Hit of the Week - Durium project

The making of ... the reissues

2012-01-03T08:56:00.005+01:00

Cover of the (Dutch) Toppers van Toen reissue Hit of the week ( Hans Koert collection)
Last summer the Hit of the Week-Durium project was crowned with the release of the last 2cd album of the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings by Archeophone. Such a huge and important project was only possible thanks to the development of the Hit of the Week-Durium discographies. Thanks to these discographies the conditions to reissue these old 78rpm records were provided. This blog, The making of ... the reeissues is part of a series of blogs about the making of ...... You can find all links at the side menu of this blog.

A Dutch promo for Durium ( durium GE-9) (summer 1932) (Hans Koert collection)
What is the importance of a discography - why do we need one? Well, you can call it a catalogue if you like, a list of all records made by an artist or a record label, like the Hit of the Week. It informs you about the personnel, the recording date and the matrices and take numbers. The latter has to do with the recordings process. It informs what recording was used for a release.
Like a stamp collector you can use a discography as a catalogue of records that were released and, if the discography lists so, the reissues of the 78rpm records at contemporary releases. If you don't have the access to a discography, your collection is not more then a bunch of records - without any arrangement. When the Hit of the Week discography became available, a lot of Hit of the Week records in collections got its existence.
Part of the track list of the Toppers van toen reissue ( Hans Koert collection)
I remember Harry Belle, a Dutch radio producer and host of the AVRO-network radio program, entitled Toppers Van Toen, who told me, after he had received the disco, about the box of Hit of the Week records in the radio archives, he would play now in his program. He even decided to make a cd re-issue of some of it, in his series Toppers van Toen, entitled Hit of the week ( subtitled Hit-of-the-Week Hooren is Hit-of-the-Week Koopen, which was a Dutch promo slogan in the 1930s). The album contained more then two dozen tracks, including the only Dutch promo record When The Circus Comes To Town played by an anonymous (British) dance band band ( durium GE-10) ( summer 1932). Cover of a Japanese reissue album: Paper Hits volume 2 (Audio Park APCD-6007) ( Hans Koert collection)
The Japanese Audio Park label also contacted me and thanks to the Hit of the Week discography they could release three reissue albums, entitled Paper Hits ( volume 1 up to 3 ) ( APCD-6003)(APCD-6007)(APCD-6015). These three reissues were well documented and the audio restoration by Hajime Terada was at a high quality level. The booklet must have been very informative too, for people who can read the Japanese symbols ......, but I'm sure the info was correct, as the source was the Hit of the Week Discography of course!

Part of the track list of Paper Hits volume 3 ( Audio Park APCD 6015) ( Hans Koert collection)

Several reissues ( like the Broadway, Ristic and Sunbeam LPs) were released before the publication of my Hit of the Week Discography, but other were published after the disco was published, but without using the book as a reference. Some of these albums contain wrong information and/or the transfers were very bad ....... one of those reissues even had some needle drops clearly audible and when I complained about its transfers, the producer told me that the listeners wanted to hear how these old records sounded after 80 years ..... Well, in my opinion, the listeners want to hear how they sounded in the early 1930s.

Deze bijdrage wordt ook in het Nederlands gepubliceerd in de Keep (it) Swinging blog als The making of ... de heruitgaven.

Hans Koert
Hit of the Week-Durium discography
hitoftheweek@live.nl

Anything Phonographic

2011-12-18T11:10:00.007+01:00

In the latest December 2011 / January 2012 issue of In The Groove, the magazine of the Michican Antique Phonograph Society, Steve Ramm published a review of the 4th 2cd-album of The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings (arch 2005) as part of his regular news and review column. Steve loved to share this review with the visitors of the Hit of the Week blog.
The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings (arch 2005)
Dutch collector Hans Koert set out a few years ago to create a printed discography of the entire commercial Hit of the Week flexi-discs produced by the Durium Company during the brief period 1930 - 1932. This not only led to an online version, but also to a series of four 2-CD sets co-produced by the owners of the Archeophone label. Though released approximately every 2 years, the 2011 final release The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings, volume 4 is the first I've had a chance to hear. As expected from anything released by Archeophone ( "the Cadillac of reissue labels") , the set is graphically beautiful with color covers ( and lack and white photos inside) of the rarest records and accurate recording session info is provided.

Fragment of Anything Phonographic (December 2011/January 2012) (with permission)
While many of the recordings on these discs ( which were sold at newsstands, not record stores) are by bands like Phil Spitalny, Morton Downey or Rudy Vallee, Durium also pressed "advertising records", And those are sometimes even more interesting to hear than the musical ones. This volume seems to have more of these than the previous volumes - with ads for Wrigley's Gum, Crisco ( with the Mils Brothers!) and even "Relief from the Present Discriminatory System of Taxes in Iowa"( talk about eclectic!). The discs varied in size ( thus recording time) and 59 records are included here. I may work myself backwards in this series but I can certainly recommend this one. The transfers are superb. (Hey, this is Archeophone).

Steve Ramm
(Philadelphia (PA) (USA)
You can contact him about this review at hitoftheweek@live.nl

You can obtain more info about In The Groove at its website

The Making of ..... the perfect discography

2011-12-04T08:12:00.013+01:00

The (almost perfect) 5th edition of the Hit of the Week - Durium Discography by Hans Koert (1998) ( Hans Koert archive)
Since I found my first bended Hit of the Week record I wanted to be informed about these rather weird 78rpm records. As I could find but few discographical information, I decided to make my own discography. A dozen years after the publication of it, I love to look back to the process of making such a list of records. In some previous blogs I wrote about the birth and the growth of the list and the quest for information. Today I love to inform you how I learned, once bitten, twice shy, to make the perfect discography.
Now's The Time To Fall In Love - After The Ball by Phil Spitalny's Music ( Hit of the Week A-2-3) ( January 1932) ( Hans Koert collection)
The process of making a discography seemed to become really serious at the moment I got a request from Brian Rust and John R.T. Davies, to send them a copy of the book. Brian Rust is known for his discographies, the bibles for record collectors of jazz and jazz-related music from the first 78rpm era and John R. T. Davies was a gifted audio engineer, producer and discographer too. John passed rather strong criticism about my book: Rubbish! he responded a week after I'd sent him a copy: I took three Hit of the Week records out of my collection and they were not listed in your book .......... As you can understand, I didn't feel very well about that and asked him for some clarification.
Sleeve of the English version of the US Hit of the Week A-2-3. The European Durium EN-7 was released spring 1932 ( Hans Koert collection)
He apologized for his previous letter ........... Your book isn't as bad as I suggested - sorry 'bout that, but it is just a list of titles and band names and not a discography - In a discography I love to read the information as is on the label ...... to the letter ...... 99 percent of all so-called discographies are not correct, in my opinion, he wrote, even Lord and Brian Rust made rubbish, in my point of view ....... Cold comfort!
John promised to verify my discography and correct my English ( Sorry, John - English is not my mother tongue) ......... Dat doet’ie toch nooit (= I don't think he will do so), I told my wife, but three weeks later the proofread copy arrived by mail ....... completely corrected - I edited the 5th edition and the 6th version was born, split up in three books: The Hit of the Week Discography – The Durium (GB) Discography and the Durium Advertisement and Custom Record Discography.
Part of the proofread copy by John R.T. Davis ( click on the photo to enlarge) ( Hans Koert archive)
If you love to make a discography, first try to get clear in your mind, how your perfect discography looks like. John R.T. Davies put myself to think about it. The word Disco-graphy means "a description of discs", but it is more then just a list of tunes and records made by an artist or record company. As John R.T. Davies told me, it should list the information as can be read on the record (label) itself, even if those information is wrong (!). To make this clear, I love to finish with a description of an at random choice, the Hit of the Week A-2-3 as it is listed in the Brian Rust American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942 ( 1975) (p. 1753) and that same record as it is in the (online) Hans Koert Hit of the Week Discography (6th edition)(2011)
Brian Rust lists the record as follows: ( BTW: he lists the band name as: PHILIP (sic) SPITALNY'S MUSIC )
Fragment of the American Dance Band Discography by Brian Rust ( p. 1753) (click on the photo to enlarge) ( Hans Koert archive)
In Hans Koert's Hit of the Week Discography this same record has been listed too: Mind that I skipped some info, to make it easy to compare both fragments. I only posted the info for the original 78rpm recordings of this recording and deleted all surplus information, like the info of contemporary reissues

PHIL SPITALNY'S MUSIC Featuring PAUL SMALL (HOW A-2-3) // (no band name) (SEFONO A-2-3) // DURIUM DANCE ENSEMBLE Vocal Refrains, PAUL SMALL (durium EN 7) [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-xyl-p-banj-tu-dm- (male) vo- (female) vo-(male) vo3] Phil Spitalny dir., Manny Klein tp, Sam Herman xyl, Helen Rowland vo, Paul Small vo, ETON BOYS vo4: (Jack Day bariton, Earl Smith 1st Tenor, Art Gentry 2nd Tenor, Chas. Day bass); Recorded New York City, Dec. 1931
= 1188 B D NOW'S THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE Esta es la Hora de Enamorarse (Fox Trot) Sherman Lewis - PS vo EB vo4 < SH xyl solo MK tp &gt
Released as HOW A-2-3
= 1188 B D Now's the time to fall in love (TENDRESSE) Blue - (nn) - PS vo EB vo4 Released as SEFONO A-2-3
= 1188 B D NOW'S THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE FOXTROT (SHERMAN LEWIS) - PS vo EB vo4
Released as durium EN-y

= and AFTER THE BALL - PS vo
Released as HOW A-2-3
= After the ball (APRÈS LE BAL) Valse - PS vo
Released as SEFONO A-2-3
= AFTER THE BALL WALTZ - PS vo
Released as durium EN-7

The Hit of the Week Discography by Hans Koert gives also information about the sleeves and foreign 78rpm releases of this record. Enjoy the additional information. The photos used in this article can be found at the online Hit of the Week discography.

Notes: HOW A-2-3: Released in the US Jan. 14 1932. On the reverse a picture of PHIL SPITALNY with hat and necktie and the addition: There are also copies without a picture. The cover: Big Note (like M 1) The artist credits on the cover as RECORDED BY PHIL SPITALNY’S MUSIC; Paul Small isn’t mentioned. // SEFONO A-2-3: There is no band name on the label. // durium EN 7: There are copies with on the reverse an impress of the Victoria MUSIC PUBLISHING CO LTD trademark and copies with a stamp of CHAPPELL & Cº LTD LONDON trademark. The cover of this album shows in big letters: durium - record. Catalogued in Sweden June 17, 1932 as Veckans Skiva nr. 9. In a 1933 Veckans Skiva list some extra information en skiva av alira högsta klass (source: Hit of the Week Discography - Hans Koert)

Phil Spitalny on the reverse of the Hit of the Week A-2-3 (Hans Koert collection)
The making of ....... the perfect discography ends with some short comments. I dreamed about a printed discography with full colour illustrations of all Hit of the Week labels and sleeves, but that dream was too expensive ......... and what about sharing the music of the Hit of the Week records?
Love to share with you a rather noisy and uncleaned copy of the record, discussed today: Now's The Time To Fall In Love and After The Ball as recorded by Phil Spitalny for Durium and released as HoW A-2-3. Enjoy it ............

If you have the complete series of the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings, find volume 4 - cd one - track 4 and 5 and learn how a cleaned Hit of the Week record should sound transfered by Doug Benson. You can order a copy at the Archeophone Records site.
The paper version of the discography is out of print now, but you can enjoy the (free) online Hit of the Week discography if you like. If you have additions for these sites, like scan of record labels or sleeves, please let me know: hitoftheweek@live.nl
Deze blog is in het Nederlands vertaald gepubliceerd als The Making of ... De perfecte discografie in de Keep Swingingblog.
Next time I hope to tell you more about the discography as a reference work.
Hans Koert
hitoftheweek@live.nl

Durium Record 9-13

2011-11-19T12:48:00.011+01:00

DURIUM RECORD 9-13 ( photo courtesy and collection: Stewart Marsh)
Thanks to Stewart Marsh another "lost" and forgotten 80 years old Durium record can be added to the Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies and shared on this blog. It's a 1932 address by Carl R. Byoir (1886-1957), a man who is labelled as one of the founding fathers of public relations.
This is the discographical information:

War on Depression Campa!gn (sic)
An Address by CARL BYOIR Director of Organization
Recorded (prob.) New York City, early 1932
The matrix number is 5089. It was released in the 9- series as DURIUM RECORD 9-13
(Source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography)
Carl Byoir was, as Wikipedia informs, .... one of the first public relation pioneers after World War I. He created and organized one of the world's largest public relation firms in 1930. Byoir's techniques and skills are used daily by public relation practitioners. The Museum of Public Relations states Carl Byoir may not have moved mountains, but he definitely made a career of motivating people to do it for him. Public relation textbooks rarely give Byoir the credit he deserves because he was one of the Founding Fathers of public relations but his work helped make public relations an accepted profession ( quote: Museum of Public Relations)
In 1932 the Great Depression suffered the US and world society and Carl had a lot of critic about how the government tried to solve the problems. He contacted the US president Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) and suggested a PR campaign entitled War Against Depression. He hoped to create 1,000,000 jobs for the unemployed. The campaign started on the 15th of February 1932 and probably this Durium record was part of the campaign. The War Against Depression was not very successfully - Byoir's War on Depression campaign didn't bring new jobs and the campaign failed.

The Durium 9- series seems to be a series of special nine-inch records. DURIUM RECORD 9-1 up to 9-4 were four recordings by Vernon Dalhart, but the rest of the series ( up to 9-12) are lecturers and addresses, released as Science Service Records. It presented scientists, who told about their favourite topics. This Carl Byoir address was labeled as a DURIUM RECORD again.

