by Record-changer »
Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:00 pm
These 78s were made because many people had not yet replaced their one-speed (78) phonographs (They didn't have Microsoft demanding that they upgrade every three years.

). The dual (or triple) inventory lasted in each market for about 10 years.
The 33 LP format debuted in the US in 1948, and the 45 appeared in 1949. But they did not cross the ocean until 1950, when HMV and Philips started making them. In 1957, the US market was almost devoid of the 78, but the UK, Canadian, and European markets were still heavily selling 78s then. And many European companies kept the 78 far longer, instead of introducing the 45.
This record is a UK release of an American recording. Any HMV recording marketed in the US MUST be released on some other label (due to trademark ownership by RCA in the US). Electrola is one of the labels HMV uses to get around the trademark problem to sell recordings in the US. Or they might license the recording to another company in the US.
A little history here: Victor was broken up into several different companies when countries started passing isolationist laws in the 1920s and 1930s. Among the companies formed from Victor are RCA Victor (US), Deutche Grammophon (Germany), His Master's Voice (UK), and Nippon Victor (Japan, now JVC).
But each of these companies had to create other brand names to sell products in other markets, because they all owned the same Victor trademarks in their respective countries. Among the other brands they created for export use are the record labels Electrola, Odeon, Angel, Camden, Nivico, and JVC.
The same thing happened to Decca (forming the brands London, Philips, and Norelco) and Columbia Records.
This particular record was sold in the UK. it is just a foreign release of the same recording found on the US 45. ABC Paramount licensed it's product to another company (in this case, HMV) for release in the UK. It is very rare in the US (since any HMV recording in the US must have been carried or shipped there by an individual), but not in the UK. But there were many more copies of the 45 sold in the US.