skill including Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, and Danny Kaye furthermore to employing lots of the best session players available; perhaps especially, vocalist/comedian Jimmy Durante — the “Schnozzola” himself — documented a smash rendition of Johnny Marks’ vacation perennial “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Small Golden’s topics ranged from fairy stories to ghost tales to lullabies, and Shimkin offered as executive manufacturer greater than 3,000 information in all, offering more than five million copies. Nominated for 13 Grammys, he earned in 1961 for Peter as well as the Wolf, documented by Bernstein and the brand new York Philharmonic. That same season he produced Youthful Abe Lincoln, the first Broadway musical created for children; though it shut after simply 22 shows, it afterwards enjoyed new lease of life off-Broadway and on the nationwide movie theater circuit. Shimkin ultimately extended into mainstream pop, working the Bell label just before founding Sesame Road Records with the Children’s Tv Workshop. Sesame Road Fever, a beloved parody from the Bee Gees’ landmark Sunday Evening Fever soundtrack, continued to sell a lot more than 500,000 copies, an extraordinary amount for such a distinct segment discharge. After retiring, Shimkin battled tumor from the larynx, and afterwards mentored various other laryngectomy sufferers. He died Dec 4, 2006, at age 84.