AMICA BOARD MEMBERS: INSTRUMENTS pl J ROLLS &MUSIC p17 Frank Loob, President Roger Johnson, Vice President TECHNICALITIES p27 Ginny Billings, Publisher INTERNATIONAL AMICA pl Nick Jarrett, Treasurer NORTHERN CALIFORNIA p6 Roberta Cherney, Recording Secretary Dick Reutlinger, Membership Secretary SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA p7 Mel Luchetti, Advertising Secretary BIOGRAPHI_CAL SKETCHES plO The AMICA News Bulletin Published by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association, a non-profit club devoted to the restoration, distribution and enjoyment of musical instruments using perforated paper music rolls.

Contributions: All subjects of interest to readersof the bulletin are encouraged and invited by the publisher. All articles must be received by the first of the month. Every attempt will be made to publish all articles of general interest to AM ICA members at the earliest possible time and at the discretion of the Publisher, in the following areas: * Letters to the Publisher *Research Findings "Ouestions and Answers *Biographical Sketches of Artists and Composers *Photographs, Old Advertisements *Technical Information * Anything elseof general interest to AM ICA

Advertisements: Personal ads are accepted by the AMICA Bulletin Board. Businesses which are interested in placing ads must folow these rules: - Each ad will consist of one full standard page in the bulletin. - Payment of $25 must be included with the ad copy. - Ads must reach the publisher by the first of the month. - Ad copy must be complete and ready for print. - At least 50% of the ad must consist of photographs or art work that will be of specific interest to AMICA readers. PUBLICATION OF BUSINESS ADVERTISING IN NO WAY IMPLIES AMICA'S ENDORSEMENT OF ANY COMMERCIAL OPERATION. However AMICA reserves the right to refuse any ad that is not in keeping with AMICA's general standards or if complaints are received indicating that said businessdoes not servethe best interests of the members of AM ICA, according to its goals and by-laws.

THE AMICA WHO & WHERE THE AMICA BULLETIN AMICA PRESIDENT PHOTOGRAPHS REQUIRING HALF-TONE Frank Loob Sam Thompson 219 Montecito Boulevard 6809 Iris Circle Napa, California 94558 Hollywood, California 90028 AMICA BULLETIN MUSICAL JIGSAW Ginny Billings, Publisher Ruth Bingaman Smith 1428 Li berty Street 206 Tuttle Road EI Cerrito, California 94530 San Antonio, Texas 78209 AMICA BULLETIN PAST ISSUES PARENT MINUTES & MEETINGS Bob and Barbara Whiteley Ginny Billings, Publisher 175 Reservoir 1428 Liberty Street San Rafael, California EI Cerrito, California 94530 NEW MEMBERSHIPS & MAILING PROBLEMS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Dick Reutlinger, Membership Secretary Bob Pye, Editor 824 Grove Street 342 Leon Avenue San Francisco, California 94117 Kelowna, B.C., Canada MEMBERSHIP DUES & TREASURY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER Nick Jarrett, Treasurer Karl Petersen, Reporter 3622 - 21st Street 314 South Halladay Street San Francisco, California 94114 Santa Ana, California 92701 BULLETIN BOARD INSTRUMENTS Mel Luchetti, Advertising Secretary Dave Saul, Editor 3449 Mauricia Avenue 1126 Sheridan Avenue Santa Clara, California 95050 Chico, California 95926 AMICA AUCTION TECHNICALITIES Gar Britten, Auctioneer John A. Patten, Editor 642 Diamond Street 601 Penn Street San Francisco, California Pasadena, California 91104 THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN 2

·.········ff1•...... ••...... MEMBERSHIP MINUTES ~ OUR N~XT M~~TING: ~ #3 Crestview Drive ~ Orinda, California by Roberta Cherney, Secretary ~ * ~ Dak: SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 8:00 PM * May 30, 1971 ~ Tinth: THE BOGLES ~ The regular monthly meeting of AMICA was held at the ~ ~ home of William S. Wherry. A'brief business meeting was Pf!ace,: 6493 Mojave Drive San Jose called to order by the President, Frank Loob, at 3:15 ~ Details in May Bulletin * p.m. at which time he gave a resume of the status of the ~ * lawsuit that Harold L. Powell has brought against AMICA ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• and Durrell Armstrong because of the roll recuting ser­ BUSINESS MEETING PLANNED vice being offered by AMICA to its members. Mr. Powell has been suspended by AMICA. by Sally Lawrence The Secretary read the resolution passed by the AMICA wi 11 hold a business meeting on Jul y 17 at 8 :0 0 Board at its meeting of April 18th pursuant to the sep­ p.m. at the home of Roberta Cherney, 952 Johnson Street, in aration of the local San Francisco group and the Redwood City. The Board of Directors will report to the Na t i ona l Organization, with San Francisco to be known members h i p on AMICA's affairs during this meeting. Please as "The Founding Chapter." come and participate. This is your club, and your support The Secretary reported on the very interesting visit will help to make the club strong. Please try to make this she had in Washington, D.C. with Mr. Donald R. Leavitt, meetingl head of the Recording Sound Section of the Library of Congress, accompanied by a tour of the Section's record­ ing rooms and stacks where she saw their collection (quite small) of perforated rolls for music reproduction. HONORARY AMICA MEMBERS Mr. Leavitt expressed a very real interest in having the Library receive copies of the AMICA Bulletin as he felt MISS EMSE DAWSON it was an excellent research tool. 173 Wes t 78th Street, The President reported on the fantastic membership New York, New York 10024 growth of the Dallas Chapter. He then asked the members for an indication of interest in putting the Bulletin M. CARL L. SCHNEIDER together at meetings. The task is becoming impossible 138 Linden Boulevard for the Board members to continue, and help will have BrookZyn, New York 11226 to be hired at considerable expense unless other volun­ tary labor is found. The Treasurer reported a balance of $3,000, and the Vice President reported a very favorable response has been received from the AMPICO CLASSICAL INTEREST SURVEY Rober t Armbruster, Rut h Bingaman Smith, Fred Rydeen"and LIST that was sent out to members. CH ARLES COOPER at the 1970 AMICA Convention in S. F. : New members present and guests were introduced and the meeting adjourned for a delightful buffet prepared by Sally Lawrence with a birthday cake to celebrate AMICA's eighth birthday. The two founding members present, Sally Lawrence and Mel Luchetti, did the honors of blowing out the candles. There were 21 members and 9 guests present. The next regular meeting will be on June 26th at 8:00 p.m. at the home of Joe and Gerry Bogle, 6493 Mojave Drive, San Jose. Following the membership meeting, Board members pre­ sent met shortly. THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH WAS SET AS THE DATE FOR REGULAR AMICA BOARD MEETI NGS. The next meeting will be on Sunday, June 13th, at Mel luchetti's, 2:00 p.m. (signed) Roberta Cherney AMICA Secretary """"""",,,,"",,,,,,",,,,,,,,,,

