20th Century Records
| 20th Century Fox Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | 20th Century Fox |
| Founded | 1958 |
| Founder | 20th Century Fox |
| Defunct | 1982 |
| Status | Defunct (Sold to PolyGram in 1982 and absorbed into Casablanca Records) |
| Distributor(s) | Independent distribution (except 1966–1971 ABC Records, 1979–1981 RCA Records) |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
20th Century Fox Records, also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label actually covers three distinct 20th Century Fox-related operations in the analog era, ranging chronologically from about 1938 to 1981.
20th Century Fox Film Corporation was formed through the merger of Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures with the Fox Film Corporation on May 31, 1935. Before the merger, Fox Film Corporation tried out a couple of short-lived record labels in conjunction with its Movietone sound system. Although Movietone was a dedicated sound-on-film system, in 1929-30 Fox produced some soundtracks on disc to accompany features shown in theaters not yet equipped for optical sound. Between 1933 and 1937, a custom record label called Fox Movietone was produced starting at F-100 and running through F-136. It featured songs from Fox movies, first using material recorded and issued on Victor's Bluebird label and halfway through switched to material recorded and issued on ARC's dime store labels. These scarce records were sold only at Fox Theaters.
In 1938 20th Century Fox began a new, semi-private line of records employing white labels with typed, or mimeographed, information. Matrix numbers are variable, but the earliest known records in this series correspond to the picture Sally, Irene and Mary (1938) and the latest ones to The Gang's All Here (1943). These discs were limited exclusively to studio properties recorded on 20th Century Fox soundstages and were used for promotional purposes and as giveaways to staff and visitors to the studio itself. After this small scale venture was discontinued, 20th Century Fox stayed out of record production for about 15 years, though its music division remained very active in licensing 20th Century Fox musicals and soundtrack music for use on record albums to other companies, such as that for the 1956 film The King and I, released on Capitol Records.
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