Silvertone Records was a short-lived British department store

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, which was one of the house labels of Selfridges in the 1930s.

History

After 1935"Plaza", Silvertone Records issued 8-inch discs made by British Homophone Co. Ltd. for sale in Selfridges department stores using masters from their Plaza label. While the discs were only 8 inches in diameter, as the grooves were close, it had a long playing time equivalent to standard records. The quality of Plaza recordings was considered good. British Homophone discontinued production of its own records in April 1935, and was sold jointly to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

in May 1935, but continued to press discs for other companies. Silvertone releases were selected from the Plaza catalogue by Britain's first

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

Christopher Stone. To keep production costs lower,

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

works were recorded, and artists contracted to other labels were given

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s on Silvertone releases.

Discography

The records had a catalogue number series starting at S-1, but the series was fairly short-lived. Only three releases have been discovered."Label Index: Q-S", * S-1 "Farewell to Arms", from the 1932 film ''

A Farewell to Arms ''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the am ...

'' (Music and lyrics by

Allie Wrubel Elias Paul "Allie" Wrubel (January 15, 1905 – December 13, 1973) was an American composer and songwriter. Biography Wrubel was born to a Jewish family in Middletown, Connecticut, United States, the son of Regina (née Glasscheib) and Isaac ...

and

Abner Silver Abner Silberman (28 December 1899, in New York City, New York, United States – 24 November 1966) as pen name Abner Silver, was an American songwriter who worked primarily during the Tin Pan Alley era of the craft. Career Usually composing the m ...

) (Matrix L-989) by Ben Fields and his Dance Band ('' nom de disque'' for Syd Lipton's Band) b/w "A Thousand and One Nights" (Matrix L-997) by Charles Baxter's String Band This is a reissue of Plaza P-101. (''nom de disque'' for Mantovani). * S-2 "Da-Dar, Da-Dar (waltz)" (written by Robert Hargreaves, Stanley J. Damerell, and

Tolchard Evans Sydney Edmund Tolchard Evans (20 September 1901 – 12 March 1978) was a British songwriter, composer, pianist and bandleader, whose works were popular from the 1920s to the 1960s. Early life He was born in West Kilburn, London, the son of Edmun ...

) (Matrix L-985) by Silver Dance Band (''nom de disque'' for Syd Lipton's Grosvenor House Band) b/w "On My Mind" (Matrix L-1009) by Eddie Walters' Dance Band (''nom de disque'' for Nat Star's Dance Orchestra). This is a reissue of Plaza P-102. * S-3 "Till the Clock Strikes Three" (Matrix L-1019) by Eddie Walter's Dance Band (''nom de disque'' for Oscar Rabin's Romany Band) b/w " Stormy Weather" (Matrix L-1031) by Silver Dance Band (''nom de disque'' for Nat Star's Dance Orchestra). This is a reissue of Plaza P-104.

History

Discography

See also

References

Further reading