Great post! Keep 'em coming!

I've read that the first (and only important) incarnation of Varsity Records had their discs pressed in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And I always suspected it was in the Scranton Button Company pressing plant, which this article verifies. Loved the pictures of the pressing operations here; thought I'd never get that rare treat! Scranton Button Company made records for various labels since the early to mid 1920s. At first, their product was quite rough, but as the years went by the quality got better and better, until by the early 1930s records produced in that plant were actually quite good and reasonably quiet as far as shellac records go. By that time this plant was the principal supplier of records for the American Record Corporation, pressing discs for important labels such as Brunswick and Vocalion, sometimes even Columbia and Okeh, plus a staggering array of smaller labels. When C.B.S. bought A.R.C. in 1939, within a year or so all their product was pressed in the Columbia laminated disc fashion, and evidently their contract with Scranton Button Company was terminated. Undoubtedly this wounded the Scranton facility badly, and it was also the public's loss, as the C.B.S. era record surface quality was nowhere near as good as that of the Scranton produced records. As I understand it, the newly formed Capitol Record Corporation bought the pressing facility in Scranton in the early 1940s, continuing to manufacture records there until the mid 1970s! In almost any written article I've read regarding Varsity records, it leads one to believe the company was an abject failure in all ways, with demeaning comments on the record surface quality and recording techniques. That's hardly the case, as I've got many examples of great (and in many cases criminally underrated) big bands, some of the stature of Harry James and his Orchestra, some rare and excellent sides by the Les Hite Band, and several by the great Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra. Not a one of these is badly recorded, my only complaint being a decrease in volume and sound clarity by the time the record has played to the inner grooves, a frequent condition even with the major labels such as Victor at that period of time. And since these records haven't been abused, the surfaces are excellent and not at all noisy, far surpassing the surface quality (and often the sound quality too) of the C.B.S.-era products of the day. And contrary to the prevailing opinion, they stand up to repeated playing quite well. I'll temper that remark by saying that the equipment used today to play a record is far easier on them than what one would find in 1940. At any rate, Varsity records turned out a great many discs they could be proud of in their all-too-short life. Too bad they're not easier to find; it's taken me a good many years to acquire the ones I've got, and I'd encourage anybody interested in good big-band jazz or even pop music to seek them out. Many of these are real treasures!!!!!!