Leopold Spitalny

Brother to Phil Spitalny and Maurice Spitalny.
H. Leopold Spitalny was a theater conductor in Chicago and Cleveland in the 1920s and 1930s. He left Cleveland in the early 1930s to become head of NBC Music in New York City.

Spitalny was the musical director for the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. from the early 1930s until 1946. In 1937, he was in charge of contracting musicians to form the NBC Symphony Orchestra that David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA, had promised to Arturo Toscanini to entice him to record for NBC.
He was director in 1943 when National Broadcasting Company, Inc. was trying to dismiss a $175,000 copyright infringement suit filed against them and National Broadcasting Company, Inc. by Carmen Delfin, Cuban pianist and composer. In a general denial of all charges filed in New York Federal Court Wednesday (Oct. 13, 1943), the defendants alleged that Miss Delfin was not the original composer of the two songs involved, that the music had for many years prior to her writing been in the public domain, and that the melody, theme, and rhythm of the songs had been used by other composers. Defendants also claim that Miss Delfin's compositions were prepared by her expressly for broadcast by Emma Otera, NBC singer and musician, that she licensed NBC to perform the songs and therefore has no basis for an infringement action. Miss Delfin accused Spitalny of having pirated her songs, "Zamba Gitana" and "Oriental," and of having them published by G. Schirmer under different titles using his own name as sole composer and owner. NBC was charged with having infringed on the songs by using them on broadcasts. .

Spitalny was music director/contractor at NBC until December 1945, when he was replaced by LeRoy Shield. Spitalny faced disciplinary action by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. Spitalny was fined and barred from contracting for one year on the ground that union regulations were not being maintained at NBC. Spitalny filed an appeal with the AFM.