Sunday, December 10, 2006

Also On Command

In my comments about Merry Christmas From The Command Family Of Recording Stars over at FaLaLaLaLa, I mentioned an earlier Christmas LP on the same label, one track of which was featured on that LP. Well, here's that earlier LP. As you might expect if you've been around here for the past week or so, it's Christmas tunes played on the organ. Big surprise, eh? I've been stuck in that rut for a little while now, but I'm trying to get out of it. This record was pressed and released solely for distribution in E. J. Korvette stores. I'd never heard of them, either, but I guess they were a sort of early cross between a Walgreen's and Sam's Club. You had to be a member to buy stuff, but membership was apparently free. They seem to have started in NYC, and never spread farther than Chicago or so, then went out of business by the late seventies, I think. But they did leave us a few copies of this Christmas album with a great cover that's right at home in the Command catalog. If you're still reading all this, why not go download Christmas Carols With Organ And Chimes Played On The Paramount Theater Organ By Ashley Miller (Command COM-K1 SD, 1963). Oh, about that cover, I shared an image of it during my Christmas In July doodle-a-thon back in 2005. So if it looks familiar, that may be where you saw it.

3 comments:

  1. Korvettes was a department store. More like a Target than anything else. No membership required, at least not at the one I went to as a kid in the Chicago burbs.

    Thanks for the share.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice try. E.J. Korvette was a New York City-based retailer, founded in 1948. It is notable as one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting statutes. It is also notable for its failure to manage its business success which led to decline and its 1980 bankruptcy and closure. Founded by World War II veteran Eugene Ferkauf and his friend Joe Zwillenberg, E.J. Korvette did much to define the idea of a discount department store. It displaced earlier five and dime retailers and preceded later discount stores, like Wal-Mart, and warehouse clubs such as Costco Wholesale.
    While E. J. Korvette did issue vinyl recordings on an occasional basis, it was not unique for a department store. I have earlier issues of recordings (on 78’s) issued exclusively by Macy’s Department Store, and I assume that others did these promotional issues as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice try. E.J. Korvette was a New York City-based retailer, founded in 1948. It is notable as one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting statutes. It is also notable for its failure to manage its business success which led to decline and its 1980 bankruptcy and closure. Founded by World War II veteran Eugene Ferkauf and his friend Joe Zwillenberg, E.J. Korvette did much to define the idea of a discount department store. It displaced earlier five and dime retailers and preceded later discount stores, like Wal-Mart, and warehouse clubs such as Costco Wholesale.
    While E. J. Korvette did issue vinyl recordings on an occasional basis, it was not unique for a department store. I have earlier issues of recordings (on 78’s) issued exclusively by Macy’s Department Store, and I assume that others did these promotional issues as well.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are greatly appreciated, but replies aren't guaranteed...