Oriole (3)

US shellac record label that was produced between 1923-1938. Records were originally produced by the Scranton Button Company for sale through J.G. McCrory's five and dime stores, and drew on a hodgepodge of masters from the Emerson Phonograph Company Inc., Federal (3), Grey Gull Records, Inc., The New York Recording Laboratories, John Fletcher's Olympic Disc Record Corporation, the Pathé Frères Phonograph Co. and the Regal Record Company, Inc. Because Oriole drew on so many sources for material, alternate versions of early releases exist, containing titles either performed by different artists or recorded at different studios, or entirely different titles under the same catalog numbers. Nearly all releases used artist pseudonyms. By mid-1924 (around catalog # 240), most masters supplied to Oriole were from the Scranton Button Company's recording affiliate, the Regal Record Company, Inc. Most of these releases duplicated material on Banner and other labels marketed by the Plaza Music Company. The Oriole label survived the merger of Regal Record Company, Inc. and the Scranton Button Company into the American Record Corporation in July, 1929. Late issues are usually identical to other ARC labels, such as Melotone and Romeo. The American Record Corporation discontinued the Oriole label in April, 1938, making this one of the longest-lived dime store brands of the 1920s-1930s.