Four klieg lights stabbing the sky over Hollywood and Vine one night last week signaled the opening of a new office building that is strange even for Hollywood: a 13-story smogscraper, round as a record. On the street below, Jane Russell, Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, Gordon MacRae and Tennessee Ernie Ford strolled over a red carpet into the $2,000,000 reinforced-concrete tower as the crowd cheered and loudspeakers blared.
As unusual as the circular office building, the first of its kind in the world, is its ownerCapitol Records. Fourteen years ago Capitol was a shellac-like gleam in the eyes of three...