MY DADS "GREEN FAMILY" PART TWO

Born Feb. 6, 1916, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Green grew up on the west side of Chicago. (Although his birth certificate lists his first name as Irvin, he went by Irving). He attended St. John's University but dropped out after two years to work during the Depression.




After working for his father's paint contracting company, he went into the sheet-metal business with a partner.



They made hydraulic presses and pressed records.



"In those days, 10-inch records sold for at least 79 cents," Green said in the Desert Sun interview. "We were pressing them for others, and we decided to press them for ourselves."



When the use of shellac was restricted during World War II, Green's company produced an innovative plastic record.



"It actually was an unbreakable 10-inch record, whereas shellac was breakable," he said. "That's what started us in the music business. We knew how to make the record, and there was a tremendous shortage of records at the time."



In 1952, Green and five other record industry chief executives formed the Recording Industry Assn. of America, whose mission was to "foster a business and legal climate that supports and promotes its members' creativity and financial vitality."



As a record producer and distributor, Green was known for allowing artists to own their copyrights.



"I said, 'I want to stay in the recording business. Let them have their own publishing," he told the Desert Sun. "That's what brought some artists to us, I think. They knew we weren't in any side business. That travels in the industry quite quick. I did not publish any of the music we recorded. I just felt, let them own their own and I would show them how to copyright."



After Green sold Mercury in the late 1960s, his grandson said, he continued to run the label for five years.



He then turned his hobby of building homes into a second career.



In partnership with developer Bill Levitt (of Levittown, Pa., fame), he built 18,000 homes in southern Iran.



When the Shah of Iran was driven out of the country in 1979, Green and Levitt's company was taken over by the new government and Green and his associates were provided safe passage back to the United States.



Green then started Landau Development in Palm Springs, which has built hundreds of homes in the area.



Green continued to make weekly site inspections until about a week before he died, his grandson said.



A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Temple Isaiah, 332 W. Alejo Road, Palm Springs.



In addition to Ross, Green is survived by his wife, Pamela; two daughters, Roberta Hunt and Kelli Ross; two other grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.



Marvin's sister provides this link to the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper. In it is a story about Irvin Green the founder and the owner of MERCURY RECORDS--a pioneer, who among other things "invented," developed and refined aggressive product promotion.



http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?s_site=thedesertsun&p_multi=DSSB
&p_product=DSSB&p_

theme=gannett&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=irvin%20AND%20green&s_

dispstring=irvin%20green%20AND%20date()&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no

"Musical Pioneer--Mercury founder instrumental in breaking barriers. Irvin Green of Palm Springs is still doing what he loves as he turns 90 years old today. 'I like to put something together and build it,' he says at his modest office near the Palm Springs Police Department. 'It's an interesting activity' He's talking about the real estate development business. . . . [But] Green started Mercury Records in 1944. . . . Recording legend Quincy Jones said Green broke racial barriers with him . . . . Green attributes his egalitarian attitude to growing up in the poor west side of Chicago with all types of people."

Irv Green was indeed a pioneer. Among other innovations was his MERCURY RECORDS Classical Division. A group of people that included Wilma Cozart, the Division's head in the 1950s and '60s and the first female record-producer. This Division was arguably the most creative in American recorded classical music and even today its production is available on CD.

Its Music Director, Harold Lawrence, has written many stories for my RECOLLECTIONS. They provide first-hand accounts of the record-biz in the 1960s. Read them in my JOURNAL OF RECORDED MUSIC 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11. And his wife Mary Morris Lawrence photographed many of the Mercury artists. Check out her work at MOSTLY MARY MORRIS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Record-lore has it that Mercury Records was set up by Chicago business men to produce records for the Juke boxes in their bars---ONLY IN AMERICA.