[78-L] Blues and Greys...

[Mark Hendrix 78L]

Taylor Bowie asked,

> On a related subject...what's with those sort of bluish and greyish
> Brunswicks from 1936-37?  Were they using up some diluted old blue stuff?

Taylor, here are some posts relevant to this question I've saved from some
years ago on this list:

"When Allied took over the old Columbia west coast plant, there were
either blue blanks or blue compound left over, which they seem to
have used for two or three years. As a result, their pressings, most
notably MacGregor transcriptions (and items like Hollywood Hot Shots)
can be found on blue or bluish records.
Reference to http://www.garlic.com/~tgracyk/oakland.htm may hold the
clue. Both Victor and Columbia established pressing plants in Oakland,
California, in the 1920's.

"It is conceivable that workers from each plant knew each other --
Oakland is not a large city, as cities go. For example, a press
operator from the Victor plant may have been gotten a Columbia blue
wax "blank" by his equal across town so he could surreptitiously press
his own "blue wax Victors" for personal use, or just for the fun of it
(blue waxers are certainly pretty, for sure, nicer than the boring
black of Victors.)

"Of course, I've only heard about the "blue wax Victors" anecdotally.
Anyone here seen one or have more reliable information?

"The first mention I heard about the blue wax Victors (almost twenty
years ago so I may have forgotten some of the details) came from
Charles Bostwick, a long-time record and movie collector in the Bay
Area (George Morrow's core collection was bought from Chuck's
collection -- Chuck sold all his electrical recordings to George.)

"As Chuck explained to me, right after WWII, he visited the old
Columbia pressing plant, and at the time they were selling out old
stock they had lying around. This included *hundreds* of brand new
American Odeon and Parlophone pressings from 1929/30 in their
original sleeves (George Morrow later showed me the Bostwick American
Odeon and Parlophones that Chuck had personally kept.) Chuck snapped
up as many of them as he could afford at the time, the rest of which
were apparently scrapped (he claimed to me that nearly all the mint
American Odeon and Parlophones now floating around among collectors
came from his purchase, including many that were never sold in record
shops, that is, they were "pressed but unissued".) At the same time he
told me the above information, he mentioned the existence of "blue wax
Victors" apparently related to the Oakland pressing plant -- I don't
recall if he actually saw one himself.

"(If Chuck or a friend of his is monitoring this group, hopefully he
can correct if I got any of the facts garbled -- as noted above, it's
been almost twenty years since I last talked with Chuck.)

"Again, anyone here know for sure on the existence of "blue wax
Victors"?"

Jon Noring

AND...

Date: 10-17-04 22:12

> Blue Brunswicks and Vocalions have been mentioned on this list a
> couple of times. Were these only from the West Coast plant?

"Think so - the ones I have all have the inner label ring seen on West Coast
pressings. I have two Blue Shellac Melotones, too. And of course some
MacGregor & Sollie pressings. And a fellow collector once showed me a Chick
Webb sunburst Decca on bright blue shellac - gorgeous to look at! BTW, my
latest East Coast Blue Wax pressing is 3105-D. My latest West Coast Blue Wax
is 3131-D" David Weiner

--Mark Hendrix