Playwell Record

Leon Leibowich came from Roumania, and was the proprietor, in London, of Playwell, Besttone and Pickofall records. Playwell seems to have appeared in December 1912. By May 1913 they were at 1s 6d (7.5p). Masters are common to all three labels, and seem to have been sourced from previously-existing material. In other words, there are probably no original recordings on any of these labels. Leibowich sold up from November 1916, and, being by now a British citizen, joined the army. He survived, and continued in business well into the 1920s, but no longer sold records. See Besttone and esp. Pickofall, above. 419 has a ‘DRC’ copyright stamp, a German stamp for the Derby Record Co. In those early days, the copyright fee was probably payable in the country of origin of the goods? 461 has a 6000 master number followed by the monogram ‘KV’, both in type. I suspect this is a London-recorded series, as all the examples known to me are of British material. Dr. Rainer Lotz told us that these are almost certainly the initial of Karl Vogel, an early recording expert. This series is associated with Globophon & Festival; and from thence to one type of Apollo, and Eclipse, but always hand-written on those. A scarce and rather confusing label. Source: http://early78s.uk/?page_id=359 More information: http://mgthomas.co.uk/Records/LabelPages/Playwell-Regent.htm