Sweet Sue - Paul Whiteman

[Henry]

Yep, that's the list. Sorry I misread 1928 as 1929 for "Sweet Sue." The label ink is a tad indistinct at that point. Thanks for the correction.

Reason I conjectured post-war to early '50s for album C-29 is that I remember O.P.A. ceiling prices posted in the grocery store when I was a kid in the early '50s. I don't believe that there were any ceiling prices before US involvement in WWII; this would date the album, or at least my copy of it, to 1942 or later. And honestly, I doubt the album was issued in wartime because shellac was considered a critical war material and its use for civilian purposes was limited. This topic bears more research.

[Henry]

According to the wiki, the O.P.A. was established in August 1941 and abolished in 1947 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_ ... nistration). I was misremembering the O.P.S., Office of Price Stabilization, which had similar powers during the Korean conflict (1950-53), when I saw ceiling prices as a kid. So, assuming that my copy of Columbia album C-29 is an original printing and not a later issue, it appears that it was produced between those years (1941-47), shellac restrictions notwithstanding. The price list on the inside of the album cover indicates that each 10" red label popular record was fixed at 50¢, so for this four-record album the cost would have been $2.50 (there was an extra 50¢ charge for the album!). It occurs to me that this would have been a lot of money during those years, clearly making such albums luxury items back in the day.