[78-L] Different labels for A & B sides on 78 rpm records

[Michael Biel]

As for the Cricket, many children's records were issued with labels of
different colors on the different sides to help kids who had not yet
learned to read figure out which side is which.  Decca had at least four
colors for 4-sided sets and might have had more.  RCA Victor used dots
along with the side numbers, and also had a different picture for each
set to help the kids keep the different sets separate.

The others are probably just cases of using left-over labels after a
format change.  When I was going thru the Victor archives at Sony I came
across a directive that told the factories that they whould not mix
label formats on the same record.  The old labels could continue to be
used as long as they were the same on both sides.  BUT they DID allow
the intermixing of label formats in sets!!!  So you could have a set
with some records of one format and other records with another format. 
I only have one RCA Victor set that I bought new with this.  It is a
mid-1950s pressing of Instruments of the Orchestra.  Two discs have blue
labels and two have yellow labels.  These are vinyl, by the way, and are
not the same recordings as those found on scroll labels.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  


Dennis Flannigan wrote:
> In posting label jpgs to: http://78rpmrecord.com/ I discovered I had three
> records with intentionally different labels on each side.
>
> One example is the Broadcast Twelve label attached. The label layouts for
> A/B sides are different. However the song, "Florodora," has Part 1 on the A
> side, and Part 2 on the B side. Next, a British Decca, LBL Decca Supreme F.
> 3253 has different labels on each side, again with different label layouts.
> Finally, on a small kiddie Christmas recording, LBL CRICKET RECORDS CX13-B,
> the color printing is completely different, though the art work is the
> same.
>
> Is this common, or not so uncommon, might be a better question?  Dennis