Bourne Co. Music Publishers - History

History

Bourne Music was founded in 1919 by Saul Bourne (born Saul H. Bornstein, also Sol Bourne, c.1884, died Oct 13, 1957 age 73), Max Winslow (c.1883-1942) and Irving Berlin (1888–1989). Bourne had been the professional manager of Berlin's own publishing company, Irving Berlin Music. One day, Berlin accused Bornstein of putting fake contracts through the company. According to Irving Berlin biographer Laurence Bergreen,

"The two antagonists met shortly after the confrontation, and Berlin offered Bornstein a way to leave the company and save face. It was, under the circumstances, a generous deal. Berlin would retain the copyrights to — and thus the right to publish — his own songs, and Bornstein could take the copyrights to all other songs published by Berlin's company. Those non-Berlin songs amounted to a large share of the business — not half, but enough for Bornstein to become the proprietor of a lucrative music publishing company without having to do anything except agree to Berlin's conditions."

The partnership between Bourne and Berlin ended in 1944 (Winslow having died earlier). Saul's wife Bonnie took over the running of the company when he died in 1957, and their daughter took over when she died in 1993.

Its copyrights consist of classics, Charlie Chaplin songs, and the soundtracks to early Disney motion pictures such as Snow White, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. The daughter of Saul and Bonnie, Beebe Bourne was the modern day publisher until her death, 1 Nov 2005. Ms. Bourne and her Mother were the only 2 women in history to receive the worlds most prestigious publishing award. Its office is in New York City.