...... ~ . IHTERHATlOHAL OFFICERS CHAPTER OFFICERS PRESIDENT Bob Rosencrans 36 Hampden Rd NO. CALIFORNIA Upper Darby, PA 19082 Pres.: Phil McCoy Vice Pres.: Isadora Koff VICE PRESIDENT Sec.: David Fryman Bill Eicher Treas.: Bob Wilcox 465 Winding Way Reporter: Sharon Bartlett Dayton, OH 45429 SO. CALIFORNIA Pres.: Francis Cherney SECRETARY Vice Pres.: Mary Lilien Jim Weisenborne Sec.: Greg Behnke AMICA MEMBERSHIP RATES: 73 Nevada St. Treas.: Roy Shelso Rochester, MI 48063 Reporter: Bill Toeppe Continuing Members: S IS Dues TEXAS New Members. add SS processing fee PUBLISHER Pres. Carole Beckett Tom Beckett Vice Pres. Sal Mele Lapsed Members. add S3 processing fee 6817 Cliffbrook SeclTreas.: Doyle Cassel Dallas, TX 75240 Reporter: Kay & Merrill Baltzley MIDWEST MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Pres.: Bennet Leedy (New memberships and Vice Pres. Jim Prendergast THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN mailing problems) Sec.: Jim Weisenborne Charlie W. Johnson Treas.: Alvin Wulfekuhl POBox 38623 Reporter: Molly Yeckley Published by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association, a non­ Dallas, TX 75238 profit club devoted to the restoratton, distribution and enjoyment of musical PHILADELPHIA AREA instruments uSing perforated paper music rolls. TREASURER Pres. Mike Naddeo COft....lItioft.: All subjects of interest to readers of the Bulletin are Jack & Mary Riffle Vice Pres.: John Berry encouraged and invited by the publisher. All articles must be received by the 5050 Eastside Calpella Rd. Sec.: Dick Price 10th of the preceeding month. Every attempt will be made to publish all articles Ukiah, CA 95482 Treas.: Claire Lambert of general interest to AMICA members at the earliest possible time and at the Reporter: Allen Ford discretion of the publisher BOARD REPRESENTATIVES SOWNY (So. Ontario, West NY) N. Cal.: Howie Koff Pres.: Jeff Depp ADVERTISING S. Cal. Dick Rigg Vice Pres: Bruce Bartholomew Texas: Wade Newton Sec.: Mike Walter • CI_sifted: 10ll: per word, $1.50 minimum. Phil.. Bob Taylor Treas Stella Gilbert • DI.p1ay .clverti.ing Midwest: Bill Eicher Reporter: Jim Brewer Full page 7'/(' x 10" $50.00 SOWNY: Chuck Hannen ROCKY MOUNTAIN One-half page hortzontal 71/~)" X 4 3/4" 25.00 Rky. Mt. Dick Kroeckel Pres.: Robert Moore One-half page vertical 3%" x 10" 2500 New Jer Jeffrey Morgan Sec.: Sharon Paetzold One-fourth page vertical 3%" X 4 l14" 1250 Iowa Alvin Johnson Treas.: Carl Paetzold New Eng.: Sanford Libman • Each photograph or halt-tone $5.00 Reporter: Jere DeBacker • We recommend display advertisers supply camera-ready copy Copy that IS COMMITTEES NEW JERSEY oversized or undersized will be changed to correct size at your cost. We can Technical Pres.: Dan Schacher prepare your advertisement from your suggested layout at cost Mel Luchetti Vice Pres.: Richard Dearborn Sec: Richard Groman III • All copy must reach the publl.her by the 10th of the preceedlng month. 3449 Mauricia Ave. Santa Clara, CA 95051 Treas.: Willian Dean • Cash must accompany order. Typesetting, layout or size alteration charges Reporter: will be billed separately. Make checks payable 1o: AMICA Honorary Members IOWA IHTERHATtOHAL. Alf E. Werolin Pres.: Dale Snyder • All ads will appear on the last pages ot the Bulletin at the discretion of the 2230 Oakdale Rd. Vice Pres. Stan Peters publisher Hillsborough, CA 94010 SeclTreas: Alvin Johnson Reporter Richard Parker Publication of bUSiness adverttslng In no way implies AMICA's endorsement of any commercial operation. However, AMICA reserves the rtght to refuse any ad AFFILIATED SOCIETIES NEW ENGLAND that IS not In keeping with AM ICA's general standards or If complaints are The Player Piano Group. Pres.: Alan Pier received indicating that said business does not serve the best interests of the The North West Player Piano Vice Pres.: William Koenigsberg members ot AMICA according to Its goals and bylaws Association. Sec. AI Greco Treas.. Philip Konop Reporter Ray Magee

AMICA ITEMS AMICA TECHNICALITIES BOOKS: AMICA STATIONERY: $3.20 (letter size), Volume I (1969-1971), $5.50 postpaid; $1.75 (note size), including mailing charges. FOR SALE Volume II (1972-1974), $7.50 postpaid, Fine quality stationery with ornate AMICA borders. Each packet contains 25 letters and AMICA BULLETINS, BOUND ISSUES: Volume III (1975-1977), $8.50 postpaid. Reprints of interesting technical articles matching envelopes. Send orders to: Robert 1971, 1972,1973 - bound sets at $15.00 each which have appeared In the AMICA Bulletin, Lemon, 4560 Green Tree Drive, Sacramento, set. 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 at $18.00 arranged and indexed into appropriate CA 94823 each set. PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE AND categories. Send orders to: Jim Weisenborne, HANDLING. Spiral bound to lay flat. Send "They All Laughed When I Sat Down At 73 Nevada Street, Rochester, MI 48063. orders to Mary Lilien, 4260 Olympiad Drive, The Piano, But When IT Began To Play." Los Angeles, CA 90043 This sound and color super-8 movie, produced by AMICA members, is available ROLL LEADERS: DUO-ART, Authentic, For PLEASE MAKE ALL CHECKS PA YABLE TO for loan to AMICA members and chapters. order sheet, see the April 1973 Bulletin. Nick AMICA INTERNA TlONAL For more information write to Howard Koff, Jarrett, 3622 21 st street, San Francisco, CA 2141 Deodara Drive, Los Altos, CA 94022. 94114. Jnfernafional JlcJr(J(8Jl

SLUMP IN BULLETIN ARTICLES At the present rate of incoming articles it is more sensible for me to recommend to the AMICA Board that we drop four CAUSE FOR CONCERN issues a year and see if we can compile enough material for an BY TOM BECKETT every-ather-month production. I hope this solution won't be necessary as that makes for a long time between Bulletins. The last six months or so the number of member-written and Please help with YOllr articles. Incoming response between donated articles for the Bulletin has dropped to the lowest now and the Philadelphia Annual Meeting will have a great levels for such an extended period that I can recall since bearing on a recommendation for scheduling adjustment. becoming publisher in mid-1975. Unlike the occasional one to two month slump I have experienced in the past, this latest decline of articles has been disheartingly steady. I have received a fair number of articles clipped from CORRECTION previously published sources but many of these are rejected Many of you have noted that there are some errors in the because (a) I cannot get permission to produce reprints, (b) AMICA Membership Directory in spite of the careful efforts there has already been an abundance of recent material of producers and proofreaders. At best we can normally only reprinted in the Bulletin on this subject (generally a current hope to rectify these shortcomings in subsequent printings of noteworthy pianist), or (c) the article is (unfortunately) an all­ the directory. However, Dick Reutlinger (whose address and too-typical write-up of an AMICAn's collection in his local telephone number are part of the AM ICA Headquarters) paper which, due to the lack of understanding by the local notes an error in the listing of his telephone number has news reporter, is sprinkled with inaccuracies and sounds very caused some difficulties for those wanting AMICA much like the last such article I reprinted. The result is that information. In your directory please change the 356 in Dick's our overall gain in kno\-vledge is not enhanced to any great prefix to 346 so his telephone number will read: (415) 346­ degree. 8669. There is still a lot of uncovered and unpublished information to be printed if only someone will write it. Remember how beautifully Charles Innes responded to my request for someone to cover the Violano a couple of years ago? There AMPICO AUTO PLATE ../ are lots of instruments that haven't been dissected on our pages yet! How about some details (tubing diagrams, The picture caption of Ron BopIJ receiving a Missouri mechanical descriptions, histories, repair information, "Ampico" auto license plate prompts me to wonder how INTERNAL photos) on some of the various nickelodeons, many other AMICAns have hobby-related personalized plates. orchestrions, band organs, etc.? How about articles on the If you do, would you drop me a postcard with your state and many musical museums, biographies of current artists, and "message"? I'll compile them for a while and list them in a other hobby related fields? few months. TB The biggest dilemma facing your publisher is producing a Bulletin of sufficient size on a regular schedule. The 24 page size is about the minimum needed to achieve production and postal economies and if I don't have enough material one choice is to hold back an issue until I do. The alternative, which I have had to use in the past, is using more (and less satisfying from an educational standpoint) "filler" than I believe in good tatse for our quality publication.

INDEX INTERNA TlONAL AMICA 21 AMICA FORUM 24 ROLLS & MUSIC 25 INSTRUMENTS Music at John Wanamaker's 27 Northern California 33 Midwest 34 PERSONALIZED PLATE: Dr. Ronald Bopp, right on S.O.W.N. Y. 36 Tuesday receives his personalized license plate, the first to be Rocky Mountain 37 issued in Joplin under a new state law, from Paul McWilliams, Iowa 39 branch manager of the State Motor Vehicle Marine and BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Drivers Licensing Division office. AMPICO stands for Edwin Welte 41 American Piano Co., a defunct firm which once produced TECHNICALITIES 44 player pianos. Dr. Bopp is a member of American Musical Instrument Collectors Association, a I,OOO-member organization. - 21- MUSICAL POSTAGE AMP The ~Iaiers provided a lovely table filled with tea sandwiches, sr pastries, cookies, coffee and cider for all to enjoy. We are BY THOMAS A. CRUSE most grateful to them for opening their gracious home to make the organization of this chapter possible. l Tnanimous A suggestion was mentioned to have a postage stamp approval of the bylaws and election of officers put the. ­ commemorating the player piano at the Dayton Convention "Northern Lights" chapter on the map officially a~ last June. [ recently received a letter with a bulk rate stamp in enthusiastically. The slate of officers is: '- the corner displaying an ornate grand piano. The words "Peace unites a nation like harmony in music" encircle the the PRESIDENT Ron Olsen left portion of the stamp. There is no evidence that this is a VICE PRESIDENT Gene Skards player piano, however, this is a very nice picture of a fine SECRETARY Dorothy Olds instrument. I purchased some of the stamps from the local TREASURER Trudy Maier post office at the 8.4¢ rate. EDITOR'S NOTE: Several AMICAns have sent me samples uf these stamps hut not wishing to possihly incur the displeawre of the authorities (l think reproducing stamps is /lot unlike reproducing money-a no-no) I can only recummend that you ask to see one of these stamps at your local PO.

FUND RAISING SUCCESS In last year's bulletins several instances of A:-'HCAns using their collections in fund raising projects were reported. Ben and Mary Lilien, who are very accomplished at this, report that their collection tours helped raise over $6,500.00 for the blind and elderly in 1978. \\'ell done, Liliens!

PROPOSED L. to r.: Ron Olson and Pierce Olsen. "NORTHERN LIGHTS CHAPTER" At last, on Sunday, February 4, 1979, the tried and true enthusiasts of Minnesota and surrounding areas braved the RECENT LINK CREATION sub-zero cold to assemble at Trudy and Bill Maier's home to organi7:e what is hoped to be approved as the "Northern BY HARVEY ROEHL Lights Chapter" of AMICA. Edwin A. Link continues to maintain an interest in automatic music machines. His latest creation is for the 3-manual 17-rank pipe organ which is located in a studio next to his home at 10 Avon Road, Binghamton, New York, of which Vestal is a suburb. Since Ed doesn't play himself, he's always been interested in the roll players.

Trudy Maier and Donald jones.

