THE SAUL BIRNS STORY

Tim Fabrizio: "In the early 1990s I was participating in an antique show in the eastern USA, when Saul Birn's grandson came up to me and introduced himself.  I was already familiar with his grandfather because I had seem a number of talking machines with Saul Birns tags on them. The grandson wanted to buy a machine that had his grandfather's logo on it.  Unfortnately, I did not have one for sale at that time.  Although Mr. Birns sold a lot of machines in his day, they were far from common.  I did not fully understand the whole saga of Mr. Birns and his Lower East Side empire.  But I do now, and here it is....."

Birns began in a building that is still standing today, at 117 Second Ave, between 6th and 7th streets, in NYC.  Looking at the building, you see a large show window on the second floor.  It's likely Mr. Birns began in that second floor space.  Birns advertised in magazines and newspapers catering to the immigrant waves that were coming to the USA -- in a number of different languages.  The plan he offered was a talking machine on free trial.  Mr. Birns tended to be a little "loose" with the particulars of his offer.  In fact, his "30 days free trial" was not free, but required a deposit, which in some cases was equal to the wholesale price of the talking machines he was distributing.  That might be only $8, but to a struggling immigrant family it was a significant amount.  The customer did in fact receive a talking machine (after paying the shipping and the deposit), though it might not be the one they thought they were getting.  The customer was then responsible for paying off whatever balance remained in installments.  It wasn't a free trial.  But Birn's himself did get a trial -- for mail fraud.  He was convicted, but received only a small fine.  He went on to make a lot of money.  He moved down Second Avenue to No. 111.  Eventually he knocked down 111 and a couple adjacent buildings and put up the Saul Birns Building, which is there today.  His building had rooms on the upper floors that over the years would host community action meetings and social events.  In this way, Saul Birns eventually contributed to the betterment of the Lower East Side.

Birns traded under a variety of business names -- the Atlantic Talking Machine Co., the Metropolitan Gramophone [or Phonograph] Co., and finally just as Saul Birns.  He was successful right through the 1920s, even planning to set up a radio station (which never got off the ground). Saul Birns: self-made man.

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