[NFBNJ] A Revolutionary CBVI Parent Who Was a Business and Pop Music Trailblazer

Thu Dec 10 15:26:53 UTC 2020

Greetings all,

For your listening pleasure it found worthy.

Warmly,
Linda Melendez, President
National Federation of the blind of NJ
732-421-7063
president at nfbnj.org

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Gaston, Pamela <Pamela.Gaston at dhs.nj.gov>
Date: Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 5:10 PM
Subject: A Revolutionary CBVI Parent Who Was a Business and Pop Music
Trailblazer
To: Gaston, Pamela <Pamela.Gaston at dhs.nj.gov>

About 70 years ago, a mother of a young legally blind grade schooler
attended a Passaic County Lions Club meeting to share her dream of a modern
residential camp for children who are blind or visually impaired. That was
the beginning of the NJ Camp for Blind Children Inc., also known as Camp
Marcella, organized as the outcome of a mother’s desire for her son Stanley
to be able to enjoy summer camp just like other kids.

Almost immediately, young Stanley Greenberg’s mother, Florence, her
attorney, Walter Margetts, and his close friend, CBVI Board of Trustees
member, Nathan Rogoff initiated a vigorous fund raising campaign and within
a year over 1,300 organizations contributed to this small but dedicated
group.

It was Florence who found a plot of land in the Marcella section of
Rockaway Township in Morris County. She contacted Mr. Rogoff and together
they initiated the purchase of what had been the Zeek family’s vacation
home. What became Camp Marcella – the acreage surrounding a lodge, stable,
Little Mitten Lake, cemetery, and a few other small buildings was but one
small parcel of the Zeek/Henderson family’s huge estate that included land
on which the Green Pond Golf Course is currently located.

Florence Greenberg’s drive extended far beyond being the force behind the
establishment of Camp Marcella. As the founder and owner of Scepter Records
(formerly Tiara Records), she  was the first woman in the world to own and
run a major record label. The label's first singing group, the Shirelles,
was the first female group in the world to have a #1 Pop Single on the
Billboard chart (“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” written by Carole King).

Scepter Records went on to be  home to an incredible lineup of artists that
included Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick,  B. J. Thomas,  Leslie Gore,
Ronnie Milsap, Wilson Pickett,   The Isley Brothers,  and even Tiny Tim.

In 1965, Florence moved Scepter’s Headquarters to 254 West 54
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/254+West+54?entry=gmail&source=g>th St.
, a building now famous for housing the legendary Studio 54 Dance Club.

The Broadway musical, “Baby It’s You” was based on the life of Florence
Greenberg, whose son Stanley received educational services from CBVI back
in the 1940s and 50’s. It features songs that could be the soundtrack of
the teen years for anyone who has their AARP card. Classics like, "He's So
Fine”, "It's My Party”,  "Louie Louie”, "Twist and Shout” ,”Will You Still
Love Me Tomorrow?”, “Sixteen Candles” and many more.

The success of her record company can heavily be attributed to Florence’s
tenacity and her tireless hands-on approach to promoting her artists’
recordings directly to radio deejays like Alan Freed, Murray the K, Cousin
Brucie,  and TV impresario Dick Clark.

In 2010, Stanley accepted a posthumous Grammy Trustees’ Award on his
Mother’s behalf and reminisced that his Mom was a tough – no nonsense
woman. “In all respects my mother insisted I make it in the sighted world
and that my blindness not be in anyway an excuse to be less than what she
knew I could be,” said Stanley.

Although the family was affluent, even before Florence’s success with her
record company, both he and his sister, Mary Jane were not given an option
about working for their Mom during their teens. He said,  “If we forgot and
called her Mother at  the office, our pay got docked”.

Stanley said that everyone was always initially surprised about his being a
producer, arranger and recording exec who is blind but, he earned respect
and worked at Scepter records until his mother sold the company in 1976. He
then became a social worker and dedicated his time to helping other blind
people.

 Another interesting fact – Florence Greenberg was related to blindness
advocate, Eileen Goff, the late CEO and Founder of “hip” (Heightened
Independence & Progress).

In 1995, Florence Greenberg died of congestive heart failure in a nursing
home in Teaneck, NJ. She was 82 years old.

You Tube Links:

"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" - The Shirelles -
https://youtu.be/3irmBv8h4Tw

"Baby It's You" - The Shirelles - https://youtu.be/CRrxjk3qgRc

"Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" - B. J. Thomas -
https://youtu.be/_VyA2f6hGW4

Photos attached:

Florence Greenberg presenting a gold record to a young Dionne Warwick. Ms.
Greenberg is a 40ish woman who is conservatively dressed. Both are smiling.

Ms Greenberg on the phone, wearing a black and white plaid dress and her
signature beehive hairdo many women wore in the 60s. They would tease the
hair to give it height, comb it back, smoothing the top layer of hair and
spray it with hairspray so it would stay, high, like a beehive.

A photo taken in the late 60s of Florence and Stanley Greenberg working
with an artist in the studio. Stanley is at the controls and Florence is
speaking into a microphone.

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-- 
Warmly,
Linda Melendez, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
732-421-7063
Email: president at nfbnj.org
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*Live the life you want.*
The National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey is a community of
members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s
blind. Everyday we work together to help blind people live the lives they
want.
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