Société Phonographique Française Polydor S.A.

Established in 1927 (Paris, France), (SPFP) was the french subsidiary of . The company also managed a pressing and a cutting facilities in Paris. In 1951, renamed after the takeover by .

[b]Time line[/b]
[b]1927[/b]: (SPFP) is founded by the Danish [l=Nordisk Polyphon Aktieselskab] and the Swedish [l=Nordiska Polyphon Aktiebolaget], subsidiaries of German [l=Polyphonwerke A.-G.]. Until 1929, through Hohner (24, rue des Petites-Ecuries, Paris,10ème), the company distributed records produced, recorded and pressed in Germany, Berlin by .
[b]1929[/b]: In order to avoid import costs, a [b]pressing plant[/b] is installed boulevard de la Gare,72-74, Paris as well as a plating facility (galvanoplastie) rue Jenner, 6-8, Paris in late 1929. The plant pressed records with "metal parts" or "stampers" from , Germany (B on matrix sheme BKP and BMP), but very soon, SPFP also recorded in Paris using firstly the (31, avenue de l'Observatoire, Paris).
[b]1930[/b]: is engaged as artistic director.
[b]1933[/b]: SPFP reorganized its installations.
- The pressing plant is transferred from boulevard de la Gare,72-74, Paris,13ème (boulevard Vincent Auriol since 1976) to 6-8 rue Jenner, Paris, 13ème.
- The plating facility (galvanoplastie) is relocated from 6-8 rue Jenner, Paris, 13ème to rue Bruant, Paris, 13ème, a cross street of the rue Jenner. The space freed up will be used as headquarter (HQ) by the company.
- In early 1933, a new recording studio (Les studios du boulevard de la Gare, Grande Salle et Studio 2) is builded boulevard de la Gare,72-74, Paris,13ème, after the relocation of the pressing plant. This recording studio starts his activity from April 1933 onwards, with the help of engineers transferred from , Germany.
[b]1934[/b]: Pierre Bourgeois joined as artistic director.
[b]1941[/b]: Pierre Bourgeois is replaced by Jack Coulon as artistic director.
[b]1951[/b]: taken over SPFP and his catalog and became the french subsidiary of . Then renamed , the new company used the same HQ (rue Jenner, 6-8) and also the pressing plant, before moving its production at Louviers in 1957. From 1951 until 6 March 1956, both SPFP and share the same matrix suffixes (ACP, LPR, e.g.) for their french releases.

[b]Matrix shemes[/b]
SPFP' pressings and/or recordings can be identified in the runout groove area by a prefix composed by 4 numbers and followed by 1 to 4 letters [u]always ended by a "[b]P[/b]"[/u] (= pressed by SPFP), but most of the time, the suffix is composed by 3 letters :
[b]#### XYZP[/b] (e.g. 1812 BMP, 2911 BKP, 6502 LPP, 6401 JSPP, etc)
"X" or "Y" = engineer signature (K = König, H = Rudolf "Rudy" Hamburger, S = , a.o.). Engineers König and Hamburger (until 1939) were been transfered from Germany. Robert Sergent (who had replaced Hamburger in 1939) was also the owner of , a recording studio [u]sometimes[/u] used by SPFP (from May 20, 1941 to July 20, 1941. Matrix 5416 to 5453).

"[b]Fabriqué en France[/b]" and later "[b]Made in France[/b]" may appear in runouts with a "[b]six pointed star symbol[/b]" (see images).

From late 1929 to circa. 1944, "[b]Mechan.Copt.19##[/b]" is sometimes stamped in runouts. "19##" is the recording and the lacquer cutting date, [u]not necessarily the date release[/u].

Until 1942 (#### JSPP), ½, ¾ or 4/4 may appear in the runout groove areas between the prefix (4 numbers) and the suffix (3 or 4 letters). This indicates the 'take' during the recording process and which one was used:
none = take 1
½ = take 2
¾ = take 3
4/4 = take 4
From 1942 onwards, these fractions may appear as 'none', ¹, ², ³.
'%' after a 'take #' means that a part of the track was re-recorded separately and added to the take.
[u]Important note:[/u]
Sometimes, SPFP released different 'takes' (with some variations) [u]under the same cat.#[/u] (5##.###). In some cases, different takes were mixed (composite mix). If the fraction vary from one released to the other with the same cat.#, please add a new submission.

[b]Date release[/b] (from matrix shemes in runouts)
[u]Note[/u]: [b]SPFP pressings start in late 1929 with metal parts from Polydor, Germany (circa. [u]2500 BKP to 6707 BKP[/u] (10"/25cm) in runouts, or #### BMP (12"/30cm)[/b]. Concerning 10"/25cm, we have reliable information from 1933 only, when most of the SPFP releases were recorded and pressed in France. However, between 1929 - 1933, SPFP had recorded some productions here and there and pressed them with their own lacquer cuts and "metal parts" (see [r5100801], 1812/13 BMP on runouts).

