Tams-Witmark is an American company that provides professional and amateur theaters license to

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

scripts and scores. Among the many notable properties handled by the company are ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off- ...

''; ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

''; ''

Gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

''; ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The play's book was influenced by El ...

''; '' Hello, Dolly!''; ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

''; ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

'' and ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical conceived by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is cent ...

''. The company has also acquired numerous properties often inspired by or based upon

motion pictures A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s, such as

42nd Street 42nd Street most commonly refers to: *42nd Street (Manhattan), a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan It may also refer to: *42nd Street (film), ''42nd Street'' (film), a 1933 American Warner Bros. musical film with lyri ...

The Wizard of Oz ''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...

Meet Me In St. Louis ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis ...

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' is a 1967 musical with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and (in a 1999 revision) Andrew Lippa. It is based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip ''Peanuts''. The musical ...

, and Li'l Abner. The company has also prepared for licensing simpler, shorter

derivative works In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of a first, previously created original work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent from t ...

for performance by

elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...

and

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

students, such as an abbreviated version of ''Bye, Bye Birdie''.

History

In 1922, Sargent Aborn (1867–1956), brother of Milton Aborn (1864–1933), both of the

Aborn Opera Company The Aborn Opera Company, also known as the Aborn English Opera Company, was an American opera company that was active from 1895 through 1922. History Founded and operated by brothers Milton Aborn (1864–1933) and Sargent Aborn (1866–1956), t ...

, acquired the Arthur W. Tams (1848–1927) music library,
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
', 3rd ed., by Thomas S. Hischak,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(2004), pg. 4; a collection that had become the largest circulating music library in the world — and by extension, Witmark's biggest competitor in the music-rental field. In January 1925, the company was formed as a merger of the Arthur W. Tams Music Library (1870) and the M. Witmark & Sons Music Library, ending 30 years of intense rivalry. The combined company, operating as the Tam-Witmark Music Library Inc. (a New York corporation) secured its position as the largest source of musical-comedy and operatic music for amateur and professional productions.
American Popular Music and Its Business: The First Four Hundred Years — Volume 3: From 1900 to 1984
'' by Russell Sanjek,

(1988), pg. 101; At the time of the merger, the company managed the works of such notable composers as

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( , ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era known primarily for American military March (music), marches. He is known as "The March King" or th ...

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

and

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and co ...

. Shortly after consolidation, it also began to manage music by

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

and

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

Guy Bolton Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical theatre, musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. B ...

and

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

. It added to its collection during those early years two of its most popular works, ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, revised considerably by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madc ...

'' and ''

Girl Crazy ''Girl Crazy'' is a 1930 musical by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Co-leads Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman made their stage debuts in the first production and Rogers became an overnight sta ...

'', on which was based the musical '' Crazy for You''. The company has continued to expand its collection with many notable and award-winning musicals, including more recently ''

The Will Rogers Follies ''The Will Rogers Follies'' is a Musical theatre, musical with a book by Peter Stone (writer), Peter Stone, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman. It focuses on the life and career of humorist and performer Will Rogers, ...

'', ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' and '' City of Angels.'' It was announced that Tams-Witmark now holds the licensing to " Lysistrata Jones". Sargent Aborn was president of Tams-Witmark from its founding until his death in 1957. In 1942, Sargent Aborn and his son, Louis Henry Aborn (1912–2005), acquired the rights to the Tams Library. As of 2014, the co-chairmen were Robert Aborn Hut (born 1935) and Sargent Louis Aborn (born 1948) and the executive vice-president was Peter Aborn Hut (born 1940). All three are grandchildren of Sargent Aborn. Tams-Witmark was acquired by

Concord Bicycle Music Alchemy Copyrights, Limited liability company, LLC, trade name, doing business as Concord, is an Privately held company, independent American music company. It develops, manages and acquires sound recordings, music publishing rights, theatrical p ...

in early 2018.Hetrick, Adam
"Concord Music Expands Theatrical Reach with Acquisition of Tams-Witmark Music Library"
Playbill.com, February 1, 2018

References

External links

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External links

heading.

* ttp://www.tams-witmark.com/ Official site {{Authority control American theatre managers and producers Theatre in the United States Music organizations based in the United States