Lawrence L. Shenfield
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Lewis "Larry" Shenfield (October 5, 1891 – October 9, 1974) was an advertising
executive who was instrumental in promoting the development of radio broadcasting during its golden age of the 1920's and 1930's. Larry lined up sponsors to help further the popularity of such stars as Orson Welles
and Dinah Shore
. After his retirement, Larry developed a second career as a prominent philatelist internationally recognized in the field of postal history
. His careful studies of the postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
are relied upon by stamp collectors and experts in philately
to the present day.
, New York
. He received his undergraduate degree in architecture in 1914 from Columbia University
in New York City
and served in the U.S. Army during World War I
, having undergone artillery
training in Plattsburgh, New York. After the war, Shenfield worked in New York as an architect for Eggers & Higgins
and designed a number of buildings in Brooklyn
and Manhattan
.
Subsequently, Shenfield left architecture for the rapidly growing field of radio and television advertising. He worked for the advertising firm Pedlar & Ryan, where he handled advertising and public relations for radio broadcasts by Orson Welles
. Later, Shenfield became a principal in the advertising firm Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield. In 1939, Shenfield became acquainted with Dinah Shore
and was instrumental in launching her career by promoting the nationwide CBS
radio program, Ben Bernie's Orchestra as well as the NBC
Radio program The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
. In 1965, Shenfield retired after Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield merged with Maurice H. Needham Co., forming the predecessor of the Omnicom Group
, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. In 1968, Shenfield returned briefly from retirement to provide support for Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield's and Merck & Co.
's lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission
concerning truth and fairness in advertising.
on Confederate
philately
. In 1942, he published a pamphlet on Prisoner of War
and Flag of Truce mail. Shenfield subsequently was active in the Collectors Club of New York
and numerous philatelic congresses. At the 1946 Philatelic Congress, Shenfield presented Letter Unpaid Marking of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1955, the Confederate Stamp Alliance awarded Shenfield the Haydn Myer Award in recognition of his distinguished service to the Alliance. In 1959, along with F. Van Dyk MacBride, Shenfield co-chaired the editorial board for the Dietz Confederate Catalog and Handbook.
Shenfield's most widely known book on Confederate States postal history, Confederate States of America, The Special Postal Routes, was published in 1961. The book is generally known as the best single source for the various special postal operations of the Confederate States of America
and is regarded as a major reference work in the area of Confederate philately
by prominent philatelic auction
houses, stamp collectors and philatelists. Stamps and covers formerly owned by Shenfield in his collection are frequently identified in the catalogues of major philatelic auction
houses due to his prominence in the field.
Shenfield died in 1974 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York), New York. After his death, Shenfield's surviving sons, James Philip Shenfield and Lawrence Walker Shenfield, sold Shenfield's collection of Confederate stamps and philatelic cover
s at public auction
through H.R. Harmer in New York City. Each year, Shenfield's essay on Confederate postal usage and routes is included in the introduction to Confederate States stamps in the Scott catalogue
.
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
executive who was instrumental in promoting the development of radio broadcasting during its golden age of the 1920's and 1930's. Larry lined up sponsors to help further the popularity of such stars as Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
and Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
. After his retirement, Larry developed a second career as a prominent philatelist internationally recognized in the field of postal history
Postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...
. His careful studies of the postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
The postage stamps and postal system of the Confederate States of America carried the mail of the Confederacy for a brief period in American history. Early in 1861 when South Carolina territory no longer considered itself part of the Union and demanded that the U.S. Army abandon Fort Sumter, plans...
are relied upon by stamp collectors and experts in philately
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
to the present day.
Background and business career
Mr. Shenfield was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He received his undergraduate degree in architecture in 1914 from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and served in the U.S. Army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, having undergone artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
training in Plattsburgh, New York. After the war, Shenfield worked in New York as an architect for Eggers & Higgins
Eggers & Higgins
Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers and Daniel Paul Higgins . The architects were responsible for the construction phase of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial beginning in 1939, two years after the death of its original architect, John Russell Pope,...
and designed a number of buildings in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Subsequently, Shenfield left architecture for the rapidly growing field of radio and television advertising. He worked for the advertising firm Pedlar & Ryan, where he handled advertising and public relations for radio broadcasts by Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. Later, Shenfield became a principal in the advertising firm Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield. In 1939, Shenfield became acquainted with Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and was instrumental in launching her career by promoting the nationwide CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio program, Ben Bernie's Orchestra as well as the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Radio program The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a musical variety radio program which began on the Blue Network in 1940. The magazine Radio Life described it as "one of radio's strangest offsprings... a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony."It was a weekly...
. In 1965, Shenfield retired after Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield merged with Maurice H. Needham Co., forming the predecessor of the Omnicom Group
Omnicom Group
Omnicom Group is a holding company whose agencies provide marketing and communications services in the disciplines of advertising, customer relationship management , strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and...
, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. In 1968, Shenfield returned briefly from retirement to provide support for Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield's and Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
's lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
concerning truth and fairness in advertising.
Philatelic career
Shenfield was a prominent expert, collector and writer of philatelic literaturePhilatelic literature
Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history- Background to philatelic literature :...
on Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
philately
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
. In 1942, he published a pamphlet on Prisoner of War
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and Flag of Truce mail. Shenfield subsequently was active in the Collectors Club of New York
Collectors Club of New York
The Collectors Club of New York, often referred to as the Collectors Club, is a private club and philatelic society in New York City. Founded in 1896, it is one of the oldest existing philatelic societies in the United States...
and numerous philatelic congresses. At the 1946 Philatelic Congress, Shenfield presented Letter Unpaid Marking of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1955, the Confederate Stamp Alliance awarded Shenfield the Haydn Myer Award in recognition of his distinguished service to the Alliance. In 1959, along with F. Van Dyk MacBride, Shenfield co-chaired the editorial board for the Dietz Confederate Catalog and Handbook.
Shenfield's most widely known book on Confederate States postal history, Confederate States of America, The Special Postal Routes, was published in 1961. The book is generally known as the best single source for the various special postal operations of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and is regarded as a major reference work in the area of Confederate philately
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
by prominent philatelic auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
houses, stamp collectors and philatelists. Stamps and covers formerly owned by Shenfield in his collection are frequently identified in the catalogues of major philatelic auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
houses due to his prominence in the field.
Shenfield died in 1974 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York), New York. After his death, Shenfield's surviving sons, James Philip Shenfield and Lawrence Walker Shenfield, sold Shenfield's collection of Confederate stamps and philatelic cover
Philatelic cover
A philatelic cover is an envelope or post card prepared with a stamp and address and sent through the mail delivery system for the purpose of creating a collectible item. Stamp collectors began to send mail to each other and to themselves early on, and philatelic mail is known from the late 19th...
s at public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
through H.R. Harmer in New York City. Each year, Shenfield's essay on Confederate postal usage and routes is included in the introduction to Confederate States stamps in the Scott catalogue
Scott catalogue
The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Co, a subsidiary of Amos Press, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the entire world which its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in six large volumes and is also produced in...
.
See also
- Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate StatesPostage stamps and postal history of the Confederate StatesThe postage stamps and postal system of the Confederate States of America carried the mail of the Confederacy for a brief period in American history. Early in 1861 when South Carolina territory no longer considered itself part of the Union and demanded that the U.S. Army abandon Fort Sumter, plans...
- PhilatelyPhilatelyPhilately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
- List of philatelic topics
- List of philatelists
- Dinah ShoreDinah ShoreDinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
- List of Columbia University people
- Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)