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Many years ago (40 years or so) I visited his shop. I asked if he had a particular 78 with Titta Ruffo. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the name of the song or the composer. He asked if could sing it. I hummed a rough approximation of it. His eyes lit up. He went directly over to a shelf, reached out and grabbed a copy. I was most impressed. Thereafter I visited his shop many times. He had a wonderful memory. --Kevin Mostyn -----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Art Shifrin Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 11:45 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] My new book: The Jazz Man Record Shop Cary, this is a great concept (at least for those of us in this flock). Do you or anyone else on the list remember the Merit Music Shop on West 46 street in Manhattan? I think that the proprietor's name was Jack Meltzer. He had two hunched over elderly chaps working there: they might have been around as adults for the dedication of NYC's subway system in 1904. I was there one day when people from the NYS dept of labor came in & NAILED him for paying the guys less than minimum wage since the Spanish American War (slight exaggeration). Analogous to a 'perp walk' they made it very clear to the patrons there what was going on. Jack (if I have the name correct) had a database memory for 78 catalog #s, but only for Victors. You could browse to any page in any of their catalogs (up to some year), give him the title & artist & he'd correctly tell you the catalog #! I don't know or remember if he knew which side, nor do I know if he had the same 'talent' for set #s. Best, Art (Shiffy) Shifrin