Orpheum had a couple of iterations. The first was as a banjo brand, quite highly regarded, owned by Rettberg and Lange, with a factory in New York City. Same company also made Paramount, and probably others. It closed around the start of WWII. They started distributing other types of instruments in the later 1930's, including guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins, etc. The second go-round was as a importer/distributor of mostly low end instruments, in the 1950's and well into the 1960's.
If you have an Orpheum tenor guitar from the 1930's, then in might have been made by any of the significant manufacturers of the period, Regal, Kay, Harmony. It's not likely it was made by the Rettberg and Lange factory. I have a Paramount mandolin that was distributed by them, and made by Kay. That's why I spent some time digging history on them, a few years ago. The look of yours suggests Harmony to me, the F-holes and the tailpiece and the headstock shape. It also might be a Kay, or course. I have a 1960's Kay made Silvertone with a similar headstock and the same binding.
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Brian Evans
Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
Last edited by MC5C; 08-18-2019 at 10:47 AM.
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