Albert Berul

Albert Berul was born June 18, 1895. By 1936 he had come to Camden NJ, where he lived at 1395 Kenwood Avenue in the Parkside section of Camden with his wife Anna.

A fine musician, in 1925 Albert Berul began conducting the Berul School of Music. He gave music lessons and taught music out of his home on Kenwood Avenue in the 1930s. He was operating out of 1366 Kaighn Avenue in late 1939 and early 1940, and later opened up shop at 1206 Haddon Avenue, in a building which had been a grocery conducted by Max M. Singer as late as 1936.

The City Directory for 1947 shows that Albert Berul had by then opened his store on Haddon Avenue. The store, known simply as Berul’s, selling records and electric appliances. By this time the Berul family was living at 1121 Kenwood Avenue, a short walk from the store. By 1959 the appliance business does not appear in the telephone book. Albert Berul had by then moved his music school to 1206 Haddon Avenue. He retired in the late spring of 1964, closing his business with a retirement sale of musical instruments.

In late 1966 Martin Baskow attempted to relocate his bar from 939 Market Street to 1206 Haddon Avenue. Residents in the neighborhood defeated the attempt, and the bar was never moved. Baskow was tragically murdered at his place of business in July of 1967.

Albert Berul’s son Wallace followed him into music, and worked for many years with the orchestra in Baltimore. Daughter Shirley Berul Kline also pursued a career in music, teaching for the Pennsauken NJ school district and continuing to teach piano privately to this day with her husband Aaron.

Albert Berul spent his last years in Cherry Hill NJ where he died in October of 1981. His wife Anna passed in December of 1985. Sadly, son Wallace died in Baltimore not long after, in 1987. 1206 Haddon Avenue became the home of Lori’s Records and Tapes in the 1980s, and remains so as of February of 2004.

The Camden branch of the Auxiliary of the Deborah Sanitarium at Browns Mills will hold the final meeting of the season on Monday evening at the Beth-El auditorium, Park Boulevard and Belleview Avenue.

Reports on Tag Day, held May 27, will be given and plans made for an outing to Browns Mills on Sunday, June 25, when the tenth anniversary of the sanitarium will be observed.

Following the business Mrs. M. Russell will sing, accompanied by Mrs. A. Berul.

Mrs. A. Stoolman, president, will preside.

The Berul School of Music Concert Orchestra will play the overture and intermission music for the performance of “Emperor Jones” to be given by the Hedgerow players in Camden High School auditorium tonight.

Herbert Wortreich, concertmeister, will also play a solo—Gypsy Airs, by Sarasate. His accompanist will be Teresa De Marco.

Members of the orchestra are: Herbert Wortreich, Wallace Berul, Manuel Robbins, Sidney Israel, Carl Eppinger, Jack West, Arnold Safran, Mrs. Edgar Forman, Clara Ruben, Norman Sataloff, Henry Bloom, William Schwartz, Harry Switzer, Teresa De Marco, Anna Simmons.

The fifteenth annual student recital of the Berul School of Music will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the Woman’s Club of Camden, 424 Linden Street, Camden, N.J. at 8:00 p.m.

Besides the usual instrumental and vocal numbers, recitations, junior and senior orchestras, the student choir, clarinet ensemble and all-girl orchestra will be heard for the first time.

Dr. Elmer G. Van Name, president of the College of South Jersey, will award the certificates.

Participating are: Thomas Bantivoglio, Stanford Benjamin, Martha Berg, Elleanor Bernson, Max Bukstel, Myron Cooper, Elizabeth Caputo, Gloria Caputo, Samuel Caputo, Vera Duffine, Elaine Duffine, Charles De Lisle; Ruth Dresner; Leonard Denbo, Rita Denbo, Devorah Drell, Everett Ellis, Norman Eisenberg, Frances Epstein, Ross Forman, Ivan Forman, Ward Forman, Myra Friedenberg, Evelyn Fourer, Gloria Goldfield, Harold Goldman, Bruce Goodman, Rhoda Goldfield, Joan Goldstein, Sandra Goldfield, Warren Jones, Frances Kauffman, Sylvia Kahlowsky, Jean Katz, Edwin Kantor, Phyllis Katz, Gerald Leider, Richard Littleton, Florence Malinowska, Judy Mendell, Christine Matsios, Elaine Milask, Margaret Onesti, Ena Ravetz; Rhoda Schreibstein, Shirley Goldberg, Fred Rothchild, Leonard Rosenfeld, Serita Ruttenberg, William Schwartz, Joan Schiff, Charlotte Skorko; Norman Schreiber, Naomi Stoglin, Bernard Shapiro, Stanton Segal, Doris Stepler, Dorothea Stafre, Daniel Tapper, Ester Dina Tapper, Jean Thompson, Eleanor Turchanyi, Margaret Turchanyi, Tottie Taylor, Dolores Weiss, Arnold Weiss, Norman Wallack, Milton Wolf, Harriet Wadler, Shirley Berul, Wallace Berul, and Mildred Forman.

