[78-L] Durium Hit of the Week 'Hoard'

[Michael Biel]

When the Hit of the Week catalog was published as a full issue of Record
Research I don't think they mentioned the sleeves, and I know they
didn't picture any.  I didn't know they had sleeves until a couple of
years ago, and had no idea that they seemingly did a sleeve for each
one.  At Northwestern in a donated jazz collection shelved in an alcove
in the Radio-TV Dept office, there was a practically complete HOW
collection in perfect condition that were stored in storage albums, two
per pocket.  Not knowing that the whole collection would be pilfered or
discarded within a year or two after I left, I didn't take that bunch,
partially because my own HOW collection was almost complete even at that
time, although some in lesser condition.  But even in that great
collection there was no hint that there had been sleeves.  

Looking at these fantastic scans I have a question that might already
have been answered in the past.  If they print a listing of song titles
in the "HOW Library" was this just bragging or was it possible to get
copies?  If so, how?  They do say "ON SALE AT ALL NEWSSTANDS" but
newsstands don't  keep back issues of magazines and newspapers, so why
would you think they might keep past HOWs?  They also print Durium's
address, but no instructions.  Anybody know how people could "catch up"
on the hits they missed?

Also, has anybody ever seen a photograph of a street scene with a
newsstand that is selling or displaying HOWs???  I usually drool over
the magazines I see in such photographs, so I look at them carefully. 
But I've never seen one that includes HOWs.  

These records always curl because they are coated on only one side. 
I've always wondered if they were flat when they were new.

Thanks for those scans, and keep them up, please!  This is a MAJOR
addition to the history of HOW.  And quickly get the records out of the
sleeves and get the sleeves into plastic sleeves.  As Taylor has said,
the records aren't particularly rare or expensive, but the sleeves are.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  


   -------- Original Message -------
 From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Jim Hadfield had a batch of sleeves..only time I've ever
> seen them in the (so  to speak) flesh. Very thin paper. dl
 
 bruce78rpm at comcast.net wrote:
> > What a fantastic HOW find!! with all those picture discs and the
> > very fragile HOW sleeves, I would venture to say that only a small
> > % of collectors ever stumble across the sleeves. I have only found
> > two in all my years of collecting. 

From: "Taylor Bowie" <bowiebks at isomedia.com> 
>>> I haven't found that any of these particular HOWs are rare
>>> but I'd say it's very unusual to find so many in such good
>>> condition sleeves...very cool!  Thanks for posting the pix. 

From: <78records at cdbpdx.com> 
>>>> Just bought a collection of about 600 78s and found a small
>>>> 'hoard' of 40 or so Durium 'Hit of the Week' records.
>>>> 14 have sleeves, I've never seen those before, and 7 of
>>>> those with artists pictures on the back, blew me away.
>>>> View them at:  http://78records.cdbpdx.com/HOTW/ 
>>>> Most are in pretty good condition, a couple have significant
>>>> creases and all are 'warped', though the surfaces on them
>>>> remain quite glossy and uncracked. My collection previously
>>>> had a half dozen or so really crackled examples, this group
>>>> is way more than I'd hoped to find.   Yee Haa!   CDB