Joseph Simon Newman

NEWMAN, JOSEPH SIMON (6 Dec. 1891-10 Nov. 1960)

earned his living as a founder of the NEWMAN-STERN CO. and gained renown as a writer of light verse. Born in New London, O., he was the son of Simon and Hanna Cohn Newman, who soon brought him to Cleveland. A graduate of CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, Newman attended Case Institute of Technology (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) before withdrawing to go into business. He married Babette Weidenthal, daughter of Cleveland journalist Maurice Weidenthal, in 1913. Two years later, with brother Arthur S. Newman and partner Arnold Stern, he founded the Electro-Set Co. to manufacture educational toys, some being of his own invention. The firm soon added sporting goods to its line and became the Newman-Stern Co. Newman meanwhile began writing columns on electricity for the PLAIN DEALER and contributing humorous rhymes to TED ROBINSON†'s "Philosopher of Folly" column under the pseudonym, "Prof. Cy N. Tific." A member of the CITY CLUB OF CLEVELAND, from 1925-58 he teamed with CARL D. FRIEBOLIN† to write lyrics (775 in all) for the club's annual ANVIL REVUE. His first volume of verse, Poems for Penguins, was published in 1941, followed by It Could Be Verse (1948), Perishable Poems (1952), and Verse Yet (1960). Following his retirement from business, he began a weekly column for the CLEVELAND PRESS in 1952 under the heading "It Could Be Verse." A daily counterpart, "Joe Newman's Frying Pan," was added in 1957. Among many other activities, Newman taught at Cleveland College and served as trustee of the CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE.

Survived by his wife and 2 sons, James M. and Robert W., he was buried in Mayfield Cemetery.

http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=NJS1

The NEWMAN-STERN CO. was one of the nation's largest and best-known sporting-goods stores. The company began as the Electro-Set Co., organized in 1915 by brothers Arthur S. and JOSEPH S. NEWMAN† and Arnold L. Stern, which specialized in radio parts and electrical toys for boys. Located in a small store on E. 4th St., the company soon became Cleveland's first supplier of radio parts and began a national mail-order parts business. The firm changed its name to the Newman-Stern Co. in 1917, and after the federal government banned the manufacture and sale of wireless equipment during World War I, the company turned to sporting goods to bolster dwindling electronics sales.

With sporting goods its major business after the war, the company briefly occupied quarters in the Leader Bldg. at E. 6th St. and Superior Ave., before moving into the new Newman-Stern building at E. 12th St. and Walnut Ave. in 1921. With Arthur Newman's death in 1950, Joseph Newman sold his family's interest in the firm to department store owners Nathan Marcus and Allan Kramer. Under new management, Newman-Stern opened 2 suburban branches. By 1965, however, the store located in the SOUTHGATE SHOPPING CENTER remained the only branch store. In 1963, Gateway Sporting Goods Co. of Kansas City acquired the company and 4 years later, moved Newman-Stern's downtown store to 634 Euclid Ave. When Gateway encountered serious financial problems in the spring of 1973, it closed the remaining downtown and Southgate stores. In the meantime, the Newman family had organized the Newman-Adler Co. in 1967 to sell camping and outdoor equipment. By 2004, the camping equipment business, known as InterGreen OUtfitters, operated a single location in CHAGRIN FALLS , and was still owned by the Newman family.

Joe was always good with both words and numbers. After highschool he spent a year at college and then worked for six months in anelectrical lab. Then he went into retail, working for the big Stearn andCo. department store in the electrical, camera, and mechanical toy de-partments. All the while he fussed with electrical equipment and with words. Under the name Dr. Si. N. Tiffic, he wrote a kids’ science col-umn for the Plain Dealer, as well as a stream of light verse on public is-sues of the day. And he invented things—small radio and telegraphcomponents, remote-controlled switches for toys and lights, a tele-phone system for children—some of which he took out patents for.By 1913 he was married to the daughter of Maurice Weidenthal, who had cofounded the Jewish Independent  with Aaron Newman. The following year he was on his own in business, using $500 to establishthe Electro-Set Company, which built and sold lines of radio gear,telegraph equipment, electrical experiment kits, telescopes, and micro-scopes. The business took off, especially with kids, and moved from what was essentially a warehouse to a proper retail space. Joe had allkinds of schemes to grow the trade, such as a daily telegraph messageto all customers to announce sales or new equipment: e-commerce in1915! And because he knew his way around the insides of the equip-ment he sold, the shop became Cleveland’s first supplier of radio parts;soon it was involved in a thriving national mail-order enterprise. http://www.scribd.com/doc/15233061/Paul-Newman-A-Life-by-Shawn-Levy...