CHARLES COOPE R 1888 - 1971

AMI CA REGRETS TO REPORT THE DEATH OF CHARLES COOPER ON THE 8th OF MAY, 1971. MR. COOPER, WHO ADDED SO MUCH TO OUR CONVENTION LAST YEAR, WAS EIGHTY-THREE YEARS OLD. THE AM leA NEWS BULLETIN

ROLLRECUTIING: A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT from the Publisher by Ginny Billings by Frank Loob

As a result of AMICA's venture into the roll recutt­ My fellow members in AMICA: ing scene, with its first order to Durrell Armstrong to Just a short message to bring you up to date with recut 45 Ampico rolls, Harold Powell has decided to sue tlie business and doings of AMICA. As some of you are AMICA and Mr. Armstrong. He makes two claims: 1) that aware, we have been answering a lawsuit by Mr. Powell his direct copy method of recutting, which he claims is against Mr. Armstrong and AMICA involving our roll re­ a, trade secret, has been stolen, and 2) that the AMICA­ cutting project with Mr. Armstrong. The facts of the Armstrong recuts are being sold below cost for the matter are c6ntained in the r~port from our publisher, purpose of driving Mr. Powell out of business. Ginny Billings, and so I won't dwell on the case. Enough As a first stage in his lawsuit plans, Mr. Powell to state that AKICA is forging ahead on this issue and attempted to obtain a temporary restraining order. we have competent legal advice and assistance, and we The restraining order was denied. believe our side of the case is open, honest, and straightforward. In order to be able to report factually to AMICA on My recent letter concerning the possibility of AMICA the court procedings, I attended both the above hearing combining the talents of its members and pooling our re­ and the preliminary injunction hearing on Monday, .June sources toward the cutting of new, rolls and recordings 2. has 'met with success. To the some forty members that Mr. Powell's 'attorney, Carl Moore, presented his have r'eplied so far, say I thank you for your time and case' to Judge Brown,. A summary follows: interest in the project. Over 80% of the letters were in 1) Powell's roll recutting equipment, except for tne favor of the project and the writers offered their as­ perforator itself, was developed and paid for by him. sistance in money or time and effort. The- letters from This equipment consists of a read-out device at one members opposed were very few in number and the rest of end, a perforator at the other, and in the middle, a the letters were cautious in their approval until more closed section containing the relays and electronic facts were known. If you haven't written in as yet, gadgets that comprise Mr. Powell's direct copy method. please do so and let me know your opinion. 'The many fine 2) AMICA members contributed time to the recutting suggestions and points brought out by the members will venture. If this time were evaluated at fair market, be of great use to the committee working on the matter. then the cost of AKICA's rolls would be higher, as Letters up to 5 pages in length have been received and I Powell's prices are. AMlCA is covering expenses, but ~ appreciate your time and effort in writing so much. We is not making profit. Mr. Moore then cited the cost are in the process of exploring how to set up the project for a large roll, and asserted that some of AMICA's on a permanent basis and will let you know of our pro­ rolls sold for less than that cost. gress; we certainly will be deliberate in our initial Bruce Dodge, who is Mr. Armstrong's and AMICA's law­ phases and will not jump before we look in all directions. yer, argued next. He pointed out that Mr. Powell's case In answer to the letters I have received from some is largely circumstantial, and that an injunction is members, yes, we will broaden our scope of AMICA to in­ not warranted unless there is strong evidence that the clude some of the other forms of autOmatic musical plaintiff is likely to win the final suit; it is doubt­ instruments. In our show at the University of California ful, he said, that Powell can win. He defined Powell's in Berkeley, we emphasized all of the instruments that ,operation as "a monopoly with monopoly profitt'Hand ' you, our members, now collect. You will see more arti­ advilied thec~urt that Mr. Powell does nothave~_any, cles on other instruments in our Bulletin' and it is my tt'ad_r, 8ecrets:"'~,rather, 'the ideas' involved belong to Kr. hope that we do not overemphasize the ,reproducing piano >Malon~,,·wh'o:de8~gned·1iI.··equ~pment,and are readily . ~, to the detriment of the other instruments. If you have ~vailab·letoati1'. Qther'elect'ron1cally or1en,te~ ,person an article in mind, send it in! who takes the,' t'roUble to figure them out with, normal' To our fledgling chapter- down Texas way I extend my modern'electronie: technology.'He' added that Mr., Powell heartiest welcome and wishes for your success. himself showed slides and gave a lectu~e on roll re­ It is time to consider our national convention for 'cutting at the AMICA Conventiqn last year, and that he the summer or fall of 1972. Where shall it be next year? gave away the info1:"llUltio~ himself. Finally, he pointed If you have any ideas on the subject let your officers out that AKICAand Armstrong in'cluded smal,l, rolls in know. We want to have it where it will best serve AMI CA. ;1t8 .list,,-and thes'e rolls were,of course, less expen- Wherever it will be, a great deal of work and planning '81v~ th~ thal.,arge,Dnes. " will be required (our last one was programmed superbly by Sally Lawrence). So let us hear your thoughts on this ~:The Judge 'de~ied -the prelimina,ry injunction agai~8t subject. AMICA and ,!lr.Armstrong. Thank you for your help and assistance so far this ~. :The~roU recutting iain progress, and AMICA members year in allowing me to work with you for the wonderful >trl:ll receive th~irorde.~iJ soon. world of AMICA. ******************** $¢$¢$¢~¢$¢$¢$¢$¢$¢$¢$ PRO FESSIONAL RO LL REPAIR SERVICEFOUND JULIUS CHALOFF AMPICO RECORD ISSUED by Julius Chaloff A new phonograph recording, "Julius Chal of f Plays De.M MIL6 . WUng~ , for the Amp ico," wi l l be i ssued by Cres t on May 19 th , I Wll6 adv.u,e.d by Mll . HMV e. y Roehl 06 Vu.tal PJte.M :to This stereo (comp atible) recording of s ome of my .<.n601Un you :tha.t we. have. lle.pa..<.Jte.d many p.<.ano pf.a.ye.ll Mlli Amp ico r olls, which was made under my own personal 06 wh.<. ch many had be.e.n ~e.e.m.<.ngf.y beqond :the. pOM'<'bil.<.:ty supervision, wi l l contain t he f ollowi ng : Ces a r Franck, o6 lle.pa..<.Jt. Pr e l ude , Fugue and Variation; Chopi n, Barcarolle in F FOll yoUll .<.n 601Una.tion, I e.ncto~e. a f.e. a6f.e.:t d ~ eJti b.<. ng sharp major; Chopin, Ballade in F minor; Debussy, OUll ~ e.Jt v.<. c.~ • Noc t ur ne in D flat major; Friedman-Gartner, Viennese s.<.n c.e.Jte.f.y yoUIL6 , Ivan]. Ruuc.ka, Dance in G f l a t major; Chaloff, Memories, Op us 14, Boo k. b'<'nde.ll No.1; Faure, Bar car olle i n A mi nor; Friedman , El le 27 P.<.ne.wood Ro ad Danse and Balakirew, I slamey (Ori ental Fan t as i e) . Avon, MIl6~ac.h~~e.:t1¢ The price wi l l be $5 .95 plus seventy cen t s fo r 02322 handling and postage. Orders should be sent to Barden & Clark, 22 Rutland Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02118. At this add ress services in bookbinding and r es t or­ ati on are available . Work i n vellum is a distinguished 0, 0,0'010'0'0,0,010 specialty which - we be lieve - can hardly be had in this country. Most of t he mater ials we use are i mported. Of the INFORMATION REQ UEST seven place s i n the world where vel l um i s made we have chosen fo r dir ect impo rtat ion the t wo leading ones . We from Denn is Ferrara design and exe cute bindings employing t he uniQue hand decorated paper s made by J i rina M. Ruzicka . Mrs . Ruzicka I wou l d I i ke to know of other people who are inter­ produces s tarch papers, papers marbled on water , and ested in the Duo-Art Organ Company and Welte, etc. papers marbled by t he carragheen moss techniQue . Exam­ feel that too few people know about this remarkable ples of our work may be fo und in var ious permanent company in the organ field. collections ; among them , the Cornell Uni versi t y Libr ary 111111111 1111111111111111111111111111111 Department of Rare Books , the State Li brary i n Vi enna , The Royal Li brary i n Oslo , the Pet e r sen Paper collect i on in Dussel dorf, 'and the Museum of Modern Art in New York . Our shop also produces bindings for exclusive l i mite d editions , as well as portfolios and foldi ng cases. In dealing wi th manuscr i pts , incunabula, prints or drawings i n nee d of restoration , we maint ai n met i culous standards in t echniQues of de acidifi cat ion , cl e ansing, bleaching , and mount ing of broken or f r agil e sheets on crepeline. We are also accomplished in t he rest orati on of papyri . Ser vices in paper analysis i n clude s uch areas as pH analysis , sizing~, fiber content , r eaction t o l ight , and color stability . A _

