On February 13, 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers (ASCAP) was founded to help music creators make
a living from their work.

“If music did not pay, it would be given up.” So wrote Associate
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in a landmark Supreme Court
decision in 1917.

Holmes wasn’t referring to musicians themselves in that statement,
but to places of business in which copyrighted musical works could
be heard, whether such music was live or recorded—and, critically, whether or not it generated direct revenues. “Whether it pays or not,” continued Holmes, “the purpose of employing it is profit and that is enough.” Narrowly speaking, the decision in Herbert v. Shanley Co. forced Shanley’s Restaurant in New York City to pay a fee to the American songwriter Victor Herbert for playing a song of his on a
player-piano during dinner service. The case represented a much broader victory, however, for the new musicians’ advocacy
organization of which Herbert was the head: ASCAP.

Among the founding members of ASCAP were the musical giants
of the day: Irving Berlin, James Weldon Johnson, Jerome Kern
and John Philip Sousa.

Victor Herbert, on piano stool, poses with the founding
members of ASCAP in 1914. (Courtesy ASCAP)

William “Bill” Post, the Michigan man widely credited
with inventing Pop-Tarts for the Kellogg’s breakfast
food company, died on Saturday.

Post’s invention debuted in 1964 with four flavors,
strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and
apple currant. There are now more than 20 flavors.

The snack has $1 billion in U.S. annual sales.

Bernard John Dowling Irwin
(June 24, 1830 – December 15, 1917)

U.S. Army assistant surgeon Bernard John Dowling "J.D." Irwin
rescued a kidnapped boy and 60 soldiers encircled by legendary
Apache warrior Cochise on this day in history, Feb. 13, 1861.

Irwin’s heroic volunteer effort under dire circumstances in the
Arizona Territory has gone down in American military lore as
the first Congressional Medal of Honor action.

It took place before the award even existed.

The Cochise Stronghold in Arizona.

Myrtle Fillmore began Wee Wisdom^® magazine, which taught
and entertained children for 98 years with stories, poems,
games, and beautiful artwork.

Although the magazine ceased publication in 1991, adults
throughout the country remember it with great fondness.

Myrtle was co-founder of Unity, a church
within the New Thought Christian
movement.

Singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.Waylon Jennings is
considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in
country music.

Jennings started playing guitar at age eight and performed
at fourteen on KVOW radio, after which he formed his first
band, the Texas Longhorns. Jennings left high school at age
sixteen, determined to become a musician, and worked as a
performer and DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, KLLL, in Coolidge,
Arizona, and Phoenix. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings’
first recording session, a cover of Jole Blon, and hired him to
play bass. Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight in
1959 that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. "the Big Bopper"
Richardson and Ritchie Valens.

Jennings died in his sleep from complications of diabetes at
his home in Chandler, Arizona, aged 64.

Waylon Jennings ,left, on bass guitar and Buddy Holly.