Thanks Stu for sharing this great "new" Durium record.
Hans Koert
author of the Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies

Pontiac Durium promo

2011-11-16T06:42:00.006+01:00

(no band name)
Recorded (prob). New York City, ca spring 1933
5239 WHEN THE WHITE AZALEAS START BLOOMING
no catalogue number

A 7”- inch round advertisement record for PONTIAC. On the label the words < Compliments of PONTIAC the Economy Straight Eight > The record has no promotional message, but all singing. ( source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert) ( November 2011)

Thanks to Stewart Marsh another rare Durium promotion- or advertisement record has been found - the 7-inch cardboard Pontiac Durium record was unknown up to now.
It has a the song When The White Azaleas Start Blooming, an Ethel Park Richerson composition, that became known by Frank Luther and his Trio in 1933. Up to now I can't tell you more about the vocalist(s) on the record, but i hope Stu can inform me about that soon - Frank Luther was a regular vocalist for Durium, and recorded for this label as Cal Garson.
Pontiac Economy Straight Eight advertisement ( ca. 1933)
It was released by Pontiac, the firm which produced automobiles and the Economy Straight Eight was introduced in the fall of 1932 as a new series of cars, which were produced until the 1950s. It was advertised as The Big Straight Eight in the Low Price field, refering to its powefull engine and cheap price (US $ 635). This record must have been released (and recorded of course) somewhere early 1933 and must have been one of the final Durium records made in the US.
Thanks Stu for the label of this great "new" Durium record.
Hans Koert
hitoftheweek@live.nl
Online Hit of the Week-Durium discographies.

The Making of ... the Quest

2011-11-01T06:14:00.010+01:00

A bunch of Hit of the Week - Durium records ( source: eBay)
This summer the fourth 2-cd set completed the series "The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings"; all Hit of the Week cardboard records, released the US between 1930 and 1932 were reissued by Archeophone Records. The crowning glory for the Hit of the Week-Durium project. But first all 200 records had to be documented - about the making of such a Hit of the Week - Durium discography and the four 2cd record set, I love to publish some blogs entitled The Making of ...... In some previous blogs I wrote about the birth and the growth of the discography. Today the Quest for lost information.
A Dancing label, in fact a French Hit of the Week release: Somewhere in old Wyoming ( QUAND NOUS SOMMES ENSEMBLE) - ORCHESTRA HIT OF THE WEEK aous la direction de Bert Hirsch. REcorded in New York City, August 1930 and released as Dancing 1101 in France ca 1930-1931 (Collection Hans Koert)
It is good that the consequences of such a project are incalculable, otherwise you might not start. It is a challenge to make a discography, which can be learned only by doing it and it is sheer drudgery. And mind that it will never be "complete" of "definitive", as "new" lost cardboard 78-rpm records will turn up ......... and need a place in the lists.
If you start a discography it should be great if the original ledgers are still available. It is a pity that the Durium ledgers were lost after the firm was broken, so you'll have to search for the original sources, the cardboard 78-rpm records. In my collection almost all 200 Hit of the Week records can be found, i just meed one or two copies to be completed ...., but I never started to get a complete European collection of Durium records.
Jean-Christophe Averty (photo courtesy: Salon des invités - Jacques Languirand)
Thanks to some dedicated record collectors of these European cardboard records, like Tom Valle from Norway, who helped me to list the Scandinavian releases and the so-called Veckans skiva, the discography could grow. Of course it is important to study original catalogues, newspapers from that period and other discographies to get your list complete. One of those discographies is Brian Rusts' The American Dance Band discography 1917-1942. You should know that in the 1990s the American Dance Band Discography was long out of print. nowadays I do have a copy of both books, but in the 1990s I had to travel two times a year by train from Zeeland where I lived to The Hague, where the library had a copy of the book.

The Mrs. Kunz letter (1983) ( Thanks to Jean-Christophe Averty) (click on the photo to enlarge)
I love to share with you a special story about how information reached me ........... I received a letter by mr. Jean-Christophe Averty, who was a well known French radio and tv-producer, who had his own radio programs and who was an expert in jazz and record collecting. He is fascinated by the cardboard Sefono records, the French label name for the US Hit of the Weeks. Later his name will appear again in this blog as the host of radio programs like Jazz for the Happy Few.
The autograph of Jean-Christophe Averty ( Hans Koert archive)
Jean-Christophe had heard about my discography and shared the story of Mrs. Kunz, who wrote him a letter in 1983. She explained in the letter that her father was a Parisian taxi driver in the post war period and once he had an US passenger in his car who wanted a taxi to bring him to the airport. Later that night Mrs. Kunz father, the taxi driver, found a bag in his car, with a few dozen cardboard 78-rpm records, which must have been lost by man he had brought to the airport. No name or address inside, so her father kept the records and forgot all about it. When her father had died, Mrs. Kunz found the records and she wrote Jean-Christophe and asked him the value of these records. She had added a list with the records: Hit of the Weeks, Sefono's, Dancings, Do-Re-Mi, ABC's and that kind of stuff.

Part of the letter of Jean-Christophe Averty (Hans Koert collection)
All these records are Durium records, so Jean-Christophe had studied the list and was anxious to see the titles of the records, as half of it was even unknown to him ........ Jean-Christophe told me that he wanted to ask the lady to sell him the records for a fair price, but when she contacted Jean-Christophe again, some weeks later, she told him that she had found an antique shop that had given her a fair price for these records: FF 300. Jean-Christophe was disappointed of course, but kept the letter and the list ........... We don't know what happened with the pile of cardboard records - maybe the man of the antique shop sold it to someone or threw the old unplayable (Durium records are always bended, but still playable !) records in the wastepaperbasket years later ........ Fact is that half of the records listed have never appear in any record collection as far as known - they seem to be lost fore-ever. Of course the info of the list has found its place in the Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies.

I found a fragment of an animation dedicated to Jean-Christophe Averty. Enjoy it:
Deze bijdrage wordt ook in het Nederlands geplaatst als The Making Of ... de zoektocht naar informatie op de Keep Swingingblog.
Hans Koert
hitoftheweek@live.nl

The making of .... The growth of a discography

2011-10-02T08:03:00.021+02:00

The 1930s Hit of the Week band logo (collection: Hans Koert)
Recently the final volume of The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings was released by Archeophone - a series of four 2cd albums with all commercial early 1930s released weekly Hit of the Week records. This series of albums is the crowing glory of the so-called Hit of the Week-Durium project. In a series of blogs I love to inform you about ..... The making of..... The previous blog was dedicated to the first attempts to sort out my Hit of the Week record collection: The making of ... the Birth of a Discography. Today more about how the Hit of the Week Discography became a Durium Discography, three volumes, with all known cardboard Durium records released in the US, England, France, Italy and Scandinavia.
Label of the Lp album: Paper Hits "Hit of the Week" Recordings ( Broadway Intermission BR 107) ( released 1980) ( Hans Koert collection)
My first "discography" was not more then a list of cardboard Hit of the Week records I had in my collection. I sent it to record collectors all over the world thanks to the IAJRC ( The International Association of Jazz Record Collectors) directory. I was surprised to learn that this type of record, which was released in giant amounts ( 350,000 copies a week), was almost forgotten in its birthland. Isn't it great that of all a Dutchman lists our ephemeral acetates? a US record collector wrote me. At last I had a list of ca. 50 Hit of the Week collectors from all over the world. Thanks to these people I could enlarge the list with Durium records. These record collectors were anxious to have a complete Hit of the Week - Durium discography, to legitimize their collection ........ Let's explain. As a kid I collected prints of matchboxes and matchcovers. I found it at the borders of the river Scheldt near my native village in the south west part of The Netherlands, as seamen, from all over the world, threw their empty matchboxes into the sea. I must have had collected hundreds of them, but I had no reference at all to verify my collection and so I had no idea about the "value" of my collection ....... I'm sure there wil be made a list of matchbox prints or matchcovers somewhere on the internet now, but in the 1960s no-one ever had heard about internet ..... The same story for those cardboard records. You need to have a complete list to have a reference of your collection.

Label of the Lp: Uncle Dave's 78rpm Nostalgia Party #3 (Sandy Hook Records S.H. 2056) released 1981) ( Hans Koert collection)
A lot of collectors sent me their additions and the Hit of the Week - Durium discography became the reference book I'd hoped. During the 1970s and 80s some record companies had reissued Hit of the Week records on the Ristic, Sunbeam and Broadway Intermission labels, labelled as Paper Hits .........(Broadway Intermission BR 107 and BR 109). The Sandy Hook label even reissued shameless copies from Sunbeam (( The Newly Enlarged) Cardboard Dance Hall Hit of the Week Recordings 1930-1932) (MFC-9 ) (Hit of the Week Recordings 1930-31 MFC-19) in it's series Uncle Dave's 78rpm Nostalgia Party ( S.H. 2044 and S.H. 2056). All these Lp’s had two things in common: The selection of "Hits" was rather "ad-random" and they contained some rare advertisement tracks.

The former Durium factory used by Durium Products (G.Bb) Ltd in Slough early 2000s ( original building 1930s) (photo courtesy: Peter Tanner)
Thanks to my connections and the Kurt Nauck's auctions, two auctions each year, I could (almost) complete my original Hit of the Week collection in excellent conditions. Kurt Nauck himself had collected some of the rare advertisement records in the past and had started some research to these rare ephemeral cardboard advertisement and custom records. He liked my discography so-far and offered me his complete research archive of those rare remains of the bygone days.
( Hans Koert collection)
A few weeks later a big parcel arrived with detailed information and his correspondence with all kinds of collectors in the past about these small records. Hundreds of those promotion discs were released in Europa too, so I had to list these advertisements and custom records too, infact the core business of Durium, which was in fact an advertisement agency. I decided to give it its own discography: The Durium Advertisement and Custom Record Discography. Also the large amount of European releases, by the English Durium Products (G.B.) Ltd., which had its factory in Slough, a suburb of London, needed its own place to be listed: The Durium (GB) Records Discography.
The reverse of one of the numerous English adverisement records: Mobiloil Medley (Sound Distributos S.D. 85) ca. 1934 (Hans Koert collection)
Although the US Durium firm had been broken in the summer of 1932, it got a restart in Europe April 1932, although it was in fact a new firm. The durium (small letters) EN-series was intended to be like the Hit of the Week records as a weekly record and released in England and on the continent. In France these records got its own labels, like Sefono, Dancing, ABC or DoReMi. At first US masters were used, but soon they recorded and printed their own records. When in 1934 the English durium was broken too, it continued, like in the US, history repeats itself, as a label for advertisement and custom records: The so-called Sound Distributors ( and Dubrico for a short period). In France, Denmark and Italy firms continued to make local releases and the Italian Durium ( Dvrivm - La Voce dell' Imperio) even continued in the post war years and still exists as the Durium-label. A lot of reasons for three seperate discographies.

A Veckans skiva cover - a Swedish Hit of the Week release (V.S. nº 32 ( December 1932)
In Europe, discographers like Peter Tanner and Tom Valle helped me to complete the discographies.

(Hans Koert collection)
The late Peter Tanner surprised with a photo from the former Durium factory in Slough. When I had published the address, he took his car and drove to Slough, where he found the old factory - still in use. It was a pity that it was closed due to the fact that is was a Sunday. Tom Valle, who is a Norwegian, helped me to complete the list of Scandinavian releases, known as Super Durium and released as Veckans skiva (which means Weekly Disc in Swedish).
Finally my three discographies: Hit of the Week Discography - The Durium (GB) Records Discography and The Durium Advertisement and Custom Record Discography contained more then 1,300 listed card board Durium records, more then a dozen times as much as Howard Waters original 1960 list .......... And believe me ......... each year new finds are reported ........ discs that were able to hide itself for 80 years .........
Hans Koert
hitoftheweek@live.nl

De Nederlandstalige versie van deze blog vind je op de Keep Swingingblog.

The making of ......

2011-09-04T07:23:00.016+02:00

The Making of .... the birth of a discography
a series blogs about the birth of the Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies and the four 2-cd series The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings.
Hans Koert
Recently the latest Archeophone 2-cd album was released in its series of four 2-cds The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings. This series contains all commercial released card board Hit of the Week recordings as released early 1930s in the US (and overseas). The first Hit of the Week, Through, recorded by the Bert Lown Hotel Biltmore Music, was published February 1930 in the newspaper stands in the streets of New York City and its last one, My Silent Love - Hummin' To Myself by Phil Spitalny's Music in the summer of 1932. These unique recordings are now reissued at the US record label Archeophone; a record company specialized in early 20th century acoustic recordings. Hit of the Week records are all electric recorded, so it seems that these card board records are strangers in their midst, and Archeophone listed these records in its Labels & Innovations list. Archeophone Records, managed by Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey from Champaign, IL (USA), was founded a dozen years ago and a lot of serious music collectors from the prehistorically times of popular music know the high quality of its reissues; nine of them received a Grammy nominations ....... At its website you can learn that online US web magazine Slate.com has named Archeophone principals Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey to their list of the most innovative and practical thinkers of our time. The audio restoration and transfers of the vulnerable Hit of the Week records was made by audio engineer Doug Benson, who was praised for his early 1920s King Oliver transfers a few years ago, which were reissued for the Off the Record label, also distributed by Archeophone. Doug Benson invited me to compile this Complete Hit of the Week Recordings series. The last 2cd in this unique series The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings, volume 4, is the crowning glory of this project.
A bunch of Hit of the Week records (source: eBay.com)
But what came prior this unique historical document, the release of this complete series of reissues of these rare cardboard 1930s record? I love to share with you, in a number of Hit of the Week blogs, some recollections about the making of the discographies and the record series.
Early 1930s cartoon by Harris ( source: Record Research) (collection: Hans Koert)
It all started 30 years ago - a bunch of bended cardboard 78-rpm records attracted me and I bought my first cardboard records at the record fairs in Boskoop and Wageningen (The Netherlands), organized by the Dutch traditional Doctor Jazz Magazine, a group of traditional jazz collectors. I tried to flatten the records and played it at my 1930 portable Columbia type 109A gramophone ....... I was surprised to learn that the music wasn't as bad as I suspected and so was the sound quality of that cardboard stuff. That was my first experience with the record itself.
How to flatten a Durium record with a so-called record lock. (collection: Hans Koert)
Years later, when my collection grew and I became interested in the hidden story of the records, I started a quest for information ....... What musicians had recorded these records? What were the names of the members of the anonymous Hit of the Week Orchestra, as labelled on the records? A lot of record collectors could inform me about their attempts to flatten the records and that these discs were from the 1930s, but they couldn't help me with the info I wanted.
Howard Waters' list of Hit of the Week records ( source: Record Research issue 26 ( January-February 1960) (collection: Hans Koert)
I found an article in the 1960 Record Research, written by Howard J. Waters, with a list of all known Hit of the week records. This was useful information to me ....... I took the three dozen Durium records ( Durium was the name of the firm that released these cardboard records) in my collection and studied the information .......... It was a pity that only half of the records, all Hit of the Weeks, were in the list, but not the European Durium records I had found at the record fairs and junkshops, like the durium (small letters), SUPER durium or SEFONO. I became anxious to learn more about those records and I tried to contact other record collectors who might have other Durium records ....... That wasn't as easy as it sounds today - mind that had internet nor other social media were available as we have today, so I started to list my own Durium records and inserted it in the Waters list, which was a good starting point. I distributed the lists at the Doctor Jazz meeting ( now Doctor Jazz Dag), which were scheduled two times a year, and other record collectors where glad they finally could date their records too, but sent me also info about unlisted items from their collections. The Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies were born ..............