BOUND BULL ETIN SETS (1969 - 1970) STILL AVAILABLE

Have you seen the new bound edition of the 1969-1970 issues of the AMI CA Bulletin? You'll be impresse dl There's a printed cove r , a sturdy backing~ a front protective mylar cov~ring, and a tough spiral binding that permits easy turning of pages. And that's to say nothing of the scads of never-before-and-nowhere-else­ printed information between the covers. If you see one, you'll want one of yourown. Write to Nick Jarrett, Treasurer, 3622 - 21st Street, San Franc isco, California 94114, and enclose your check for $15.00 (to cover A n i~t ed sirlfJ!ng birds in .a g(h cage are lovely printing, binding and mai I ing costs). greeung to vl.Sllor at Musu: Museum in Deans. bora. Carla Jacobson, her mother Mrs. Sharon Jacobson, and grandmother Mrs. Elsie Sanders %f f% f f% f f% f f% f f% f f% listen to song. Jan. 31, 1971 , Syracuse Herald-American Music Museum Plays Symphony of Memories

By JEAN BISHOP

h ings that crank, things that pump and At th e bac k of t he mu seum is t he " Bar . th ings that play-all to make musi c at the As the ar tist' s shade produces the final [ad­ Room," where nickelodeons (to use their common T un ique lillie Music Museum in Dean sboro , ing no te , viol in music rises from anothe r co rner of name) line the walls. The same man who made the south of Utica. the room. Ther e, a machine repr oduces the action Link Trainer for airplane pilots made a coin oper· Th e Hardie Sand ers Iarnily started collecting and so und of two violins a nd a pian o . " Sw an ee ated orchestrian which plays a 15·foot continuo us th ings that make music in the 1930s. At one point , Butt erfly" and nine other selections are available st rip of music, a marvel of engineering. T he rna­ Mrs. Sand ers said, they had "music boxes und er on th e "V iolano Virt uoso," designed in 1904 by chine reproduces the sound of a xylophon e, tarn­ th e bed, a garage Iull of phon ograph s and nickelo­ electrica l genius H, K. Sandell, and designa ted by bourine, castan ets, mand olin, wood block, bass deons in the kitchen." th e U.S. government as "o ne of the eight greate st drum, torn-toms, tri angle, snare dr um, cymba l and Mr s. Sa nders was a co nce rt organ is t and inventions of the decade." piano. Sanders had a talent for repairing old organs and Sandell sold hi. dh ign to the Mills Novelty piano s. Th e two talents comb ined served to stir On top of the inst rumen t sits what looks like Company, which produced th e models from 1912 a huge hat box. When the music starts, a curtain th e couple' s interes t in music mach ines . to 1926, selling abou t 3,000 machines for $ 1,BOO In 1948, they built the present museum to opens on this "band box ," revealing mannequins to $3,600 each. Sanders belongs to a society for poised befo re their inst rument s. Whil e the music hold th eir collection. Oi course, it has grown con­ the preservat ion of this mach ine. Although th e siderably since th en ; but the basic idea has always plays, they beat drums, pound the piano and toot socie ty has foun d 250 of the m, '" dou bt i[ we will th e horn s, retir ing behind thei r cu rtain when the been a place where people can not onl y look, but find ano ther 50," San ders said. There are only 15 be invo lved with the music. " It's the sound of a so ng is over . two-violin machin es left, as far as they know, he In th e Demonstr ation Room, a remo te con­ musical instrumen t that 's important-not the said, one of th em at the muse um . look of it," son Arthur Sanders insis ts. tr olled elect rical piano [rom 1908, which was sold If you can tea r you rself away fro m th e Iasci­ Arthu r and his [ath er "a re th e bra ins of th is only to th e wealthi est homes [or $600. In another nating display of 22 different kinds of zither, you room is a roll er orga n wit h rive roll s of mus ic outfit," Mrs. Sanders decla red. They are th e ones ca n look in on t he " Civil War Room ," wh e re a who repair, rebuild and refurbish the "finds" for which sold for $7.60. It was enough to provide the manneq uin sits at a rosewood melodeon made in th eir museum . music fo r a hymn s ing a fte r su ppe r on Friday Ch erry Va lley hy A.S . Swann, a captai n in th e T oday, t he co llection is displa yed in 12 nights, a favor ite en tertai nment of the early cen­ U.S. Army. Near her sits anot her man nequin play. rooms of a build ing in the small Central New York tury. ing a " lap organ," prov iding the air pressure hy community. In one room are eight " parlor" or­ As America discovered music machin es, they work ing a bellows with her elbow while the finger s wer e mad e in se wing machine fact orie s , d ock gans, ran ging [rom elaborate instru ments topped of both hands are employed on the keyboard , companies and [urniture Iactories, But of all the by rake pipes to the simple consoles which could Early juke boxes fill anot her room, taking things at the mu seum which crank and pump and be bought in Grandmother's day [or $50. the visitor back in time to th e ice cream parlors of play, perhaps th e most beaut iful of all are the sing. Ano t he r roo m at the mu seum holds on ly 75 years ago. Se lect one of 12 pierced discs from ing birds, enclosed in th eir gilt cages, singing their music boxes- all shapes, sizes and tunes. Most of one of the models. ft will play Number 9 ("H ap py hearts out. them are hand made [rom their delicate mecha ­ Days in Dixie" ) perhaps or Numb er 2 (" Miste r Art hu r Sa nd e rs will sho w you a t iny, c lo ­ nis ms to th e screws holding togeth er their rose­ Dooley" ) or Nu mber I (" Have You Seen My Hen­ isonne music box. Whe n it is wound, a delica te wood and inlay cases. ry Brown?" ) yellow feath ered bird pops up 10 sing and posture Almost all music boxes were made in Switz. Having pumped and played, you come to a and warbl e again, then to return as quic kly as he erlan d in family indust ries where each memb er room where you can crank to your heart's desir e. came. had a specific du t y. Th e most dem anding du t y Th e mu s ic of a barrel o rga n wa s expected to be must have been the inse rtio n of million. of tiny dist inct ive. It was the trademark of the merry-go­ Of cou rse , no ne of this wou ld be poss ible hair-sized metal tips in rolle rs where they would round, for insta nce, and people recognized their e xce pt [or t he ski ll o f t he Iwo men: Hard ie a nd catch agains t pierc ed plates and make the familiar favorit es from the music at a fair or carnival. Art hu r Sande rs an d [or th e in t e res t o [ t he two music box sound. women, thei r wives . Strolling on through the museum (and that In 1954, Mrs, Marth a DeKl iest Thomas visit­ "The worksho p is still the backbone of our is almost impossi ble because th ings keep catc hing ed th e mu seum and found th e ba rrel she had business," Sanders dec lared with pride. Th ere, in your eye, arres ting you r all ention), one comes to " marked and pinned" at the age of 13 when she the organized cluller of an artisan's shop, the men a room fill ed to th e rafte rs wit h pho no gr a phs, was wor king in her father' s factor y. Hescued [rom take music machine s, some of Ihem hardly recog­ from th e earlies l "squ awk box" to the expensi ve a T upper Lake merr y-go -rou nd , it pla yed th e nizable , an d ca re ss th em back to s ha pe so t hat lat er mod el s ($7 5 was a pr in cel y su m in 1911) , young girl's arra ngement of "B edelia." thousands of men , women and children canplay Edison 's earlies t tin foil phon ograph is th ere, and a them when they ' om' to visit t he M" ,; , Museum '_OilO ~ . - phon ograph in a camera case. So is a simple model \(la '· T j - -- .. in Dean sbo ro. which was given free to anyo ne purchasing two > --"2 .:.._ · '-lJ • dozen records. ~... .. In 1880, Art hur Sanders points out, the only ~q~~ I ,.. music in a home was that tolK"-made themselves J• • or that of a music box. The phonograph " bro ught a voice and c,ult",e into the ho me," he says...' Peo. Hardie Sa nders left : pie sat and II st e ~ e d to"th em the way they. SIt now founder of Musk Mu: and watch .teleV ISIO n. The early hum orists, t.he seum and his son g~eat vocalists, the poets a ~d writers of the beg,lll' A rl h ~r prP. are t ~ nlllg century were brought into every home which I" ~ b g could afford the few dollar s [or Edison's new in. rOes hennl . a J .. ~e urg ti rc s "an uurlng res- yen IOn. . toration. Arthur Sanders starts you r muse nm tou r III th e "De monstration Room," where you can hear Paderew ski playing Chop in's " Staccato Etud e" on a piano which repr oduc es not only the not es of the composition, but the styling of the dead artist, down to the exact pressure of his fingers on the keys. THE AM leA NEWS BULLETIN

