Pathé Phonograph & Radio Corp.

US record company, established after the Pathé Frères Phonograph Co. went bankrupt in 1922. It gradually phased out production of vertical-cut Pathé records and expanded its production of lateral-cut Actuelle records, eventually re-branding these as Pathé Actuelle discs. Also during 1922, the company introduced the Perfect (3) label as a budget line to boost record sales and compete with other economy labels such as Banner and Emerson Records (2). Pathé did not publicly acknowledge its connection to Perfect (3), and instead marketed and distributed these records as the Perfect Record Company. However, the Perfect Record Company and Pathé Phonograph & Radio Corp. had identical addresses and catalogs, Perfect (3) discs had identical couplings to Pathé Actuelle discs, and original Pathé Actuelle catalog numbers are clearly seen on Perfect (3) pressings. In July, 1929 the American Record Corporation was formed. It was a holding company, owning stock of its constituent corporations that included Scranton Button Company, Regal Record Company, Inc., Cameo Record Corporation and Pathé Phonograph & Radio Corp.. Although each company maintained individual legal status, this was in effect a merger. Record production moved from the Pathé factory in Brooklyn, NY to Scranton. In 1930, the Pathé Actuelle label was dropped, leaving Perfect (3) to carry on as the only American Record Corporation label with a Pathé history.