Nineteen paper roll buffs, including two Iowa Chapter members, assembled for talk, food, a roll auction, and an impromptu Duo-Art workshop conducted by AI Johnson of Farmersburg, Iowa as he hurriedly adjusted the Weber grand This one is set up to play three types of rolls: Link (after being for an excellent performance for all critical ears present. put on a spool; not the bundled arrangement found in original installations), Austin, and vVurlitzer. I've heard it play and it IT PLAYS ONCE MORE appears to do the job very well. Ed did most of the work himself, but was assisted by his gardener who· doubles as a BY DAN TUTTLE mechanic. THE WELTE ORIGINAL ) In August of 1977 I took on a project of rebuilding a \\'elte­ Mignon "Original" baby grand player reproducing piano. It was not until later, after starting the rebuilding project, that I discovered that the Welte "Original" was much different from the Welte (Licensee) models. I contacted many members of AMICA to try to pull the information I needed together. I usually got the same information over and over about how to tube the expression devices and valves. What I needed was the tubing scheme of operational parts of the player, rewind, replay, cut out, cut off, etc. The greatest assistance came from Robert Kent of Phoenix, Arizona and John Farnsworth of Marion Center, Pennsylvania. Bob's documented information along with John's !llemory of "Originals" he has rebuilt helped me in putting two and two together. Following this article is a list of people who were involved in this information project. Although many were not able to provide me with the needed information, all were willing to help in any way they could and to them I offer my deepest gratitude and thanks. Also those who are listed below will receive a copy of a detailed Welte Mignon "Original" operational tubing diagram which I have drawn from compiled information and finally just working it out. Anyone else who wishes to receive a copy of this diagram should send $1.00 to cover mailing charges to Dan Tuttle, 3315 Pinecrest Road, Indianapolis, E\ 46234. Once again to all those below, THANK YOL'. Notice the roll-drive motor. It's actually taken from one of the early models of a Link flight-trainer; these in turn evolved Stan Aldridge - Tonawanda, New York from the player-piano business! So Ed Link has come full Jeff Depp - Lockport, New York circle, from player instruments to starting the giant flight John Farnsworth - Marion Center, Pennsylvania simulation industry, back to players! (The wind motor was Robert Kent - Phoenix, Arizona used on the early flight trainers to provide an azimuth drive American International Galleries - Irvine, California for the entire machine; many were built by Gulbransen during Nealeen Roehm - Madison, Wisconsin World War II days under contract to Link). Jim Brady - Indianapolis, Indiana

Porter's Piano On Display "C'est Magnifique!" That's cer­ tainly one way to describe the Louis XVI fruitwood Steinway piano used by Cole Porter to write most of his fa­ mous songs. Remaining in the com­ poser's New York Waldorf Towers apartment night and day since his death in 1964, the instrument, just the way it looked then, is now on display in the newly decorated Peacock Alley of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It's all part of a musical tribute to Porter by the hotel.

A DUO-ART? BY FELIX KLEMPKA

The photo of the Porter piano leads me to believe it could be a Duo-Art. I Does anyone have any confirming information and/or history of this piano? MUSICAL MERCHANDISE REVIEW • DECEMBER 1978

- 23 - Skinner's concept is important in our understanding of player piano technology. How important the organ builder Skinner was to player piano Jlmica technology is illustrated by this quote from T. Scott Buhrman's sketch of Skinner (also reprinted from the above publication, originally from The American Organist, c. 1925) .'-". Of the history of that period Mr. Skinner says: "About the year 1901 to my great regret and GIESE KING? through no act of Mr. Hutchings (George S. A note sent THE AMICA from a "friend of Walter Gieseking" Hutchings, Boston organ builder) or myself, I left notes that there is currently in circulation some copies ~f myoid friend and partner and hung my shingle Ampico roll #66363, "Homage a Rameau" (the producer of the out on a shack in South Boston. 1 started with roll shall be nameless) noted as being played by "Giese King" $4,300.00 in capital, part of which came from for the Hupfeld Co. This corresponding friend wishes to set royalities on a piano accenting device now known the record straight for those who might be taken with this as the themodist upon which I took out a patent in "new" roll artist. 1900 or thereabout." Do not be put off by the fact that this chapter and its drawing of four figures looks complex. The direct no-nonsense prose Book Review style is a model of technical writing. Therefore anyone who takes the time to read it slowly will be much rewarded. How ON E. M. SKINNER different from George Ashdown Audsley's The Organ of the Twentieth Century (1919),0 the windbreaking verbiage and AND PLAYER PIANO TECHNOLOGY logical inconsistancies of which Skinner neatly and nicely BY DICK PRICE punctures in Chapter V, "Discoveries in Acoustics" of The Modem Organ. Too little has been made of the relationships ~owhere have I seen a more succinctly stated and among organ builders and player piano builders. Perhaps this comprehensibly written explanation of the evolution of the will open the door. organ actions than the first chapter of Ernest M. Skinner's The republished by Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick St., Modern Organ (1917) republished by The Organ Literature :\.Y.C 10014. Foundation, Braintree, MA 02184. While few of us are interested in organ actions per se, an understanding of JULIA GLASS BY GREG BENKO In connection with research I have been undertaking for more than ten years concerning great pianists of the past, all of which will eventually lead to several books (a biography of Josef Hoffmann, a book on the recorded pianists, f.,.l as well as biographies of Godowsky and Liszt), I have been trying to locate Julia Glass, who made a few Ampico rolls. Nadia Reisenberg (Duo-Art artist) who now teaches at the Julliard School in Manhattan was in touch with Mme. Glass until a couple of years ago, but has no idea where to reach her today. It could be that she has passed on. If you can help with information, please write: Greg Benko, Box 303, Ivor, VA 23866.

- 24 - It

n.LVSTRATISG THE EVOLt:TION OF THE KEY ACTION

In last month's article a slam against QRS was made about the kind of paper used on current rolls being produced. It is indeed a step in the right direction for QRS to start producing c1lolls and c!1rusic rolls on wax paper that will last for years and years. However, the kind of paper used as found in the example of last month's review of "Shadow Dancing" has not been satisfactory. The paper hardly shows the perforations (something which has attracted many to the nostalgia of player pianos) and also the printed words are extremely hard to read. This writer knows PIANO ROLL REVIEW that better wax paper exists which is just as sturdy and which accepts print well. It would appear that QRS could use such a BY DAN TUTTLE paper when making their rolls. Of course, this could mean higher prices but if the company really believes their rolls are 88-NOTE ROLLS better, they should surely think their rolls are worth good "Sing 'em Papa (Sing Me the Blues)" -A lively foxtrot with paper. QRS is a monument in the player industry and I love words and music by Connors and Blake and copyright by Joe owning their rolls, good or bad. I really don't want to see a Fisher in 1923. The roll is QRS #2489 played by "Sid" Laney. decline in quality now. As for listening, this song makes an interesting composition with unusual placement of chords and different breaks in melody. This combination, along with a good performer such EXPRESSIONOLA PLAYER IS as Mr. Laney, often makes for the popularity of blues piano rolls among collectors. It is this writer's opinion that "Sid" DESCRIBED IN NEW BOOKLET Laney's piano performances are very near in style to those of Latest Product of Howard-Stowers Co. Possessed of Many Interesting Pete Wendling. Features. "What'li You Do?" -A smooth flowing foxtrot such as this The new Expressionola player-piano made by the Howard-Stowers Co.. Inc., one is not an unusual find in the Leo Feist catalog. The song, New York. IS described fully in a leaflet printed recently by that company and Imperial #06746, was written by Miller and Cohn. The roll now being mailed to the trade. The R. S. Howard Expressionola combines a arranger and pianist are not known. Many of the Imperial foot-pump expression player that also plays with automatic expression and is rolls are very nice arrangements and this one is no exception. made In two styles, Model S and Model D. These instruments are fourfeet six One can only imagine this was someone's anwser to Irving Inches In height and can be obtained with either a satin or polished finish Berlin's "What'll I Do." One of the special features of the Expressionola is the automatic electriC "The Perfect Song" - This was the theme song of the Amos lighted spool box. The piano embodies other features of construction, which and Andy Radio Show. The song was copyrighted by adapt It for export as well as domestic trade, viZ., bolted back and plate. Chappell S. Harms Music Houses. The roll is Playrite #5818 screwed and glued sounding board, ribs and bridge, mouse-proof case and the played by Armand Muth. This Playrite Company should not like. LOUIS Bromberg, secretary of the Howard-Stowers Co., states that the be confused with the Playrite company of the 1970s. Playrite Expressionola has met With immediate favor in the trade and has become one / arrangements have always been excellent. This selection starts of the strongest styles of the R. S. Howard line. out with a slow rendition of the song, then goes into a snappy From The MUSIC Trade ReView, November 1928. Contributed by Mike foxtrot then back to a slow smooth ending. Montgomery

- 25 - JUNE 29 - JULY 3,1979 * ANNUAL MEM BERSHIP MEETING * 7 MEALS IN HOTEL ( INCLUDING BANQUET) * RIVER CRUISE AND ENTERTAINMENT * HISTORICAL PHILADELPHIA TOURS * A-V PRESENTATIONS AND VIEW OF PHILADELPHIA FROM ATOP DOWNTOWN BUILDING * RECEPTION AND GUEST CONCERT AT ATHENAEUM * PRIVATE COLLECTION VISIT - NICKELODEONS BAND ORGANS, MUSIC BOXES, ETC. * THEATER ORGAN CONCERT * DINNER AT RENOWNED RESTAURANT * FAMOUS LONGWOOD GARDEN TOUR AND GUEST CONCERT, WITH LIGHTED WATER FOUNTAIN DISPLAY AND ORGAN RECITAL * FOUR TECHNICAL SESSIONS * ACADEMY OF MUSIC TOUR * JOHN WANAMAKER PIPE ORGAN TOUR AND CONCERT * GUEST ARTIST CONCERTS * ALL BUS TRANSPORTAnON TO ACTIVITIES * EXHIBITS BY MANY NATIONALLY KNOWN COMPANIES * MART TABLES FOR INDIVIDUAL SALES * AMPLE HOSPITALITY ROOM * HEADQUARTERS IN THE 1200 ROOM BEN FRANKLIN HOTEL, JUST THREE BLOCKS FROM INDEPENDENCE HALL * PLUS THE AVAILABILITY OF ALL FREEDOM WEEK ACTIVITIES IN PHILADELPHIA, CLIMAXED BY GIANT FIREWORKS DISPLAY * OPTIONAL HISTORICAL FAIRMOUNT PARK MANSION TOUR - $8.00 ALL THIS. AND MORE WE CAN'T LIST YET. JUST S125.00 PER PERSON.

Send your reservation check now for $125.00 - per person Acknowledgement of your registration will be sent immed­ (including $125.00 - per child) for your convention packet. iately - the packet - about one month before convention Include a listing of the name, or nicknames, you would like time. We will try to answer all your questions in future to see on your name badge. AMICA bulletins. *------* REMEMBER - we can only accept 250 registrations! f) Send your check now to AMICA '79 * 3708 Woodland Ave., Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026 P- Are you interested in child care facilities? .&; Special hotel rates are additional to registration fee at $25 - $31 single, $32 - $38 double ~?L ....I.I..,.~~~""------...-:~d(. Grand Court and was heard publically for the first time on June 22, 1911. The great John Wanamaker organ is one of the largest and Jnsfrumenfs finest ever constructed. The musical obligation entailed by this majestic instrument has been recognized and observed ever since its first concert. Unlike most organs, which are played only on Sundays and special occasions, it has been MUSIC AT JOHN WANAMAKER'S played every business day since its installation in 1911. It has undoubtedly been heard by a greater number of people than BY BOB ROSENCRANS any other organ in existance and is given constant and Since we shall be visiting this world-renowned emporium next scrupulous care. June as a part of the AMICA meeting, I thought you might enjoy learning more about its unusual musical heritage, some well known, as is the case with the great organ in the Grand Court, and some now almost obscure, forgotten history. Organs and organ music have been part of the John Wanamaker tradition since 1876 when the old Pennsylvania freight depot became the Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia. The founder believed that music inspiration should be a part of daily lives and work as well as a form of relaxation and amusement. When the new Philadelphia store was nearing completion, Rodman Wanamaker, in one of his tours of inspection, was so impressed with the possibilities of the Grand Court as a music center, he said, "I want the finest organ in the world built up there above that gallery'" Because it would take too long to design and install the kind of organ he had in mind, a member of the Wanamaker staff was sent to St. Louis to investigate the potentialities of the Louisana Purchase Exposition organ being used in Festival Hall. This instrument had been played by Alexander Guilmant and every other noted organist of that day. When the exposition closed, the organ was placed in a View of the present organ console, located on the second warehouse where it remained for several years until it was floor, east side of the Court. purchased by the Wanamaker Store, loaded into thirteen freight cars and brought to Philadelphia. It was rebuilt in the The original organ was designed by the late George Ashdown Audsley and was built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company. It contained 140 stops and 10,059 pipes. At that time it was the largest concert organ in the world. However, ·splendid as it was, Rodman Wanamaker felt that it was not sufficiently large for the spaciousness of the Grand Court. Immediately following its installation, additions were made. By 1914, 8,000 pipes had been added. In 1917 a new five­ manual console was completed to command the ninety-two new stops. The total was now 232 stops and 18,000 pipes. Further additions were made from 1923 to 1930, when the six­ manual console and huge additions were finished with a total of 451 stops and 30,067 pipes. Rodman Wanamaker never heard the completed instrument because he died in 1928. His own words had been, "As long as I live we will continue to improve and beautify it, until it combines the grandeur of a great organ with the tone colors and beauty of a great symphony orchestra." The Grand Organ has been the central figure in over a third of a century of musical presentations. On March 27, 1919, an evening concert was given which still remains a high point in organ history. Fifteen thousand music lovers from Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Washington and other cities gathered in the Grand Court and the six lofty galleries to Grand Court of the Wanamaker store in Philadelphia showing hear the organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra of one hundred, orchestra stage and ornamental, non-functioning organ pipes. led by Leopold Stokowski, in the first American performance / In the foreground is the famous Wanamaker Eagle. Orginally of Charles Marie Widor's "Sixth Symphony for Organ and made for the Louisana Purchase Exposition, its hand-wrought Orchestra," with Charles M. Courboin, famous Belgian bronze feathers were each individually modeled and fitted. It virtuoso, as organist. The following season Charles Courboin is six and a half feet tall and weighs 2500 pounds. was guest soloist in twenty-seven recitals before an aggregate

- 27 - audience of one hundred and fifty thousand. In the course of THE these concerts, he played 275 different compositions from memory! At the close of 1920, before an audience of 12,000, Stokowski, Emerson Electric Piano Courboin and Pietro Yon appeared together on a program. Courboin played Saint-Saens' "Third Symphony," and Yon '-"~ presented the world premiere of his "Concerto Gregoriano" at $850 for organ and orchestra. In November, 1921, Marcel Dupre, then organist at l\"otre Dame Cathedral in Paris, made his American debut. Through the years of 1921, 1922 and 1923 he is a very wonderful new instrument that may be used alternated with Courboin in a series of recitals on the Grand -as a piano for manual playing Court Organ. In 1924 ~arco Enrico Bossi, noted Italian -as a player-piano operated by pedals organist and composer, made his initial American appearance. -or as a piano operated by electric motor That same year brought the third orchestra-organ concert with Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Courboin and Dupre as soloists in a Franck centennial program. It is rich in automatic expression, and is especially distinguished as being the first piano in the world equipped with During 1925 and 1926, Scotland's beloved blind organist, Alfred Hollins, played recitals. Through the years France's Louis Vierne and \;adia Boulanger, Fernando Germani of THE ACCOMPANO Italy, Dr. G. D. Cunningham of England, Virgil Fox of the United States and many other noted artists have performed on A new invention which makes it possible for you to play the this colossal instrument. Virgil Fox, like Charles ~. Courboin before him, has recorded on this famous organ. kind of music you enjoy. A new method of control which is an integral part of every A MUSICAL HOUR EMERSON ELECTRIC PLAYER It enables you to regulate and phrase the music from a SHOWING THE distance. As shown. in today's program, singers can play their own accompaniments. With very little practice, the accompaniment can be played in this manner with far better effects than if played by hand. Artistic Possibilities of the Or, you can sit at ease and without conscious effort bring into "­ Emerson Electric Piano vivid, glowing life your musical conceptions. This progam featured two soprano voices, a contralto artist, as with ita well as a tenor and baritone, both solo and duet as well as a group, singing with the Accompano. Does any AMICAn own "Accompano"Attachment one of these attachments?

Music appreciation was of prime importance to founder John Wanamaker, and his son Rodman, and their philosophy was TUESDAY, APRIL 4TH reflected in their Philadelphia and New York stores to an extent that is almost unbelievable today. The retailing of 2.30 P. M. music was promulgated by the principle of musical education and appreciation. When the present Philadelphia store was being planned, much attention and consideration was devoted to how best accomplish this means for display and recital purposes. Much of what follows is quoted from the Golden Book of the Wanamaker Stores, Jubilee Year 1861-1911. I am indebted to AMICAn Robert Gerlach, of the Philadelphia EGYPTIAN chapter, for unearthing this treasure of information. "In the new Wanamaker stores in Philadelphia and HALL New York, pianos have been given artistic salesrooms, the like of which were never seen before, veritable Temples of Music-Egyptian Hall, Greek Hall, University Hall, and accompanying suites of rooms in Philadelphia, and the marvelous salons clustering 'round the majestic Wanamaker auditorium in New York. Here pianos are inspected, tested and sold in JOHN WANAMAKER sympathetic surroundings that permit of leisurely, artistic and satisfactory selection-suiting each PHILADELPHIA piano to the taste of each buyer. Small wonder that world travelers who come to Wanamaker's to played great virtuosi of the organ, the piano, the see and learn exclaim: "You have placed music on violin, and other musical instruments. Here a befitting eminence; by bringing the piano music leading composers have interpreted their own into the homes of the people, you have conferred original compositions. another blessing on humanity." (from 1922 to To properly carryon this musical work, Egyptian 1928, Wanamaker's operated its own radio Hall was permanently built within the new broadcasting station W-0-0. These broadcasts \Nanamaker Building in Philadelphia. It is the were the first to feature the organ on the air and chief of the many interesting rooms where pianos were heard not only in the l'nited States and are on display, and are removed when a public Canada, but England, on the contjnent of Europe concert is to take place. This hall, seating 1400 and even in Africa and Australia. people, was planned in Egyptian design-Egypt But the Wanamaker stores have not stopped with having been the earliest nation to cultivate the art the mere marketing of pianos and other musical of music. It contains a stage on which a chorus of instruments on a sound and economic basis. (one 500 can sing at one time. It holds a pipe organ day 239 pianos, player pianos and organs sold) (Austin) of nearly three thousand pipes, with four They have made of their piano business a great manuals, a set of chimes and an echo or musical and educational force, by providing great antiphonal organ, all of which can be played by concert halls of rare beauty, wherein, free to the hand, or with an Angelus music-roll. public, are given frequent music festivals. In this In addition to .this hall, whose architecture is pure notable work they have been given the cordial Egyptian, with the sphinx, the lotus and other and very helpful co-operation of the musical Egyptian symbols as the motif of decoration, . profession. Here freely have come some of the there is Greek Hall, which also had an Austin great musical masters of the world. Here have smaller two manual pipe organ. Greek Hall, seating 600 people, with a large stage, is exquisite in its architecture. Its side walls, twenty-four feet in height, are of solid mahogany, inlaid with satin and other rare and costly woods in intricate Greek design. A deeply-coffered ceiling is illuminated with gold and massive electroliers of gold bronze. Here too, pianos on display were removed when series of daily concerts were scheduled. Other rooms for the display of musical instruments included Byzantine Hall, for exclusive promotion of Victrolas; the Empire Room, for still more grand pianos, possibly

Creek Hall when it was not being used for concert purposes. When recitals or lectures were scheduled the pianos were removed from the room. Two reproducing grands may be seen on the floor among the other pianos.

Wanamaker's own Schumacher line. (Wanamaker owned the Schumacher Piano Company and at one time actually gold plated the strings, claiming superiority and longer life.) And last, but not least, there was the Moorish Room, wherein one Top to bottom: Byzantine Hall, Empire Room, Moorish could examine both upright and grand pumper pianos. Room. Not to be outdone, the furniture department featured Complete program of Morning Musicale featuring the Wednesday, March 24, 1920 AMPICO in a comparison concert in Egyptian Hall. ~"- 11.30A. M.

PROGRAM

PIANO a. Pastorale Variee Moz(/rt ETHEL RUST MELLOR, SOPRANO b. "Mes Joies" Chopin·Llszl Mr. Wittgenstein VICTOR WITTGENSTEIN, PIANIST Mr. Wittgenstein's playing of "Mes Joies" will be repeated by the Ampico.

WITH 2. SOPRANO a. "Vissi d'arte." (La Tosca) Puccini b. "Will 0' the Wisp" ,...... Spross c. "Wind Song" '" Rogers Miss Mellor The accompaniments are played by Mr. Ward Stephens THB AMPICO and reproduced by the Ampico. Reproducing Piano 3. PIANO a. Staccato Etude ,Rubinstp;1l b. Concerto in G Minor ...... Saint-Saens ',- Andante Sostenuto Allegro Scherzando The Ampico Portions of the Concerto are played by Mr. Wittgenstein and portions by the Ampico

HIS concert is given to prove that the Ampico is supreme in the T field of producing music by scientific means. In presenting certain portions of the Saint-Saens Concerto played The by Mr. Wittgenstein himself, and portions played from records taken of Mr. Wittgenstein's playing, it will be observed that the two performances ",~_~IPICO are marvellously alike, indeed with the eyes closed, it is virtually im­ possible to tell which portions are played with Mr. Wittgenstein's own Reproducing Piano hands and which by the Ampico. In the case of "Mes Joies," the piece will be reproduced in its may be had only at Wanamaker's in entirety from the record of Mr. Wittgenstein's playing, immediately after Mr. Wittgenstein has played it and will offer further powerful proof that Philadelphia there is no observable difference between the Ampico reproduction and the original. Convenient payment terms i.J desired, and It is impossible to estimate the value of the Ampico as a means of making music. The Ampico's playing is not an imitation, but is the liberal al/uwances for pianos in exchange performance by the artist himself as surely as though his fingers were touching the keys. True, it is secured through a different medium-the roll--but it is his actual performance nevertheless. In addition to its wonderful reproducing As an educational factor, the uses for the Ampico are unlimited. In feature, the Ampico Reproducing Piano addition to uses which will ordinarily occur to mind, it may be used for the study of style, exemplified by different masters of pianoforte playing. plays all modern 88 -note player pian! music rolls, and the piano proper is in----­ no manner impaired for hand-playing

- 30- appropriate art case instruments in their Louis XIV and XV of pianos, Victrolas, and other musical instruments. Likewise suites and in an Art Nouveau apartment. (Does every on view in the furniture department were art case pianos to generation have Art Nouveau?) compliment the period rooms. As can be seen by the programs reproduced herein, recitals and concerts were many and varied, with emphasis upon new upcoming composers and artists performing their own works, along with already established musicians. Harriet Ware, whose "Song of the Sea" Ampico 1171683 was recently recut by AMR Co., was among those who played and directed concerts of her works. She is remembered for "Boat Song" and 'The Cross." John Philip Sousa, who was honored with a concert in the Grand Court of the store, also rehearsed the Wanamaker Boy's Military Band, and two bugle and drum corps, besides the large store chorus, and gave recitals of his own marches and other compositions in Egyptian Hall. There was also a semi-portable pipe organ, actually built in the organ factory on the twelth floor of the Philadelphia store. It was used to accompany the rare string instrument collection of Rodman Wanamaker. Known as the Capella, this ensemble together with the organ was presented at the White House in concert in 1923 for President and Mrs. Coolidge. The Wanamaker Crystal Tea Room is justifiably famous, with its five surrounding dining rooms. It is an immense room with View of a later day piano department at Wanamaker's when a floor area of 22,000 square feet, and had an orchestra Egyptian and Greek Halls were no longer used for this playing when the dining room was open. Music appreciation purpose. Although not clear in this picture, those Ampico rolls and education had a high priority when the Wanamaker New under the mirror on the left were Jumbo boxes. York store was opened. There too, an auditorium known as vVanamaker Hall was created. It was three stories in height, seated fifteen hundred, and included an Austin four manual Today? What has survived? Alas, as with so many fine things self-playing organ with sixty-two speaking stops as well as of the past, much yielded to "progress." The big organ in the swell, couplers, etc. An echo organ in the rear of the Hall was Philadelphia Grand Court is still heard three times daily, operated from the same keyboard. In 1921 a new four manual though the maintainenance staff, which numbered twenty as organ of over 8000 pipes was constructed in the organ shop of late as 1932, is now reduced to two full time members, the Philadelphia store and was shipped by rai) to replace the augmented during the summer months as requirements organ in Wanamaker Hall. Here, as with the Philadelphia dictate. Egyptian Hall exists today as a commercial store,were several salons beautifully appointed for the display auditorium used for special sales-Santa Claus land at the

The Wanamaker New York store auditorium, showing the pipe organ and console to lower left. Although not clearly visible in this picture, the front piano is a Chickering with a push up Angelus player. The second piano in the background appears to be a Baldwin. Note that it is a double legged grand. Could it have had some kind of built-in player?

- 31 - Christmas season, womens' club events, etc. In a major one wall is an Ampico roll cabinet proudly displaying its "Remodeling" in 1946-7, its pipe organ was removed. The beautiful floral painted doors. If only it could speak, what organ in Greek Hall was dismantled in in 1926 and donated by tales it might tell. Rodman Wanamaker to the Philadelphia Baptist Home. Greek Hall is still intact, though its beautiful mahogany paneling is faded and scarred. It is used today for lectures, promotions The author is indebted to Larry Cornell for reproducing the...... and the like. Though the Crystal Room still serves its original programs and pictures in this article. Special thanks also must purpose, the orchestra is long since gone. The New York store go to Mr. Nelson E. Buechner, Curator of the Wanamaker closed in the fifties and its organ was auctioned for scrap. Organ, whose assistance in providing both the original The piano department that survives in the Philadelphia store is programs and pictures, as well as much of the factual no longer Wanamaker's. Operated as a concession, it occupies information above, made this article possible. a comer of the eighth floor, adjacent to the Wanamaker Museum. And there among the Becksteins and Baldwins and Yamaha pianos is one last remnant of the past. Standing along

This little blurb appeared in almost all Egyptian and Greek Hall programs. We thought you'd like to know! ~be -'anamaker ~rtat ergan CHARLES M. COURBOIN. Organist

in association witll «:ljt tlljilabtlpljia c9rtbt~ra LEOPOLD STOKOWSKJ. Conductor

Program all behalf of tlIP A rtist~ PART I H'e bespeak 1. The Organ- "Passacaglia," in C :.\1inor , Bach Absolute Silpl/C1'

a 11 d 11 0 III 0 t'i 11 g (/11 () II t 2. The Orchestra- dllril1f! the nIllsic Overture, "Lenore," ~o. 3 Beethol'en

3. The Orgal1- a. "Christus Resurrexit" Raunelleo b. Andante from "Piece Symphonique" Franck c. Allegro de Boeck d. Chorale, ~o. :3 ....•.•..•••..•••...•••••.•••.•••Fmnck

PART II 1. The Orchestra- "L'Apres }1idi d'un Faune" ...... DebusBy "Tristan und Isolde" Wagner

2. The Organ and Orchestra- 1~------, *Sixth Symphony, in G Minor Widor Program of March 27, 1919 which was n. Allegro Maestoso. performed before an audience of over fifteen b. Andante Cantabile thousand. It was one of three such concerts in c. Finale which the Philadelphia Orchestra joined the Wanamaker organ.

- 32- JJ:.~ rBafi[ornia

FOUNDING CHAPTER EXTENDS INVITATION BY SHARON BARTLETT Some people find themselves as hosts of meetings, others find themselves starting new terms as board members. I, being of unsound mind, found myself as both! How does one act as hostess and reporter at one's own meeting? "Muddle through" seems to be the only solution. At 2:00 p.m. on sunny Sunday, January 28th, 35-50 people (depending on whose count you trust) gathered for a business meeting at the fifty-year-old, Tudor style, Menlo Park home of Sharon Bartlett. Left to right: Doreen Kirkpatrick and co-hosts Sharon Bartlett and Diane Lillibridge at front door.

room getting food and sustenance. Co-hosts Diane and Tom Lillibridge provided such beautiful and delicious food that all but the smallest crumbs were consumed by the time the last people trickled out for their journey home by about 7 o'clock. Several people were heard to say, "It was a great meeting," but as both hostess and reporter, I truthfully couldn't tell you!

II Left to right: Dick Reutlinger and Wes Cavett.

Howie Koff, outgoing president, turned over the office and Founding Chapter to incoming president, Phil McCoy. During the meeting, a motion was made and passed to invite the International Board to come and meet with the Founding Chapter to discuss its concerns. After the business meeting, members who brought their favorite rolls, played them on the Story and Clark pumper. Others played the "resident" rolls. Meanwhile, in the living Left to right: Phil McCoy, Virginia Cheshire, Symphonia and room, Paul McCoy played his favorite rolls on the 87-year-old Bernice Carnes. Wilcox & White reed organ. Rolls that didn't track correctly were fitted with a small, circular paper shim to slip over the pin on one end, in .order to shift them to the proper position. AMICAns are an inventive lot. Things got a little confusing as the music from a cylinder music box and the beautiful disc Symphonia clock were added to what was being played on

/ the reed organ. Various antique games appealed to the child in some of our members. Still other members could be found in the dining AMICA MIDWEST CHAP"rER MEETING BY MOLLY YECKLEY Your reporter is beginning to sound and feel like a piano roll set on "repeat." Another wonderful chapter meeting - plus a Christmas party - is behind us, and it ranks right up there with each meeting we have ... nothing but Sl'PERLATIVES will do to describe it! There must be some sort of advantage to having four Our Sunday hosts, Elaine and Vince Aveni. Jim Weisenbome meetings a year - we attract people from outside our chapter eating, again, in background, guest from Philadelphw Bob area with regularity, and this meeting was no exception. We Taylor peering into a Steinway Duo-Art. had (in alphabetical order!) Bobby Clark from Columbia, South Carolina; Fran Mayer of New York City, and he drove A group of us went to Cleveland via :"Jew Castle, along with Bob Tayler from PhiJadelpia. It's interesting to Pennsylvania, which makes it imperative that I tell you we note that :vir. Clark came by way of plane to Detroit and took no coals (and if you don't know that one you must be motorcar via Jim Weisenbome to Castalia, where said vehicle under 30, ha-ha) but that trip is Jim Weisenborne's story to tell was filled with reproducing pipe organ rolls from a source - and if he doesn't, you know that I will. nearby. Said auto was parked in Castalia for the weekend ­ probably so J.W. wouldn't be tempted to give away any of his We got to host Bill Ackman's lovely 1926 Tudor home in rolls in a rush of holiday spirit(s). Cleveland Heights at around 9:30 p.m. and our entrance was not only enhanced by his presence, it was a treat for the ears as well - soft laughter and music, and for the eyes, Christmas greenery everywhere. All sixty people attending were in a mellow mood, ready to enjoy the season and good company. We could hear the Ampico "A", 1928 Chickering 5'4W', and I think the sound heard most frequently was either "aah" or "ooh" as partygoers caught their first glimpse of the Spanish Renaissance harpsichord case - a mid-twenties wedding of "'--­ styles that lends itself so well to houses from this era. Bill specialized in perfecting one instrument at a time for his home and this year's is the Chickering. His "collection" of one piano reminds me of a remark Spencer Tracy made to someone about Katherine Hepburn in a movie, "There ain't much to her, but what there is is 'cherce'."

The Aueni home at Parkside Circle, Lyndhurst, Ohio (near Cleueumd).

Brother and sister Mills' - Aveni Collection.

Bill does collect leaded glass lamps, however, and beautiful furniture, too; the Chickering looks as though it were designed for his home. The problem was that everyone stood so close "-' Left to right: Bill Eicher, Liz. Barnhart, Mike Barnhart caught to the piano that no pictures could be taken of it! Next time, in the act (mixing drinks!). for sure ...

- 34 - The Christmas tree at the top of the stairs added to the seasonal feeling and we hors doevered and tippled our way through the evening - and if I add that there was a trifle, I don't mean "mere trifle," I mean the sort you eat and it was delicious, thanks to Bill's friend Neal Khein (pronounced "keen" and. he is at cooking!). We had a most enjoyable j evening singing Christmas carols and meeting and greeting friends old and new.

Alvin Wulfekuhl engrossed in Bill Ackman's 1928 Chickering Ampico "A" in harpsichord case.

1942 Chickering Ampico "B," 5'4", from the library-den. The Chickering in the den has a CC-3 Cassette Converter Unit attached to it, and since most of us haven't heard or seen Bill Ackman's Tudor home. them, it got quite a lot of interest that day. Of course there was the 1923 Steinway Duo-Art, 6'2", walnut On Sunday, those of us who stayed at the Park Plaza (hey, modern case at the foot of the stairs leading into the - what? Cleveland's a GREAT place if yoU know some AMICAns ...) I have had difficulty describing this "basement" before ... I ate breakfast and finally headed on out to Elaine and Vince guess "underground playroom" is about right. It is mostly Aveni's home in Lyndhurst, a little farther east of Cleveland underground-level and everything down there plays, including than Bill's house. The business meeting was supposed to begin the people, as there are goodies other than pianos, band at 10:30 a.m. -I think we finally got around to it just before organs, etc... there is at least one or possibly two pinball noon. The pictures Tom B. will have published elsewhere in machines, a juke box, and a Scopitone - and boy, did THAT this bulletin will explain part of the problem, i.e., t

/ We thank our Saturday and Sunday hosts for another wonderful occasion to treasure, and want them to know we It's not a speakeasy - it's Aveni's at lunch time! appreciate the time and effort it took for the care,

- 35 - preservation, and feeding of AMICAns present.

~. As happens occasionally, there is a snafu (that's Army-ese for "situation normal, all fouled up" - aren't you glad you asked?) regarding the next meeting. Jim Weisenborne will be getting a newsletter out to the chapter members but I can't make any promises for the meetings for 1979 in print - there won't be any before April, I know, but just as a reminder, I want to say to all AMICAns that hosting a meeting can be as grand or as simple as you wish to make it, but the by-laws do S.O.W.N.Y. CHRISTMAS PARTY suggest that you contribute in this way if at all possible. (Off the soapbox, Yeckley ...) Good pictures by Stan Favret, BY JIM BREWER again, folks - aren't we lucky? Deadline: December 9, 1978. The old house was apprehensive to be receiving guests, and entertaining on such a lavish scale after so many years of being dormant. The oil lamps were filled with spice oil, and brightly lit, filling the downstairs with a delicious fragrance. The furniture was all waxed and gleaming and a quick prayer was said over the loveseat that the sagging 80-year old springs hold up the night without falling through. There was just enough snow on the ground to cover the dead grass, and give a real Christmas mood. The roads were dry, and a good turnout was expected.

Jim Weisenborne plays; bearded Bennet Leedy listens; Bobby Clark (from S. Carolina) visits AMICA Midwest. The rest are watching the Wurlitzer pipes.

From band organ to orchestrion - Aveni Collection.

Holly and Mike Walter, Ed and Valerie Group.

Before long folks were arriving, and any fears of entertaining so soon after moving in quickly melted away. There was an ample supply of music everywhere. In the front parlor the style 26 - 2ffi:" Regina filled the house with favorite carols and songs. The style 246 Reginaphone (in an altered cabinet) gave us the best of two worlds, a beautiful music box and phonograph. The silent Swan melodeon was serving double duty as an hoI'S d'oeuvres table. In the sitting room the upright Franklin Ampico was getting quite a workout. It had just been tuned, and you could hardly hear the faint knock in the pump. \ ..... Elaine Aveni (hand on piano) sings along with Christrnas­ The orthophonic victrola was loaded with the best electrical caroling Midwest Chapter members. recordings for folks to enjoy. What more do you need to make a true AMICAn happy?? FOOD!! When the buffet line was Getting everyone together, it was time for the election of set up, everyone was enjoying fresh polish sausage, ham and officers. Elected were: President, Jeff Depp; Vice President, cheese, and a large assortment of casseroles, salads, and Bruce Bartholomew; Secretary, Mike Walter; Treasurer, Stella vegetables. A reissue of Ruth Ettings' hits was put on the Gilbert. -./ stereo (just about the only modern thing in the house) and her Now came the highlight of the evening, the gift exchange. sweet melancholy voice provided the perfect dinner music. Everyone chose numbers and selected a gift in order, There was delicious cheesecake and coffee to top off a really however, if someone got a gift you wanted, you could "rip great meal. Chewing gum was available from the Zeno gum them off" on your tum. The most contested gift was an machine at only l

Left to right: Dave Gal/dieri, Stan Aldridge, Earl Gil/Jert, c!J(ounfain Mike Walter.

CHRISTMAS MEETING IN THE ROCKIES BY JERE DE BACKER The annual Christmas meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of AMICA was held in Boulder at the home of Jere De Backer on December 10, 1978. We had a large turnout of members, as well as guests. The weather was cooperative in the lowlands at least, even though the mountains were getting their share of snow. B.J. Martin was unable to come because of weather, and her company and broccoli casserole were missed - especially her company - as no one went home hungry. Winter conditions and the distance. I'm sure

Carol Ostr::..ynski choosing gift-the last time I had "Sparklets." Left to right: back of Roy Garish, Dick Hull, Jim Hill, Don Hilsberg, Doug Eaton and Art Tarr.

- 37 - prevented the Reblitzes, the Johnsons and the Lillys from being able to attend. There were all elected to the higher offices of the club by the majority present. (Not really, as we almost forgot about the business meeting, but more on that later - if I remember.) We also had some new members present. Art Tarr, who I think by now has progressed from being a guest to being a new member, was with us. He reports that his status is in limbo now as his membership check has been cashed but he is still anxiously awaiting a bulletin. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Dougherty of Longmont have decided to join AMICA and bring with them a wealth of knowledge of the collecting business. They have an impressive collection of musical instruments as well as antique and classic automobiles. Mr. Dougherty's musical interest is life-long, and I'm sure he will enjoy the good features of AMICA. Mr. and Mrs. 'vVilbur Comings were present as guests. Mr. Carol Musser, assisted by Randy Bodo, carves the turkey. Comings has been interested in mechanical musical instruments for many years and presently makes many metal Everyone who could play ended up at a keyboard and we had parts for private customers, as well as for the Player Piano Co. duets of ragtime and Christmas carols and everything else in \Vichita. Did you ever wonder where the little Ampico imaginable. Dick Kroeckel stole the show with his terrific transmission gears come from'? It was a pleasure to hear some interpretations. Her version of 'Tiger Rag" would make a of the interesting tales about pianos Mr. Comings had to tell. great testimonial for the durability of a Mason & Hamlin. Thank God for tension resonators, and good piano tuners. In all honesty, his playing was a highlight and the M & H is anxiouly awaiting another session. We had a typical pot luck dinner. Everyone ate too much, but we all loved it. The buffet was generously stocked and even had a whole turkey brought by Carol Musser and Rae Burdette. The most unusual and perhaps one of the more practical "covered dishes" was the one brought by president Bob Moore. Bob supplied all the spirits we could drink. His "covered dish" made quite a hit, and helped keep everyone warm all afternoon. "Show and Tell" was a big feature and we learned a few things as well as had fun. Mr. Comings brought along a spool box from an early player grand. It appears to be a Metrostyle Themodist with a double tracker bar, for 65 and 88 note rolls. It has holes in the 88 note scale for the "snake bites" but not Wilbllr Comin~s explains shiftin~ mechanism on the spool the Duo-Art expression holes. It has a beautifully machined box. mechanism for shifting from 88 to 65 notes. Also, much more brass than generally found in a spool box (the take-up spool is Don Hilsberg was a guest also. Unfortunately, circumstances all brass). did not lend themselves to the harp concert which Jim Bratton and Don had planned, but we hope that we can hear them sometime in the future. I think that after a couple more meetings we can talk Don into becoming the proud owner of an automatic musical instrument. It has happened before! Randy Bodo has finally made the plunge, and will take delivery of a Steinway Duo-Art upright soon. We are anxious to have a new Duo-Art among us and glad that Randy is joining us as a collector. Also as guests, we had Doug Eaton and Rich Lapp. Rich is a piano'performance major at the University of Colorado and Doug is a private piano instructor in Boulder. They played some Mozart duets and Rich entertained us with some Chopin. Amazingly enough, some people do still actually play the piano, instead of just turning it on. The Rocky Mt. Chapter seems to be blessed with talent, something for which I was particularly grateful since at the time of the party, neither of the downstairs pianos was playing itself. The Art-Apollo, Everyone enoys Dick's arrangement of "Tiger Rag." Left to being a recent acquisition, has not gotten restored yet and the right: Rich Lapp, Wilbur Comings, Jere De Backer, and Mason & Hamlin, alas, is not, nor has it ever been, an Ampico. Dough Eaton. (There has to be one in every crowd.)

- 38- Jim Bratton had his toy player piano with him, which is new on the market. Called the Jelly Roll Player Piano, it can be programed to play an infinite number of tunes, complete with moving keys. After some AMICAn type adjustments like JOfJJ'Q tuning, it could keep a young-at-heart enthusiast busy for quite some time. It may be obtained at department stores for = = '= the price of a couple of new reproducing rolls so it is really quite a buy. Better than some of the new players on the market in the $2,000 to $3,000 range, not mentioning any IOWA CHAPTER names. "WE DID IT BEFORE AND WE JUST DID IT AGAIN" At different times during the afternoon we gathered in the house next door to hear the Cable Euphona player. It is newly BY RICHARD W. PARKER restored and plays like a charm. It was a very easy action to work on, and very good instrument when restored. The Iowa Chapter members, willing to go to almost any location pneumatics face the opposite direction which makes them fun to see and hear another AMI were almost convinced they had to watch, especially with the new red polyIon covering. reached that destination last December 10th when they convened the largest group ever to attend an Iowa AMICA A lot of Duo-Art playing was done upstairs in Jere's meeting. And they did it in Mederville! (No relation to Evelyn bedroom on the Weber grand. The movers who moved it in as far as we know). I've made mention in past articles of the said "we've put an organ in a closet once for a surprise, but relatively small towns in which we find ourselves for these we've never set up a grand in a bedroom before." It isn't quite meetings but this one at H~ square blocks has to be the as nice as a living room setting, but it's nice to relax and hear ultimate gem in the J~ carat catagory. I know one thing for the masters play. sure... It has the greatest concentration of nickelodeons per citizen of any place you want to name, and they are all in the basement family room of our host, Martin and Beulah Hubbard. It would be easier to list the inhabitants of Mederville than to try naming all the music machines in Martin's collection. For once the pictures will have to take the place of words. For that matter, some of them don't even have a name yet, having been cloned by Martin from surplus parts, new parts, home­ built parts and, in the case of the Bond Piano orchestrion, even some borrowed parts, namely a little brass bird warbling away among the flute pipes.

Jim Bratton demonstrates his toy player piano.

Late in the afternoon the laughter died down long enough for someone to remember that we hadn't had a business meeting. It was decided that we really should, in spite of it being a Christmas party. Some of the members had already left by this time, but we had fun anyway. Several things were discussed but nothing terribly official was transcribed.

Martin Hubbard at the "organ."

If there were only time at these meetings to see and hear everything in detail. ~vlartin fabricates just about any part he can't get otherwise, from bellows to valve chests to who knows what. A Wurlitzer upright under reconstruction already had new pins, strings and hammers as did practically all of the instruments that had been restored so far. Judging from Martin's remarks about the deplorable condition of some of the machines when he got them, what we have here is a one man "endangered species" doctor. Martin credits his "neighbor" (as the term is understood in this neck of the woods) Stan Peters with helping him to find a lot

- 39 - of these pieces over the years. Somewhere in there was the tales of tracking the overlooked orchestrion. Would you only reproducing piano in the collection, an upright Ampico believe there were three separate stories of member's of what make I don't recall, which wasn't working this time instruments being found sealed up behind partition walls? but probably will be by the time we make it to Mederville again. Christmas presents of Iowa Chapter stationery were presented to all members by our printer and next host, Lee Zimmerline. As usual, we got home just before the snow began. Happy New Year Midwest Chapter. Plan Now: Lee Zimmerline, ;\lew Virginia, lA-March 11. Terry Goepel, Britt, IA (Date not set).

The Empress.

While the idea of AMICA is not the accumulation but the preservation and enjoyment of AMI, it is at meetings like this where you get the inside look as well as the music that you really get to appreciate craftsmanship, both old and new. It's a Part of the workshop area, bit of a let down going back home to the pumper, but we just keep telling ourselves that there is no room at home for all these things anyway. There was, of course, a business meeting. President Dale SKETCH OF S.S. "LEVIATHAN" IN Snyder could not attend that day so the business was handled by Stan Peters and AI Johnson. All officers were re-elected for AEOLIAN SHOW WINDOW their second and final terms. Suggestion was made that we Cross Section Drawing of Huge Liner Makes Attractive Center for consider voting on the admission of future chapter member Photographs of Ocean Vessels Equipped with Duo-Art Pianos, applicants with the idea of refusing those whose only interest in our hobby was the making of a quick buck. However, it An imposing sectional draWing of the S. S, "Leviathan," twenty two and a half was felt by some that this might conflict with the International feet long, is attracting large crowds this week at the Aeolian Co.·s Bylaws and, as there were no specific individuals in mind Fortysecond street window, Made for the Shipping Board, at a cost of $12,000. anway, the matter was left for more discussion. Any by Gibbs Bros .. naval architects, who designed the changes in the big vessel comments from out there? when it was rebuilt for the United States Government. this interesting draWing is being exhibited publicly for the first time in the Aeolian display. In the All that remained of the day's activities was the trip (or trips) draWing, the entire side of the "Leviathan" is removed. enabling the bystander to the delicious snacks and sandwiches served by Beulah to gaze without obstruction at the ship's "layout." The rooms are reproduced Hubbard and catching whatever you could of a few more in pastels with their natural coloring-showing even the detail of the decorations.

Grouped about is a framed photographic display of vessels using Aeolian instruments as a necessary part of their equipment, including such ships as the "Aquitania," "Berengaria," "Porto Rico." "Huron," "City of Poona," "Haverford." "Themosticles," and the three largest ships of the line from the United States Navy. the "Colorado," "West Virginia" and "Arkansas." Photographs are also shown of the Allolian musically equipped private yachts-W, K, Vanderbuilt's "Ara," Harry Payne Whitney's "Whileway," Police Commissioner Harris's "Surf." and E. F. Hutton's big schooner yacht. "Hussar XIV,"

A prominent feature of the display is an enlarged photograph of the Social Hall of the "Leviathan" featuring on the stage a Steinway Duo-Art piano. installed on the large liner last Fall.

From The MusIc Trade Review, April 4, 1925. Contributed by Mike Montgomery,

Ed'lor's note: I can't resist this - "When the Aeolian plays - E. F. Hutton listens." \. It's showtime. Also I suspect the reference to the "Levia than" Duo-Art above IS the one now reSiding with AMICAn Nick Jarrett (see April '78 Bulletin, page 57)

- 40 - Contributed by Bill Eicher

Photographed shortly before his death, Edwin Welte listens to one of his recorded ,·olls. At right, his daughter Y1tmmages th"ollgh the library. Below, slots in a paper strip recall the fingers of Edvard Grieg.

by Paul Moor

Reprinted from HIGH FIDELITY magazine, June, 1958 by permission. All rights reserved. ~aestro Of the Player Piano

ALTHOllGH my joints have not yet begun to creak some reference to the player piano; one of my listeners, rt audibly, still I appear to have reached that estate a strapping youth with a blue-black beard and a draft­ where my own frame of reference has begun to jibe less registration card, replied simply, "The what?" and less with that of the generation which has begun to Unhappy generation! What do they have, what can help me with my coat and call me "Sir." For example, they possibly have, to replace the transports I experi­ being on hand in Studio 8H to hear Horowitz play the enced as a child visiting at my Uncle Ol's and Aunt Brahms Second in open concert with Toscanini for me Q-Belle's, in Mississippi, manipulating the levers, pump­ seems, to coin a phrase, only yesterday; but scarcely is ing like a fury, and somehow, almost miraculously, my tale of this event out of my mouth than the opaque eliciting from the upright piano before me such ex­ regard of younger auditors reminds me that lor pressions of contemporaneous Zeitgeist as In a Little them this unique constellation of talents means mainly Spanish Town and Where the Shy Little Violets Grow. an LP of such antiquity that RCA Victor issues it only The seizure of nostalgia induced by the poverty of with special, explanatory notes. Not long ago I made that callow youth's experience refused to leave me. It

Last February 4 died Edwin Welte, the last of the great makers of player pianos, who dealt with monarchs and captured on paper rolls the fingers of a half century's piano greats, including Debussy, Busoni, Ravel, and Scriabin. Mr. Moor, traveling through the Black Forest, visited him and talked to him three weeks befare he died.

