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Eclipse and Crown Records become the nation's favourite |
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| We've been selling music since our first day in the UK, with different sheets of music on sale for one penny, threepence and sixpence in 1909. In 1923 we introduced our first gramophone record - a miniature 5 inch "Little Marvel" record playing at 80 revolutions per minute. But it was in the 1930s that sales really lifted off. | ||||
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The Company introduced a new, exclusive label called "Eclipse" in 1927. The records were among the first to be electrically recorded (which gave a much better sound quality) and was presented on 8 inch discs, two inches smaller than most rivals. By 1930 a big price differential had opened up between Woolworths' exclusive Eclipse Records at sixpence (2½p), and their main rivals including Broadcast, also 8 inches but 1/3D (6½p). Sales rocketed. | |||
| So how were Woolworths able to sell their records so much more cheaply than the competition? The answer was simple. Instead of paying a royalty each time a song was sold, the Company bought the song outright normally paying the artist and copyright owner a fee up front. The plan relied on selling huge quantities of the record once it was put on sale - and normally they were only able to buy one of the two songs on the record outright. |  |
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The other way of keeping prices down was to record cover versions of popular songs - particularly from the movies or popular programmes on the wireless. Customers soon found that the Eclipse production team often produced songs that were better than the original, building a strong repertoire of artists from the 1920s Music Hall - including Leslie Sarony, Philip Ridgeway, Malcolm Desmond and Donald Peers. | |||
| There's a good selection of 78s that you can play on line or download to your MP3 player in our virtual cinema. But as a teaser, here's a link to our favourite at Woolies - Teddy Williams' rendition of the monologue "The Lion and Albert" in which young Albert uses his "stick with a horse's head handle, the finest that Woolworths did sell" to annoy Wallis the lion, with disastrous results. | ||||
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| The
Canadian Woolworths, hearing news of the sales success of Eclipse in the
UK, decided to join in - placing orders for large quantities of the
records sight unseen. As a British Dominion they marketed the
music as a little taste of England, and did very well. Because of
the increased shipping cost they sold the records for 15 and later 20
cents.
Not to be outdone, the US parent company also wanted to join the party. They suggested a joint label to be called "Crown" which would be sold on both sides of the Atlantic, allowing the British, German, Canadian and American companies each to record locally and share their best titles with the other companies. |
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| While relatively little American music made it to England, American jazz and dance bands did occasionally make the transition. A particular favourite was an early Louis Armstrong recording of "I can't give you anything but love baby" - which includes the line "Diamond bracelets Woolworth never sell". The song later became a big hit for Duke Ellington and (amazingly) for one Archibald Leach, better known as Cary Grant, and Katherine Hepburn, after featuring in the classic screwball comedy film "Bringing Up Baby". | ||||
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Another
discovery for Crown was Vera Lynn - who sang backing vocals on the label
as a teenager, recording a number of duets anonymously, before being
talented spotted and encouraged to record under her own name.
Dame Vera was to become a household name (not mention the servicemen's pin-up girl) across the world as she literally sang the allies to victory in World War II ... but more than a million copies of her songs were sold on the Woolworths Crown bael before she hit the world stage |
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| My
personal favourite of all the exhibits in our virtual museum is this
late 1930s recording of Hits from Irving Berlin's Musical "Top
Hat". She may not be named on the label, but within a couple
of bars there's no mistaking the marvelous diction and dulcet tones of
Dame Vera Lynn.
Frank Winfield Woolworth - famed for his tall top hats and his love of music - would really appreciate this one. See what you think by clicking the link. |
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| If
you've always wondered how sound was recorded onto a record, help is at
hand. A store colleague in 1936 went and found out, and wrote a
piece for the colleague magazine, "The New Bond". Click here to find out about gramophone records were made. |
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| World War II brought an abrupt suspension of Woolworths' record business. Within weeks of the outbreak of war raw materials had been diverted into the war effort. During the war years the music department only sold sheet music and song books, and gramophone needles when they could get hold of them. | ||||
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Opening
gambit - transforming the High Street Flotation
on the London Stock Exchange ----- Music
and video introduction Sixpenny
pops: We'll have a Woolworth wedding (20s Gallery) |
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