[78-L] Blues and Greys...

Thu Mar 19 10:47:22 PDT 2009

Is this film showing the pressing of laminated Columbias on YouTube?

On 3/19/09, David Weiner <djwein at earthlink.net> wrote:
> The Decca (which belonged to Eric Anderson) was laminated - looked like a
> 1936 West Coast Columbia pressing, bright blue material.
>
> Dave W.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Michael Biel
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 1:02 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Blues and Greys...
>
> Columbia and Allied blue pressings are laminated, of course.  Are the
> blue Decca and Victors discussed here on solid shellac or are they
> laminated?  Last year I came across a film from the early 30s that
> showed the pressing of Columbia laminated discs and was absolutely
> flabbergasted to see that the two outer surfaces were flat sheets and
> that it was the inner core that was a biscuit.  I had always thought it
> was the opposite.  For example, Edison Diamond Discs were made on
> "powder blanks" which were the previously formed center core, and then
> the condensite surface was brushed on as a liquid.  I would have thought
> that the Columbias were made on a similar pre-formed center core with a
> biscuit of fine shellac above and below the core.
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
>
>
> Mark Hendrix 78L wrote:
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
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