[78-L] Record Stores

[Howard Hoffmaster]

Well, DVD....we're talking another age, so I'll just surrender to Dr. Biel.

Howard H

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Record Stores


>I have several other pictures of the store including those that show the
> front from both the inside and outside, and there are some home movies
> on the DVD.  They all show all labels being sold.  I don't see how a
> store could stay in business only selling a catalog that never grew to
> more than 200 records.
>
> There's another picture from the same photo session from the opposite
> angle here:
> http://www.riverwalkjazz.org/jazznotes/commodore/
>
> But I still have others.
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
> Cary Ginell wrote:
>> I wouldn't know for sure. It seems to me that the 52nd St. outlet, the 
>> one that Milt ran, sold just records. The 42nd St. store might have still 
>> stocked appliances plus records at the time you were there, but Julius 
>> had been ordering 78s from Victor, Columbia, Decca, et. al. since the 
>> '20s. so I would guess that both outlets carried other labels in addition 
>> to Commodore and UHCA.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>>
>>
>>> From: hhoffmst at charter.net
>>>
>>>
>>> Gary, that looks like the 52nd st. store, which I was in once while
>>> clubbing. Any chance, 42nd st only Commodore, 52nd st other labels also?
>>> I definitely remember the counter in the 42nd st store as being on the 
>>> right
>>> as you walked in.
>>>
>>> Howard H.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Cary Ginell" <soundthink at live.com>
>>> Here's a link to the image:
>>>
>>> http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?gottlieb:2:./temp/~ammem_rMhs::displayType=1:m856sd=gottlieb:m856sf=10631:@@@
>>>
>>> Cary Ginell
>>>
>>>
>>>> From: soundthink at live.com
>>>>
>>>> I don't mean to challenge your memory about Commodore, but there is a
>>>> photograph of the interior of the Commodore Shop taken in 1947 that 
>>>> shows
>>>> a whole array of different records. You can even see a customer 
>>>> purchasing
>>>> the Kid Ory Columbia 78 album with the Jim Flora art cover. They never
>>>> would have been able to stay in business selling only new Commodore
>>>> records. Gabler was too smart a businessman to restrict his customers 
>>>> to
>>>> just buying his own stuff.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Commodore did have two storefronts at one time, though; Milt opened his
>>>> own shop in 1938 at 46 W. 52nd St. (the original shop was at 144 E. 
>>>> 42nd
>>>> St.). Not being old enough to have visited either shop, I don't know 
>>>> what
>>>> the differences were between the two locations.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> In 1926, Julius Gabler (Milt's father) contacted all the major record
>>>> companies and had them send him the latest jazz releases. As far as I
>>>> know, the store stocked all new jazz records from then on, and 
>>>> augmented
>>>> the stock with the Commodore and UHCA releases as they came out.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Cary Ginell
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> From: hhoffmst at charter.net
>>>>>
>>>>> As I recall my weekly visits in the forties, Commodore only sold
>>>>> Commodore
>>>>> records, and only new.
>>>>>
>>>>> Howard H.
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>>> From: "Steven C. Barr" <stevenc at interlinks.net>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>>>> From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cary Ginell wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'm finishing up my book on Hollywood's Jazz Man Record Shop, and 
>>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> first chapter, I discuss the Commodore Shop. My research shows that
>>>>>>>> they
>>>>>>>> started selling records as early as 1926, not 1933.
>>>>>>>> Cary Ginell
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It's too bad Milt Gabler never did the autobiography everyone asked
>>>>>>> him
>>>>>>> to do, but all the ads are there, and Billy Crystal has his uncles's
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> his father's stuff. His father managed the store when Milt went to
>>>>>>> Decca. Again I mention the interesting DVD Billy did a few years ago
>>>>>>> about his Uncle Milt.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> But Commodore even started and ran their own label! Did they also 
>>>>>> sell
>>>>>> new records on other labels...and, if so, more than one label or 
>>>>>> group
>>>>>> thereof? That is the change in record sales that I'm trying to
>>>>>> date...?!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Steven C. Barr
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ____________________
>
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