This series of blog about the Making of .... will be continued.
Deze bijdrage is ook geplaatst in het Nederlands op de Keep Swingingblog.
Hans Koert
hitoftheweek@live.nl
online Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies

The cardboard Hit of the Week recordings finally completely reissued

2011-05-14T11:18:00.007+02:00

Archeophone records released the last 2cd of the series The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings. This unique series of 4 twofers contains all released 1930s cardboard Hit of the Week Recordings, including dozens of rare Durium advertisement records.

The fourth volume contains all Hit of the Week records that were released between January and June 1932, up to the moment this weekly release stopped. It includes also some rare advertisement and custom records, like one of the first Mills Brothers commercials for Crisco, the broadast by Amelia Earhart, the first woman to cross the ocean by plane and a hilarious What Kind of Cough Is Serios.

This album can be obtained at the Archeophone Records website. Get yours today.

Hans Koert

author of the Hit of the Week discographies ( online: http://durium.opweb.nl )

The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings - volume 4 to be released in April 2011

2011-03-05T12:00:00.006+01:00

The fourth Archeophone 2CD record with the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings to be released April 2011
In its latest newsletter Archeophone Records announced that the 4th and final volume of the 4 2cd-set The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings would be released soon. I reported this before.
On its website the release is now scheduled for late April 2011 and one can reserve a copy in advance for a reduced price.
Crisco presents the Mills Brothers (1932) - The "young group" sings its signature tune Goodbye Blues ( 5108 )
On its website the 59 tracks of the two cds are presented and it is remarkable that so much rare advertisement and custom records, most never re-issued before, are available. The well known Goodbye Blues record, released by Crisco, the all vegetable shortening which digest so easily, was recently re-discovered and transferred. Up to now we had to live with a moderate 1960s transfer used for an early Ristic album. All the known re-issues on LP or CD of this tune used that moderate Ristic transfer.
What Kind of Cough is Serious? Play this record and find out (late 1932 - early 1933) ( 5209)

And if you might catch a cold, you should listen to the introduction of What Kind of Cough Is Serious? A text on the reverse of the original records warns you in advance: This record has been designed to present, in an instructive manner, a serious problem and its solution. If it should displease your finer sensibilities, owing to the subject involved, kindly bear in mind that it is wiser to face even an unpleasant issue than to dodge it and remain in ignorance as to your best protection.

The three previous released double cd's are all available now again.
If you love to have more information about the 59 Hit of the Week - Durium tracks selected for this final album, visit the online Hit of the Week - Durium discography compiled by Hans Koert. The catalogue number of the 4th 2CD The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings will be Archeophone 3005 (Arch 3005)

The Hit of the Week website also shows that all three previous 2CD's of The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings are available again. Good news - now you can complete your Hit of the Week collection with a unique and complete survey of all commercial released cardboard US Hit of the Week records enlarged with a lot of rare advertisement and custom records. ......

You can pre-order your copy at the Archeophone website or forward me a message.

Dit bericht wordt ook geplaatst in het Nederlands op de Keep Swinging blog

Hans Koert
author of the Hit of the Week Discography - The Durium (GB) Discography and the Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography. Also available online.
keepswinging@live.nl

NOROPA Taalcursus Duitsch

2011-02-15T06:02:00.015+01:00

A few weeks ago Patrick v. G. from The Hague contacted me because he had found a record of a TAALCURSUS DUITSCH at a shop specialized in recycled goods. He found the third record ( DUITSCH PLAAT III) of a language course and wanted to know more about it.

Duitsch voor beginners ( = German for starters)( May 1934) ( Hans Koert collection)
When the British Durium Products (G.B.) Ltd.
started to release its language courses in the fall of 1933. One of the first ones was a Basic English Course ( E-1041 up to 1044) ( just 4 records) and some more extensive 6 record courses, like the French ones, hosted by mr. E.M. Stéphan, a lecturer in French at the University College in London. From this course a French ones was released for Holland, edited by Prof. Dr. J. J. Salverda de Grave, Oud-Hoogleeraar in het Fransch aan de Gemeente-Universiteit van Amsterdam. ( = a profesor emeritus in French language at the University of Amsterdam).
It was released with 6 records with the NOROPA label and one text book with Dutch instructions. Also an English 6-record course was released at the NOROPA label edited by Prof. Dr. A.E.H. Swaen, also a professor emeritus in English at the University of Amsterdam. The German course was edited by Prof. Dr. J. Van Dam, then still active as a professor at the University of Amsterdam.

A NOROPA Taalcursus at a 1930s gramophone. (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)
All three series were sold in luxury boxes and contained 6 records and a Dutch instruction book. Also the covers of the records were written in Dutch. They were produced in the summer of 1934 by Dubrico and distributed by NOROPA.

The three luxury bozes with Taalcursussen. (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

It is rather strange that for the language courses English and French released in Holland the same records were used as for the "Danish" and "Italian" versions, but for the German language courses, two different courses have been made: One used in Denmark ( Matriches E-1261 up to E-1266) and one for Holland and Italy ( E-1282 up to E-1287). The records are different. The fifth one ( E-1265) released as a SUPER durium starts with the days of the week and the fifth ones (E-1286) starts with a trip by train. I wrote more about the Italian version in a previous blog.

NOROPA TAALCURSUS DUITSCH - PLAAT 5 ( E-1286) ( summer 1934) ( Hans Koert collection)
In April 1934 the British Durium Products (G.B.) Ltd, based in Slough, a suburb of London, had to stop its activities. The weekly series of commercial records, like the EN-series ( popular English songs), in fact the European version of the Hit of the Week was broken and had to stop. The amusement sector continued as new firms in some European countries, like Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden.
The trustees however decided that the advertisement and custom records division, like the language course, could be continued and so it started up again as a new firm named Sound Distributors. This company started somewhere in the second half of 1934 and up to that times, a kind of interim firm, Dubrico ( also based in Slough) continued business. All three NOROPA Taalcursussen, in the Netherlands, were distributed by NOROPA, based at the Herengracht 270 in Amsterdam. Up to now I haven't seen other products by NOROPA.

The editor, mr. J(an) van Dam, born in Amsterdam, October 1896 became professor in the Gotic and old-Germanic languages. During the 1930s he was a gifted sought after speaker, but also fascinated by the ideas of the National Socialism. During the war he became a censor, to edit school books and in November 1940 he became a senior-official at the Ministerie van Opvoeding, Wetenschap en Cultuurbescherming ( let's translate it as the Ministry of Education.). He was a member of the NSB ( = Nationaal Socialistische Beweging), the Dutch party that sympathised with the Nazis.
After the war he was adjudged and imprissoned and had to go to jail for several years. When he was released he didn't receive any pension or what so ever and had to work as one of the authors of the Kramers Duits Woordenboek up to his death. He passed away in The Hague, October 1979.

The covers of the NOROPA TAALCURSUS DUITSCH (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

I wonder if someone ever learned a foreign language with these Durium or Noropa language courses. I think that you should have a great self-discipline to learn to speak German, English or French from these Taalcursussen. Fact is, that most NOROPA courses, that survived, seem new and un-used.

The manual on the cover of a NOROPA Taalcursus ( Hans Koert collection)

Cover of one of the records ( Hans Koert colectrion)

The discographical information:

(German Language Course)* // ......... (NOROPA TAALCURSUS) (noropa) // CORSI DI LINGUS Compilation de PROF DR J. VAN DAM ?

Recorded in London, ca. Spring 1934
E-1282-E (A 89 E)

DUITSCH PLAAT I

Released as NOROPA TAALCURSUS 1282
..... TEDESCO PARTE I
released as DVRIVM 1282
E-1283-A (A 90 A) DUITSCH PLAAT II
released as noropa TAALCURSUS 1283
..... TEDESCO PARTE II
released as DVRIVM 1283
E-1284-A (A 91 A) DUITSCH PLAAT III
released as noropa TAALCURSUS 1284
... (A 91 A) TEDESCO PARTE III
released as DVRIVM 1284
E-1285-B (A 92 B) DUITSCH PLAAT IV
Released as noropa TAALCURSUS 1285
... (A 92 B) TEDESCO PARTE IV
Released as DVRIVM 1285
E-1286-C (A 93 C) DUITSCH PLAAT V
Released as noropa TAALCURSUS 1286
... (A 93 C) TEDESCO PARTE V
released as DVRIVM 1286
E-1287-B (A 94 B) DUITSCH PLAAT VI
released as noropa TAALCURSUS 1287
..... TEDESCO PARTE VI
released as DVRIVM 1287

(source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert)

Hans Koert

author of the Hit of the Week-Durium Discography

keepswinging@live.nl

The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings completed

2011-02-14T08:25:00.003+01:00

Some days it happens ...... that you forget to give your love a hug because it's her birthday ......... It almost happened me. Last weekend I mentioned in the Keep Swinging blog, a weekly web log in Dutch and English to share my passion for jazz, jazz-related music, record collecting and other music projects that surprise me, that its fifth birthday will be celebrated next week. Thanks to Jo, my co-editor, I learned that our the Oscar-Aleman blog, dedicated to the music of the Argentine guitar player Oscar Alemán also had started 5 years ago. And guess .............. This Hit of the Week blog was born today five years ago. The first blog was published the 14th of February, 2006. Isn't that great?

Isn't it great to receive this weekend a mailing from Archeophone records, that reads: Release Notes: The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings, Vol. 4 is coming! Details to follow in our March newsletter.

In 2003 Doug Benson and I started to compile a set of four 2cd's with all, commercially, released Hit of the Week recordings, enlarged with a lot of extras, like test pressings, advertisement- and custom records. The first album was released in 2004, the second in 2005 and the third one in 2007. It is great to learn that the 4th one wil be released this year. We'll keep in touch !

Hans Koert

author of the Hit of the Week - Durium Discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

Brian Rust (1922 - 2011)

2011-01-10T07:01:00.005+01:00

Brian Rust (1922-2011) (Nederlands) Brian Rust ( 1922 - 2011) (English)

Rust says ..... ( a collector's talk)
Brian Rust passed away
Hans Koert

On the 5th of January, 2011 Brian Rust passed away, 88 years old. For most 78rpm jazz and jazz-related record collectors his name was connected with the extreme valuable discographies he compiled during his life.

Every record collector has a least one of his books within reach. Although he wasn't active in this field any more because of his age, his name is mentioned at least hundred times a day when collectors quarrel about their beloved records: Rust says .......
Among the books he compiled his best known is the Jazz Records 1897 - 1942. For me, as a teenager, it was the first book I could affort, although I had to make a hard decision, due to shortage of money: Rust or a pile of LPs. Later I bought the British Dance Bands On Record 1911 to 1945. The third important Rust was very difficult to obtain, as it had been out of print for a long time: The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942. I remember that I had to make trips by train from Zeeland, the region where I live, to The Hague ( two hours by train) to consult Rust, as is was the nearest place to find a copy of the Dance Bands Discography. Thanks to a collector who finished record collecting, I found my own copy. The Complete Entertainment Discography was my last Rust - I copied it, page by page ( on a photocopier). I remember that I sent him a copy of my finished Hit of the week - Durium Record Discographies and that he sent me his congratulations and (new) information about the Goodson Records, for me a new discographical project. ( Source: Happy Birthday, Brian - Hans Koert ( blog for his 84th birthday))Annette Hanshaw and Brian Rust (1959)
In December I posted two blogs according the 1920s vocalist Annette Hanshaw. Brian visited her late 1950s and reissued her records. Love to repost here the two links to these contributions

Annette Hanshaw: A great vocalist remembered

Annette Hanshaw: I Hated Those Records

This short contribution can be found in English at the Flexible-Records blog. and in Dutch at the Keep Swinging blog.

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

Brian Rust, record collector, jazz historian, discographer passed away, 88 years old.

Retrospect
Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions

'Stainless Stephen" Earns A Stripe

2010-12-05T14:27:00.008+01:00

Indro Neri asked me for info and pictures about the small Sound Distributor record "Stainless Stephen" Earns a Stripe.

In 1932 Durium founded a studio and factory in Slough, near London, to produce commercial (cardboard) record series. The firm also produced advertisement and custom records. In 1934 the firm broke, but the cardboard advertisement records production continued, first as Dubrico's and later as Sound Distributors. Sound distributors broke somewhere in 1936.

As I don't have a copy of the record in my collection I'll have to do with some moderate qualified Xeros photo copies in my archive.
As the author of the Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography I received information in the past about this record I love to share with you.