AMICA' S 8TH BIRTHD AY PAR TY AT BILL WHERRYS JULY DINNER & MEETING ON S,F , FERRYBOAT by Nick Jarrett by Sally Lawrence A6tVt dJr.iving a c.oupl e 06 mUu atong the c.ountJuj A wonde rful e vening wi l l be prov ided by a visit to noads 06 OJUnda , I Wa6 fte- a6.6WLed by the s ound 06 an the San Francisco Mar i time St ate Hi s t or ic Pa r k a t t h e OftchubUon tna: thi.6 Wa6 i ndeed the c.elebftation 06 fo ot of Hyde St r ee t at t he Hyde Street Pie r . The date : AM I CA ' .6 ughth anniveJt.6 My . The i n.6 tJwment tWLned out July 3l •. •The time: 7:15 p.m. En t r ance f ee t o t he t o be the Empftu .6 Elec.bUc. whic.h, though on1.y a mile park i s 75¢; those wishing to can have the r are ex­ bi ggVt than a fteguiaJt upfti ght pi ano , pu.t.6 on a poweft6uf perience of having a ca ter e d dinner be f or e the mee t ing d-<--6play afuMt mettch ed by .JA fti vat, the SeebWLg "KT" on the lumber schooner Wapama for $8. 00 api e ce • •• s end Speu at, in the next ftoom . in the res ervation form at once if yo u plan t o a t tend Sunday a6teJtn oon ' .6 get-.togethVt tunned out to be a the dinner! This wi l l be in the gr an d Dini ng Sa l oon Meld day 60ft mechanic.at bu66.6, a6 Bilt' .6 home if.> which wi l l be decked out in full r egalia fo r the even t. 6ilted with thnee. onchesou.on« , :two ftepfWduung pian0.6 , Seat i ng capacity i s limited t o 48 , an d wi ll t here f or e an a6 yet inc.omple.te c.on c.eJt.tota, and vani.o iu; piec. u 06 be limit ed t o memb ers only. Gues ts wi l l be a dmi tted as mechanic.a.e mM-< c..a.1- ha.JLdwaJte. ThU ft oWnVt if.> happy to sp a ce permi ts . des c.Jtibe in dUail. the va6t amount 06 woJtk tna: ha« Dinner menu: Green Salad, Relishes, Veal Scallopini, gone into Jr.utofting them without muc.h i n .the way 06 Vegetable, ? e a ch , Dessert, Beve rage , ou.t.6ide help. Garlic Bread. PeM onaUy I Mn d Oftc.hubUon.6 among th« in.6tJwmen-t6 Don't be disappointed: send in yo ur r es ervations .thett Me a6 much 6un to wettc.h a6 .to ffiten t o, and 60ft early for this dinner. thif.> ftea60n I 60und .the Conc.eJttola oa6u nating, even The 8:30 meeting will be on t he Ferry Boat Eureka .though il wilt be .6Ome lime be60fte it bfting.6 ti6eto wi t h guest speaker Glenn Bur ch , Historian of the park, t he Stunway. Some 06 TU c.haJtd TUley '.6 new Ampic.o and telling the history of these wonderful ships and demon­ Vuo-Mt jazz and Mglime Jte-c.u.t6 wVte played, and I Uftge s trating the musical instrument on board. Membe rs and aU who aJte inteJtu,ted to buy .them While the .6 upply guests are wel come to this part of the evening wi t hout laf.>u . reservations. This will be a mo st exciting evening ! Some 06 w, had been hoping we c.ouid .6 w-<-m i n time to Hope you wi l l come and join us; out of town members are a ni..c.kel odeon, but I guU.6 the weathVtman 6Oftgot it Waf.> mos t wel come, and we hop e that if yo u a r e going to be Memoftia.1- Vay weekend, and on1.y .the FUn.6tun '.6 youngut out this way yo u wi l l send in your reservation f or bnave.d the pooL A6teft eating a heM.ty s acad and bu66et dinner, or a t l east come to the meeting f ollowi ng t he we c.ut th« biJt.thday c.ak.e pnovi.ded by saUy Lawftenc.e. It dinner. Waf.> Lced wilh nothing l u .6 than. a piano , Oft Waf.> il an [FOR MORE DETAILS SEE BILL KNORP 'S ART I CLE BELOW.J OftchubUon? Anyway il Wa6 c.omple.te wilh ke.y.6 . OWL Parking i s not available a t t he park itself. The r e is .thank..6 go to OWL nos« 60ft making thi.6 one. 06 the. mMt plenty of space ar ound the a rea , t hough. Ghiradelli -<-nte.ftuting me.eting.6 evVt. Square i s one, and the Hyde Street Cabl e Car i s available for those who wi sh t o park elsewhere and hop

_/ AI right. the Bar Room 0/' ; , the museum, an authentic. ~ , :j , selling/or coin operated , U' pl ay er pian os and a".~? : , 1' mal ic orchestras nl _ t ~ ' . :," l6;) ~ ~ . . THE AM leA NEWS BULLETiN 7

a Cable Car to the end of the line. This would really be a fun way to get into the spirit of the event!

