CARDBOARD RECORDS

This week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature is a set of famous cardboard records from 1931. These are Hit of the Week cardboard records.

ONLINE

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Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm and Saturday 5 – 5:55pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

ONE SIDED

Hit of the Week was a US record label founded in 1930 that sold low-priced records made of resin coated cardboard rather than the usual shellac.

After August 1931 they were extended play discs advertised with ‘up to twice the playing time of the average record’.

They also used two long outdated industry practices not used since before 1910:

1. some of the records had the songs announced or contained advertising about ‘Hit of the Week’ records. (The company that brought out Hit of the Week records also produced low cost advertising discs).

2. All of the records were recorded on one side only.

The playing side of the cardboard records was coated with Durium, a lightweight synthetic resin. The unrecorded side was uncoated and the unprotected cardboard absorbed moisture from the air. Therefore the discs have a propensity to curl. They now often require the use of a clip or weight around the turntable spindle to keep them flat during play.

Apart from some low-frequency rumble due to their texture, Hit of the Week audio fidelity was equal to or better than most ordinary shellac records., as you’ll hear in Set 4 of this week’s Phantom Dancer.

A few releases had the performer’s portrait printed on the uncoated paper side, or were imprinted there with advertising matter. They were issued in flimsy rice paper sleeves, few of which have survived.

A new issue featuring a current hit song was released every week. They were sold at newsstands. Previous issues could be obtained by mail order. Retailing for 15 cents each, later raised to 20 cents, Hit of the Week records were by far the lowest-priced records in the US at that time.

BOOM AND BUST

The first regular issue was released in February 1930.

By mid 1930, up to half a million copies of each week’s issue were produced. But sales quickly slumped as the Depression worsened.

In March 1931 the company went into receivership and in May it was purchased by the Erwin, Wasey & Company advertising agency. They debuted a new format debuted in August, featuring two songs or dance tunes on each single-sided disc and a total playing time of about five minutes, but the label remained unprofitable.

The final Hit of the Week issue was released in June 1932.

After the demise of the label, some limited use was made of smaller (often only four inches in diameter) records made of the same material, mostly for giveaway advertising novelties. Specimens of one of the most common advertising records, which invited the recipient to come see the new 1932 Chevrolet automobile, are usually found with a mailing label and postage on the uncoated back side.

Musicians who recorded for Hit of the Week included Gene Austin, Duke Ellington (under the pseudonym “Harlem Hot Chocolates”), Ben Pollack, Eddie Cantor (on a special 25 cent “Durium De Luxe” issue), Morton Downey, and Rudy Vallée. Most of the arrangements were performed by studio musicians in New York, led by Adrian Schubert, Bert Hirsch, Vincent Lopez, Don Voorhees and Phil Spitalny.

Jazz solos by instrumental stars including Bunny Berrigan, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang enlivened some recordings.

Two of the recordings on this week’s Phantom Dancer are tailed with football songs, trying to appeal to the young, male university market.

The vocalists who recorded with the studio bands included several popular radio singers of the day including Ralph Kirbery and Helen Rowland.

In the UK, a similar series was issued on the Durium label with songs by Al Bowlly and more.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is from the late 1940s, an unidentified woman reading to paper tape. Enjoy her story!

6 AUGUST PLAY LIST