(photo courtesy: Gavin/Arkhonia - http://arkhonia.wordpress.com)
“STAINLESS STEPHEN”: Arthur Clifford Baynes ( aka "Stainless Stephen") vocal Recorded in Manchester, ca 1935

EARNS A STRIPE

Matrix number S.D. 91-A Catalogue number S.D. 91

This small 5-inch ( = 11.5 cm) ( = CD-sized) card board record was recorded in Manchester according a leaflet that survived and not in Slough, a suburb of London, the usual place for Sound distributor ( and it's precursors). The leaflet reads: "Here is the first gramophone of the kind ever recorded in Manchester." It was made for the United Cattle Products Ltd. based in Manchester.

(photo courtesy: Gavin/Arkhonia - http://arkhonia.wordpress.com)
STAINLESS STEPHEN is a hot Radio Favourite who sings the praises of the finest winter food in the world. with the compliments of UNITED CATTLE PRODUCTS LTD. Produce Exchange Buildings, MANCHESTER.
Stephen Stainless was a music-hall star whose real name was Arthur Clifford Baynes ( 1892-1971). Around the mid 1930s he appeared in Radio Parade, a film with music hall acts. On the record, I haven't heard it, he sings "the praises of the finest winter food in the world", of course produced by United Cattle Products.

If you like you can see a fragment of Radio Parade at the end of this blog.

(photo courtesy: Gavin/Arkhonia - http://arkhonia.wordpress.com)

We are lucky that an envelope, although rather damaged, did survive in which the small custom record had been posted. It reads:

C.C.P. TRIPE RETAILER of ……………….
M. ………………………………………………………………………….
of …………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………
HAS APPLIED TO U.C.P. FOR A GRAMOPHONE RECORD
BY STAINLESS STEPHEN–FREE, AND HAS GIVEN YOUR
NAME AND ADDRESS AS THEIR USUAL TRIPE RETAILER.
NEXT TIME THIS CUSTOMER MAKES A
PURCHASE FROM YOU–WILL YOU KINDLY
HAND THIS FREE RECORD TO YOUR
CUSTOMER.
WITH COMPLIMENTS AND THANKS

We're lucky too, that also an advertisement or leaflet survived which shows Stainless Stephen behind a microphone promoting Hot Tripe and the iittle gramophone record!

This firm ran a chain of U.C.P. Cafes in England which served tripe and brawn. So the title might be a pun. Stainless Stephen makes the phrase “earns a stripe” sound like “earns his tripe”. The food in question was tripe and cowheels. On the cover a picture of Stainless Stephen with a microphone and a record and a bowl of Hot Tripe. ( source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert)

Tripe & Onions

Somewhat out of favour nowadays, tripe is the lining of a cow's stomach, traditionally served with onions. Smooth tripe comes from the first of a cow's stomachs, and so-called honeycomb tripe is from the second stomach and is considered to be the superior version. Cleaned and boiled to a milky white colour, it is usually cut into strips and soaked in milk with onions for several hours prior to eating. Until relatively recent times, Tripe and Cowheels shops were a common sight in the northwest - now, sadly, all but disappeared. ( source: http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/eat&drink/local-dishes.html )

Finally - I found a fragment from the film Radio Parade of 1935 in which Stainless Stephen must have been present. If not, it's a great example what kind of music you can expect on this record.

Indro Neri is the author of the (Italian) book: Troppa trippa - Recette Regionali di Trippa.

If someone can help me to complete this subject by sending us original scans of the record or label and its printed reverse, or better scans for the envelope and leaflet, please contact me!

Hans Koert
author of the Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography.
keepswinging@live.nl
http://durium.opweb.nl

Crisco Presents the Mills Brothers discovered

2010-10-31T08:11:00.017+01:00

A few months ago I posted a contribution, entitled Crisco Presents The Mills Brothers about a rare and missing original Mills Brothers promo disc for Crisco, the all vegetable shortening which digest so easily, which should have been released on a small cardboard Durium recording early 1932. It was first reissued on a Ristic album ( Ristic 51) and later adopted from that first album on several lp's and cd's.

As the discographer of the (paper and online version) Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies ( and particularly the Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography) I wondered if the "original" record still existed, as I'd never seen a scan of the original label. Wasn't it strange that this small record seemed to have disappeared since its release in the 1930s, most likely in large quantities, and reissued for the very first time in the 1970s on a ten inch Ristic album - but never seen again since that post-Ristic period? I posted a call and last week Jerry Zolten responded that he had a copy, just recently found, of the original record. Great!

CRISCO PRESENTS THE MILLS BROTHERS (Durium) ( April 1932) ( photo courtesy; Jerry Zolten).

……. PRESENTS THE MILLS BROTHERS [g-(male) vo4] John Mills vo g, Herbert Mills vo, Harry Mills vo, Donald Mills vo.

Recorded in New York City, ca Apr. 1932

5108 (A) E (Goodbye Blues)

Originally released unnumbered on a small 4-inch cardboard Durium record.

Contemporary issues: RISTIC 51 / MFC–9 / S.H. 2044 / JSPCD 301 / JSP 902 / MUSIC BOX THEATRE vol 3 / NOSTALGIA ARTS NOCD 3010

(source: Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert)

The matrix number is 5108, but the take number is B ( and not A) as was listed in my discography. It is of course possible that several takes were used.

Crisco, the all vegetable shortening which digest so easily presents the MILLS BROTHERS singing their famous theme song GOODBYE BLUES. There's no tuba, saxophone, trumpet or trombone. The only instrument used is a guitar. All effects are achieved vocally. Unknown six month ago, the MILLS BROTHERS today are internationally famous for having introduced a new rhythm and a new type of vocal harmony. We invite you to tune in and hear them at 7.15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time every Tuesday and Thursday evening over the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Jerry wrote: My copy was acquired at an estate auction a couple of months ago. It was in a box unprotected with a number of unrelated items, but I do have an interest in the Mills Brothers, more so than Duriums in general - and so bid on and won the box. Believe I tossed everything but the Durium disk. Had a tough time playing it when I got home. It just didn't want to stay stationary on my turntable and so had to delicately tape the disk in place...but, as you see, it did play...and I was thrilled with the content...that early Mills Brothers sound that I was hoping for. Jerry Zolten also shared us some details that might be of some importance: As to the Mills Brothers, I live not too far from the Central Pennsylvania town of Bellefonte where they had family ties. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to buy a family piano which, I was told, they had stood around as youngsters when they were just learning.

Thanks Jerry for sharing this with us.

The Mills Brothers, originally billed as Four Boys and a guitar, was a group that performed in the vaudeville circuit and they became famous because they could imitate all kinds of instruments, like the trumpet, trombone and the tuba or bass with their voices: There's no tuba, saxophone, trumpet or trombone. The only instrument used is a guitar. All effects are achieved vocally. In one of their first 1931 recordings for Brunswick they recorded the Tiger Rag. In the next fragment, part of the 1932 film The Big Broadcast you can see how this sound imitating works and sounds. One of their first hits was the Goodbye Blues, here, in a very short fragment of that same The Big Broadcast from 1932.

Goodbye Blues became their signature tune and that's the reason why this tunes was the opening tune for the Fleischer Screen Songs cartoon I Ain't Got Nobody, a kind of karaoke avant la lettre, which includes a sing-along bouncing ball fragment. The Screen Songs cartoon, a typically Fleischer mix from filmed fragments and cartoon comics, starts with a filmed Goodbye Blues. Later in the film you'll find Some Of These Days - Tiger Rag - I Ain't Got Nobody ( Don't sing to loud - mind the neighbours) and finally the Tiger Rag again with a great scat fragment - all hits from the early 1930s Mills Brothers Quartette (sic). The music throughout this cartoon is furnished by the Mills Brothers Quartette. They employ no musical instruments of any kind – except the guitar. There is no tuba, no trumpet and no saxophone. As this film was released on the 17th of June, 1932 the recordings for these fragments must have been made in the same period as the Crisco commercial ( spring 1932).

Isn’t it great to learn that the artists in Max Fleischer’s team seem to have had prophetic talents too, by introducing the first “television-set”!

Thanks Jerry for sharing this record label. Good to learn that it is still around.

This contribution will also be published at the Keep Swinging blog in Dutch.

Follow the Keep swinging blog contribution at Twitter: KeepSwinging

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

See How The Won - a 1935 multimedia Boots campaign

2010-10-23T11:04:00.014+02:00

Durium started its activities in Europe early 1932 in the London suburb of Slough with a factory that produced a regular series of commercial Hits, in fact a copy of the well known Hit of the Weeks series that had been released in a weekly schedule in the US from early 1930 up to the summer of 1932. The US Durium branch was broken and also the European Durium Product (GB) Ltd. lasted only a few years. When Durium had started its commercial catalogue in England of weekly hits ( the durium EN-series) they also launched an advertisement division that could made small cardboard promo records cheap and in large quantities. In 1934 Durium Product (GB) Ltd. was broken too, but the advertisement division started up again as Sound Distributors. A kind of intermission firm entitled Dubrico handled the current affairs for a few months and became known for the Talkie Cigarette Cards. These small advertisement records show the spirit of the age. One of those small records was released as a promo record for Boot The Chemist and has his own story to tell.

(Thanks to Judith Wright - Boots Archive)

......... : Unknown orchestra. Unknown vocal 4 London,

Recorded 1935. Released ca. October 1935

"SEE HOW THEY WON"

Matrices: S.D. 76. Take numers B C G H J

It is a small 4-inch ( = 10 cm) round cardboard record which has on its label the text: "SEE HOW THEY WON" Presented by BOOTS THE CHEMISTS.

On the record a song entitled See How They Won played by an unknown orchestra and sung by an anonymous vocal quartet. The information at the bottom of the label reads: These are the words & music of the Colour Cartoon Film. Produced by Revelator Films Ltd.

A Boots The Chemicals shop in Enfield ( Highstreet) (1930s)
The tune played on the record was originally released on a film "See How They Won". Well still nothing news under the sun - a lot of records during the 1930s and onwards contained film music, but this film was specially made for Boots The Chemist to promote its activities. Thanks to Judith Wright, archivist of Boots archive in Nottingham, (United Kingdom) I can give you some details about the 1935 campaign around the See How They Won Sound Distributors record and, surprisingly, a special made Ib Iwerks cartoon.
In 1935, Boots Pure Drug Company launched a Winter Health Campaign which focused for the first time on preventative healthcare, encouraging customers to buy products such as throat pastilles, children’s cough mixture, aspirin and cod liver oil to combat the inevitable winter coughs and colds. Central to the campaign was a Hollywood-made colour cartoon “See How They Won” which was released on 14 October 1935 and shown at approximately 400 cinemas throughout the UK. It was the first ever colour cartoon film shown in the UK devoted to Health Propaganda. It was supported by a promotional board game for children, gramophone record, colour booklet and poster campaign as well as compulsory window bills and displays in over 1000 branches of Boots.
The cartoon was made in Brewstercolour whilst Revelation Films of Aldwych, London, prepared the sketches and storyline and UBIwerks, Hollywood, did the animation. Production was by Celebrity Productions Inc.

The cartoon shows the "Bad Health Army" (comprising Brigadier Blood Poison, Flight Commander Influenza and Captain Sore Throat) attacking the "Good Health Brigade" (John Careless who has "never had a day's illness in his life …" and his family). The message is one of preventative medicine - keeping products like aspirin and cough mixture at home so as to combat germs as soon as they strike. ( Judith Wright - Boots Archive)
Ub Iwerks ( 1901 - 1971)
The film was made by one of the most neglected cartoon makers of that period, Ub Iwerks, a name well known by connoisseurs, but complete unknown by the general public.
Of course, most people will know the name of Walt Disney, the creator of great characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and maybe a handful might have heard about Max Fleischer, although his creations Betty Boop, Olive Oyl and Popeye the Sailor have become almost as famous as Mickey and Donald. But who really created Mickey Mouse in its early films? Ub Iwerks. He was born in March 1901 in Kansas City as Ubbe Ert Iwwerks, and became famous as an artist at the Walt Disney studios in the 1920s.

Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks

In 1930 Ub Iwerks resigned and started his own studio: The Iwerks Studio. There he created characters like Flip The Frog and made dozens of great Flip The Frog cartoons. But the Iwerks Studio couldn't handle with the great popularity of the Walt Disney and Fleischer cartoons and broke. One of the smaller projects by Ub Iwerks were two films for Boots The Chemist: See How They Won (October 1935) and Leave it to John (1936). I haven't found any information about the latter, but the first one had a duration of ca. 6 minutes and was directed by Ub Iwerks and produced by Charles Cochrane for the founded Cartoon Films Limited. It was, as said before, scripted in the UK and animated in the States.

The reverse of the cardboard Sound Distributor record. (Thanks to Judith Wright - Boots Archive)

On the reverse of the Sound Distributors cardboard record you can learn more about the film: THE MARCHING SONG OF THE GOOD HEALTH ARMY TAKEN FROM THE FILM “SEE HOW THEY WON”. With banners proudly waving high . The Good Health Army marches by While with steady hand and sparkling eye The family salutes. How perfectly this army's drilled Year in year out, its ranks are filled. With splendid men superbly skilled. The men you'll find at Boots. You'll find a branch right in your town. A Good Health Centre of renown. So don't let bad health get you down. YOU CAN ALWAYS RELY ON Boots

The film was lost for a long time, but it seemed that some copies still exist, retitled as The Microbe Army. The copy I found could have been an issue for The States where Boots The Chemist wasn't active or a bootleg, which was a copy of the original See How They Won, renamed as The Microbe Army as at the end, just before the word Boots is used, the film fragment stops. Although the original film was made in colour, this one is a copy in I black and white version I love to share with you.

Thanks to Judith who sent me some additional information and two great scans of the original record.

This contribution will be published in Dutch at thre Keep Swinging blog as See How They won: Een multimedia Boots campagne uit 1935.

