Anthony Galla-Rini was an American accordionist born in 1904. At the age of four, he was part of his father's Vaudeville act. In time, Galla-Rini would master twelve instruments including the accordion. In 1924, he quit his father's act in a salary dispute and formed a new act with his sisters. In 1932, he left the act and opened an accordion studio in San Francisco. In addition to teaching, he also began composing and arranging for the accordion. Within a few years, Galla-Rini and his wife and son moved to New York City to be closer to the music publishers located in the city. In 1938, he founded The AAA, The American Accordionist's Association. In 1941, he composed the Accordion Concerto in G Minor (No. 1) which premiered with The Oklahoma City University Symphony Orchestra. In 1942, he returned to California, formed a rumba band which headlined the Trocadero in Los Angeles. He also began a long career composing music and performing for the movies. In 1976, he returned to classical music with the Accordion Concerto in G Minor (No. 2). In 1983 he composed the Sonata in D Minor For Accordion. Anthony Galla-Rini died in 2006, aged 102.
The Apeda Studio was in business in New York City from 1906 to 1990. It was founded by Alexander W. Dreyfoos, the photographer, and Henry Obstfield, the businessman. With it's industrial developers and mechanized postcard printers, the Apeda Studio was an immediate success. Like many studios servicing the theatrical community, Apeda, and it's staff of photographers sold prints to the general public of their sitters. They also bought up the negatives of their competitors as well as making copies of photographs distributed by other photo studios, going so far as removing other studio logos and replacing them with the Apeda mark. Dreyfoos and Obstfield would eventually be sued for violating the copyright of rival The White Studios. Apeda won by arguing that copyright was the property of the sitter, and not the photographer.
