Steinweiss – Rodgers, Smash Song Hits

Steinweiss - Rodgers, Smash Song Hits

Steinweiss – Rodgers, (Richard Charles) and (Lorentz) Hart. Smash Song Hits. 4 x Shellac-records, 10“, 78 RPM, Album. (Washington DC), Columbia Records (1940). 26,5 x 32 cm. 4 Schellack-Schallplatten, 10“, 78 RPM. Color illustrated original half cloth cover.

Stourdzé, Total Records 10 f. – The first illustrated record cover designed by the american graphic designer Alex Steinweiss (1917-2011). – „In 1939 he was the first art director for Columbia Records, where he introduced a wide application of the concept of album covers and cover art. As records were mostly sold in uniform brown sleeves back then, he contributed an artistic viewpoint to this practise, widely regarded today as the inventor of the modern record cover designs. He was then active in record cover design from 1939 until 1973, and has designed roughly 2500 covers. He also, in the early 1950s, created the paperboard cover for the then new LP format, and so defined the visual identity of recorded music for decades to come. His cover for Beethovens Piano Concerto No. 5, a white light beam splitting into a prism over a piano (1942), influenced the coverart of Hipgnosis’ „The Dark Side Of The Moon“ by Pink Floyd for example“ (Wikipedia). – Die vier Schellackplatten mit 16 Kompositionen von R. C. Rodgers (1902-1979), davon 12 mit Gesang von Deane Janis (1904-1988) und Lee Sullivan. – Das Cover an den Kanten etwas berieben, die Schallplatten wohl ungespielt. – The four shellac records with 16 compositions by R. C. Rodgers (1902-1979), 12 of them with vocals by Deane Janis (1904-1988) and Lee Sullivan. – The cover somewhat rubbed at the edges, the records probably unplayed.