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

Crisco Presents The Mills Brothers

2010-07-28T08:34:00.007+02:00

Who has the four inch ( = 10 cm) card board record with the text: CRISCO PRESENTS THE MILLS BROTHERS in his collection? Matrix number = 5108 A.
The record contains the tune Goodbye Blues and a spoken introduction.
(source: (online) Durium Advertisement and Custom Records discography - Hans Koert))

The spoken introduction on the record:

Crisco, the all vegetable shortening which digest so easily presents the MILLS BROTHERS singing their famous theme song GOODBYE BLUES. There's no tuba, saxophone, trumpet or trombone. The only instrument used is a guitar. All effects are achieved vocally. Unknown six month ago, the MILLS BROTHERS today are internationally famous for having introduced a new rhythm and a new type of vocal harmony. We invite you to tune in and hear them at 7.15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time every Tuesday and Thursday evening over the Columbia Broadcasting System.

It was reissued for the first time on Ristic 51 - all other reissues ( MFC–9 / S.H. 2044 /JSPCD 301 / JSP 902 / MUSIC BOX THEATRE vol 3 / NOSTALGIA ARTS NOCD 3010 ) seem to be copies of the Ristic LP.

Can someone show me the label and / or bring me in contact with the owner of the original?
Please contact me: keepswinging@live.nl

This contribution is also published at the Flexible Records blog.

Hans Koert

author of the (online) Hit of the Week / Durium discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

DURIUM DISCO 5005

2010-06-26T09:04:00.009+02:00

DURIUM DISCO 5005 ( Ben Oldtimer collection)

ORQUESTA LATINOAMERICANA - Dir. Jorge Anez): Jorge Añez g tiple dir. Rest unknown.
LUCES DE BUENOS AIRES Lights of Buenos Aires Danzón - E. Pena Morel
Matrix numer 5155 A
Recorded prob. in New York City in the first half of 1932.
Released in 1932 as a card board DURIUM DISCO 5005
(source: (online) Durium Advertisement and Custom Records Discography. - Hans Koert)

Thanks to Ben Oldtimer from the Netherlands I can share with you a DURIUM DISCO recording made by Durium with the Orquesta Latinoamericana, directed by Jorge Añez.

The DURIUM DISCO catalogue of Durium contains, up to now, ca. 40 records. The serie starts with three DURIUM RECORDS 1001 up to 1003 to be followed by some records in the DURIUM DISCO range of 1004 up to 1011. The latter recordings all have a matrix number between 5090 and 5107.
Then the series continues with matrix number 5152 up to 5235 as DURIUM DISCO with a catalogue number between 5001 and 5027.

It seems logically that these records were recorded and produced in the States, but as these records have no manufacturers identification at all, it is likely that they were recorded in the States and produced for the Latino's in the States and for export to the Caribbean and South America (Colombia?)

Mind that the label of the DURIUM DISCO 1000-series ( 10 cm - 4-inch) is smaller then the label of the DURIUM DISCO 5000 series.( 12 cm = 5-inch)

There is only one Durium record known that was made ( Manufactura Casa King Bolivia) in Bolivia - South America, up to now, entitled BUCHE Y PLUMA ( no band name) released as KING DISCO V-4.

Jorge Anez ( 1892 - 1952 ) was born in Bogota ( Colombia). He raised in a well-to-do family and studied at the Bogota School of Music. He performed for some times at the Lira Colombiana founded by Morales Pino. Late 1910s he moved to the US where Jorge lived between 1917 and 1933. In 1920 he made a series of records, most bambucos and pasillos, with Victor Justiniano Rosales, a Colombian tenor. The Bambuco was then labeled as the most authentic national music of Colombia. Jorge Anez played the guitar and the tiple. From 1923 onwards he made recordings together with the Panamanean vocalist Alcides Briceños.

Liras Colombiana directed by Morales Pino.

Between 1929 and 1931 he directed the Estudinantina de Añez and recorded also Mexican and Argentine songs for the great labels Victor, Columbia and Brunswick. The recordings for Durium seem to be almost forgotten. When the Durium Products Corporation was broken ( summer 1931) and continued as the Durium Products Incorporated it tried to obtain a firm footing in the Latin American community in the States. Mind that there were millions of fugetives and the Latin American and Caribbean Community was rather extensive. Durium subtitled its Hits of the Week in Spanish since the summer of 1931 and started series of DURIUM DISCO with a Latin-American repertoire. Jorge Añez was invited to make several records for Durium with his Estudiantina like Pelaverdes, a Bambuco and Junio, a pasillos ( DURIUM DISCO 1009 - 1011 ). He also invited his old friend the Panamenian vocalist Alcides Briceños, with whom he recorded La Bogotania and Y eso no le vale nada - a Bambuco ( DURIUM DISCO 1008 - 1010), both own compositions by Jorge Anez. The record mentioned above, is labeled as Luces de Buenos Aires, a Danzon, played by the Orquesta Latinoamericana, directed by Jorge Añez. The tune El Dulcerito seems to be from the same recoring session. The fact that Jorge Añez's Estudiantina seems to be broken late 1931 or early 1932 suggest that the matrix numbers in the range 5090 up to ca. 5110 are used somewhere in the second half of 1931. In 1933 Jorge Añez left the States - probably he returned to Colombia. He passed away in 1952. (source; Music, race and nation: Musica tropical in colombia - by Peter Wade)

Love to finish this contribution to the DURIUM DISCO label with a fragment of the tune Luces de Buenos Aires, a Danzon. as played by Jorge Anez and his Orquesta Latinoamericana, probably recorded in New York City in the first half of 1932.

Thanks Ben for sharing the audio fragment and the label scan.

Hans Koert

author of the (online) Hit of the Week-Durium discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog published in a review of all weekly Hit of the Week records released during the first three months of 1930: from Through up tp St. James Infirmary. You can find this series of blogs in menu on the right. If you love to be informed about this kind of contributions, ask for the newsletter

Harlem Hot Chocolates - St James Infirmary

2010-05-08T07:02:00.015+02:00

HARLEM HOT CHOCOLATES [3tp-2tb-cl as ss-cl ts-cl as bars-p-banj-b-dm-vo]: Duke Ellington dir. p. Arthur Whetsel tp, Freddy Jenkins tp, Cootie Williams tp, Joe Tricky Sam Nanton tb, Juan Tizol tb, Johnny Hodges cl-as-ss, Barney Bigard cl-ts, Harry Carney cl-as-bars, Freddie Guy banj, Wellman Braud b, Sonny Greer vib dm, Irving Mills vo
ST. JAMES' INFIRMARY Fox-Trot Primrose
Recorded in New York City, March 1930
Matrix number: 1046 D
This Hit of the Week record was released on Thursday the 15th of May, 1930. It has been reissued on numerous LPs and CDs, which are to be found in the online Hit of the Week Discography. (Hans Koert)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1046 ( Hans Koert collection)

The label of the Hit of the Week has a black - green - black lettering and that's for the very first time. The regular labels had the blue - yellow - blue lettering. Record labels during this period normally have the same lay-out and colours and contain the information of the music as played on the label. Durium tried to attrack attention with these different coloured labels, I guess. Mind that these early Hit of the Week records were sold in a display - not in a sleeve or cover. Only the label information was visible for the passer-by and had to attrack his attention.
A 1930 Hit of the Week display

Duke Ellington recorded two records for Durium - this is the second one: St. James Infirmary. It is, like the first one, Sing You Sinners, a sought after record. It is one of the few records that should be listed in the jazz discographies, as most of the other Hits of the Week belong to the sweet dance music hits of the 1930s. It is a remarkable one, as this is one of the few, if not the only black band that recorded for Durium. One of the other exception that proves the rule is Eva Taylor who sung on a Durium Junior. The regular Hit of the Week studio bands contained white musicians only. The Duke recorded this tune also on the 29th of January 1930 for some budget labels like Cameo, Perfect and Banner as the Ten Blackberries - Irving Mills recorded it too, two days later, for Harmony as the Mills' Merry Makers. This learns that there are wheels within wheels thanks to the Depression.
Sheet music of St. James Infirmary.
The tune St. James Infirmary was originally recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Savoy Ballroom Five (1929). It is a sad song about a man who dies from syphilis while on the stairs of St. James Hospital. ( As I lay dying on the stairs of St. James' Hospital). When it became popular in the States, it was telling the story of the youth "cut down in his prime" (occasionally her prime) as a result of some morally questionable actions, like gambling and alcohol, which became common causes of the youth’s death. Although the song originally was an English 18th century ballad it was registered by Joe Primrose, which was a pseudonym for ........ guess ..... Irving Mills. Well, this explains why Mills sings this tune on so many 78rpm recordings from this period.

Irving Mills ( aka Joe Primrose) ( 1894 - 1985)
In 1927 Irving Mills became his manager and impresario of the Duke Ellington orchestra. He would make the band into an international attraction. He became a wealthy man thanks to the numerous compositions in his name. Irving Mills organised numerous recording sessions and as most bands and musicians had a very tough time to make a living due to the Depression, it seemed that Duke Ellington's popularity was still growing in 1930.( source: Duke Ellington early 1930: The Year of the Depression )

Duke Ellington ( 1899-1974)
The tune was recorded hundred times between 1929 and 2010, not only by jazz musicians, but also by numerous popular groups into an icon of American Music. For me, this Louis Armstrong version is the best - It was recorded 3eptember-October 1959 in los Angeles by Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars. ( thanks to Tom Fine) Enjoy it.

Max Fleischer used the tune in a famous 1933 Betty Boop cartoon entitled Snow White, in which Cab Calloway sings St. James Infirmary. Hope you like it.

The next Hit of the Week, Springtime In The Rockies by Vincent Lopez was a less spectacular issue and was released on the 22nd of May, 1930.

Hans Koert - author of the (online) Hit of the Week-Durium discographies keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES
Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).
Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)
Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)
Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);
Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)
Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026) Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1930: Congratulations - Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music ( HOW 1032) Thursday, the 10th of April, 1930: University of Maine Stein Song - Hotel Pennsylvania Music (HOW 1036) Thursday 17th of april, 1930: With You - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1037) April 1930: University of Maine Stein Song ( promo) - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1040) Thursday the 24th of April, 1930: A Cottage For Sale - The New York Twelve ( HOW 1041) Thursday the 1st of May, 1930: Lazy Lou'siana Moon - Jan Garber's Orchestra ( HoW 1043) Thursday the 8th of May, 1930: Sing you Sinners - Harlem Hot Chocolates ( HoW 1045) 15th of May, 1930: St. James Infirmary - Harlem Hot Chocolates ( HoW 1046)

Next week, at this blog, the next Hit of the Week to be sold in the New York news stands ............ 80 years ago !!

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter

Harlem Hot Chocolates - Sing You Sinners

2010-05-04T13:37:00.007+02:00

HARLEM HOT CHOCOLATES [3tp-2tb-cl as ss-cl ts-cl as bars-p-banj-b-dm-vo]: Duke Ellington dir. p. Arthur Whetsel tp, Freddy Jenkins tp, Cootie Williams tp, Joe Tricky Sam Nanton tb, Juan Tizol tb, Johnny Hodges cl-as-ss, Barney Bigard cl-ts, Harry Carney cl-as-bars, Freddie Guy banj, Wellman Braud b, Sonny Greer vib dm, Irving Mills vo
SING YOU SINNERS Fox-Trot Harling Coslow
Recorded New York City, March 1930
Matrix number: 1045 C
This famous Hit of the Week was released on the 8th of May, 1930. It has been reissued on numerous LPs and CDs, which are to be found in the online Hit of the Week Discography. (Hans Koert)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1045 ( Hans Koert collection)

The label has the regular blue - yellow - blue label. It is one of the best known and sought after by hundreds of (Duke Ellington) collectors. When I tell a fellow collector about my fascination for Hit of the Week records, nine times out to ten, they will mention that the record label is not very interesting from a jazz point of view, except ........ the Ellington's. If you sell a bunch of Hits, most collector's will ask: Does it contain the Ellington's? These records are sought after 80 year old relics.
The tune Sing You Sinners was first published in the 1930 film Honey, in which Lillian Roth sung the song Sing You Sinners. Don't mix this film up with the 1938 film Sing You Sinners featuring Bing Crosby as the leading character. Enjoy a fragment from the tune Sing You Sinners as sung by Lillian Roth in the 1930 film Honey.

Biltmore 1014 - one of the first Hit of the Weeks to be reissued ( or bootlegged if you like) (Hans Koert collection)
The tune Sing You Sinners was recorded several times during 1930 and 1931 by bands like the Charleston Chasers, featuring the Dorsey Brothers, Smith Ballew and Adrian Schubert, the Boswell Sisters and Phillips' Louisville Jug Band. This Ellington was reissued on numerous contemporary isseus - most LPs and CDs, but also on a 1940s Biltmore 78rpm record. This record, a 78rpm pirate label, was released late 1949 - early 1950 as Biltmore (Bm 1014). The reverse is the tune My Old Flame, sung by Mae West for the 1934 film Belle of the Nineties, with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

In a previous blog I wrote about Duke Ellington during the first months of 1930, in which he recorded these two tracks.
In 1927 Irving Mills became his manager and impresario. He would make the band into an international attraction. He became a wealthy man thanks to the numerous compositions in his name. Irving Mills organised numerous recording sessions and as moth bands and musicians had a very tough time to make a living due to the Depression, it seemed that Duke Ellington's popularity was still growing in 1930.In 1930 he made numerous recordings, thanks to Irving Mills, who organized recording sessions for all major record labels, like Victor, Okeh ( Harlem Footwarmers), Brunswick (Jungle Band), but also, under all kinds of pseudonyms, for budget labels like Hit of the Week ( Harlem hot Chocolates), Conqueror ( Ten Black Berries) Diva and Clarion ( Mills' Ten Black Berries). The former, Sing, You Sinners (HOW 1045)by the Harlem Hot chocolates is presented today.

Love to share with you a fragment with this Harlem Hot Chocolates in Sing You Sinners.

The next record to be released by Duirum was Hit of the Week 1046 - the second Harlem Hot Chocolates record with the tune St. James Infirmary.

Hans Koert
author of the (online) Hit of the Week-Durium discographies
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday 17th of april, 1930: With You - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1037) April 1930: University of Maine Stein Song ( promo) - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1040) Thursday the 24th of April, 1930: A Cottage For Sale - The New York Twelve ( HOW 1041) Thursday the 1st of May, 1930: Lazy Lou'siana Moon - Jan Garber's Orchestra ( HoW 1043) Thursday the 8th of May, 1930: Sing you Sinners - Harlem Hot Chocolates ( HoW 1045)

Jan Garber's Orchestra - Lazy Lou'siana Moon

2010-05-01T07:53:00.005+02:00

JAN GARBER'S ORCHESTRA [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo]: Jan Garber v dir. ? Frank Munn vo
LAZY LOU'SIANA MOON Waltz Donaldson - vo
Recorded New York City ca. March 1930
Matrix number: 1043 C
This Hit of the Week was released as Hit of te Week 1043 on the 1st of May, 1930 at the news dealers of the major cities in the US. It was also issued in Europe with the MP 1043 label.
This Hit of the Week is to be found at one contemporary issue: The Complete Hit of the Week recordings - volume 1 ( Arch 3002) ( see Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010 )

Label of the Hit of the Week 1043 ( Hans Koert collection)

This tune was reissued on the first of May, 1930 and the label has, for the first time, the green - yellow - green lettering. The record must have been issued in Europe too and it seems that it was released as an MP 1043, although I've never seen a copy. I love to have a scan.

Most Hit of the Week records were released in Europe too, months later then in the US of course. In France the labels seemed to be cleaned and re-printed with French label names and, sometimes, even gallicized tune names. Jan Garber ( 1897-1977)

This Hit of the Week 1043 was recorded by Jan Garber, who had a very popular dance band for five decades. This record was preceded by a recording session, scedulded on the last day of February 1930 by Don Voorhees and his orchestra. It is unknown what tunes were recorded. The Jan Garber side must have been recorded some days later in the intervening period between a contract for Columbia, which ended and a new contract for Victor.

Jan Garber's Orchestra

Jan Garber was born in Morristown Pa November 1897 and passed away seventy years later in Shreveport La. He became famous as a band leader who played the sweet styled dance music. During the 1920s his music was hot - hot dance band music, but around 1930 he changed his style into the sweet and dance music style as played by bands like Guy Lombardo's. Jan Garber was labeled as: The Idol of the Airwaves.
Personally I prefer his 1920s recordings, which were reissued on LP's like Jan Garber - 18 original 1923-27 recordings by the Garber-Davis Orchestra and Jan Garber and his Orchestra ( Grannyphone 03307). Sheet music of the Walter Donaldson tune: Lazy Lou'siana Moon

The tune was written by Lou Donaldson, who was a well known writer of traditional tunes and so-called state-themed southern songs, like this one dedicated to the good life in the state of Louisana. It is, in my opinion, not his best one and that might be the reason that this Hit of the Week wasn't reissued, unless on the Archeophone Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 ( Arch 3002). Walter Donaldson wrote tunes, that became more famous like Yes Sir, That's My Baby, My Baby Just Cares for Me, You're Driving Me Crazy and Makin' Whoopee, My Blue Heaven and Kansas City Kitty - all jazz standard now.

The vocalist of this tune has been unknown for long, but now we believe it might have been Frank Munn, now almost forgotten, born in New York City February 1895 and passed away October 1951. He was a popular radio star during the 1920s up to the 1940s and recorded with bands like Roger Wolfe Kahn's, Nat Shilkret, Bernie Cummins, Ben Selvin and Jean Goldkette, to list some. He used the pseudonym Paul Oliver when he recorded under his own name (!) for Brunswick, Columbia and Victor.

I love to share with you the tune Lazy Lou'siana Moon as sung by Annette Hanshaw in the 10th of March 1930. She is my favorite 1920s - 1930s vocalist. I like the Hawaiian guitar in the first measures played by Tommy Fellini - a typical early 1930s gimmick.

Hans Koert
Author of the online Hit of the Week-Durium discographies
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Don Voorhees Orchestra - unknown rejected tunes

2010-05-01T07:41:00.002+02:00

DON VOORHEES ORCHESTRA [2tp-2tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm]: Don Voorhees dir., Fred "Fuzzy" Farrar tp, Charlie Butterfield tb, Bill Throne tb.
(unknown tunes)
Recorded in New York City, 28th of February, 1930.

The Don Voorhees Orchestra

The Don Voorhees Orchestra visited the studio in New York city on the 28th of February, 1930, but it is unknown what tunes were recorded and why it was rejected.

Hans Koert

author of the Durium - Hit of the Week Discographies
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

The New York Twelve - A Cottage For Sale

2010-04-24T06:55:00.011+02:00

THE NEW YORK TWELVE [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo4]: Phil Spitalny dir., Bob Effros (?) tp, Tommy Thunen tp, Scrappy Lambert vo.
A COTTAGE FOR SALE Fox-Trot Conley Robison
Recorded in New York City ca. February 1930
Matrix number: 1041 D
This Hit of the Week was released on the 24th of April, 1930 at the news dealers of the major cities in the US.

Label of the Hit of the Week 1041 ( Hans Koert collection)

This record has the regular blue - yellow - blue lettering. From now on the record labels will be released with different coloured letterings, up to the end of 1930, when they get its silver lettering.The tune A Cottage For Sale was composed by Willard Robison and the lyrics by Larry Conley. It was written in 1929 and became a hit in the first quarter of 1930. Again, Durium uphold to its label name: Hit of the Week. The singer was Scrappy Lambert - a well known crooner in those days. It became a hit song for The Revellers, a Victor recordings vocal quintet ( four singers and a piano player). The tune A Cottage For Sale became a standard in American music and not only recorded in 1930, but also in the 1940s and next decades by musicians like Don Byas, Erroll Garner, Coleman Hawkins, Jackie Gleason, Billy Eckstine, Howard McGhee, Cannonball Adderley, Teddy Wilson and Earl Hines. The New York Twelve was a pseudonym for the studio band led by Phil Spitalny with Scrappy Lambert as its vocalist. The band contained, indeed, twelve musicians: two trumpets, one trombone, three reeds, two violins, one piano, one banjo, one tuba and drums. Unofrtunally, like on so many durium studio recordings, most of the musicians will stay anonymously.

A 1930s news-stand. Can someone obtain me a photo with a Durium of hit of the Week display?

The four tunes, With You, A Cottage For Sale and the two versions of the University of Maine Stein Song ( one is a promo) all seem to be recorded on the same recording session. The matrices however suggest as if two more tracks were recorded, e.g. matrix number 1038 and 1039. As the original ledger of Durium never have been found, it will stay a mystery if these matrices were rejected or reserved for advertisement or custom records. Fact is that Phil Spitalny recorded two tunes with his Orchestra for Victor ( Any Time's The Time To Fall In Love and The One I Love Just Can't Be Bothered ) on the 6th of February 1930 both sung by ...... Scrappy Lambert ( as Burt Lorin).
Enjoy Any Time's The Time To Fall In Love by Philip Spitalny and his Orchestra with Burt Lorin (!) vocal for Victor.

A Hit of the Week wind-up gramophone

Durium started in 1930 to sell a series of wind-up gramophones. This is a black version, but also a brown one has been traced. There is but few information about these relics. Durium also produced needles to play its records. more about that later.

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES
Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).
Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)
Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)
Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);
Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)
Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)
Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra
Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1930: Congratulations - Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music ( HOW 1032) Thursday, the 10th of April, 1930: University of Maine Stein Song - Hotel Pennsylvania Music (HOW 1036)

Statler Pennsylvanians - University of Maine Stein Song ( promo)

2010-04-18T10:05:00.016+02:00

STATLER PENNSYLVANIANS: [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo4]: Phil Spitalny dir., Bob Effros (?) tp, Tommy Thunen tp, unknown vo-4 (with Scrappy Lambert).
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE STEIN SONG Fox-Trot Colcord Fenstad
Recorded in New York City February 1930 ( prob. later then the 10th of February)
Matrix number: 1040 B
This is a promo record and reissued on the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 by Archeohone ( ARCH 3002) ( source: Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010) Label of the Hit of the Week 1040 SAMPLE RECORD ( Hans Koert collection)

This Hit of the Week 1040 record was a free sample record as a promo record for the weekly Hit of the Week series. Around this time Hit of the Week stretched its wings from coast to coast and it seems that this record was used to promote it in all major cities outside the east coast of the States.

The record has the regular early Hit of the Week label with the blue - yellow - blue lettering. It contains a spoken promo talk and a short version of the University of Maine Stein Song. This tune, very popular in those days, was also released in this period as a regular Hit of the Week ( HOW 1036) which makes it credible that this record was released in the first half of April 1930.

This is the promo talk as spoken on the record:

This is the new Hit-of-the-week record. It is made of Durium, the great invention of a Columbia university professor. Its tone is as rich and clear as the costliest record made. It is guaranteed to play perfectly longer than any other record. It won't break if you drop it. It brings you the latest dance hits each week played by Broadway’s best orchestras, at the sensationally low price of fifteen cents! Each week, our music jury, composed of Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor and Vincent Lopez, selects the outstanding dance hits of the hour for the Hit-of-the-week recording. A new Hit-of-the-week record is on sale each Thursday at all news-stands in this city. Get yours today - fifteen cents! Stand by while Phil Spitalny's famous orchestra plays for you the UNIVERSITY OF MAINE STEIN SONG.

A 1930 - 1931 Hit of the Week display

A new Hit-of-the-week record is on sale each Thursday at all news-stands in this city.

The Hit of the Week records were sold each Thursday, pay-day in the States, at the news stands in the city. They were sold in a display which could contain ca. 8 - 10 records. These Hit of the Weeks were sold without a sleeve or cover.

Each week, our music jury, composed of Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor and Vincent Lopez, selects the outstanding dance hits of the hour for the Hit-of-the-week recording.

Durium suggests in his promo talk that three notable men made their choices each week what hit would become the new "hit" of the week. This jury contained three names: Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor and Vincent Lopez. To start with the latter: Vincent Lopez was one of the most popular dance band leaders of the moment and performed for Durium in previous Hit of the Week recordings like My Fate Is In Your Hands, My Sweeter Than Sweet and There's Danger In Your Eyes. Later he was present at some more recordings for Durium.
Florenz Ziegfeld ( 1867-1932)

Florenz Ziegfeld, nicknamed Flo, was a Broadway impressario. He was known for the Follies musicals. He had opened the 1600-seat Ziegfeld Theatre on 6th Avenue in 1927. Although a very wealthy man, he lost much of his money in the stock market crash.

Eddie Cantor was known as a crooner, nick names Banjo Eyes, because of his eye-rolling song-and-dance routines. He was a very popular radio star and could have been the major star in The Jazz Singer is he hadn't cancel it ( Al Jolson got the lead in The Jazz Ssinger, which was released in 1927). Eddie Cantor recorded for Durium and this record Cheer Up was released late 1931 as a DURIUM DE LUXE sought after by record collectors, due to its complete different label and colourfull sleeve.

Hans Koert
author of the (online) Hit of the Week - Durium discographies
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019). Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020) Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021) Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022); Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B) Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026) Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1930: Congratulations - Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music ( HOW 1032) Thursday, the 10th of April, 1930: University of Maine Stein Song - Hotel Pennsylvania Music (HOW 1036) Thursday 17th of april, 1930: With You - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1037) April 1930: University of Main Stein Song ( promo) - Statler Pennsylvanians ( HOW 1040)

Statler Pennsylvanians - With You

2010-04-16T19:13:00.008+02:00

STATLER PENNSYLVANIANS [ 2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo4]: Phil Spitalny dir., Tommy Thunen tp, Scrappy Lambert vo.
WITH YOU Fox-Trot Berlin
Recorded in New York City February 1930
Matrix number: 1037 B
This rather unknown Hit of the Week was reissued on a few contemporary items ( see Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010 )

Label of the Hit of the Week 1037 ( Hans Koert collection)

This record was released in New York City and other major cities on Thursday the 17th of April, 1930. It has the regular blue - yellow - blue lettering.

The tune With You was written by Irving Berlin and, as far as I know, never became a big hit. It was recorded three times during the first quarter of 1930 by Annette Hanshaw in March 1930 for Okeh and Carl Webster a few weeks before that for Odeon and, of course, this Phil Spitalny one for Durium. That's all ..... to quote the former. Love to share with you Annette Hanshaw singing With You from March 1930.

The Statler Pennysylvanians was the same band as the Hotel Pennsylvanians labeled on the Hit of the Week 1036. Mind that the The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' earlies chains of hotels and its hotel in New York City was called the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Phil Spitalny ( 1890 - 1970)
Phil Spitalny was the most important band leader to record for Durium. This times I love to give you some personal info about him.
He was born as Philip Spitalny in Odessa ( Russia) on the 7th of November 1890. He passed away in Miami Beach Fl. on the 11th of October 1970 - aged almost 80 years old.
His father and mother were Jacob and Rachel and he had two brothers: H. Leopold, who also was a musician and Maurice.
Phil Spitalny maried two times, although I don't know the name of his first wife - he had one daughter with her: Norma ( Norma Rein)
He married with Evelyn Kaye Klein in the mid 1940s.

So far so good - later more info about Phil Spitalny.

