Sam Selsman was an American record executive and entrepreneur best known for founding Banner Records, Inc. in New York in 1946. Selsman established the company to specialize in Jewish music and Yiddish-language recordings, entering a growing market for recordings that reflected Jewish American cultural and entertainment traditions. Contemporary Billboard coverage identified Selsman as the company’s president and reported plans to produce 52 records and 24 albums during its first year.
Selsman’s initial roster included prominent Jewish and Yiddish performers such as Menasha Skulnick, Molly Picon, Moisha Oyshor, Michel Rosenberg, and Max Wilner, with composer Abe Ellstein serving as musical director. Banner’s catalog encompassed Yiddish theater, comedy, popular Jewish music, and other recordings aimed at Jewish-American audiences.
Selsman’s Banner Records was not connected to the earlier Banner label operated by Plaza Music Company and later American Record Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s. The company he founded left behind a significant catalog of Jewish and Yiddish recordings that continued to circulate after the label ceased active recording.
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