[78-L] Okeh, American Parlophone and Odeon

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "King Daevid MacKenzie" <phx2tuc at windowslive.com>
> ...my copy of "The OKeh Ellington" indicates some of its tracks as having 
> been originally released on Odeon ("I Can't Realize You Love Me" as by the 
> New York Syncopators and "I'm So In Love With You" and "Rockin' in Rhythm" 
> as by the Harlem Footwarmers). As one of the other tracks is specifically 
> identified as originating on American Parlophone ("Three Little Words" as 
> by Frank Brown & His Tooters) and another as originating on English 
> Columbia ("I Must Have That Man" as by Joe Turner & His Memphis Men), it 
> leads me to ask: were these tracks on an American or Canadian branch of 
> Odeon, and exactly what would that label's relationship have been to 
> American Parlophone and OKeh?...
>
There existed short-lived US versions of both the Odeon and Parlophone 
labels
c.1932. The catalog numbers end in "ONY" (Odeon) and "PNY" (Parlophone).
There is serious question as to whether these records were ever actually 
released
for public sale! It has been suggested that they wound up sitting in a 
warehouse
awaiting shipment to South America until sometime after the end of WWII?

When they were found and sold to collectors, they were all in Mint/Unused
condition...and except for a very few dropped and broken over ensuing
decades, virtually all still-existing US Odeon/Parlophone records are in
excellent condition to-day!

Odeon and Parlophone were both part of the Lindstrom operation...as was
Okeh when it was first introduced. I leave it to those more knowledgeable
than myself to explain exactly how the Lindstrom operation and its related
international labels worked...?!

...stevenc