Hans Koert
Author of the online Hit of the Week-Durium discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Hotel Pennsylvania Music - University of Maine Stein Song

2010-04-10T07:35:00.015+02:00

HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA MUSIC [ 2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo4]: Phil Spitalny dir., Tommy Thunen tp, unknown male vo-quartet (with Scrappy Lambert).
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE STEIN SONG Fox-Trot Colcord Fenstad
Recorded in New York City ca. February, 1930 ( prob. later then the 10th of February)
Matrix number: 1036 C
It was reissued on three contemporary albums ( source: Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010)
Label of the Hit of the Week 1036 ( with the regular blue-yellow-blue lettering) ( collection Hans Koert)
Released on Thursday the 10th of April 1930. It has the ( up to now) regular Hit of the Week label with the blue - yellow - blue lettering. Mind that it has, like all Hit of the Week labels in the first half of 1930, the manufacturers identification in two straight lines.
Label op the Hit of the Week 1036 ( with the green-yellow - green) lettering ( collection: Doug Benson)
This label has a green-yellow-green lettering, unusual for this period. The manufacturers identification is in a curve, which became regular somewhere in the fall of 1930. I think this record was reissued not earlier then October 1930 to complete the so-called Hit of the Week library in a period that the Hit of the Weeks were sold nation wide and also started its promotional campaign in Canada.
This Hit of the Week release is the first one with Phil Spitalny, who directed this Hotel Pennsylvania Music. Phil Spitalny (1890-1970) would become the most recorded band leader for Durium, together with Bert Hirsch. More information about Phil Spitalny, who became known for his all-women bands during the late 1930s and 1940s here and in future blogs. The name of this band, the Hotel Pennylvania Music refers to a well known New York hotel ( 7th avenue 32d. & 33d. ) a hotel which seemed to have been exclusively for the rich. In the early 1930s Jack Albin played here with his Hotel Pennsylvania Music. Brian Rust labels this Hit of the Week 1036 Hotel Pennsylvania Music as a Jack Albin band. The interior of the Hotel Pennsylvania
The tune University of Maine Stein Song is in fact a rather weird tune. In was originally composed in 1901 by E. A. Fenstad and ten years later Lincoln Colcord added the lyrics. It's a drink song ( a Stein is a German drinking vessel). In 1929 Rudy Vallee, a Maine alumnus himself, introduced the song in his popular the Fleischman Radio Hour on NBC and made this song to a hit in February 1930 : 350,000 copies of the sheet music were sold and half a million records. Mind that Durium releasing this Hit of the Week really had a "Hit of the Week" with this song and it must have been sold very well. That's why I suggested before that this Hit of the Week version was recorded after the 10th of February 1930.

I love to share his version of Stein Song, by Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees recorded on the 10th of February 1930 for Victor.

Isn't it strange that a drink song became a number one hit for eight weeks in the mids of the Prohibition period?
This University of Maine Stein Song became a standard for US swing bands all through the 1930s and it even became a hit in Europe, as played by Jack Hylton. Of course the British had never heard of the University of Maine so Hylton changed the lyrics a bit and filled the steins for Auld Lang Syne, which was a Scottish university.

Mind that another University of Maine Stein song was released on a Hit of the Week promo record as Hit of the Week 1040 played by the Statler Pennsylvanians, which was just another name for the same band. This record was a so-called Sample Record and will be discussed later ................

Hans Koert

author of the Hit of the Week discography ( 2004-2010)

keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).
Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)
Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)
Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);
Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)
Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)
Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra
Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1930: Congratulations - Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music ( HOW 1032)
Thursday, the 10th of April, 1930: University of Maine Stein Song - Hotel Pennsylvania Music

Next week, at this blog, the next Hit of the Week to be sold in the New York news stands ............ 80 years ago !!

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter

Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music - Congratulations

2010-04-03T07:26:00.006+02:00

BERT LOWN AND HIS BILTMORE MUSIC [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-v-p-g-bs-tu-vo]: Frank Cush tp, Ed Farley tp, Al Philburn tb, Lou Bode cl-as, Fletcher Hereford cl-as, Paul Mason cl-ts, Mac Ceppos v, Chauncey Gray p, Tommy Felline g, Adrian Rollini bas-s, Merrill (Klein) Kaye tu, Frank Munn vo
CONGRATULATIONS Fox-Trot Pinkard Goetz Green Stept
Recorded in New York City ca January 1930
Matrix number: 1032 C

Label of the Hit of the Week 1032 ( collection: Hans Koert)

Released on Thursday the 3rd of April, 1930. It was Bert Lown's third release within a few weeks for Durium. He opened the series of weekly releases on the 13th of February 1930 with Through, followd by Hello Baby a week later. It is possible that these two records were recorded during the same recording session as Congratulations - unfortunally there are no ledgers by Durium left to confirm. The colours of the label are still blue - yellow - blue. It was reissued on two contemporary album: Hit-Of-The-week Record vol. 1: Sixteen toe tapping tunes ( CD202-1 ) and The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 (Arch 3002) ( source: Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010)

Frank Munn was a popular radio star during the 1930s

Bert Lown (1903-1962) was one of those numerous dance band leaders that could earn a living during the 1920s, but came into troubles due to the depression. His band made name as the house band of the Hotel Biltmore in New York between December 1929 and June 1932. I wrote about him in the previous contributions Through and Hello Baby. The vocalist of the band in Congratulations, also recorded in this same period by the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra ( for Cameo and Banner ( a dime-store label) was Frank Munn.
Frank Munn, born in February 1895 was a very popular crooner in those days, who was often heard for the NBC radio networks. He became known thanks to the sponsored radio program, entitled The Palmolive Hour, which was broadcasted from December 1927 up to July 1931. It was a critically acclaimed radio concert hour in the USA released by The Palmolive Musical Stock Company. Each program opened with a duet by Frank Munn and soprano Virginia Rea. Frank Munn became the leading artist in American Album of Familiar Music up to the mid 1940s.

As the program was sponsored by Palmolive, they were announced as Paul Oliver and Olive Palmer. Gus Haenschen led the orchestra with Frank Black at the piano.
Frank Munn would record several times for Durium with the Phil Spitalny's Music and the Hit of the Week Orchestra.

In July 1931 the series of sponsored Palmolive programs stopped. A few month later Frank Munn and most of the former Palmolive crew continued in a series of programs entitled The American Album of Familiar Music. Frank Munn was replaced in 1945 by Frank Parker when he retired.

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).
Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)
Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)
Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);
Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)
Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)
Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra
Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1930: Congratulations - Bert Lown and his Biltmore Music ( HOW 1032)

Next week, at this blog, the next Hit of the Week to be sold in the New York news stands ............ 80 years ago !!

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter

Vincent Lopez Orchestra - There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie!

2010-03-27T07:36:00.012+01:00

VINCENT LOPEZ ORCHESTRA: [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo] Pete Gentile (?) tp, Frank Munn vo
THERE'S DANGER IN YOUR EYES, CHERIE! Fox-Trot Richman Meskill Wendling
Recorded in New York City, mid-January 1930
Matrix number: 1029 C
Label of the Hit of the Week 1029 ( collection: Hans Koert)
Released on Thursday the 27th of March, 1930 in New York City and prob. in the major cities of the States. It completes a series of three Vincent Lopez Durium sides: My Fate Is In Your Hands - My Sweeter Than Sweet and this one There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie!
The colours of the label are still blue - yellow - blue. It was reissued on only one contemporary album: The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 (Arch 3002) ( source: Online Hit of the Week discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010)

Flyer of the film Puttin' on the Ritz

The tune There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie! was originally sung in the "All-Talking" picture Puttin' On The Ritz by tenor James Melton. Vincent Lopez recorded it twice, probably within a few weeks. The Hit of the Week version was the most early ones, recorded mid January 1930 and the second version was for Perfect, recorded a few weeks later in New York City on the 10th of February 1930. I love to share with you a fragment of the latter.

There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie! - Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra ( originally on Perfect, here reissued on a 1940s Imperial (2356).
Some people wondered why artists recorded the same song for various record labels - well, mind that in those days records were sold in gramophone shops, affiliated to the major record labels. like Victor, Edison or Pathé. In a Pathé shop you could obtain Pathé gramophones and the records to play on it ( e.g. Pathé records). These records were sold for US$ 0.75 up to US$ 1.25 each. Since Durium and other record companies started to release cheap records, these major record labels started to make cheap records too. Pathé sold its records also with the cheap Perfect label, which were sold in so-called dime stores. Durium, as we know, made cardboard records released at the news dealers, who sold newspapers and magazines on the streets. So you couldn't buy a Victor record in a dime store nor a Perfect in a news paper stand. So it isn't strange that There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie! was released on various record labels; Sam Lanin and his Troubadours recorded it, for example, on the 10th of February, 1930 for Supertone, another obscure cheap record label. Fact is that all three bands used stock arrangements, so all version sound (almost) similar.

The matrix number: 1029 ( matrix number) C ( take number ) 14 ( stamper number)

Vincent Lopez (1898-1975), born of Portuguese parents in Brooklyn, NYC on the 30th of December 1898, was a very popular dance band leader in those days, but due to the financial crisis he had to take all kind of gigs to make a living for him and his band members. Making recordings for Durium should be seen in the light of making cash money. He became well known due to his numerous sponsored radio programs and was active until the 1950s directing the New York Taft-Hotel house band for 27 year........
Doug Benson, audio engineer, who was responsible for the transfers of the Complete Hit of the Week recordings wrote me, that the three Vincent Lopez recordings have a similarity in sound - a strange cut to the grooves which creates a unique surface noise. This could mean that the this There's Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie!, My Fate Is In Your Hands and My Sweeter Than Sweet were produced in the same period. It seems as if Durium was experimenting with different shapes of the groove. A serious 78rpm collector can tell you that each record label needs his own record needles to play back. Well, it was rather difficult for Doug, to find the right needle to transfer these early Hit of the Weeks with the best possible sound quality. But he succeeded !! You can hear it on The Complete Hit of te Week Recordings volume 1 ( Archeophone 3002 )

Next week another Hit of the week ............. at your news dealer and the Hit of the week blog !!

Hans Koert

author of the (online) Hit of the Week - Durium discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);

Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)

Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)

Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra ( HOW 1027)

hursday the 27th of March, 1930: There's Danger In Your Eyes, Cherie! - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1029)

Ben Pollack's Orchestra - Cryin' For The Carolines

2010-03-20T07:30:00.008+01:00

BEN POLLACK'S ORCHESTRA: Rudy Weinstein tp, Charlie Teagarden tp, Jack Teagarden tb, Gil Rodin cl-as-ss-f, Larry Binyon cl-ts-ss-f, Matty Matlock cl-as, Ed Bergman v, Alex Beller v, Vic Briedis p, Dick Morgan banj g, Harry Goodman tu, Ray Bauduc dm, Ben Pollack vo.
"CRYIN' FOR THE CAROLINES" Fox-Trot Lewis Young Warren
Recorded in New York City, mid-January 1930
Matrix number: 1027 C
Label of the Hit of the Week 1027 ( collection: Hans Koert)
Released on Thursday the 13th of March, 1930 in New York City and probably in more major cities outside New York. It has the normal early Hit of the Week label colours: blue - yellow - blue. It was reissued on several contemporaty issues ( online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)(2004-2010)

Label of the MP 1027
This record was also exported to Europe too and must have been released somewhere in the early 1930s, but. normally, Hit of the Week records were released in Europe with its original label, but in France the labels were ( wholly or partly) cleaned and printed with a new label. In this case only the label name had been changed. MP 10 Rue de la Victorie, Paris INCASSABLE. MP means Metro le Pelletiers and here, along the 10 Rue de la Victoire in Paris was a department store where these records were sold. Incassable means unbreakable. On the reverse of the record the words: Incassable 10 Rue de la Victorie, Paris.

Ben Pollack and his Central Park Hotel Orchestra, early 1929: f.l.t.r. (back row): Eddie Bergman - Larry Binyon - Jack Teagarden and Al Beller. ( front row): Al Harris - Harry Goodman - Jimmy McPartland - Benny Goodman - Dick Morgan - Vic Breidis and Gil Rodin. Ben Pollack is seated in front.

The Ben Pollack band was a very famous band during the late 1920s, with a lot of great names in it - an all-star band itself. What to think about names like Larry Binyon, Jack Teagarden, Benny and Harry Goodman, Al Harris and Jimmy McPartland. During the early 1930s even this great band had to make money. It had just finished a stand at the Park Central when they recorded one session for Durium. Benny Goodman had left the band and played with Red Nichols, before he found a seat in the Don Voorhees Orchestra.

Sheet music of "Cryin' For The Carolines" (1929)

The tune Cryin' For The Carolines was used in the now forgotten film: Spring Is Here and made to a hit by Ruth Etting ( December 1929 for Columbia); Words by Sam H. Lewis and Joe Young. Music by Harry Warren. It is one of the two tunes recorded by Ben Pollack for Durium. its first one, I'm Following You was discussed before and this one, Cryin' for The Carolines, sung by Ben Pollack himself, is the better one of the two, but not by much ( I copied a commend somewhere). It does feature solos by Jack Teagarden and Matty Matlock, and while these are not the best work of either man, they are certainly worth hearing at least once.

Well - no problem this time. I found a fragment of this Hit of the Week 1027 for you. Enjoy it, it's worth hearing at least once!!

CHORUS

Where is the song I had in my heart

That harmonized with the pines,

Anyone can see what's troublin' me,

Cryin' for the Carolines.

Where is the brook that kisses the lane,

Covered with "Glory Vines."

Anyone can see what's troublin' me.

I'm crying for the Carolines.

How can I smile mile after mile, There's not a bit of green here.

Birdies all stay far far away, They're seldom ever seen here.

Where is the gal that I used to meet

Down where the pale moon shines.

Anyone can see what's troublin' me,

I'm crying for the Carolines.

