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Topic: Beacon Records

16th Aug 2019, 3:42 AM
	xiphophilos Member since Dec 2013 3351 Points Moderator	An ad advertising "Beacon - A New 50c Record" appears in Billboard, Nov. 28, 1942, page 89. Both of the records are clearly not the first-ever issues because they have the catalog numbers 104 and 106. Beacon is also mentioned on page 84 (Record Supplies Draws Operators: B. D. Lazar in Pittsburgh distributes Beacon and Capitol) and page 91 (Talent and Tunes on Music Machines: Beacon's upcoming Buddy Clarke release). In the Billboard Music Yearbook 1943, Beacon has a full-page ad, promoting The 5 Red Caps on Beacon 117. By now the records retail for 75c. Billboard, April 15, 1944, page 14, has another full-page Beacon ad, this time announcing the April 14 release of Singin' Sam (Harry Frankel's) "Don't You Dare Call Me Darling" on Beacon 7150. In October 1948, Joe Davis tells Billboard (Oct. 30, 1948, page 18) he wants to reactivate his music publishing firm Beacon Music (i.e., not the Beacon label). By late December 1948, however, as Billboard reports in the Jan. 1, 1949 issue, he is forced to lay off his entire staff of his Beacon and Murray Wizzell publishing companies. In the same article, he claims he wants to revive Beacon Record Co. instead (Bruce Bastin, "The Melody Man: Joe Davis and the New York Music Scene, 1916-1978," page 208). In Billboard's Jan. 22, 1949 issue (page 17), Joe Davis lays out his expansion plans. As a first step, he reports on February 12, 1949, that has hired four new staffers for both Beacon publishing co. and record co. (Billboard, Feb. 19, 1949, page 19). I'm not sure whether anything came of this revival, however, because in 1954, Joe Davis again tells Billboard that he wants to revive his Beacon label, "which was one of the most active r.&b. labels from 1943 to 1948", for new Rhythm & Blues releases (Billboard, Nov. 20, 1954, page 13). Edited by xiphophilos on 16th Aug 2019, 4:30 AM