Breakage was very common in the shellac era. In the 1934 <answer>John O'Hara novel, Appointment in Samarra</answer>, the protagonist "broke one of his most favorites, Whiteman's Lady of the Evening ... He wanted to cry but could not." A poignant moment in J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye occurs after the adolescent protagonist buys a record for his younger sister but drops it and "it broke into pieces ... I damn-near cried, it made me feel so terrible." A sequence where a school teacher's collection of 78 rpm jazz records is smashed by a group of rebellious students is a key moment in the film Blackboard Jungle.
In which novel does 'Whiteman's Lady of the Evening" record get broken?
John O'Hara novel, Appointment in Samarra