By Tom Long, Globe Staff, 3/16/2004

Joseph P. Berk was so captivated by the sound of a great voice reading a great children's book that when several major recording labels rejected his idea, he went about making the recordings himself.

Mr. Berk, 77, who described his recordings as "material for children and others who share their good taste," died Friday in Cambridge, the city where his Pathways of Sound label is headquartered.

Working in the office he called "the shop," decorated with children's paintings, dog-eared books, and a hobby horse, Mr. Berk oversaw the recording of Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn reading the pastoral fantasy "The Wind in the Willows," Julie Harris's version of the mouse tale "Stuart Little" by E. B. White, and White's own reading of his barnyard fable "Charlotte's Web."

It was a one-man operation.

"He danced or walked to his own drummer," his wife, Adeline Harris, said yesterday. "He didn't have any patience with codified things like organized religion or the corporate world."

Mr. Berk once had a secretary, but she did not last long. "About 22 seconds," said his wife. "He didn't want people telling him what to do, and he didn't want to tell people what to do."

Born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mr. Berk entered Harvard College in 1942, but left school to serve in the merchant marine during World War II. After the war, he returned to school and graduated in 1948.

"He was a wild man at school," said his daughter, Stephanie of Cambridge.

"Once he was climbing up to the window of a girlfriend and fell and broke numerous bones," she said. "When he was brought to the hospital, he insisted on being wheeled down to visit the children's ward."

He was, said his daughter, "a total character," who was reluctant to be viewed as an Ivy Leaguer, and when asked where he went to school, always said he went to the "academy."

Mr. Berk was a familiar figure in Harvard Square.

"He was the quintessential Cambridge Yankee," said his daughter. "He wore worn-out sweaters with patches and, instead of buying a new Oxford shirt, he would have the collar turned around on an old one."

"He attracted a wide range of high-profile musicians and writers who were always hanging around his office," said his daughter. "One day I dropped into the office. There was Bob Dylan."

When Mr. Berk conceived the idea of children's recordings in 1962, he approached major recording labels about what he called the "dearth" of children's records, but nobody was interested. Not enough money at a time when Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" were climbing the charts.

So Mr. Berk took matters into his own hands. He knew that the theatrical duo of Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn were in town, and suspected they would be staying at the Ritz-Carlton. So he took a chance and called the hotel.

"When Miss Tandy got on the phone, I asked if she would be kind enough to consider recording `The Open Road' [from `Wind in the Willows']. She said, `That's one of my favorite books -- I'd be delighted to,' " Mr. Berk said in a story published in the Christian Science Monitor in 1981.

The participation of Cronyn and Tandy opened the doors to others in the theatrical community. Mr. Berk presumed upon Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans to record "Winnie the Pooh."

When he approached E. B. White, he was invited to the writer's farm in Maine, the setting for "Charlotte's Web." After lunch, White asked him if he would like to see the barn.

"You know the rope swing in the book?" asked Mr. Berk. "We got out there and he said: `Like a ride? Hop on.' "

Soon the author was pushing the impresario on the swing.

"We went to see where Templeton [the rat] had lived, walked around to see where the sheep had been, where Wilbur's [pig] pen was. It was an ineffable experience."

Mr. Berk was quick to point out that his children's recordings were meant to supplement, rather than replace, books read aloud by family and friends.

"My grandmother read to me," he said in 1981. "That was a treat. I would sit in her lap. Sometimes I'd close my eyes, and I could see what she was reading. I loved the sound of her voice."

In addition to his wife and daughter, he leaves a son, Dr. John of Newton; a stepson, Nicholas Gomez of Los Angeles; a sister, Marian Barr of Haverhill; and five grandchildren.

Burial is private. A memorial service is being planned.

This story ran on page C10 of the Boston Globe on 3/16/2004. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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