Cryin' For The Carolines by Ben Pollack's Orchestra.(HOW 1027)

Hans Koert

author of the (online) Hit of the Week-Durium discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);

Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)

Thursday the 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)

Thursday the 20th of March, 1930: Cryin' For The Carolines - Ben Pollack's Orchestra

Ben Pollack Orchestra - I'm Following You

2010-03-13T07:32:00.012+01:00

BEN POLLACK ORCHESTRA: Rudy Weinstein tp, Charlie Teagarden tp, Jack Teagarden tb, Gil Rodin cl-as-ss-f, Larry Binyon cl-ts-ss-f, Matty Matlock cl-as, Ed Bergman v, Alex Beller v, Vic Briedis p, Dick Morgan banj g, Harry Goodman tu, Ray Bauduc dm, Ben Pollack vo.
I'M FOLLOWING YOU Fox-Trot Dreyer Macdonald
Recorded in New York City, mid-January 1930
Matrix number: 1026 D
Released on Thursday the 13th of March, 1930 in New York City and probably in some major cities outside New York City. It was reissued on several contemporary issues. ( source: online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)(2004-2010)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1026 ( collection: Hans Koert)

On the 13th of March, 1930, on the day that Clyde Tombaugh announced that he had found a new planet, later named Pluto, the fifth regular weekly Hit of the Week record was released. It seems that, around this date, the records were "exported" to other major cities in the country. The label still has the blue - yellow - blue lettering. The catalogue number is HOW 1026, which suggests that no records were made with the catalogue numbers HOW 1024 and HOW 1025. As the layers of Durium Products Corporartion haven't been found yet, or don't exist anymore, we don't know why these records are missing. It could be that these project were rejected before recording or that these "catalogue numbers" refer to projects with private- or advertisement records.

1929 sheet music of I'm Folllowing You, which became a small hit sung by the Duncan Sisters.
The tune selected was I'm Following You,written by Dave Dreyer ( 1894 - 1967 ) and Ballard MacDonald (1882 - 1935) and originally used in the 1929 film: It's a Great Life. It was recorded by the sweet dance bands of that time: Adrian Schubert, Arthur Schutt and sung by Annette Hanshaw and the Duncan Sisters, who made it to a little hit. Ben Pollack (1903 - 1971)
The Ben Pollack orchestra recorded it mid-January 1930 for Durium and was released 80 years ago as a card board Hit of the Week record. Love to share with you a version of this tune as played by the Hollywood Dance Orchestra, which recorded it originally on the 26th of November, 1929 for Imperial. The Hollywood Dance Orchestra was a pseudonym for Adrian Schubert and his Orchestra. The vocalist is Smith Ballew, who is also to be heard on the first two Hit of the Week releases ( Through and Hello Baby ) and it seems aas if the arrangements used for this recording are equal to the one used for the Ben Pollack Ht of the Week recording.

The Ben Pollack Orchestra Ben Pollack was one of those extreme popular dance band leaders of the late 1920s and although he directed a dance band, a lot of jazz musicians found a living in his band. Some of them became great band leaders or swing musicians them selves like Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden and Bud Freeman to list a few. In today's recording you can find the Teagarden brothers, Jack and Charlie , the great reed player Larry Binyon and Benny Goodman's brother Harry on the tuba. In the early 1930s the music of these dance bands changed - the Roaring twenties had gone - the music became sweet, smooth and romantic - Swing music was ahead .... . So don't expect "a hot dance tune" when you play this I'm Following You record on tour turn table.

Hans Koert
author of the (online) Hit of the week-Durium Discographies

keepswinging@live.nl

THE PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEKS
Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022)

Thursday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023 A) (1023-B)

Thursday 13th of March, 1930: I'm Following You - Ben Pollack Orchestra ( HOW 1026)

Next week, at this blog, the next Hit of the Week to be sold in the New York news stands ............ 80 years ago !!

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter

Vincent Lopez Orchestra - My Sweeter Than Sweet

2010-03-06T07:35:00.009+01:00

VINCENT LOPEZ ORCHESTRA: ? Pete Gentile tp, Frank Munn vo. Rest unknown "MY SWEETER THAN SWEET" Fox Trot Marion Whiting
Recorded in New York City, ca January 1930
Matrix number: 1023-A
Released, maybe around Thursday the 6th of March, 1930 as Hit of the Week 1023-A (sic) for distributing in the streets of New York City, or maybe in other parts of the US or in Europe or Japan (?). It was reissued, together with the other take at the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 ( Arch 3002) by Archeophone. ( source: online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)(2004-2010)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1023-A (Collection: John Little)

VINCENT LOPEZ ORCHESTRA: ? Pete Gentile tp, Frank Munn vo. Rest unknown
"MY SWEETER THAN SWEET" Fox Trot Marion Whiting
Recorded in New York City, ca January 1930
Matrix number: 1023-B
Released Thursday the 6th of March, 1930 as Hit of the Week 1023-B (sic) in the streets of New York City. It was reissued, together with the other take at the Complete Hit of the Week Recordings volume 1 ( Arch 3002) by Archeophone. ( source: online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)(2004-2010)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1023-B ( collection: Hans Koert)

On Thursday the 6 of March, 1930 the second Vincent Lopez Hit of the week recording was released: My Sweeter Than Sweetheart. There are two versions showed above - two takes with different labels. Both labels do have the blue - yellow - blue lettering, like all early Hit of the Week labels. During a recording sessions normally several versions of the same tune were made. From the best versions, test pressings were made ......... Finally the sound operators made a final choice which take should be used for the recording. In this case two takes have been used for the production of these releases, not unusually. Normally each record has the matrix number etched or printed into the Durium surface, somewhere near the spindle. This Durium record has too, but, and that’s rather weird, the take numbers are also mentioned printed on the label as 1023-A and 1023-B, which suggests that they belong to two diferent releases. It is unknown why these two takes were used ...... There are no clearly audible differences in the recordings. It is unknown too, if both version were released early March 1930 – it is possible that one of the takes was used for "export" to other parts of the States ( The first Hit of the Weeks were released at the east coast only) or made for Europe or Japan, as Durium started to export records to other countries starting March 1930. As 1023-A seems to be less common, this one might have been made for a limited attempt to export.

Fact is that this record, like the previous one and the HOW 1029 have a strange cut to the groove which creates a unique rumble surface noise ( Doug Benson - private message (2003)), but as both takes have this slight rumble, it doesn’t seem that this is the reason to use two different takes and to make two different labels. …………

1929 sheet music for the film Sweetie

This tune, which was originally launched in the 1929 film Sweetie, and became a hit played by bands like the California Ramblers (Harmony), Vincent Lopez ( Banner) and Frank Trumbauer ( Okeh). In January 1930 Vincent Lopez recorded the tune again for Durium.

Vincent Lopez directed in those days one of the leading dance bands of the country and he was very popular in radio programs like the Durium Hour. This program was promoting the cardboard Durium records of course. When he was on the radio with his band he always opened with the quote: “Lopez speaking ... ". As I told in last contribution he was a radio star since the radio was introduced, early 1920s. He was selected by Durium to participate in a so-called music jury to select the latest dance hits for Durium.
Richard A. Whiting was responsible for the tune. He was born in Peoria (Il) in 1891 and started his career when he left the Harvard Military School in Los Angeles as a staff writer for music publishers. In the 1920s he lived in Hollywood and made several film scores and wrote for famous Broadway productions. In My Sweeter Than Sweet he cooperated with George Marion Jr. ( 1899-1968), also a very prolific writer in the 1920s.

"Sweets" for everybody who comes to see the film ( advertisement 1929)
Love to finish with the November 1929 version by the Vincent Lopez Orchestra with Irving Kaufman as the vocalist. Mind that Frank Munn sung at the 1930 Hit of the Week version.

I love to have pictures of a ( New York) news dealers who has the Hit of the week display or a promo of the Hit of the week records in the 1930s. I hope someone loves to share that with me and the visitors of this blog.

Hans Koert ( author of the (online) Durium-Hit of the week discography

keepswinging@live.nl

PREVIOUS HIT OF THE WEEK RELEASES

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022);

Thurday the 6th of March, 1930: My Sweeter Than Sweet - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1023-A)(HOW 1023-B)

Vincent Lopez Orchestra - My Fate Is In Your Hands

2010-02-27T06:14:00.017+01:00

VINCENT LOPEZ ORCHESTRA: ? Pete Gentile tp, Frank Munn vo
"MY FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS" Fox Trot Razaf Waller
Recorded in New York City ca. January 1930
matrix number: 1022 B
Released Thursday 27th of February, 1930 as Hit of the Week 1022 in the streets of New York City. It was reissued at only one contemporary issues. ( source: online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert)(2004-2010)

Label of the Hit of the Week 1022 ( collection: Hans Koert)

The Hit of the week label has the blue - yellow - blue lettering as most early Hit of the weeks.

The tune My Fate Is In Your Hands was a late 1929 hit by Gene Austin and Fats Waller. Fats recorded it twice, first in November 1929 with Gene Austin singing the tune ( in an orchestra featuring Fats Waller) and a week later as a piano solo interpretation by Fats Waller himself. Fats Waller was responsable for the composition and Andy Razaf for the words. Lyricist Andy Razaf was born Andrea Paul Razafkeriefo in Washington DC on December 16, 1895 and the son of Madagascar nobleman and a nephew of Queen Ranavalona, III, of Madagascar. He started to write lyrics for nightclub revues during the 1910’s. During the 1920s he was responsable for a lot of hit tunes ( Let's list a few ......Ain’t Misbehavin’, Honeysuckle Rose, In the Mood and of course this My Fate Is In Your Hands) for musicians like Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, and “Fats” Waller. In the 1950’s Razaf began working as a newspaper columnist and continued in that profession until his death in 1973.

Durium released this record on Thursday the 27th of February, 1930, the day that Jack Sharkey lost the fight against Phil Scott with a KO in the third round. The tune was played by Vincent Lopez Orchestra with Frank Munn doing the vocals. Frank Munn was born in New York City February 1895 and was a popular, although now complete forgotten, crooner. He made a lot of recordings during the 1920s up to the 1940s, until he stopped singing in 1947. He is to be heard with a lot of dance bands like Roger Wolfe Kahn, Nat Shilkret, Bernie Cummins, Ben Selvin and Jean Goldkette. He passed away in October 1953. Vincent Lopez was also born in 1895 and directed a sweet dance band for almost 50 years. He became famous during the 1920s playing with his bands in in revues and on the radio ( it was his band that played for the very first time on radio in 1921 ).

Doug Benson who did the sounds restoration of the great series The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings noted that this record seems to have some sound problems. It has a strange cut to the grooves which creates a unique rumbly surface noise, different than any other Hit of the Weeks. They have the same thin sound with a “tinny” tuba (Doug Benson - ( private message) 2003).

Love to finish with the 1929 hit as sung by Gene Austin ( Tenor with Orchestra) in November 1929 My Fate Is In Your Hands. Fats Waller plays the piano on this Victor recording.

Hans Koert

author of the online Hit of the Week-Durium Discography

keepswinging@live,.nl

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Thursday the 27th of February, 1930: "My Fate Is In Your Hands - Vincent Lopez Orchestra ( HOW 1022)

Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music - Hello Baby

2010-02-20T08:06:00.013+01:00

BERT LOWN AND HIS HOTEL BILTMORE MUSIC: Frank Cush tp, Ed of Eddie Farley tp, Al Philburn tb, Lou Bode cl-as or Fletcher Hereford cl-as, Paul Mason cl-ts, Sherry McGhee cl-as (or Mace Irish cl-as), Buddy Falco v, (or Mac Ceppos v), Chauncey Gray p, Tommy Felline g, Ward Lay b, Adrian Rollini bs vib, Stan King dm, Smith Ballew vo.
"HELLO BABY" Fox Trot Magidson Washington Cleary
New York City, ca Jan. 1930
Matrix number 1021 A
Released Thursday the 20th of February, 1930 in the streets of New York City as Hit of the Week 1021. It was released in France, somewhere in the early 1930s, as MP 1021 - It was reissued on several contemparary issues ( source: online Hit of the week Discography - Hans Koert (2004-2010) )

Label of the Hit of the week 1021 ( collection: Hans Koert)

This Hit of the week, in fact the second one to be released, has been listed for years as the first one found on the streets of New York City. Wrong ..... Through, listed last week and released on the 13th of February, 1930 was the first one; Hello Baby, although from the same recording session, was released on the 20th of February, 1930.

The "Hello Baby" label has the blue - yellow - blue lettering like the first one and was sold in a display at the news dealers in the streets of New York City.

Sheet music of Hello Baby as played in the 1929 film "The Forward Pass"

The tune Hello Baby, credited to Herb Magidson, Ned Washington, Michael H. Cleary, was sung in a film The Forward Pass, published in 1929, with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Bert Rome. As the title suggests it has to do with football. A football stars wants to stop his active career just before an important match, but thanks to a beautiful girl, he stays in to the team and wins the game.
Bert Lown was the leader of the house band of the Biltmore Hotel in New York City. I read somewhere that he had a friend, hotel manager of the Biltmore Hotel, who gave him this gig. It started the 3rd of December, 1929 and lasted up to June 1932. When this record was made the Hotel Biltmore Music directed by Bert Lown must have
survived the busy December month and recorded these tunes prob. in the first month of 1930.

Label of the MP 1021 ( collection: Dimitri Marheineke)

In the early 1930s unsold stocks of Hit of the Week records were brought to Europe. Most Hit of the week records found in Europe were sold in dime stores all around Europe. In France the record label were cleaned and printed with "French" labels, like Sefono, ABC or MP. MP comes from Metro le Pelletiers, which was a department store at the Rue de la Victoire in Paris ( France). These early Hit of the weeks are hard to find in Europe, which learns that unsold stocks of the first range of Hit of the week, must have been rather small ......
Love to finish with a fragment of a film which shows daily life in the streets of New York City in 1930. Enjoy it.

Hans Koert

author of the online Hit of the Week-Durium Discography

keepswinging@live.nl

Thursday the 6th of February, 1930: "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips With Me" - Don Voorhees Orchestra ( HOW 1019).

Thursday the 13th of February, 1930:"Through" - Bert Lown and his Hotel Biltmore Music ( HOW 1020)

Thursday the 20th of February, 1930: "Hello Baby" - Bert Lowan and his Hotel Biltmore Music (HOW 1021)

Next week, at this blog, the next Hit of the Week to be sold in the New York news stands ............ 80 years ago !!

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter