“Cui Cui”
Carlos Molina And His Orchestra
December 1939 (Philharmonic FR 49 mx 1117)
Cui Cui
“Incertidumbre”
Carlos Molina And His Orchestra
January 1940 (Philharmonic FR 49 mx US1218)
Incertidumbre
“Pobre Sebastian”
Carlos Molina And His Orchestra
January 1940 (Philharmonic FR 52 mx 1215)
Pobre Sebastian
“Make Love With A Guitar”
Carlos Molina And His Orchestra
January 1940 (Philharmonic FR 52 mx 1216)
Make Love With A Guitar
Here are some recordings by Puerto Rican born Carlos Molina (1899 – 1982) who led one of the more popular USA based Latin bands from the 1930s through the 1950s.
These selections were recorded by Eli Oberstein’s short-lived United States Record Corporation which was founded in 1939 and folded in 1940. All of these recordings appeared on multiple labels. For example, they appeared on Royale which was one of the USRC’s flagship labels. They also appeared on the Montgomery Ward label which was, for a period, pressed by USRC and sold though Ward’s retail stores and catalogs. They were also sold in Puerto Rico on the Fragoso label.
My pressings are on the Philharmonic label which was distributed by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. While Firestone is known today for tires and its auto repair shops, for many decades the company had a network of independently owned Firestone Home & Auto Supply stores in small-towns across America which sold an array of Firestone private-label merchandise ranging from appliances to radios and phonographs to bicycles to sporting goods and, of course, auto supplies. For content, the Philharmonic label drew from both USRC material as well as from Columbia. If you look at the bottom rim of the label image above, you can make out the Firestone logo.
I have not been able to locate any information as to who the vocalists on these recordings were.