The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just brought home a small group of 78s from a local flea market/antique mall. Included in this group were 4 Al Jolson Brunswick records with custom Al Jolson sleeves. I have never seen these before. I think they are pretty cool!

Also a SURMA label with Ukrainian music, an Imperial with Fats Domino and an MGM with Hank Williams.

Cliff

nice finds! The Williams looks pretty clean from the shellac visible in the photo, usually the MGM Hanks are trashed.... Also never saw the Surma label, have quite a few green Columbia Ukrainians - very common historical ethnic group here on East Coast - PA

^ The Metrolite MGM's aren't shellac. There are Hank MGM's that are heavy shellac, and they don't bear the Metrolite on the label.

The Jolson sleeves are nice. Striking design. Jolson Brunswicks are nice. Some of them, like There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder have a powerful, bass heavy sound.

Just noticed that the Jolson records actually say "The World's Greatest Entertainer". Never seen that on a record before. The same quote is on these sleeves. Any thoughts on the time period these sleeves were issued? There seems to be a lot of Jolson Brunswicks that do not have this quote.

Brunswick 4401 and 4402 were both recorded mid-1929, according to 78 Discography.

Isn't that near the end of Jolie's Brunswick recordings ?

I don't recall seeing that W.G.E. on the label either. Or I didn't take note of it.

To me, the best find there are the Jolson records in the artist sleeves. I think those sleeves are pretty rare, with most Jolson records being in regular Brunswick "ivy" sleeves. That usually means the records might be in E+ condition when they have original sleeves too.

Nice finds.
I've never seen those Brunswick sleeves before. Very cool.