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The Swaner "EUREKA, II on San Praneieoo Bay. Photo by Bi t Z Knorp ;

h AMICA MEETING TO BE HELD ON STEAMER "EUREKA" I n -- -- -I The Last of an Era of SideWhee.,,,,, Largest Ooubl~Endoo Passenger .m,.'~J" ""' }""" "' !lf"!"1 'r"" """'!'"" "" " ' }~"" """" " "" " "" """}~'~'rri The I~OOE P Odd~-:::~: :::: Im"boot, _ MB to~ d ll__- in Hyde Street Pie r , San Francisco, has on board a fine - •• 'v" •• _- •• •••• • COINOLA Piano and a co l-l.ec iri on of vintage classic auto- mobiles. Ihe JO G' fer:ryboat itseZf has a fascinating histo:ry . She was originaUy built as the UKIAH , a combination AUGUST MEETING TO BE HELD IN HOLLYWOOD freight- car t ransfer' and passenger fe r:ry, and operated by Sam Thompson between San Pranoieco and Sausalito and Tiburon. She 2 ~mai ne d in service until 1819 when she was taken out of service and rebuiIt as a passenger-auto fe r:ry at Hosts for the August Southern Cal ifornia Meeting wi l l Southern Pacific shipyards. Back i n service in 1922 wi th be Cecil Dover and Ed Postinoff. Cecil 's piano is a her original, walking-beam engine, she remained the f l ag­ completely rebuilt Mason and Hamlin "A" Ampico. Cecil ship of the Northwestern Pacific Railway and made the designs restaurant interiors; Ed is a hairdresser and last; trip to Sausalito on Februa:ry 28 , 1941 . She was has two shops in L.A. They were to have the June then t ransferred to Southern Paoific 'e San Francisco­ meeting, but they requested the August meet ing to have Oakland run and continued in service until Pebrua:ry 10, more tidying up t ime for the larger house they just 1857. bought in Hollywood. A f am ili ar sight on the bay for many years , with her . oas i: walking-beam si ngle ayl.i.nde» steam engine dr>ivi~ zg &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& her l arge paddie-ioheel.e , she was the Last: of many of its t ype on the bay and the l ast of the breed. I canl'e- member di stinctly t r aveli ng on the se boat s and on the ei mi/la» "Sacrament-o, rt "Oak l and" and "Cazadero" and ot hers , and remember peevinq thl'Ough the plate ql-cuse THE NORTH COUNTY windows on the vessels and seei ng the grand engine in CONCERT ASSOCIATION AUXILIARY operation. No thing couZd have been more exciting for a proudly presents kid fasainated wi th et eam engines and there was noth ing "PUT ANOTHER NICKEL IN" around more massive, whi ch cou z. d movel , A Collection of Finely Restored 'l'he engine is BtiU t here, as i s the vee t: of the Roll Operated Musical Instruments boat , intact. We hope t o bring back some of th e mem02'­ Sunday, March 21,1971, 2 to 5 p.m. Lee of hal.cu on days , wi th the ei deoneel.e » and t he Home of Dr. and Mrs. George Coade "coinol.a" and those ol-ae ei:o aut os. 3196 Falcon Drive, Carlsbad ADULTS ONLY Donation $2.00 per person If 11fl U """"""It II 1111""""ttlf ,- - - -,- - .., ::n ~ :>- ~ > ~ ~ '-3 r.ii (")- :>:: IIIPI > ~ z ~ ~ .. ~ If) ~ ~. c:IJ:l .... 11 [11 r'" r'" &e ~ (1l .., ~ :z- ~ !,a;! ~ ~ co <"I- <,. ;:s ::::c

a~ ·~-ti ~~ .-3 E:~g[~ ~ .g ~~ g ~m~~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ ~ x-0 g.~ ~ g 0 .....~ ~ ~ ..... Po.0.. ...g~~;-.o· ro · ~~~~cA~~~~ :r ~S'O'Qg~ ~.:t ~ C) E:~ __,g '"< ~ ~~ a 3 S o ' C; ' ~ S':' '- :S ~71 :» ~~'-l ;:;: ~ t; ~ c: Ei ::1 S" ~ _ 3 ~ ;.~. ~ crq ' \",J ~> .. " N"CI !!l.a' O:>;, "'::r::> cs'", ::> aoo:::::J"n ..... -~S-q)rr.;,o n(l) ~ 1---1 ~ ~ ~ ~ n g."O g a a ;:s (0 a [5: Os : ...... ~ ~~ N ~ C (1) PJ a 0.. s:: fA p..,< 0 ~ Cl) ..rA ~ ~ ~ 0a '0 ::; ~:::: ~i ::I ~ ;:s _.~ ... >~"'s:~<~;:s'" ..., ~ ~W n Ef-(:!-'r,q (.l:l 3 ~~,..,~ !O ~~ su pj(6 ~ ~~ ~ ~ P"::;-~ t? ~ ';1 ~;. n'~o~b' ~ c::: o es :!