Pupils of the Berul School of Music will be presented in an Ensemble Recital on Monday, June 19, at the Women’s Club, 424 Linden Street, at 5 p.m. Participating are: Stanford Benjamin, Everett Ellis, Nancy Berg, Lawrence Berul, Frances Kauffman, Esther Dina Tapper, Vera Duffine, Rita Brodsky, Stanton Segal, Sondra Goldfeld, Myron Cooper, Daniel Taper, Robert Tellefsen, Serita Ruttenberg, Gloria Caputo, Devorah Drell, Gerald Leider, Leonard Rosenfeld, Jerome Wittels, William Schwartz, Leonard Denbo, Allen Winigrad, Edwin Kantor, Ena Ravetz, Shirley Goldberg, Eleanor Turchanyi, Margaret Turchanyi, Shirley Berul, Dolly Bartman, Judy Mendell, Elaine Duffine, Evelyn Newman, Ted Cornfeld, George Stoolman, Lorraine Bush, Sylvia Kahlowsky, Rita Denbo, Jeanne Katz, Harriet Wadler, Bernard Shapiro, David Burke, Gloria Goldfield.

The annual senior student recital of the Berul School of Music will be given on Thursday, June 26, 1941 at the Y.W.C.A. auditorium, 565 Stevens Street, Camden, N.J., at 8 p.m. and will be assisted by the Camden Simfonietta.

Students participating: Margaret Onesti, Dolly Bartman, Norman Wallack, Frances Epstein, Wallace Berul, Sylvia Kahlowsky, Rita Denbo, Thomas Bantivoglio, Harriet Wadler, Warren Jones, Eleanor Turchanyi, Margaret Turchanyi, Elizabeth Caputo.

Members of the Camden Simfonietta: Elsie Matchett, Henry C. Beck, George Pukas, Arthur C. Dennis, Margaret Onesti, Mildred Stewart, Louis Weiss, Walter Borkowsky, Morris Rabkin, Dr. Edward Schiff, Dr. Luther M. Mkitadian, Sidney Morris, William Horrocks, Anne E. Forman, Arthur ??????, Norman Eisenberg. Accompanists: Mrs. Anna Berul, Mrs. Anna Frank. Dr. Elmer G. Van Name will present the candidates with certificates and the Camden Welfare Social Club prizes.

Ensemble of Professional Men, Women to Make Debut

One of the unusual musical organizations in this area will make its informal debut Tuesday night when it plays on a program of the Berul School of Music. It is the Camden Simfonietta, composed of professional men and women who are musicians or music students.

In the organization are the following: Arthur C. Dennis, high school principal; George Pukas, coppersmith by day and student engineer at night; Gunnar Johnson, who mixes school work and an office job; Margaret Onesti, high school graduate and music student; Mildred Stewart, a stenographer; Miriam Weinberg, a graduate of the Glassboro State Teachers’ College; Walter Borkowski, Penn student who is an usher at the Lyric Theatre; Louis Weiss, an insurance man; Elsie Matchett, a telephone operator; Dr. Edward Schiff, a dentist; Dr. A. K. Mkitarian, another dentist; Morris Babkin, an attorney at RCA; Sidney Morris, a mechanical engineer; William Horrocks, associated with a textile plant; Mrs. Anne Forman, a housewife; Arthur Jacoby, who does office work; Norman Eisenberg, a high school student, and Henry C. Beck, of the Courier-Post Newspapers.

The organization, composed entirely of strings, has been meeting weekly since last Fall, rehearsing at the Boulevard “Y” and later at Camden City Hall through the co-operation of Freeholder Ventorino Francesconi. The ensemble will play compositions of Purcell and Mendelssohn.

Albert and Wallace Berul are fondly remembered by Joseph Cooper.