GALA
Started during WWII by Ben Lane in association with the Novelty Record Co. First address listed as Empire State Bldg., New York City in 1944. In 1950 moved to 605 West 42nd. St., New York City. Primarily but not exclusively a party label, Gala also re-released masters of show tunes from other companies such as Rabson and Schirmer in the mid-1940's, mostly in albums. May have leased some of the Musicraft Party Records catalog or obtained material from a common source. Numbering is rather haphazard, with some records using master numbers instead of catalog numbers. Dwight Fiske issues range from 099 intermittently through 250 based on the original Fiskana releases, with later 10" releases reusing earlier 12" numbers but with different backings. Most numbers are in blocks of 1000 by artist with the highest (7000) devoted to Sheila Barrett. Alternate takes are abundant, indicated by a number inserted before the side letter designations. There are cases where the first take is undesignated and other takes are numbered. Label colors vary over time and according to where they were pressed. Earlier labels are gold (or swampy wartime green substitute) on black, later design is silver on black or red while later red on gray labels suggest Keynote pressings. Aqua labels with silver print may be from Apollo. Bankrupt by 1950, all holdings were acquired by Jubilee.
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