00 9 THE AMleA NEWS BULLETIN • ~::::I_::i!i! IIIIII: •• • "I'd like to hear that," I said to Kastner the -This Is the first juke box," Kastner said, "Here's an old nickelodeon." It appeared other days as we wandered through thia toy­ showing an old oak cabinet, not unlike the to be a piano with a stained .glass window. "I land.. The horns pointed straight out.of the modem juke box, without the tubes of neon found it in Wisconsin in the basement of A machine, polished like brass spittoons. and bubbling colored liquid. It had a dozen church. They'd just used it as a piano. They He went around to one side. "Are you records Ret out on a wheel, like'. water wanted $100." ready?" He turned it on. There was a fanfare wheel. He put a coin in and the wheel began Kastner has now opened his collection free of trumpets. Then the whole machine burst to tum. Out came "Wabash ·Blues." . to the public, weekdays and Sunday after~ into something loud and exuberant in three­ I put my ear to the gleaming brass horn of noons, as the Heritage Museum. From the four time. It made .me want to skate. In early Edison. Krastner cranked it up. A Lakewood pizza parlor he has spread his "You can feel the air," Kastner said, hold­ tenor voice, tinny and tremulous, announced search. out over the nation, looking for the ing a palm in front of a hom. I tried it. The that we would now hear "The Chimes of Nor­ .machines that Americans invented to bring air blew out in bursts, as ifJohn Philip Sousa mandie." And M we did; blaring out of the . music to their raw land. himselt were inside the thing, puffing his past, its brass untarnished. He sells only what he has more than one of. stout old heart out. "This is what got me started," Kastner' -A man phoned me from Hawaii and asked A more solemn sound issued from an 1875 said, looking with affection at a Mills Violano about a nickelodeon. Nickelodeons are the roller organ, a portable machine, hand­ Virtuoso, inside which we could see the vio­ hardest things to find. I said, 'Hold the cranked, which plays sound from a cylinder lin itself and watch as mechanical fingers phone' and played it for him over the phone. called a "cob," because it looks like one. played its strings. It played -Listen to the He said, 'I'll take it,' and sent me a check for Kastner cranked. Out came a hymn, "1 Mackingbird" the way my mother used to $5,000.- Know That My Redeemer Liveth," or some­ sing it, including the vibrato. "What did he want it for?" I asked. thing equally exultant. The sound was ama­ We went down to the basement in the old -Why, he wanted it for himself. " zinzly full and vibrant. auto lift. It was just the right size for a Max­ It made sense. I wouldn't mind having 3 i'hey took these across the country in well. In the' basement you can still see the machine with 15 trumpets, three trombones, covered wagons, n he said. I could imagine turntable they used to tum the cars around. six clarinets, 15 piccolos, a snare drum And Ii the pioneer woman holding her infant in one It looked like Santa's workshop down bass drum that could play "Tales of the Vien­ arm and cranking out some triumphant there. Kastner buys things in any kind of na Woods· and you eould feel the wind eom- Protestant hymn as the wagons \formed a condition. If parts are missing they can be. onsla_u.ug~h...:.;;t' in« out. sircle to meet the heathen __"""" """'ioiiIiiIi.i"""'made. """'__""""'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii=.iiiioiiiiOiiiiiiiiiiiiii;iiiioiiiioo "";:::' _ THE COADES' COLLECTION: "PUT ANOTHER NICKEL IN" SEEBURG IIKT": Often called the "Seeburg Eagle". Contains a 65 note piano, STEINWAY AEOLIAN DUO-ART REPRODUCING PIANO: Full scale 88 note mandolin, xylophone, castanets, triangle and tambourine. Uses 10 tune "G" grand piano with incorporated player mechanism capable of playing standard style rolls, Manufactured by J. P. Seeburg Piano Company circa 1922. Cabinet player rolls and also specially coded "reproducing" rolls which control note style and leaded glass were designed during the First World War to capture the volume and accent. Manufactured in 1925 by Steinway, this 6 foot grand piano patriotic fever of the times. Earlier styles often had a rank of flute or violin uses a specially constructed case to incorporate the player unit and represents pipes instead of a xylophone. These were more expensive to produce as they re­ the ultimate in the "hi-fi " home music field of the '20's. Recordings by such quired a pressure pump for the pipes as well as the standard vacuum pump to stars of the concert stage as George Gershwin, Paderewski, Hofmann, Bauer and operate the piano. Changing styles of music also caused the swing to the brighter Gabrilowitsch were available, each with the unmistakable style of playing of the sound of the xylophone and left the Seeburg Company preeminent in the 20's as recording artist. Three major companies locked horns in mortal battle to control the largest manufacturer of coin pianos, The company has since maintained its the reproducing piano market: Welte, the. originator of the idea; Duo-Art position with the coin phonograph field and continues in business today. represented here; and Ampico, perhaps the largest of the three. Pianos with a reproducer commanded twice the price of their hum bIer companions and were enormously profitable items. Rolls were