(2017)
Lawrence S. Richmond (1909-1978).
Larry Richmond was an influential national tastemaker, as the head of Music Dealers Service in New York, distributors of pop sheet music — a backbone of the music industry through the mid-20th century. His father, Maurice, was the founder of Music Dealers, and Richmond played an instrumental role at the time in the 1940s when the pop sheet music business was trying to save itself by dramatically expanding the number of shops and stores where customers could find Top 20 tunes for sale. But there was no changing how Americans consumed their popular music. Eventually, sales of sheet music from racks in department stores, stationers and barber shops simply plummeted. Here in town, Richmond was an outsized figure. In 1945, he and his wife, Helene A. Richmond (1904-1985), bought the house at 40 Commercial Street from Helena Rubinstein. He was among the founders in 1953 of the West End Racing Club at 83 Commercial Street. In the later 1960s, he was president of the Provincetown Symphony for three years and then joined the board of trustees of the Provincetown Art Association. “I feel like part of the scenery here although no one asked me to be,” he told The Advocate in 1976. “But we wouldn’t have been here for almost 40 years if we didn’t love it.” The Richmonds’ daughter, Lauren S. Richmond, still lives just two doors up-along, at 36 Commercial.
¶ Last updated 8 October 2017.