PAR-O-KET

Par-O-Ket Records was an US-label. It was part of the Paroquette Record Manufacturing Company, which has been founded in 1916 (in New York) by Banjo virtuos Fred Van Eps and the Canadian singer Henry Burr.

In december 1916 the factory started to produce 2-sided vertical records (shellac) like the successful records from Thomas Alva Edison and the brothers Pathé. These records has been sold for 25 cents.

Besides many recordings with Henry Burr (pseudonym Irving Gillette) the label got musicians signed as the Rogers' Military Band, Campbell & Burr (Webster & Gillette), Collins & Harlan, Louise & Ferera, John H. Meyer, as well as the Van Eps Banjo Band.

To get the business grow Burr networked with John Kaiser, an industrial from New York, who was specialized in brown wax cylinders (Harms, Kaiser and Hagen).

The Par-O-Ket system failed to establish just one year later in 1917. The official auction took place 22th of May 1918 in Brooklyn. Besides the inventory around 30'000 Paroquette-records were auctioned.

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