Re: Littlek
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:Littlek, just like Francis, you lack imagination. Do I have to train all of you how to send birthday wishes. That was your mother's job. Grrrrr!
BBB :wink:
It's not lack of imagination but a bit more a matter of reserve (we are so shy :wink: ).
But can expand on this:
Who does own the publishing rights to "Happy Birthday to You"? They were acquired by a New York accountant named John F. Sengstack when he bought the Clayton F. Summy Company in the 1930s; Sengstack eventually relocated the company to New Jersey and renamed it Birch Tree Ltd. in the 1970s. Warner Chappell (a Warner Communications division), the largest music publisher in the world, purchased Birch Tree Ltd. in late 1998 for a reported sale price of $25 million; the company then became Summy-Birchard Music, now a part of the giant AOL Time Warner media conglomerate. According to David Sengstack, president of Summy-Birchard, "Happy Birthday to You" brings in about $2 million in royalties annually, with the proceeds split between Summy-Birchard and the Hill Foundation. (Both Hill sisters died unmarried and childless, so the Hill Foundation's share of the royalties have presumably been going to charity or to nephew Archibald Hill ever since Patty Hill passed away in 1946.)
As writer Bruce Anderson noted in "Beyond Measure," his excellent article on the "Happy Birthday" phenomenon:
The next time you hear "Happy Birthday" in a movie ?- and now that you're listening, it won't be long ?- stay for the credits at the end of the movie. Think about how Hollywood would love the story of the Hill sisters, two Southern kindergarten teachers who write a song that they only hope will be a useful teacher's aid. Instead, the song is a hit that never goes away. It is sung hundreds of millions of times each year, a musical juggernaut that tops the efforts of Tin Pan Alley's best. Appropriately, then, film credits are the one place left where Mildred and Patty Hill still get their due.
More later...
