Scranton

August 14, 2009 © Frank H. Jump

Capitol Records links:

Yellow Submarine – Wikipedia

“Duophonic” was used as a trade name for the process by Capitol Records for re-releases of mono recordings in the mid-to-late 1960s through the 1970s. They employed this technique in order to increase their inventory of Stereo LPs, to satisfy retailer demand for more stereo content (and help promote the sale of stereo receivers and turntables). For nearly ten years, Capitol used the banner “DUOPHONIC-For Stereo Phonographs Only” to differentiate their true stereo LPs from the Duophonic LPs. – Wikipedia

The Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, with mural by Richard Wyatt titled Hollywood Jazz featuring prominent jazz artists Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. – Wikipedia Commons

Taken from Beatles Collecting – Decoding Capitol LP Prefixes:

These are the Capitol mint-mark symbols and their corresponding plant location:

       / \
      / I \     Scranton, PA
     / A M \
     -------

     \  |  /
      \ | /
   ----   ----  Los Angeles, CA
      / | \
     /  |  \
      _____
     /      \
    |        |  Jacksonville, IL
    |        |
     \______/

          /|
     ___ / |    Winchester, VA
         \ |
          \|

Beatles historian Bruce Spizer was the first to discover that the “IAM” in the Scranton symbol is the symbol for the union that worked in the Capitol pressing plant, the International Association of Machinists. The Los Angeles symbol is a star, for Hollywood. The Winchester symbol, which many collectors think looks like a wine glass on its side, was actually first crudely hand-etched into a record master by a pressing engineer and was supposed to look like a “Winchester” rifle. – Beatles Collecting

If you lived on the east coast of the USA and you bought records by the Beatles in the 1960’s (or if your mom and dad bought records by Frank Sinatra in the 50’s), chances are they were manufactured here. The plant hasn’t made records since 1969 when Capitol phased out its operations here in favor of its Winchester, Virginia pressing plant. – Exakta’s Flickr Stream

Previously posted on April 25, 2008:

Scranton, PA © Frank H. Jump

The Scranton Button Company was a U.S. corporation, founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1885. In the 1920s it branched out from making buttons into pressing shellac gramophone records. In July 1929 it merged with Regal Records, Cameo Records, Banner Records and the US branch of Pathé Records to form the American Record Corporation. The company was acquired in 1946 by Capitol Records. – Wikipedia

Some websites on Capitol Records: