MANNY GREENHILL OBITUARY

[Mary Katherine Aldin]

Folklore Productions, 1671 Appian Way, Santa Monica CA 90401
Phone 310/451-0767 Fax 310/458-6005

For Immediate Release

MANNY GREENHILL DIES AT 80

Longtime folk music manager Manuel A. "Manny" Greenhill died
of heart failure on April 14, 1996 while undergoing chemotherapy treatment for
leukemia at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 80.
Born March 10, 1916, in New York, Manny Greenhill spent several years
as a union organizer, and often heard folksingers Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie
and the other Almanac Singers perform. Shortly after his discharge from the
Army in World War II, Manny moved to Boston, where he developed a
business representing foreign language newspapers to potential advertisers,
before opening his own office as Folklore Productions in 1958.
Josh White, his guitar teacher from union days, was the first artist
Manny
presented in concert. Others featured in his early days in the music business
included Pete Seeger, Odetta and Theodore Bikel. Later he went on to work
with Flatt & Scruggs, Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan, Lightnin' Hopkins, an
perhaps most crucially, Joan Baez, who became his first managerial client. He
found that he enjoyed guiding her career, and by the mid-Sixties his roster
included guitarist Doc Watson, Reverend Gary Davis, and Jesse "Lone Cat"
Fuller, among many others.
In his fourteen-year tenure with Joan Baez, Manny continued his interest
in music as a political force. The Baez contracts he drew up were among the
first to insist on racial integration in concert seating, despite resistance
from a
number of white southern communities. There were also memorable struggles
with the Daughters of the American Revolution regarding the use of
Constitution Hall, and with the Mormon authorities regarding an appearance in
Salt Lake City. And when Joan later became involved in political action
against
the undeclared war in Viet Nam, Manny was a key participant in integrating her
musical and political presentations to the national press and other forums.
As Folklore Productions expanded, Manny established an office in Santa
Monica, California. This enabled him to keep a closer eye on the recording
industry (he produced of Doc Watson's Old Timey Concert, a well-received live
album), as well as to indulge a long-suppressed hankering for beach life. For
several years he maintained offices in both cities, but eventually the Boston
office was discontinued. He was joined in Santa Monica in 1976 by his partner
and son, producer/ musician Mitchell Greenhill; Mitch continues to operate
Folklore Productions, which today represents both artists (Doc Watson, John
Renbourn, Robin Williamson, The Battlefield Band and many others) and
publishing catalogues, including material by Joan Baez, Reverend Gary Davis,
Jesse Fuller and John Fahey.
A memorial service is pending.