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

Sat Jul 25 14:17:12 PDT 2009

i happened to talk to my 91-year old friend just now, and asked her  
about HOTW.  she remembered them quite clearly, and says they were no  
big deal at the time ("you bought them at the news stand, just like  
anything else - they were just there").  she remembered them as being  
on cardboard but didn't note that as being anything novel or special.   
it was all rather matter-of-fact.  she would have been 15 - 17 during  
their heyday, and she was a pretty big pop music fan (sings along and  
remembers all the words when i play buff bluebird shep fields songs  
for her).

On Jul 25, 2009, at 10:49 AM, Hans en Corrie Koert wrote:

> Dear Michael,
>
> All Hit of the week sleeves you are talking about are to be found at  
> my free
> online Durium Discography: http://durium.opweb.nl >>> select Hit of  
> the
> week. ( http://durium.opweb.nl/how.htm)     As you like I can answer  
> most of
> your questions.
> The Hit of the week sleeves, you mentioned, were only released  
> between the
> summer 0f 1931 and the summer of 1932, when Durium became the Durium
> Products Incorporated. The first series of Durium Records didn't had  
> sleeves
> - they were sold in displays, to be standing in the news stand. You  
> can find
> one here:  http://durium.opweb.nl/images/duriumhow/display.jpg
>
> The Hit of the week Library, as it was called, was a possibility to  
> update
> your Hit of the week collection, if you had missed copies. Each  
> week, as you
> should know, a new Hit of the week was released at the news stands.  
> It is
> said that the news dealer only received a very limited number of  
> copies (
> watch the display - no more then a dozen, maybe.) He could bring the  
> unsold
> copies back. Later, at the end of 1931, when sales were low, they  
> kept a hit
> of the week for two-weeks "in stock".
> If you wanted to  up date your collection you could obtain them as  
> 10 for 1
> dollar by sending a part of the envelope ( = cover) with your  
> address ( and
> the money I guess) to the dealer. Mind that 350,000 copies a week  
> were made
> and sold "for one week" - so they had a great stock of unsold hit of  
> the
> weeks. They even sent ships full of these records to Europe to sell  
> here,
> some months later then in the States. I found one picture of a news  
> paper
> stand in ............. Sweden selling Veckans skiva ( = which is the  
> Hit of
> the week): http://hitoftheweek.blogspot.com/2007/01/duriumskivan.html
>
> You can find more info at my http://durium.opweb.nl online  
> discographies and
> the http:/hitoftheweek.blogspot.com
>
> Keep swinging
>
> Durium
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] Namens Michael Biel
> Verzonden: zaterdag 25 juli 2009 19:19
> Aan: 78-L Mail List
> Onderwerp: Re: [78-L] Durium Hit of the Week 'Hoard'
>
> 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
>
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