Illustra - Citroën Picture Disc

Dirk Kooreman pointed me to a beautiful cardboard picture disc. On the front a Citroën car logo and the name CITROËN in capitals. This side of the record contains the foxtrot Go Home and Tell Your Mother, a composition by Fields and McHugh, which was a hit in the late 1920s. It is unknown who plays and sings the tune.

On the other site a beautiful painted lady and the song Maria, Mari (E. di Capua) by Cav. Salvatore Salvati (tenor). Salvatore Salvati was a then famous Italian opera singer. This record is for sale on Marktplaats ( Febr. 2010)

May 2008 Henk Duymelink sent me a cover of an Onbreekbare Gramophoonplaat Met Lot ( = An unbreakable Gramophone Record With a Lottery ticket). The profits of the raffle was for Het Zwakke Kind ( = The vulnarable kids ) - The first prize was Een Te Bouwen Landhuis ( = A new-to-build Villa) and he second Een Citroën Automobiel 5 Persoons ( = a 5-seat Citroën automobiles ( Type C.4 G ). This sleeve contained a so-far unknown record and we wondered what "unbreakable record" had been inside. Well - now we know. It was this Illustra Record. Dirk forwarded me some numbers engraved in the "Durium-like" surface. The matrices seem 03245 and 1027 5. The catalogue number might be 032451112 X Another Illustra disc: Louis Davids' in Wat Een Meisje Weten Moet.

The Illustra Record label, published by the Illustra Handel Maatschappij N.V., Tulpstraat 10, Amsterdam ( also named:Illustra Record Trading Co. N.V.) released some great picture disks. Best known in The Netherlands is the great Louis Davids advertisement record for Persil Washing-powder.

The second version of Louis Davids' Wat Een Meisje Weten Moet

Thanks to Peter Bastine from Hamburg, European expert in picture discs, I can offer you a small discography of Illustra Records all worth to collect.
= Louis Davids (Persil) - A-side : "Wat een meisje weten moet" = B-side : 20 different German titles by other artists or unknown. There are diferent pictures on the A-side: child picture : "Mijn Mammie wascht alles met Persil" or farmer's family picture : "Ringel, reie, rozenkrans, voor Persil een rondedans" B-side : all has same picture of housewives
= Illustra Record (Vatican) with paper sleeve = Boticelli painting from Uffizi Museum, Florence, Italy

Another Louis Davids' Illustra Record: 't Is Prima - a Primagaz commercial.

= Shell (oil company)

= Gitanes (cigarettes)

= Ducretet (radios)

= Byrrh (drinks)

= Citroën (cars)

and a few records with thick cardboard layers :

= Primagaz (gaz) (" 't is Prima" by Louis Davids)

= Ford (cars) ("Mijn Nieuwe Ford V8")

= ZHB Bieren (beer) (ZHB Pilsener, Den Haag; by Lou Bandy).

The reverse of the 't Is Prima commercial

Thanks Dirk and Peter for sharing these great picture discs with us.

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

In December 1929 the DURIUM PRODUCTS CORPORATION prepared the start of a new unbreakable record, made of cardboard. The well known weekly issues, called the Hit of the Week, were released in a weekly schedule, which started in February 1930. The Hit of the week blog and the Keepswinging blog will follow the development of these 80 years old records in an unique series of blogs. If you love to be informed about these contributions, and you love to make a chance to receive an original Hit of the Week record, ask for the newsletter