Also: Starr Piano Company.
The Starr Piano Company was founded by James and Benjamin Starr in Richmond, Indiana in 1872 to manufacture pianos. By 1912, Starr was said to be the largest manufacturer of pianos in the world. Henry Gennett served as the company's secretary-treasurer. His sons, Harry, Fred, and Clarence, later ed the company and were the primary executives when the company began to produce records in 1915.
Starr entered the recording field by acquiring the assets of the defunct Boston Talking Machine Company (Phono-Cut) and launched the Gennett Records division in 1915. These were initially produced as vertically cut discs and issued on the Gennett Records in October 1917 because many dealers refused to carry the records since the Starr name was already associated with pianos and phonographs.
In April, 1919 Starr announced its first lateral-cut Gennett releases, and was immediately sued by Okeh records. Starr's victory of Victor opened the door for many smaller record companies to produce lateral-cut discs without fear of prosecution.
Starr's flagship label was Challenge labels.
The Depression hit the Starr Piano Company hard. It discontinued the Decca in 1939. Its piano sales fell drastically between 1929-1931 and the company declared bankruptcy in 1934. It continued to operate through 1949, but the only records it produced during this time were custom recordings and an odd array of radio transcriptions, sound-effects records, and private and promotional issues.
