Music: Mr. Big

Of the 50,000,000 phonograph records made every year in the U. S., most are put out by three companies: Victor, Columbia and Decca. Year ago, a big-jawed, 39-year-old Victor official named Eli Oberstein decided there was room for a fourth. He resigned his job as Victor's recording manager, took a sheaf of contracts for Victor artists with him, rounded up $500,000 worth of backing, bought and refurbished an old six-story plant in Scranton, Pa. and launched U. S. Record Corp.

By September his U. S. records had begun to muscle in on the 35ยข...

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