Alan Freed Loses Rights To Use The Name “Moondog”

Alan Freed
Alan Freed lost the rights to use the name “Moondog” Billboard magazine announced today (December 4, 1954).

Freed, who was broadcasting from the WINS station in New York, was banned from using the name by New York Supreme Court Justice Carroll G. Walter, or any variations of the name.

Freed lost the name to Louis “Moondog” Hardin, a blind street musician who dressed in “monk’s habit” and had been using the name in commerce since 1947.

The blind street singer had hit with a local, uncopyrighted tune titled “Moondogg Symphony.”

Hardin asked for $100,000 in damages. Freed officially stopped using the name on November 24th, 1954, the date of the injunction.

Alan Freed renamed his broadcast “The Rock and Roll Show.” The following month, Freed presented his first dance at the St. Nicholas Arena.

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