Our Own Hall of Fame

ARTHUR JUDSON

MANAGED TOP STARS

Judson Mr. Big Of Music World

DAYTON DAILY NEWS   MARCH 14, 1961

BY MARY ELLEN LYNCH

Daily News Staff Writer

     For a quarter of a century big, unapproachable Arthur Judson was the most powerful figure on the American musical scene.

     The Dayton native (who abandoned his own career as a violinist—“I was good, but no Kreisler or Heifetz”), headed the nation’s largest artists booking agency.

     For 34 years he also was manager of the New York Philharmonic Symphony society with a deciding voice in the selection of all soloists and conductors.

     Judson was one of the organizers of the Columbia Broadcasting system, an officer of the French academy, personal manager to stars like Nelson Eddy, Jascha Heifetz, Lucrezia Bori.

     IT STARTED for Judson, the son of a Dayton postal worker, when he began squeaking away on a violin at the age of 12 while his mongrel dog, “Jack,” howled at his feet.

     Judson was graduated from Steele high school in 1899, worked his way through Denison university, appeared as concert master at Dayton’s old Victoria theater.

     For seven years he was dean of Denison’s conservatory of music, then tackled New York to work as advertising manager on the magazine “Musical America.”

     IN 1915 JUDSON—who doted on Elizabethan literature and liked to work standing up at a high, antique desk—was named manager of the Philadelphia orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

     At the same time, with a stake of $250, he launched his own musical booking agency.  Fifteen years later it merged with four others to become the Columbia Concerts Corp.—now Columbia Artists’ Management.

     JUDSON BELIEVED that the best of classical music, interpreted by great artists, had as much place in Podunk as it did at Carnegie hall.  And he set out, through community concerts, to give America the musical diet he thought it deserved.  He became the nation’s No. 1 music merchant.

     In 1922 Judson also was named manager of the New York Philharmonic.  Four years later he organized his own independent broadcasting company which became a part of CBS where he served as a director until 1930 (and still is a major stockholder).

     THE HANDSOME impresario (Judson was once a Lord Calvert “Man of Distinction”) introduced Jose Iturbi, Bidu Sayao and Vladimer Horowitz to American audiences.

     He charged his clients a 20 percent agent’s fee instead of the usual 10 and had no trouble getting it.  Shrewd business man Judson knew where the jobs were.

     EVENTUALLY his ever-spreading ventures were bitterly opposed by some musicians.  Stokowski reportedly maneuvered Judson’s resignation from the Philadelphia orchestra in 1934.  But he continued as one of the world’s most influential music men.

     Today 80-year-old Judson is still the active head of Judson, O’Neill and Judd, a division of Columbia Artists.

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