Silvertone Records (Selfridges)

Silvertone Records was a short-lived British department store record label, which was one of the house labels of Selfridges in the 1930s.^[1]

History

After 1935^[2] Silvertone Records issued 8-inch discs made by British Homophone Co. Ltd. for sale in Selfridges department stores using masters from their Plaza label. While the discs were only 8 inches in diameter, as the grooves were close, it had a long playing time equivalent to standard records.^[3] The quality of Plaza recordings was considered good.^[2] British Homophone discontinued production of its own records in April 1935,^[4] and was sold jointly to EMI and Decca Records in May 1935,^[5] but continued to press discs for other companies.^[6] Silvertone releases were selected from the Plaza catalogue by Britain's first disc jockey Christopher Stone.^[7] To keep production costs lower, public domain works were recorded,^[2] and artists contracted to other labels were given pseudonyms on Silvertone releases.

Discography

The records had a catalogue number series starting at S-1, but the series was fairly short-lived. Only 3 releases have been discovered.^[8]

• S-1 "Farewell to Arms", from the 1932 film A Farewell to Arms (Music and lyrics by Allie Wrubel and Abner Silver) (Matrix L-989) by Ben Fields and his Dance Band (nom de disque for Syd Lipton's Band^[9]) b/w "A Thousand and One Nights" (Matrix L-997) by Charles Baxter's String Band^[8] This is a reissue of Plaza P-101.^[10] (nom de disque for Mantovani).
• S-2 "Da-Dar, Da-Dar (waltz)" (written by Robert Hargreaves, Stanley J. Damerell, and Tolchard Evans)^[11][12] (Matrix L-985) by Silver Dance Band (nom de disque for Syd Lipton's Grosvenor House Band) b/w "On My Mind" (Matrix L-1009) by Eddie Walters' Dance Band (nom de disque for Nat Star's Dance Orchestra).^[8][13] This is a reissue of Plaza P-102.^[10]
• S-3 "Till the Clock Strikes Three" (Matrix L-1019) by Eddie Walter's Dance Band (nom de disque for Oscar Rabin's Romany Band) b/w "Stormy Weather" (Matrix L-1031) by Silver Dance Band (nom de disque for Nat Star's Dance Orchestra).^[8] This is a reissue of Plaza P-104.^[10]

See also

• List of record labels
• Silvertone Records (disambiguation)

References

1. Frank W. Hoffmann, "Department Store Labels", Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):287.
2. "Plaza", http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Dancebands/IndexPages/labelindex-N-P.htm
3. "Plaza (Label)", Hoffman, 844.
4. Frank W. Hoffmann, "British Homophone Co., Ltd.", in Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1. 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):131; "Plaza", http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Dancebands/IndexPages/labelindex-N-P.htm
5. "Decca Record Co., Ltd.", Hoffman 278.
6. Frank W. Hoffmann, "British Homophone Co., Ltd.", in Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Vol. 1. 2nd ed. (CRC Press, 2004):131
7. "Label Index: Q-S", http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/dancebands/indexpages/labelindex-Q-S.htm See label: http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/dancebands/Labels/LabelPhotos/Silvertone.jpg
8. "Label Index: Q-S", http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/dancebands/indexpages/labelindex-Q-S.htm
9. Also known as the Syd Lipton Orchestra. See http://nfo.net/brit/bl.html
10. "Plaza". Mgthomas.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
11. "Tolchard Evans (1901-78)", http://www.fredgodfreysongs.ca/Collaborators/tolchard_evans.htm
12. "Mrs. Mills And Geoff Love - Glad With Love (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
13. John Wright, "Let's Tell You About Nat Star", JABW Vintage Report 20, http://www.jabw.demon.co.uk/star1.htm

Further reading

• Taylor, Don. The English 78 Picture Book: Vintage Sound Recordings From the 1890s to the 1970s. Artemis, 1999.