[u]10"/25cm[/u]:
[b]May 1933 - March 1956[/b]
1933 = 6309 to 6707 BKP and 5728 to 5774 BDP
1934 = 5775 to 5864 BDP and 1000 to 1562 WPP
1935 = 1563 to 1889 WPP and 1954 to 2224 HPP
1936 = 2225 to 3129 HPP
1937 = 3130 to 3974 HPP
1938 = 3975 to 4800 HPP (4310 to 4365 and 4622 à 4731 = arabian recordings)
1939 = 4801 to 5184 HPP and 5185 to 5235 SPP (4983 à 4998 = arabian recordings)
1940 = 5236 to 5407 SPP (5356 to 5369 = arabian recordings)
1941 = 5408 to 5460 SPP and 5461 to 5474 DRPP
1942 = 5475 to 5480 DRPP, 5481 to 5499 SPP, 5500 to 6029 (= arabian recordings pressed for ), 6030 (lacquer cut = March 25, 1942) to 6153 DRPP and 6154 to 6191 JSPP
1943 = 6192 to 6378 JSPP ([b]JSPP, SPP, RSPP co-exist until 1945[/b]).
1944 = 6379 to 6382 JSPP, 6383 to 6387 TPP, T1 to T32 (recorded and pressed for ) and 6388 to 6401 JSPP
1945 = 6402 to 6444 JSPP (until October 30, 1945)
1946 = 6445 (March 18, 1946) to 6569 LPP
1947 = 6570 to 6589 and 6594 to 6649 LPP (= arabian recordings), 6590 to 6703 LPP (June 16, 1947), 0001 (September 11, 1947) to 0068 ACP
1948 = 0069 to 0386 ACP (0184 to 0201 and 0204 to 0227 = arabian recordings)
1951: SPFP and Philips share matrix shemes (ACP < until March 6, 1956 = matrix ACP 4031, LPR, a.o.) until 1956/57. [b]ACP[/b] = [b]A[/b]cétate [b]C[/b]hopin-[b]P[/b]leyel and means that the mastering and the lacquer was cut at .

[u]12"/30cm[/u]:
[b]1930-1945[/b]
1930-35 = min. 1810 BMP to 2475 BMP
1936-40 = ?
April 3, 1940-45 = 501 GSPP to circa. 1200 GSPP

[u]How to enter the matrix number in the LCCN fields[/u]:
• Please only enter the "#### XYZP" part (the amount of letters may vary), with the fraction ("take") if it appears (e.g. 1812 ½ BKP).
• If a release shows 2 of these numbers, please enter each in a separate field.

[b]Catalog numbers[/b]
All french Polydor cat.# start with the number [b]5[/b].
25cm/10" : 521.5## (start in 1930), 522.### (start in 1931), 524.### (from late 1934 until 1945), 530.### (50's), 550.###, 560.### (start in mid 1946), 561.###, 590.### (start in early 1943), 590.1## (late 1942 until mid 1946)
30cm/12" : 516.5## (circa. 1931 until 1945), 566.###, 595.### (start in spring 1931)

[b]Know to have pressed for (circa. 1936-1940)[/b]:
(7### AP or APP in runouts)
(7### AP or APP in runouts)
(10### or 11### on labels and in runouts)
(10### or 11###)
(Galerie Lafayette, 7### AP or APP in runouts)
National (10### or 11###)
(7### AP or APP in runouts)
(from 1951 until March 6, 1956. ACP, LPR, etc. in runouts)
Vibraphone (233, faubourg Saint-Honré, 10###)
(10### or 11###)
Yvon Allouche (10### or 11### SK in runouts, ALL as cat.# prefix)
(3### AP)

[b]Recording locations[/b]:
(until 1933)
Les studios du boulevard de la Gare (Grande Salle and Studio 2), builded by SPFP. Start its activities from circa. April 1933.
(1939/11/27 until 1945/10/30)
(until 1953)
(from 1953)

[b]Engineers known to have worked at SPFP[/b]:
[url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/15289629]Fritz König[/url] (K in BKP matrix and BMP for 30 cm matrixes, transfered from Germany until 1939)
(H in runouts, transfered from Germany until 1939)
(S in SPP, JSPP and RSPP matrixes, owner of )
(technical director 1945-60)


[u]Note[/u]:
SPFP used white label for reissues (see [r5100801] and compare with [r1714093]).