Hit Of the Week

(originally published Aug. 29, 2005)

Hit of the Week records are one of the most interesting musical artifacts of the Great Depression.

They were made from a heavy cardboard that contained a plasticized polymer resin on one side.  Into this resin was pressed the groove of a 78 rpm phonograph record.  Probably the closest resemblance to these records in today's world would be the records that you could cut off the back of a breakfast cereal box.  I remember those quite well from when I was a kid.  And, oh yes, EvaTone Sound Sheets.

A chemistry professor by the name of Dr. Hal T. Beans invented the plastic resin, which he patented as "durium."  Hit of the Week, Inc. was launched in 1930, and its business plan was relatively simple - offer a novel, light-weight, unbreakable record of a current hit pop tune, played by a well-known orchestra or sung by a popular radio personality, and sell them for 15 cents apiece, one-fifth the price of a major-label shellac record.

At first the idea was a hit: the company was pressing almost a half-million copies of the first records it sold.  Even though buyers had to be careful with the records (the tended to slip on felt-covered turntables, and could be ruined by one play with a steel needle) the public seemed to be satisfied with their quality and with the caliber of artists that the records offered.

However, the company's success was short-lived.  By the end of the year, record orders had fallen to less than 350,000 per issue, and by March 1931 the company could not pay royalties to copyright holders. The company fought back with a new series of records that boasted five minutes of playing time.  Still, this did not do the trick and the company went into receivership in mid-1931.

The new owners of Hit of the Week, desperate to generate revenue to pay creditors and royalties, made yet another change.  This time, in an attempt to correct the obvious problem inherent in a one-sided record, the records boasted two full-length performances on their five-minute playing surface.  Hit of the Week was still able to attract top recording talent, but the public's interest went elsewhere.  Hit of the Week issued its last record in June of 1932, then quietly vanished. 

Apart from Hit of the Week, a number of other record manufacturers, most notably the Durium Record Company, flooded the British record market with light-weight, flexible records during the same time period.  Most of these record companies lasted no longer than Hit of the Week.

The definitive online resource for Hit of the Week information is Hans Koert's excellent web site, which lists each Hit of the Week record and also provides complete personnel, recording dates, and photographs of each record and its accompanying picture sleeve.

Songwriter Walter Donaldson  penned our first Hit Of The Week, "Hello! Beautiful!" played by Sam Lanin's Dance Ensemble.  Paul Small is the uncredited vocalist.  The accordionist is probably Cornell Smelser.  Notable jazz musicians in this Lanin outfit include Tommy Dorsey, Larry Binyon, Manny Klein, and Artie Schutt.  Unfortunately none of them have a solo spot.  Still, it's a great record.

Download Sam Lanin's Dance Ensemble - Hello Beautiful.mp3

When the Hit of the Week format changed to a five-minute record in 1931, it allowed players and arrangers a bit of extra freedom to write and to improvise.  Our next record reaps a nice payoff from this benefit.  "Little Girl" is played by Freddie Rich's Radio Orchestra, and on this date Rich had trumpeter Bunny Berigan, the violin/guitar team of Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, and trombonist Tommy Dorsey in his lineup.  They all get to solo, along with Rich on piano.  The uncredited singer is probably sax man Elmer Feldkamp.  At the conclusion of the record, a friendly announcer reminds us: "IT'S THE GIRL, a new five-minute Hit-of-the-week with almost twice the playing time of the average record, at your news-dealer’s next Thursday."

Download Freddie Rich's Radio Orchestra - Little Girl.mp3

You know the lyrics to our last hit - "Potatoes are cheaper/tomatoes are cheaper/now's the time to fall in love..." Phil Spitalny's Music plays it, and the uncredited vocalist again is Paul Small.  A waltz selection, "After The Ball," is the record's bonus track.  The dizzying xylophone solo is by Sam Herman, and trumpeter Mannie Klein plays some nice fills behind the singers.

Download Phil Spitalny's Music - Now's the Time-After the Ball.mp3

Comments

[Steven Davies]

Sam Lanin's Ensemble is the best.
The thing that I like most is their classical piano music.