The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I bought a large box of (mostly junk) 78s the other day for the whopping sum of $5. There was an interesting sleeve in the collection I thought I might share. As many of you probably know, there was a large effort during World War II to get people to turn in their old records. Due to the shortage of raw materials created by the war effort, the record companies were grinding up yesterday's hits in order to make new product. Here is a sleeve advertising the need for old records, put out by RCA Victor:



The text reads: "CASH for your old records! To help RCA Victor conserve materials and to continue production of Victor and Bluebird records we will pay cash for all your broken and used records regardless of condition. We suggest that you rummage through your attic, basement and all nooks and crannies for this scrap material. Clean our your record library of selections you'll never play again and bring them in TODAY. Turn your useless records into money!"

Ever wondered how many Berliner and Monarch discs became scrap material for Glenn Miller's latest Bluebird label hits?

Shane wrote:Ever wondered how many Berliner and Monarch discs became scrap material for Glenn Miller's latest Bluebird label hits?

Well, over here in Europe it was the same: during about 1940-1950 you needed to return 2 old records when buying a new one...
I know that many valuable and interesting records were destroyed...

Take a look at this Pathé newsreel ...http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=23046 The scene of the HMV lad who is working as a record smasher should make your blood run cold. They ran similar campaign here in Canada too.

Jim

Shane wrote: Ever wondered how many Berliner and Monarch discs became scrap material for Glenn Miller's latest Bluebird label hits?

A horrific thought.

I just realized that I may own a few "pre-dog" Victor records, just in an unrecognizable form!

Ok, stop it, STOP IT! Thanks for posting this, but how are we supposed to get to sleep after seeing that? That was nasty!

Awesome records turned in for grinding. Masters of many great men sold as scrap metal (Robert Johnson was one of them, imagine eBaying a couple of masters for "Hellhound on my trail" today )

That dang war sure did some damage!

When I was a young kid, we would go to Panama City, Florida for a couple of weeks in the summer. One of the amusement parks along the beach there had a midway with a booth where literally tens of thousands of 78's were in stacks and a carny would clip them to wires and bark passersby to throw baseballs at them. I can also remember him shoveling the broken records off the floor. Wholesale slaughter.