- 41 - was renewed last year when I found myself in the sUP/b, The three Weltes gave me a bit of background in­ rugged landscape of southwest Germany, and recalled formation. Herr Welte's grandfather Michael, a Black that one of the leading figures of player-pianodom lived Forest music-box maker, achieved a measure of fame as in the region. Edwin Welte, who died only this past inventor of the Orchestrion. This glorious machine­ winter, was inventor of a process whereby the world's driven instrument, the apotheosis of the music box, was greatest pianists had recorded their interpretations on composed of pipes, reeds. and drums, and played selec­ moving rolls of paper long before Mr. Edison's talking­ tions triggered by a sort ofenlarged music-box cylinder. machine achieved its first vogue. In the five decades A sensation greeted the one exhibited at Frankfurt-am­ after Welte patented his "reproducing piano" mecha­ Main in 1848. Eight years later found even the Grand nism, he saw it rise to world fame, flourish for about a Duke Leopold of Baden ordering one, and King Charles quarter of a century, and then fade a victim of the of Rumania took delivery on another in 1878, two years phonograph and, especially, the radio. I had heard that before the inventor died. long-forgotten performances by some of the giants of In 1885 his three sons brought out an Orchestrion modern pianism-Busoni, D'Albert, Leschetizky-still which played from perforated paper rolls far more con­ existed on piano rolls in Herr Welte's archive of some venient than the cumbersome wooden cylinders; but five thousand titles. Among these were piano rolls by the demand for Orchestrions, never overwhelming, such composers as Grieg, Mahler, Debussy. and Richard gracluaJly dwindled to the vanishing point, even despite Strauss, playing their own works. a special award won at the 1904 World's Fair in St. During that Black Forest visit I put in a long-distance Louis. Alarmed by the disappearing Orchestrion market, call to the number listed in the Freiburg telephone book Edwin Welte, old Michael's grandson, and his brother­ for "Welte, Edwin---engineer, rtd." The feminine voice in-law Karl Bockisch retired to the workshop and duly which answered said her father could not come to the emerged with the reproducing piano, which adapted the phone, but after I explained my interest she returned Orchestrion's roll of paper to a more convenient and to say they would expect me that evening after dinner. conventional household instrument. By 1905 they were I drove over, taking not the shortest but the most scenic corralling the leading pianists and composers of the day route-unforgettably spectacular, the mountains, gorges, to record for the instrument they had rather whimsically streams-and, after dinner in a restaurant facing Frei­ christened the "Welte-Mignon." Their success was im­ burg's cathedr::! with its scatological gargoyles, I left my mediate and electrifying. car in the square and took a cab to Silberbachstrasse, For that pitiable generation not old enough to include number nine. among its souvenirs the Welte-Mignon, Ampico, Duo­ Edwin Welte's wife, dressed for company, received me Art, or other player pianos whose cheery, preternatural in the foyer of their apartment. "I must tell you a little jinglejangle enhanced the less anxious years of this bit about my husband," she said, with a rehearsed man­ century, we perhaps had better pause here for a brief ner and in the emphatic, singsong dialect of the Schwarz­ breakdown on how they worked. A roll of paper, about wald, which seems to italicize every syllable. "He's eighteen inches wide, passed at a slow, uniform speed eighty-one years old, you know. Early in 1957 he suf­ over a metal bar that contained a row of holes-one for fered three strokes, the last one quite serious. He has to each note on the keyboard, plus extras at each side con­ stay very quiet, and he tires easily. Also, you may find trolling the pedals, respective volume of treble and him difficult to understand-the last stroke made his bass, and so on. A pump (electric in the Welte-Mignon speech rather unclear." I mumbled something about but operated by foot pedals in humbler versions, such perhaps not seein? him at all, hut Prau Welte 5aid, as my A:.mt Q-Bellc':;) developed a suction cxc.rteJ, "Oh, no, no-he's counting on seeing you." through the holes in the metal bar, upon the moving She opened a door and there sat' Edwin Welte, in an paper. When a perforation in the paper admitted air to armchair with a fleecy blanket tucked about him from a hole in the bar, pneumatic action would bring the the waist down. Raising his hand to put it into mine corresponding hammer (or pedal, or whatever) into seemed an enormous effort for him; and his greeting, of action. which I understood not one syllabic, had to be repeated If the principle sounds somewhat pnmltlve in a for me, like everything else he said that evening, by his civilization endowed with three-channel stereophonic wife, with the occasional help of their unmarried tapes, there are plenty of testimonials to show that th(" daughter, who also had joined us. Yet even felled by Welte-Mignon hit the musical world of that time like heart disease, paralysis, and deafness, Edwin Welte at a bomb. Felix Weingartner wrote of "... this instru­ eighty-one made a forceful impression; in his prime, he ment of genius." The Scots master pianist Frederic must have been a tornado. In his lapel he wore a ribbon Lamond in 1905 voiced the common sentiment: ".•• denoting a coveted German World War I decoration, it is only a matter of regret that it was not invented and a cluster of medals also hung on the wall in a box­ some seventy years ago, when the two great masters of frame. It was not hard to visualize the old gentleman piano playing, Chopin and Liszt, were at the height of forty years earlier as a spruce officer ofthe Imperial Army. their fame."

- 42- Then came the phonograph, movies, and radio, and Welte persuaded to record for him were the composers the player piano went the way of the also once numerous Debussy, Granados, Saint-Saens, Grieg, Richard Strauss, carrier pigeon. In 1931 the Welte firm turned out its Mahler, and Reger, plus such pianists as Busoni, Eugen last reproducing instrument, and Edwin Welte resigned, d'Alben, the great Venezuelan keyboard empress Teresa disillusioned, to work on an idea for an electronic organ. Carreno, Alfred Reisenauer, Lamond, Leschetizky, Al­ It was the second time he seemed defeated, and not yet fred Griinfeld, Max Puaer, Nikisch, Dohminyi, Franz the last: World War I had resulted in confiscation of the Xaver Scharwenka, Emil von Suaer, Stephan Raoul lucrative piano branch-factory he had established at Pugno, Bernhard Stavenhagen, Vasseli Sappelnikov, Poughkeepsie, New York after a trip to the United and Olga Samaroff. Others in the long. long list were States in 1906; the bombs of World War II brought Backhaus, Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler (a Liszt pupil, as total destruction of the only working model of his were a fistful of these other names), Falla, Faure, Edwin electronic organ ever completed. From that time the Fischer, Ossip Gabrilovitch, Gieseking, Josef Hofmann, Weltes lived on one floor of what, before French occupa­ Horowitz, Landowska (playing Schumann, Schubert, tion troops moved into Freiburg, used to be entirely Chopin, and Liszt's transcription of the Dance of the their own house. Sylphs from Berlioz's Damnation of Faust!), Josef During my calion the Weltes, our conversation Lhevinne, Elly Ney, Vladimir de Pachmann, Paderew­ ranged widely. Among other anecdotes I wa~ told about ski, Egon Petri, Ravel, Schnabel, Alexander Scria:bin, a prank the Kaiser once played on Edvard Grieg. the and Serkin_ There were giants in those days, and at one Kaiser's yacht, equipped (as was every self-respecting time or another Welte enticed most of them to his piano. ocean liner of the day) with a Welte-Mignon, put into That same evening at the Weltes', I listened to a wide Bergen one summer's day, and Grieg was invited aboard. selection from the old inventor's treasure chest. In view The Kaiser greeted the composer and, remaining stand­ of the unquestionable boon of having these piano rolls ing, engaged him in chitchat, during which Grieg, at all, it is perhaps ungrateful to start finding faults. naturally, also stood. During this exchange, an attendant Unfortunately there were a number of faults to find, of the Kaiser's, under instructions revealing a side of with the reproduction as such. The greatest flaw, I felt, Wilhelm for which he is not primarily remembered, set was a lack of fire-and this from the greatest pianists in motion in an adjoining salon a Welte roll of Grieg of an epoch when, due to Liszt's influence, pyrotechnics playing one of his own works, but a roll which, it tran­ enjoyed a tremendous vogue. All the notes were there, spired, he had not yet heard. According to Welte, Grieg but the volume was not. The fault lay purely and simply at once recognized his own style of playing; but not in the suction motor of Herr Welte's piano, at least of imagining there could be a Welte-Mignon on a boat, he the one in Freiburg: it simply did not have the pneu­ was in a frenzy of curiosity, shifting from one foot to matic power to bring the hammers crashing against the other until the Kaiser should release him to see who the strings as the music and its interpreters at times this incredibly accurate imitator was. The Kaiser finally cried out for them to do. There also was an occasional had pity; he admitted his little joke and erupted into irritating small unevenness of tempo, caused, appar­ ponderous Prussian guffaws. Grieg's own reaction un­ ently, by a fluctuation in the roll's speed of movement fortunately is not recorded. in relation to the number of perforations passing simul­ Another shipboard incident concerned the wife of taneously over the bar; it is inconceivable that this Ferruccio Busoni, who was returning to Europe after her could have passed, in any era, for rubato. And while husband's death. Although all but paralyzed by grief separate dynamic controls affected treble and bass, and the loneliness of the just-bereaved. she had borne the bringing out of an inner voice, for instance, was up heroically until, one day when she was lying in a technically impossible. There also were no nuances of deck chair and staring immobile at the sea, there drifted quarter-, third-, or half-pedaling: for the literal mecha­ out from the saloon the sounds of a piano. She listened, nism of the Welte-Mignon, if the pedal is not up, then unbelieving. "Ferruccio!" the new widow sobbed, it's down; and that's that. finally breaking down, "Oh, Ferruccio mio!" By un­ Some of the music on these rolls seems today ridicu­ lucky coincidence, the music was one of the many lously banal, tasteless, and even cheap, unless one has a recordings Busoni had made for Welte, and for the sense of period and of humor. There are Liszt trans­ widow the faithfully reproduced sounds once evoked by scriptions galore: La Campanella; the Schubert Soirees those beloved hands were a sudden call from beyond de Vienne; the Fantasy on Beethoven's Ruins ofAthens; the Styx. a side-splitting potpourri from Lucia di Lammermoor, At the height of the Welte-Mignon's vogue, Welte superbly played by Busoni; Reminiscences based on Don and his brother-in-law held regular recording sessions in Giovanni; Mendelssohn's On Wings of Song; Chopin's Freiburg and Leipzig. For such lions as Debussy and My Joys. The listings probably scrape bottom with Ravel they took their equipment to Paris, and for the Carreno's playing of her own simpering Petite Valse, and numerous Russian titans of that era they went to what one must seek consolation over Nikisch's hatchet­ was then still called St. Petersburg. Among those whom murder of three Brahms

42A Hungarian Dances in the indisputable engloutie, La Danse de Puck) were on and reproduced from ·film. Welte's fact that he was a great conductor. set forth. It also was amazing how hope was that this would bring the But there also were many estimable effective Richard Strauss made Sa­ exact tones of the world's oldest and qualities. First of all there is the ad­ lome's Dance of the Seven Veils, of finest organs within the reach of vantage that the instrument being all things, sound on a piano. (German modest pocketbooks: he thought one played is right there, and not coming Telefunken, Herr Welte told me, is could draw up specifications for an at you via wires and loudspeakers. releasing a series of five albums, each organ with its various stops taken And also, aside from the trivia of a consisting of five LP discs, recorded from various organs in various coun­ bygone day, there was plenty of good from his archives. According to his tries of the old and new worlds. In­ music in Herr Welte's closet. Eugene contract, they will not be released stead of a pipe for each tone (some d'Albert's playing of Schubert's F generally in the United States. Wheth­ of them thirty-two or even sixty-four minor Impromptu, Op. 142, 1\'0. 4, er they would be available there on feet long), there was to be only a came startlingly to life, its filagree special order, he could not say.) loop of sound track, on a transparent work transparent and rippling, its When I rose to leave the Weltes glass or plastic disc or cylinder, pass­ sforzati good and gusty, its scales swift that evening, Herr Welte motioned ing over a photoelectric cell, with the and even. Lamond, taking a treacher­ for me to sit down again, and his recorded tone emitted through loud­ ously slow tempo, brought an enor­ wife interpreted his accompanying speakers. mous, high-tragic dignity to the utterance: "He says he hasn't told I said good night to the Weltes, Chopin Funeral March. Among the you about his 1ight-tone organ' yet." thanked them, and came away, deep­ composers, Debussy and Strauss stood Herr Welte talked with animation. ly grateful for the privilege the old out. Adherents of the too-too school His conception-roughly coeval with gentleman had granted me. And the of impressionistic pianism would be the Hammond Clock people's initial more I thought about his Lichtton­ startled by the masculinity and the pitch to the Muses-was, in brief, of Orgel, the more sense it made. Herr forthright, almost metronomic lack of an organ that instead of banks of Welte did not live to see his last rubato with which La Soiree dans pipes would have for every stop an brain-child materialize but it is not Grenade and three of the Preludes apparatus operating on the principle inconceivable that the world has not (Danseuses de Delphe, La Cathedrale by which a sound track is recorded yet heard the last of it. RCA reintroduces popular dog-phonograph as symbol By ROBERT DODGE One day while working in his studio. Barraud Staff Writer wound up his "talkingrnachine" and played a rec­ ord. As he did, Nipper cocked his head to hear the Nipper is back. sounds coming out of the hom. Inspired by the That cute fox terrier with its head turned look­ pose, Barraud took up his palette and brush and ing into the antique phonograph is being broUght painted the scene which he called "His Master's back by New York-based RCA Corp. Voice." ... After 10 years in the corporate dog-house, the' c After several unsuccessful attempts at selling his finn's once-popular advertising symbol is being I §Z painting, the work caught the eye of an executive 0. pulled out to again represent the finn as it did for of the Gramophone Co. who paid Barraud 100 nearly 70 years. The folks at RCA are hoping Nip­ ~ pounds sterling for the work and ownership of i1s 5; per's image of loyalty and quality will again regis­ 0 ter in the minds of consumers. copyright. en The artist spent the remainder of his life mak­ "We did some surveys and found out there was -4 ing oil and watercolor copies of the orginal for a- still a keen interest in the dog," said Howard Gramophone and the Victor Talking Machine Co. i"... -~ Enders, an RCA spokesman. "It was associated Nipper died in 1895 at age 11, never knowing with high quality products and we felt some areas w what fame his likeness WOuld gather. rn of the company could get something out of the ... RCA acquired the Victor company in 1929, and - en dog. A lot of people remember him and surprising­ with it the rights to use the Nipper trademark. '0 ly enough he is even recognized in some of the -...... % Enders said the·company will phase Nipper back younger age groups." QC) into the RCA family gradually, first introducing In Nipper was phased out in 1968 when the com­ the faithful canine into its new advertising pr0­ pany introduced a new corporate logo and phased ~ gram which will be seen by·consumers soon. Nip­ out its old round RCA symbol with the lightning per will again be appearing on RCA products with rod running through it. "We had a new coroprate the introduction of a 13-inch Color television in symbol at the time and decided to deemphasize the 6 March 1979. dog and phonograph to emphasize the new let­ The company has not placed a price-tag on the ters," Enders said. "There was defintely a need for trademark change, Enders said, and is phasing something new." Nipper in as old facilities and supplies either wear The fox terrier Nipper was a real dog bom ill or out or must be replaced. "We're not running out near Bristol, England in 1884. When its owner died and tearing up all the old stationary," he said. it went to live with the brother, a London artist named Francis Barraud.

- 43- crecRnicalifies .to.,----....

EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM Fig. 1 MOTOR GOVERNOR A Case R Sprocket on top shaft B Reed valve spring (Angelus Orchestral) J Iron brackets for supporting fingers S Gear on top shaft Fig. !J C Reed valve .. 1C Evener wire T Plungers D Reed 2 Phrasing lever connection L Evener rail U Large gear on take.up roll 3 Spring connection E Swell hox M Finger rail V Power pneumatic buttons 4 Spring F Mute N Thumbnut W Tracker 5 Regulating screw G Reed chamber o Regulating screws (long fingers) X Sprocket on star wheel clutch 6 Spring holder H Reed pitman P Regulating screws (short fingers) Y Power pneumatics I 7 Pneumatic Reed pitman lifter Q Finger rest Z Pneumatic action chest 20-21-22 see Fig. I.

•

z Fig. 1 I Choker pneumatic (large) 2 Choker .. (small) 3 Secondary valves 4 Port to outside air 5 Tracker cap or mouthpiece (showing air passages) 6 Primary valves 7 Pneumatic action chest valve 8 Air conductor from bellows to chest 9 Sprocket chain (motor to top shaft) 10 Motor sprocket wheel II Motor feeders (pneumatic) 12 Sustaining pedli1 wire 13 Sliding motor valves 14 Foot pedal 15 Foot pedal iron 16 Adjustable connection to sustaining pedal 17 Pedal elhow 18 Pedal lever 19 Gate hox 20 Air port from motor. Air is admitted to this port through tbe motor governor (not shown, see Fig. 2) 21 Air port to bellows 22 Lower conductor 23 Connection (feeder to pedal iron) 24 Feeder irons 25 Pedal iron support 26 Bellows 27 Bellows spring 28 Bellows valve 29 Feeder valve 30 Feeder spring 31 Feeder valve spring 32-33-34-35-36-37-38 parts forming set sustaining piano pedal set 39 By pass valve 40 Metronome valve 41 Port from motor to gate hox 42 Choker cover connection 43 Feeders 44 Lifter (Aogelus Orchestral only) 45 Port to sma11 choker pneumatIC 46 Port to power pneumatics ."-,, 47 Transparent cover over music I ~~=;:;;~'- 48 Port to pneumatic chest l: 49 Choker cover 50 Well hoard containing first and secondary pneu­ matics and vents.

- 44- pneumatic boards than any sanding process. :\0 more black POCO TIEMPO METHOD OF CURING (or wine colored) dust in everything. It is also a quiet process. AMPICO PUMP KNOCKING, OR Dick Merrill, by the way, uses his wife's microwave oven. I don't have a microwave oven (or a wife) but I do have an old "DON'T KNOCK KNOCKING A KNOCKING iron which I can set to "rayon." PUMP" My naked pneumatics are now a thing of beauty-their BY CRAIG R. BROUGHER "clothes" will now sit better on them and they will perform without leaking. Does your pump knock? If you have an Ampico pump with EDITOR'S NOTE: I can't accept the argument against disc wooden adjuster crank rods and the grease still resembles sanders mentioned by Dick-unless he is referring to the heavy wax, you may be able to cure it completely by this practice of chucking a sanding disc in an electric drill and simple trick. Just turn on the piano, get underneath with a calling that a disc sander. I personally have used nothing BUT hammer (18-24 ounce) and smack the pump shaft end a sharp a disc sander for years-which has a stationary metal bed lick or two while it's turning. This shock wave will be mounted at a right angle to the steel plate backing the sanding transmitted to all four crank rods and when the loose rod is disc. This, with the use of a miter gauge on the bed assures vibrated during the part of the revolution in which it is excellent sanding results. Also slightly rounded corners on unloaded, it should tighten down as a result of the whack. It pneumatics are recommended for pneumatics to reduce may take a fe\v dozen smacks to do it but this works in the potential leaks. An absolutely square comer has virtually 110 majority of cases. The shaft end is rounded slightly to allow surface area to accept glue (at the tum) so is a potential leak this without smashing the threads, but you can also use a large while a slight rounding provides a continuous glue surface. center punch in the center-drilled hole if you're a bad shot Perhaps Dick is referring to rounded edges (chich could result with the mallet. Sure beats disassembling the pump! from trying to freehand sand a pneumatic lcith a disc. By the way, if you have to go ahead and lubricate the pump you can use trichlorethelene to clean out the old grease and then pack the felt with new bearing grease. This is far better than graphite which gets lost in the felt. When you drop the pump, lubricate all your hoses which connect to it with Syl­ Glide or a silicon grease. You can then re-install it without a major disassembly. It's incredible how smoothly tubing and hose slide back over the nipples once they have been lubed RED SLASH LABELS with an inert grease. IF YOUR MAILING LABEL CARRIES A RED SLASH ON UNCOVERING PNEUMATICS IT MEANS YOUR DUES BY DICK PRICE HAVE NOT BEEN RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 12 AND THIS An uncovered pneumatic is sometimes not a thing of beauty. As a matter of fact, like most human bodies it looks WILL BE YOUR embarrassing uncovered if it isn't perfect underneath. Because I'm now in the midst of rebuilding an Ampico "B," I want the finished product to be perfect, which means underneath as LAST BULLETIN well as on top. The directions which come with the Player Piano Supply Company pneumatic recovering jig tell the user to use a disc sander. This is not a good idea for no matter how careful you are you still have rounded corners which are very good for leaks, but nothing much else. NEW MEMBERS Ideally, one ought to use a belt sander \vith a stationary metal Raymond J. Magee: 793 Stevens St., Marlboro, MA 01752. bed. It certainly does the trick; the professional rebuilders I know use them. They are necessary in building and rebuilding Q. David Bowers: P. O. Box 1669, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. where absolute flatness is absolutely necessary. But of you are an amateur like me, and live in an apartment Carl & Shirley Templin: 7833 10th Ave. South, Birmingham, like me, such a tool is a luxury. Therefore, the problem AI 35206. 1978 Hammond organ with roll player; 1978 Aeolian remains-how to remove the old pneumatic cloth and at the self player. same time keep the shape of the pneumatic boards underneath the cloth? Bob Hunter: 2605 Deerfoot Trail, Austin, TX 78704. 1925 The answer is to heat the cloth and pull it off. I use an old Hazelton Bros. Welte grand; 1917 Aeolian Duo-Art upr. iron. I begin on the hinge side and pull off the overlapping cloth, then heat each side and gently pull. When I'm finished, I Charles B. & Carol Hazard: 6 Bay View Lane, Newbury, go over the four edges lightly with a file to knock off any MA 01950. Fischer Ampico A grand. Referred by Joe rough edges or bits of glue and cloth which didn't come off Lavachia. with the heat. This method is less hard on the shape of the

- 45 - Gilbert & Edith Garsham: 1763 E. 28th Street, Brooklyn, NY Stephen L. Adams: 537 East Wisconsin Ave., Neenah, \\!I 11224. 54956.

George H. & Mary Lou Emmons: 20 Hampshire Circle, James G. Long: 350 South Seventh St., Lehighton, PA 18235. Methuen, MA 01844. 1939 & 1938 Wurlitzer Juke Boxes; 1960 1921 Estey upr plyr, Welte; 1922 Schubert upr, Simplex; 1927 homemade 8-horse Merry-Go-R.ound. Referred by Edward Lafayette upr std. Everett. Nels & Esther Peterson: 205 3rd St., N.W., Rochester, MN Stanley R & Rhoda Sakowitz: 27 Country Corners Road, 55901. Referred by Al Johnson. Wayland, MA 01778. 1921 Chickering Ampico; 1950s Wurlitzer Juke Box. Referred by Alan Pier. Bill G. Seib: 5155 Shady Oaks Lane, Friendswood, TX 77546. Stroud upr Duo-Art. Jack & Marilee Thiel: 2128 Copley Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80918. Milton plyr piano; 1900 Stella music box; numerous S. R Steams: 8776 Elden St., La Mesa, CA 92041. 1928 Victrolas. Knabe Ampico A; 1904 Pianola roll-up plyr. Referred by Vestel Press. L. M. & Judy Jennings: 5540 W. 5th St., Oxnard, CA 93030. R Tracy Cheatham: 3502 Camellia Circle, Columbus, MS Ralph & Joanne Obenauf: 44 Washington Ave., Middlesex, 39701. 1920 Hallet Davis Angelus grand; Mills sgl. Violano. NJ 08846. 1913 Lauter/Humana plyr piano. Referred by Ed Gaida.

Mary Ann Zubler, MD: 4705 Stillbrooke, Houston, TX Lizbeth K. Francisco: 15408 Hannans Way, Rockville, MD 77035. 20853. 1936 Mason & Hamlin Ampico B. Referred by John R. Grant. F. L. Hemry: 102 No. Brook Lane, Bethesda, MD 20014. 1921 Weber Duo-Art. Referred by Richard E. Dahlberg. RG. Kercheval: 14 Buggy Whip Dr., Rollings Hills, CA 90274. Lyle & June Beller: 655 Mariposa Circle, Chula Vista, CA 92011. 1913 Shoniger Amphion plyr upr. Robert Gilson: 3000 W. Beltline Hwy., Middleton, WI 53562.

William & Doris Pilkey: 6 Kenneth Road, Upper Montclair, Dennis & Mildred Merritt: 245 Cold Springs Drive, Angwin, j\;J 07043. 1977 Aeolian plyr std. CA 94508. Ampico Marque upr. Referred by Frank Loob.

John & Rosalyn Taylor: 1722 Santa Clara St., Richmond, CA Curtis S. Moore: 1335 Whiskey Creek Dr., Ft. Meyers, FL 94804. 1906 Melville Clark upr solo Apollo. 3.3907. Knabe Ampico A. Referred by Bill Eicher.