produced by the thousands and included every major performer for three decades and recorded nearly the entire SEEBURG IIKT SPECIAL": Cabinet Style Orchestrion with Persian motif art classical piano repertoire then available. Popular music was not forgotten and, glass. Contains a 65 note piano, mandolin, xylophone, castanets, triangle, tam­ included standard tunes, ethnic favorites and even jazz tunes of the then scarcely bourine, snare drum, bass drum, tympani, cymbal and wood block, Uses 10 tune reputable black musicians. "G" rolls, Produced only after 1925 in the declining years of the coin piano, it . represented a last attempt to produce a large piano sound in a small case, This example was produced in 1926 and was shipped to a Middle Western piano PHILIPPS PAGANINI VIOLIN PIANO: Full scale 88 note upright grand piano distributor. It was used as a display model and was never sold, With the coming' with a "violin" section of 140 pipes and a 44 note reed organ. Welte type repro­ of the Depression the piano was placed in the back room and forgotten, An early ducing piano and expression controlled organ and violin sections. Contains 5 collector found it there in the 1950's and rescued it from oblivion and since sold roll automatic changer capable of playing 25 tunes over 60 minutes without it to us. Very little has been done to the piano since it left the factory and it may repeating. Manufactured by J. D. Philipps and Sohne, Frankfort-am-Main, be the only one of its kind to survive in playing condition with no restoration in Germany circa 1921. Prior to World War One these and other Philipps pianos the past 44 years. Few electronic machines today will ever be able to make any were imported to the United States by WurliTzer to fill the need of larger such claim in the future. instruments than were made in this country. While both popular and classical music was available in Germany, WurliTzer produced only popular tunes on its own roll cutters, The high cost and the classical sound of the piano both con­ tributed to a poor sales record in this country while in Europe they were quite popular. Our example was built after the devastation of World War One and was WURLITZER VIOLIN-FLUTE PIANINO: Piano. with 44 notes and mandolin shipped to Belgium where it received better than average care, likely in a quiet attachment, flute pipes and violin pipes in the treble register. Manufactured by hotel dining room or small restaurant. New music was cut in Europe through the Rudolph WurJiTzer Company in North Tonawanda, New York. Popular from the Depression by Eugene DeRoy in Antwerp and it was through his files of early years of 1900, the Pianino was continuously manufactured into the '20's. customers that the instrument was found and brought to this country. Now fully These scaled down versions were the first successful coin pianos and often had restored, it has just been recorded for inclusion in a series of nickelodeon and special music composed to fit the available notes, a fact that may explain why so orchestrion records, few of their tunes are familiar to us today. The present example dates from about 1920 and accommodates rolls up to 12 tunes in length. Only about 30 of WURLITZER MANDOLIN PIANORCHESTRA STYLE 30A: Contains a full th.ese machines survive in spite of the long span of manufacture, most swept scale 88 note piano with mandolin attachment, 30 piccolos, 37 flutes, 30 violins, aside by the larger 65 note pianos more capable of playing the "pops" of the 1920's. 19 violas, 30 violoncellos, 30 note xylophone, 13 note chimes, snare drum, bass drum, kettle drum, cymbal, triangle, castanets and tambourine. Has a 6 roll Philipps changer with each roll containing 5 tunes. A WurliTzer import from Philipps in 1909 and sold in 1910 to an upstate New York hotel for use in the hotel ballroom in Skaneateles Junction, New York where it fell into disrepair MILLS VIOLANO- VIRTUOSO: Piano with 44 notes and a "real" violin dis­ and was forgotten. The baJlroom itself was boarded up and was not disturbed played prominently within the case and played by metallic fingers and until the '50's when a piano collector found some old timers who remembered a celluloid bow wheels. An all eJectrica)Jy operated piano manufactured by the large piano in the local hotel. The pipes, by that time, had made their way to a Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, more famous for their large line of gambling local church organ ..Joft and lay unused in the corner. Now, many hundreds of equipment. An eye·catching piano manufactured from 1908 to 1929 when the repair hours later, it stands fully restored to play again exactly as it did when it present unit was assembled. It plays a 5 tune roll with very extensive range of left the factory. WurJiTzer cut some of its best music for these large Pian­ music available, both popular and classical songs. Perhaps more of these orchestras and they were immensely popular. Records from the company machines survive than any other single style of coin piano, saved as much by the suggest nearly 1,000 Pianorchestras of various styles were imported by difficul ty of stealing the motor for other uses as by the crowd stopping novelty WurliTzer but today only 18 can be located, another indication of the terrible that the machine still possesses. toll taken by time. (~ i 111~l l °

