20th Century Fox Records

Lore & Background

The label's earliest operation began in 1938 with semi-private white-label discs limited to studio properties, used for promotional purposes and giveaways. This venture ended around 1943, after which 20th Century-Fox stayed out of record production for about 15 years, licensing its music to other companies. In 1958, 20th Fox Records was established with Henry Onorati at its head; he brought 'The Little Drummer Boy' to the label, which became a Christmas standard. Under Onorati, the album program targeted an adult audience, while singles had limited chart success. In 1962, Onorati resigned and was replaced by Basil J. Bova, who renamed the label 20th Century-Fox Records in 1963 and changed the label design to incorporate the movie studio logo. The label's singles and album programs were separate entities, with albums often appearing in deluxe packaging. The soundtrack for Cleopatra debuted at #2 on the Billboard album chart in 1963, but the film's losses led to belt-tightening. From 1966, ABC Records handled distribution, and the label issued soundtrack LPs only, with a brief budget subsidiary called Movietone Records. The label was shut down in 1970, with ABC continuing to distribute back catalog. It was revived in 1972 as 20th Century Records by Russ Regan on a $1 million annual budget for three years. The first three acts signed were The DeFranco Family, Maureen McGovern, and Barry White; Brighter Side of Darkness gave the label its first hit in 1973 with 'Love Jones'. The label also had major hits with Barry White's The Love Unlimited Orchestra, Carl Douglas, Edwin Starr, Stephanie Mills, and the Star Wars soundtrack in 1977.

Reader's Guide

20th Century Fox Records holds significance as the in-house record label of a major film studio, spanning three distinct eras from 1938 to 1981. Its early white-label promotional discs were limited to studio properties, while the 1958 incarnation under Henry Onorati established the label with the enduring Christmas hit 'The Little Drummer Boy'. The label's soundtrack albums, such as those for Cleopatra and Valley of the Dolls, achieved commercial success, though the studio's financial troubles led to a shutdown in 1970. The revival as 20th Century Records in 1972 brought pop and disco hits, including the Star Wars soundtrack, which became a major seller. The label's legacy includes its role in bridging film and recorded music, its distinctive packaging, and its handling of classic film scores. The rights to 'The Little Drummer Boy' were later acquired by PolyGram, which released it on CD in 1988 on Mercury Records. The label did not issue soundtrack albums for any of the Rodgers and Hammerstein films released by the studio, as those were released by Capitol Records or RCA Victor due to contractual obligations.

Did You Know?

• The label's first hit was 'The Little Drummer Boy' by the Harry Simeone Chorale, which became a Christmas standard.
• The soundtrack for Cleopatra debuted at #2 on the Billboard album chart in 1963.
• From 1966, ABC Records handled distribution of 20th Century-Fox Records.
• The label was revived in 1972 as 20th Century Records with a budget of $1 million a year for the first three years.

Early Experiments: From Fox Movietone to White-Label Promos

The story of 20th Century Fox Records stretches back before the studio itself existed in its merged form. Fox Film Corporation, prior to joining Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures in May 1935, had already experimented with disc production. During 1929-30, the company pressed soundtracks onto vinyl to accompany features in theaters that had not yet installed optical sound equipment. Between 1933 and 1937, a dedicated Fox Movietone label ran from catalog number F-100 through F-136, offering songs drawn from Fox pictures. Early issues pulled material from RCA Victor's Bluebird imprint, while later ones switched to recordings on ARC's budget labels. These scarce discs were sold exclusively inside Fox Theaters. After the 1935 merger, the newly formed 20th Century-Fox studio launched a small semi-private line in 1938 using plain white labels with typed or mimeographed details. Matrix numbers varied, and the earliest known release tied to the 1938 picture Sally, Irene and Mary while the latest corresponded to The Gang's All Here in 1943. These promotional discs were recorded on the studio's own soundstages and distributed as giveaways to staff and visitors. The venture was short-lived, and the studio stepped away from record production for roughly fifteen years.

Onorati's 20th Fox: A Label Built on Adult Ambition

In 1958, 20th Fox Records was born, and Henry Onorati was recruited from Dot Records to helm the new operation. He brought with him an unreleased Katherine K. Davis Christmas carol, 'Carol of the Drum,' which he retooled as 'The Little Drummer Boy' and issued as a single by the Harry Simeone Chorale. The song quickly became a Christmas standard and gave the fledgling label a strong commercial foundation. Under Onorati, the label pursued its most ambitious programming: the album catalog was aimed squarely at adult listeners, while singles attempts at chart success proved largely unsuccessful. Albums frequently arrived in deluxe packaging, and soundtrack releases sometimes included narration or dialogue bridges drawn from the films themselves. The label also tapped into the studio's vaults, issuing material featuring Glenn Miller, George Gershwin, and Shirley Temple from old film elements. New recordings by veteran artists such as Eubie Blake, Claude Hopkins, and Stuff Smith appeared, and Hugo Winterhalter made his debut as a bandleader on the imprint. Onorati departed in 1962 to return to Dot, leaving behind the soundtrack album for The Longest Day as his final project.

Bova's Rebrand, Cleopatra, and the Squeeze

When Basil J. Bova assumed leadership, his first task was to silence rumors of a merger with Cameo-Parkway Records. In May 1963, he renamed the imprint 20th Century-Fox Records and redesigned the label to incorporate the studio's logo. Under his direction, the label ran a distinctive dual program: singles pursued pop and novelty territory, while albums maintained the adult-oriented approach Onorati had originally envisioned. Exceptions included albums built around charting singles, such as Sing We Now of Christmas, Diane Renay's Navy Blue, and two albums by Mary Wells, who scored five mid-chart hits in 1964 and 1965. Bova predicted the Cleopatra soundtrack would be 'the blockbuster of them all.' Released in June 1963, about two months ahead of the film's opening, it debuted at number two on the Billboard album chart and sold steadily. Yet the film opened to such enormous losses that belt-tightening spread through the studio and reached the label by 1965. The 1963 closure of the studio's newsreel division cut off the label's access to documentary audio, and tentative steps toward folk and psychedelic rock were halted altogether.

ABC Distribution, Final Soundtracks, and the 1972 Revival

From 1966 onward, ABC Records took over distribution of 20th Century-Fox Records, and the label narrowed its output to soundtrack LPs, briefly launching a budget subsidiary called Movietone Records to handle back-catalog titles. Despite the reduced scope, the imprint still scored a hit album with the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack, though notably it did not include Dionne Warwick's rendition of the film's theme. The label also issued the Hello Dolly soundtrack starring Barbra Streisand among other film-related projects. In 1970, the studio shut down the record label entirely, though ABC continued distributing stock of The Little Drummer Boy, a repackaging of Sing We Now of Christmas. The label lay dormant until early 1972, when Russ Regan revived it under the name 20th Century Records with a budget of one million dollars per year for the first three years. The first three acts signed were The DeFranco Family, Maureen McGovern, and Barry White, and Barry White's Brighter Side of Darkness gave the newly renamed label its first hit record. Across its entire span from roughly 1938 to 1981, the 20th Century Fox Records story encompassed three distinct operations, each reflecting the studio's shifting relationship with the recording industry.

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