The GOODSON GRAMOPHONE RECORD CO. LTD. London, England, as its full manufacturers identification was labeled, produced commercial recordings between 1929 and 1931. One of the characteristic features of these white flexible records, made of a non-flammable material called Rhodoid was, that it had no separate (paper) label around the spindle hole like regular records, but its complete surface could be used for printed messages.

Goodson Records was a short lived record label which produced a flexible type of records in England between December 1929 and February 1931. They were made of a white opaque celluloid named Rhodoid, which was labeled as Non-Inflammable (Earlier Goodson records gave problems, as they happened to be easily inflammable).

Around 1930 numerous producers of flexible records tried to make a living by producing light unbreakable gramophone records, that could be produced cheaply in large quantities. The vulnerable shellac records were expensive to produce and broke easily. For the cheap flexible record the Great Depression seemed a godsend—people didn't have two pennies to rub together and cheap records, like the cardboard Hit of the Weeks, were produced at more than 350,000 copies a week. The cardboard Hit of the Weeks are still best known and are fully listed on the Hit of the Week-Durium Discographies. They were playable on one side only, but with almost 5-minutes playing time, Durium suggested in 1932 that two complete songs be on one side—Two "Big" Hits. "The self-changing record" as the British Durium records promoted itself, "the record you don't have to turn around." It was flexible and unbreakable and a promotional picture showed that you could even use a hammer or shoe to test how "durable" the records was. And they are—more then 80 years later most Hit of the Weeks are still playable.

Other records were made of transparent plastics, like Flexo, Filmophone, Phonycord or Virginia, but most of them didn't survive time. They warped easily and most of them are unplayable now. Goodson was, in my opinion, the best of the rest. It promoted itself as "Double-Sided" and they were "Featherweight". "The best way to proof its qualities was by playing it, Goodson suggested: Have stood the test, their mellow tone, full volume, clear cut notes and absence of surface noise, justify our claim to have produced a perfect record." Reading this, it brings a smile to your face, but also other record companies like Durium greatly exaggerated its audio qualities. Goodson Records do not break and scratching does them no harm. They are flexible and so light in weight that sixty can be carried in a portable gramophone. Well, I've tried to store half of it (my collection of Goodson contains two dozens copies) and it just fit into my Viva-tonal Columbia Grafolona Nº109A 1929 gramophone, but with space for a handful—but 60? Durium suggests in a Dutch advertisement that "Minstens 35 platen kunnen in een koffergramofoon mee ( = At least 35 records can be stored in a portable gramophone)"—well that seems a more realistic number, although if I study the Veckans skiva sleeve picture?

Listen to one of those Goodson records: Breakaway by the Cosmopolitan Dance Players, one of the numerous anonymous studio bands directed by Fred Hall from the Grey Gull Studios (June 1929)

The Goodson Records are unique—did you know that these records are the only records with the tune-information available on both sides of the record? The record has no (paper) label around the spindle hole which means that the information can be printed everywhere—also over the groove. The label information on the commercial releases is printed large in the middle of the record—you can't miss the hand with the bended record. In the four quarters you can read four times the same track information for both sides. As the Goodson were complete printable on both sides it was the ideal spot to promote events or advertise products. Durium Goodson records were used for promotion and advertisements for brands such as Boots The Chemists (Always Open Day and Night), Wellsbach Lamps (United for Service To Give Good Gaslight) and Henleys and British Record Washer Soap ( A free Goodson Record without advertising matter for Eighteen Cartons of Britisch record Washer Soap).

Goodson produced also custom records, selling its surface for promotional messages. In a few previous blogs I wrote about the records, released to promote the Mawson Antarctic Expedition of 1929 and about a record issued at the 1929-1930 Exposicion Internacional de Barcelona. In one of my latest Flexible Records blogs I asked for help to complete a series of scans with Boots The Chemists advertisements. Hope you can help us.

Hans Koert is a teacher of a primary school in the southwest part of The Netherlands, freelance writer and jazz discographer, being fascinated by jazz and jazz-related music and its history. He started several blogs to share his passions, like the Keep swinging blog, dedicated to jazz and jazz-related music from the 1910-2010 period (http://keepswinging.blogspot.com). Up to now more then 1,300 contributions have been published (http://keepswinging.opweb.nl/weblog.htm) in the Dutch and English language with 10,000 visitors a month. As the author of the Hit of the Week-Durium discographies he researched the history of the flexible records from the early 1930s. The cardboard Hit of the week records (http://hitoftheweek.blogspot.com), (New) Flexos, the Filmophones, Phonycords and the white opaque coloured Goodson Records are still remembered by collectors but forgotten by the general public. All 1300 known cardboard Durium recordings have been listed ( http://durium.opweb.nl ) and the Complete Hit of the Weeks Recordings will be fully reissued soon by Archeophone Records on four double cds. (http://www.archeophone.com)(http://flexible-records.blogspot.com).Ten years ago he started the Oscar Alemán project. Oscar Alemán, the Argentine guitar virtuoso, the legendary, but almost forgotten jazz guitarist, played an important role in the jazz guitar scene in Europe in the 1930s. The Oscar Alemán discography (http://oscar-aleman.opweb.nl) by Hans Koert lists all known European and Argentine recordings by this great maestro (http://oscar-aleman.blogspot.com). His latest project is the Brazilian Choro music and he became the co-author of the Choro-music blog (http://choro-music.blogspot.com). If you love to be informed about the projects ask for the newsletter (http://keepswinging.opweb.nl/friends.htm) or contact him directly: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it