Diamond Discs: the Bitter End or Almost.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I bought this little supplement recently and in looking at it I think this may just be the last monthly list of the Diamond Discs because these recordings were all issued, according to the Ron Dethlefson/Ray Wile book..in October 1929. The very last DD's were listed for the week of November 1, 1929 by which time they had shut down the record plant. So is this the last full monthly supplement?

Jim

[Swing Band Heaven]

Interesting to see the last full months offerings. Nothing there that grabs my fancy - although possibly Wedding of the painted doll , but by a choir..ummmm

[phonojim]

According to what I can see in Raymond R. Wylie's book "Edison Disc Recordings", you indeed have the October Supplement, which I agree was most likely the last, although a November one could have been in preparation when DD production ceased. In fact, Wylie shows 6 records in the 52000 series which were to have been in the Nov. 1, 1929: 52646 thru 52651, the last DD issued. These last 6 DDs actually went into production 9/25/1929.
That supplement certainly must be a rare find because DD production was virtually ended by October, 1929 and all commercial record production ceased by the end of the month.
I noticed that I have one of the records listed in the "last month" section of the supplement: 52632 In Autumn by the Hotel Commodore Ensemble. Historically significant but musically boring (to me, at least).

Jim

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I've got one of these : 52645 Little Pal and Why Can't You by BA Rolfe's Orchestra. Why Can't You is pretty good, and it probably is one of the dubbed DD's. The sound is good for a dub if it indeed is one. Interesting thing is I found this record " in the wild" here in Ontario. Edison's long time Ontario jobber here in Toronto had discontinued Edison entirely in 1926, but it seems there were some faithful dealers still carrying the line to the bitter end.T.A. Edison Inc. had a factory or some sort in St Thomas( a small city about 100 miles from Toronto) and it was used for distribution.
JRT

[Valecnik]

I've got the same one.

On the back page lower left corner is printed "Form 41029"

I'm not completely sure of the significance of the "4" but I'm pretty sure that the "1029" denotes the 10th month of 1929.

I've also got the previous month's "Form 4929".

From looking at the "last month's releases on the back page of the 9/29 pamphlet you can see that the last three months of releases were as follows:

August 73 titles released
September 53 titles released
October just 16 titles released.

[pno4tay]

That Moriz Rosenthal disc listed is certainly a prize. It is scarce, and that C major Chopin Etude op. 10 no. 1 is to this day a landmark performance of that etude.

Rick