[78-L] Decca plastic issues, Canada only?

[David Lennick]

I have here a Canadian issue of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 played by 
Eugene List, bearing the regular album number DA 465, but containing 5 bright 
red plastic discs (translucent when held up to a strong light), the words 
"Plastic" and "Vinylac" on the labels, and numbered DA 216205/9. Elsewhere in 
parentheses are the shellac numbers DA 29205/9. It looks to me as if the Compo 
Company did this on its own in 1946, substituting 216 for the first 2 digits of 
the catalogue numbers. They also issued the Warsaw Concerto on red vinyl, but 
these are the only such vinyls I've seen on commercial Decca 78s other than the 
Deccalites of a couple of years later (Compo was experienced in using vinyl 
from the 30s since it was one of the leading processors of transcription discs 
in Canada). Anyone know if this was ever on vinyl in the US?

dl