[78-L] Phil Harris on OKeh and Harmony

[david.diehl at hensteeth.com]

Columbia's A&R staff was pretty brain-dead, especially when it came to exploiting their immense catalog of older recordings. In June of 1949 Oberstein announced a deal that the CBS regulars thought was laughable, to market 49-cent records through racks and discount department stores using only old material and then-current talent that Columbia hadn't manage to exploit. Within a few months Obie had a bona fide hit with Pearl Bailey's version of the Huckle Buck and Mannie Sacks had an omlette facial. By December the whole deal had disintegrated. Oberstein only had distribution rights, never any ownership of the trademark.

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-----Original Message-----
From: David Lennick [mailto:dlennick at sympatico.ca]
Sent: Friday, February 5, 2010 06:04 PM
To: '78-L Mail List'
Subject: Re: [78-L] Phil Harris on OKeh and Harmony

agp wrote:> At 03:23 05/02/2010, dl wrote:>> The Harmony label was a short-lived budget label c. 1948-49, pressed by>> Columbia but actually marketed by Eli Oberstein.> > Thanks for the info. Now I have to get a Vocalian pressing, anorak that I am.> > But - I thought that Harmony was also a Columbia imprint until 1933 or so.> > BTW -- the Harmony pressing, while looking very nice from the > scratches and use standpoint, has a dull finish. The OKeh one is nice > and shiny. I wonder if floor sweeping were an integral part of the > material used by Columbia for the Harmony re-issues :-)> > T> Columbia probably still owned the Harmony name, since they used it for budget LPs in the 50s and 60s. David Diehl could probably come up with specifics, but the late 40s Harmony was both a reissue label and a budget label for untried artists, comparable to Victor's revival of "Bluebird Series". It was pressed by Columbia from their own masters but sold by Oberstein's concern (Wright Record Corp?) and Obie also had some Varsity 78s pressed by Columbia at this time. I think Columbia decided to claw back the line when something by Rosemary Clooney or Pearl Bailey suddenly became a hit.Any late Harmony 78s I've seen have been comparable to contemporary Columbias. That is, sorta tolerable till they've been played once.dl_______________________________________________78-L mailing list78-L at klickitat.78online.comhttp://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l