Hip Pocket Records

[jr_tech]

In another thread on Philco-Ford, mention was made of a phonograph product that I had never heard of before:

Originally Posted by Olorin67

They did put out some interesting products, like the 4" hip pocket records and record players

Anybody here collect these records/players? I suspect that sound quality is not the greatest and that the records did not last very long, but members here may have first-hand experience with these records/players.

jr

[Celt]

Actually the players were of pretty good quality. The records were basically thick Eva-Tone sound sheets.
Not the best quality...but not horrible either.

[Olorin67]

It was very short lived, some of the records are very collectible, especially the Beatles releases. Heard somewhere they were sold in vending machines!

[Olorin67]

I think what really did them in was the small size. Most people tried to play them on thier regular record changers, and they would trip before the song was over. plus a lot of people were used to stacking singles on a changer, which you couldnt do with these.

[Celt]

Yes, some markets had vending machines for them. Here, they were sold at OTASCO (Oklahoma Tire and Supply).

[jr_tech]

Found a video of a unit in operation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2dtx80I1mo
Sounded better than I expected, and the tiny little player will *actually* play a standard 45... cute!
jr

[Jody Thornton]

Check out this one. It was linear tracking with auto-return (before its time)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnDicnma3F8

[Electronic M]

Not true linear tracking since the tone arm has a fixed pivot.

[Jody Thornton]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Not true linear tracking since the tone arm has a fixed pivot.

Hmmmm didn't notice that. I thought it moved across...lol

[magnasonic66]

I got Neil Diamond's Solitary Man, backed by You Got To Me on a Hip-Pocket record, when it was new, from Firestone, which was our Philco dealer back in the '60's. I have a Philco player, and a Westinghouse one as well, somewhere in storage. I bought two more HP records within the last five years, don't recall which ones they are. I have two Magnavox Micromatics that have manual play, which I am sure would allow the arm to go through the entire song on all.

[KentTeffeteller]

I used to have the deluxe Philco/Ford player with AM/FM radio and all the Hip Pocket releases. A family friend was a Philco-Ford dealer, he gave me the player and all the records when they came out. He was in Knoxville and sold my grandmother the 1967 Philco-Ford radio/phono console I own in my living room and I am restoring. I spun a lot of tunes on that old console. And loved it. I have a few HP singles and can play them on my Technics SP-25 based turntable.

[Celt]

Here's another juan...

[droptop]

Those records and players were sold by Western Auto and Firestone in Tennessee. I remember buying them in GC Murphy and Woolworth record departments as well. I have the smaller model that plays Hip Pocket and 45 RPM singles that works pretty well considering what it is. A few years ago I picked up a second player that is unused in the original box. They definitely get the attention of the under 20 year old cell phone/mp3 crowd.

[KentTeffeteller]

G.C. Murphy! Did they have one in Chattanooga then? I have some 45 singles purchased from the area used which were sold new in the area. In Athens, we had Big K, and K-Mart as main department stores with records and in Alcoa, we had Hitch's, Roy's Record Shop, Big K, Kresge's, Woolworth's, Sky City, Proffitt's, JC Penney, Giant Food Market, and we had Lay's Department Store in Maryville/Alcoa, TN. Oak Ridge had Howards, King's, Proffitt's, Watson's Valu-Mart, Woolworth's, The Music Box, Gordon's Disc-O-Tape, and Hyacinth Sound. Enough to keep a kid who loved records busy.

[Celt]

I picked up two more for my birthday.