John L. Graham, Jr.: 715 Parkway House, 2201 Pennsylvania David Kemmer: Oronoco, MN 55960. 1928 Haines Bros. Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19130. Aeolian upr plyr; Chautaqua Ampico grand; Sohmer sq. grand. Referred by Gene Skarda. Roller Organ. Referred by Bob Rosencrans. Paul Werner: 1375 College Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306. 1926 David & Peggy Downey: 2821 Newman Rd., W. Lafayette, Cable-Nelson upr plyr. IN 47906. Referred by Jim Brady. Gil Allen: Keyboard Land, 3441 So. Broadway, Englewood, George & Marjorie Apland: 601 Maple, Muscatine, IA 52761. CO 80110. Referred by Paul Johnson. 1914 Humana upr plyr; 1907 M. Clark Apollo; 1926 Holland upr Simplex; 1919 Haines Bros. Ampico A. Referred by Al Karl L. Hildenbrand: 28725 South River Road, Mt. Johnson & Ed Purdy. Clemens, MI 48045. Knabe Ampico A; Mills Violano; Angelus Orchestral push-up plyr w/organ. Philip & Katherine Jorgensen: 139 Green Forest Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403. 1912 Steinway OR Duo-Art. Referred Gerald M. Bailey: 806 East Main St., New Hampton, IA by Jere DeBacker. 50659. Referred by William Matheson.

Robert & Beverly Ayres: 520 Ben Vista Drive, Salem, OR Stanley deWaal: 618 East Rector Drive, San Antonio, TX 97302. 1926 Gulbransen upr; American Fotoplayer CO style 40 78216. 1965 Dynavoice Piano Plyr. & American Fotoplayer CO style 45. Referred by Dick Reutlinger. James L. Fisher: 4713 Copley-Sharon Road, Akron, OH 44321. 1921 Anderson upr plyr; 1920 Marshall & Wendell upr Jerry Bacon: 6431 Shady Brook, Apt. 2161, Dallas, TX 75206. Ampico A. Referred by James L. Fisher.

Michael J. Terpin: 369 McKinley Ave., Kenmore, NY 14217. Kenneth M. Goldman: P.O. Box 1477, Boston MA 02104. 1917 Knabe upr; Knabe Solist. Referred by Jerome Cohen. Samuel D. Hanger: P.O. Box 161, New Lisbon, ;'\IJ 08064. WANTED: The following items: (1) Rolls for a Wurliitzer Theatre 1924 Francis Bacon upr plyr. Orchestra (Style W or organette); (2) Peerless "D" Nickelodeon roll mechanism & bin; (3) Rolls for Hupfeld Animatic piano; (4) Solo-Corola mechanism; and (5) Pedals and pedal base for a David & Alexandra Lane: 45 Liberty Street, Warsaw, NY 14569. Marshall & Wendell 1927 Ampico A grand. Referred by Mason-Hamlin Melodeon. If you have 1 or more of these, please call collect-Joe Bailey (904) 268-2775 or 268-5561, or write -./ Allen & Dorothy Foster. 11857 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville. FL 32223.

Harry G. Moore: 3102 Aberdeen, Lubbock, TX 79407. 1917 BUYING: AMPICO, DUO-ART, WELTE & OTHER TYPE OF Wurlitzer YO Photoplayer. Referred by Noble Stidham. ROLLS. DESCRIBE AND PRICE. ALTMAN 8970 Main Street, Clarence, NY 14031. Arthur C. Tarr: 1615 Gillaspie Dr., Boulder, CO 80303. 1919 Knabe Ampico A. Referred by Jere deBacker. FOR SALE: Mandolin attachments - fit all upright pianos. Easy installation. Tabs pre-cut with metal clips already attached. Robert Van Dyke: Squires Ave., East Quogue, NY 11942. Kit includes necessary hardware. $16 postpaid in U.S. Quantity Steck Duo-Art grand; Jacob Bros. upr plyr; Estey upr plyr discount. W. F. Knapp, 2819 53rd St. N., St. Petersburg, FL Welte. 33710.

Dave Epstein: 911 S. Gramercy PI., Los Angeles, CA 90019. AUCTION: AMPICO, DUO-ART, WELTE & 88 NOTE ROLLS. 1926 Gulbransen upr plyr; 1910 Packard upr plyr. Referred by SHEET MUSIC: 45 & 78 RPM RECORDS. WRITE FOR LIST. I. L. Mary Lilien. CORDELL, 2240 LORAIN ROAD, SAN MARINO, CA 91108.

Augustine Gonzales: 1022 Villa Ave., Son Jose, CA 95126. FOR SALE: 1928 Ampico Symphonique (Marshall Wendell) very 1928 Milner upr Wurlitzer plyr. late A, 5 ft. grand. Mahogany Sheraton style case with stretchers and light inlay in original finish. Unusual solid brass hardware in drawer. Piano has new hammers, dampers and Ampico system Ray G. Dougherty: 8382 107th St., Lomgmont, CO 80501. restored. Plays perfectly with a fantastic tone for a small grand. 1890 Aeolian Grand plyr org; 1894 Clark Orpheus grand Always maintained, purchased from original owner. $5500.00 with orchestral plyr org; 1923 Chickering Ampico. Referred by matching bench. Bruce Mercer, 7 Adams Ave., Evansville, IN Jere deBacker. 47713. Phone 812-423-9706.

Richard M. Lake: RR2, Box 222, Maple Ave., Peterborough, $1,000,000 SALE: music boxes, nickelodeons, player pianos, NH 03458. Geroge Steck Duo-Art. Referred by Bill calliopes, phonographs. World's largest selection. Also cash Koenigsberg. registers, slot and arcade machines, clocks. We ship anywhere! Huge illustrated catalog $5. Guarantee: money back (you keep David W. Pierce: 1617 N. Silverwood St., Orange, CA 92668. the catalog free) if not delighted! $15 subscription to six issues 1923 Knabe Ampico A. . ($30 value). American International Galleries, 1802-H Kettering St., Irvine, CA 92714. Tel. (714) 754-1777. Open Wed. thru Sat.

Norbert A. Weilandt: 15695 Collingham Dr., Detroit, MI 48205. 1925 Grinnell Bros. upr Pianola; 1975 Aeolian upr plyr. SEEBURG TRACKER BARS. Fit A & G roll machines. $58.00. H tracker bars $85. THESE ARE EXACT COPIES. Seeburg E-Special w/l0 instruments, Cremona G, Link C both w/pipes, Seeburg L, Lawrence E. Wright: 807 via Lido Soud, Newport Beach, others. Stafford, Box 96, Fishkill, NY 12524. (914) 897-5592. CA 92663.

Robert & Diana Leber: 48327 Purpleleaf St., Fremont, CA MONTHLY ROLL AUCTIONS: Reproducing 88/65-note, plus 94538. Newton New York upr plyr. musical miscellany. Specify interests. Mike & Fred Schwimmer, 241 Harbor, Glencoe IL 60022.

FOR SALE: Seeburg F in good working condition, Seeburg E unrestored, Violano and several reproducers in process of restoration. Write or call for details. Peter H. Levine, 11295 E. CLASSIFIED Vassar Dr., Aurora, CO 80014. (303) 751-3205.

DUO-ART GRAND SPOOLBOX WANTED: With small tracker ears and movable tracker bar. Tray type spool box not needed. Bill Burkhardt, 1145 Lakeside, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506, (616) 245-0866, collect, evenings.

FREE LISTS: All types rolls, cylinder records and machines. Discs, cobs, sheet music, catalogs & literature. Mechanical music and much more. Our 21 st year ... VI & SI'S ANTIQUES, 8970 Main St., Clarence, NY 14031.

FOR SALE: Electronic piano-player kit; fits any piano; uses magnetic tape. Write P.O. Box 419, Richmond, KY 40475; or call (606) 623-6791. 5-8 p.m. EST. THE PIANOCORDER™ REPRODUCING SYSTEM

Enjoy reproducing piano music on your own console, studio, upright or grand! Hear your own piano perform the expressed works of Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Gershwin, Cole Porter-all of these merely at the push of a button. With the Pianocorder Reproducing System, you can enjoy uninterrupted musical greatness!

Can't afford an original Ampico perforator, but you'd like to preserve performances played on your own piano? Now you can, with the Pianocorder Reproducing System! Capture the feeling of each musical phrase and the pedaling, too, and play it back immediately. The Pianocorder Reproducing System can do what none of the traditional systems could: capture live playing in real time!

Every Pianocorder Reproducing System, installed, or Reproducing Vorsetzer, comes with a library of 100 45-minute pre-programmed cassettes of all kinds of great piano performances, including classical, jazz, rags, show songs, popular, romantic and more. Each cassette features from 10 to 14 selections-the equivalent of 10 to 14 reproducing rolls. The 100 pre-programmed cassettes that accompany each Pianocorder Reproducing System are the equivalent of $5,000 to $7,000 worth of paper music rolls!

Compare the $1,895.00 (F.a.B. Libertyville, Illinois) price of a Pianocorder System installed in your own console, studio or upright piano INCLUDING 100 pre-programmed cassettes (alone a $5,000 to $7,000 equivalent music roll value) to that of any restored, rebuilt reproducing piano. The Reproducing Vorsetzer sells for $1,995.00 (F.a.B. Libertyville, Illinois) including 100 45-minute cassettes.

No matter how you look at it, the Pianocorder Reproducing System provides much more music, much more enjoyment, more reliably for far less outlay.

ELECTRIC ORCHESTRAS, INC. 1271 North Terre Drive Libertyville, Illinois 60048

Telephone (312) 367-7996 Reproducing Vorsetzer - II ~OJ- Safe-: "SCOPITON E" J &-0-tischer ~ lJ2." ~ict: 1!rri~-f-

~ FIRST TIME OFFERED! 159-page soft­ bound history, schematics, and complete G'1£de!J restored from ftJ.r -to bott-om; trouble shooting guide of the French ST36 ~YS> Jam.fersJ srrin!lJ &- j and American 450 Scopitones. o}iJew k.t:J51 r G~l y~;[Je.J n . a.nd sounJ£oClrJ r1-nished, hary : "SCOPITONE" can be yours for only . j~;EjF/ ~fte.m- "tot-a.[f! / n-Jone-, inc.fuJ1.('}/ t $29.50 postpaid. s-t~> -Va {ves , ex.tression unit"s, and ~.J" t t RUSH your order to: £!aifi. f;JC7u~it-eft'''-- ." Lhi.s is e55~nri.a(~ a"[,,,an.J neW"".rano ••• Gerold Koehler $3950 = 4231 Jackson Avenue Joplin, MO" 64801 Eat:Yi.c-£ ~([aY~/ 1- 6'7-366-001&

I~~[e" Sr., "Wes1-boro, ){ass. 01~&1 --

~urited moving & storage inc ,. lUI5 CLEVELANDoCOLUMBUS·DAYTON flor the p(o .. _I'll 513/461-5044 Tuned and untuned percussions WANTED TO BUY for use in all automatic instruments

* Unusual or fancy roll cabinets. Single and duplex spoolframes * Quality reproducing pianos. for A,G,and 0 rolls and all (Please send pictures and prices) wurlitzer scales

Custom fabrication in wood and * Also want classic Welte, Ampico and Duo-Art rolls. metal of one or a thousand parts

OUR VANS ARE IN ALL 48 STATES Piano and orqan supplies and hardware ~ ~ ~ ~.....::.=--- ~~~~ Bill Eicher ( . ___co -,__ ---__----- __ - c/o United Moving & Storage, Inc. box_1094 --= ------, 1728 Troy Street '83 ill lubbock, texas Dayton, OH 45404 ~'='9~"""'7':;I~~L--79408~ Mechanical Systems, Inc. TO OUR NAICA FRIENDS:

Our large 64-page Catalog Number 5 is now available. Send us a postcard if you'd like to see a copy - dozens of reproducing pianos are listed. In the marl~et for rolls? We stock twenty types of rolls and may have the rolls for your instrument on hand. For example, we have reasonable selections of Red Welte and Aeolian Duo-Art Organ rolls. Where else in the world can you buy these rolls "off the shelf?"

You're always assured of a worm welcome at MechanicalMusic Center;Inc. 25 Kings Highway North, Box 88, Darien, Connecticut 06820 Telephone (203) 655-9510

Nonprofi t Or.s. Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association u.s. PO E ID PUBLISHER Tx. Tom Beckett P.O. Box 401807 Dallas, TX 75240 address correction requested return postage guaranteed