The company was established 1900 in New York's Tin Pan Alley by Maurice Shapiro (1872–1911), who had worked at Adelphi Music publishing company, and his brother-in-law, real-estate dealer Louis Bernstein (1873–1962)[1] (not to be confused with the Louis Bernstein better known as Leonard).
[2] The song, with lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb, sold two million copies of sheet music,[2] which encouraged Von Tilzer to form his own publishing company in 1902.
Among the company's successful publications was Vernon Dalhart's "The Prisoner's Song", published in 1924.
[5] Shapiro and Bernstein, along with Decca Records and Columbia Pictures, formed a company called Mood Music in 1947 to publish songs from film musicals including The Jolson Story.
[2] In May 2020, Shapiro Bernstein was acquired by Golnar Khosrowshahi's Reservoir Media Management.