Critic-aI-Large NEWHousE/CHICAGO DAILY NEWS SERVICE Stravinsky -:p7d~o Rolls By BYRON BELT George Gershwi n was paid $25 for his first doze n per­ whom su ch names as Frank Milne, Victor Arden and Pete formances for post erity via the paper piano roll, and Igor Wendling are as familiar as Busoni and Paderewski. The Stravin sky made complex and fascinating transcr iptions casual collec tor may find the ent husiasm almost fanatic, of "The Rite of Spri ng" and "Les Noces" but there are many fine folk involved in a so und wo rld tor the ubiquitous reproducing piano . all thei r own. Public nost alg ia for these seemingly For the brave and curious , membership and other infor­ historical and dat ed form s of making ma tion may be sec ured from the secre tary, Richard Reut­ music was demonstrated in th e response Unger, 824 Grove St., San Francisco, Calif. 94117. The to our article last fall on AMICA, an current president is Frank Loob, and the wildly informa­ organization dedicated to spread ing the tive Bullet in is edited by Ginny Billings. gospel of musical salvation thro ugh pres ­ Currently, the center of AMICA activities is California . ervation of the piano roll and its related San Francisco is the founding chapter, but others are equipmen t, which brought more mail acti ve in the Los Angeles area,Seattle, and elsewhere , than anyt hing else we have wri tten. Byron Belt and mem bership is now int ernational. AMICA sta nds for the Automatic Musical Instrument Collector's Association, a non-profit AS LATE AT 1926 Igor Stravinsky was still discussing club "devoted to the restoration, distr ibu tion and enjoy­ his interest in th e finest reproducing pianos as a tool for ment of musical instruments using per fora ted paper music his compo sition. As a player and transcriber of his own rolls." mus ic, Stravinsky made a number of historically So lively is th e interest in AMICA, that something that important pianola rolls for Duo-Art in London and Playel sounds so frie ndly has und ergone a not-so-quiet revolu­ in Par is. He also compo sed at least one work (his 1917 cion from with in since our reoort on the first national Etude,"Madrid,") for piano roll. convention held in San Francisc-o last August. With smoke Stravinsky liked the roll reproductions beca use "t here of battle clea ring aw ay, we have been doing some catch­ are tone comb inations beyond my 10 fingers," and he ing UIJ via a monthly News Bulletin and a ser ies of LP com pared his rolls to "lithographs in which the artist tran sfers of piano roll performances by Percy Gra inger, has complet ed his own work upo n the origina l pla te. It Sergei Rachmaninoff, Josef Lhevinn e and Ignaz Fried­ is the work of his own han ds. Only th e process of multi­ man. plication of the lithogra ph or etc hing is mecha nical." * * • The gre at compose r's rolls are housed in the Librar y OUR PREVIOUS report on AMICA and th e cur rent of Congress, and wi th his death, it is possible tha t some state of the various kinds of player and reproducing of the more unusua l mav be made ava ilable to the pub lic, pianos revealed that the ground swell of interest was The inter est of a musician of Stravinsky's stature, and even gre ate r than the dedicated founders believed. the exuberan t comme rcial endorsements of nearly every There is, it now appears obvio us, a player-piano grea t pianist, and the regular "demons tration concerts," skeleto n in nearly every closet in Amer ica, and we were in which the greatest stars compared the ir live and flooded wit h requ ests for information, many of them, recorded performances never s ilenced all oppositio n, nor alas, left unan swered until now. is it likely to end with a current spate of new recordings AMICA coordinat es and sti mula tes activities of thos e based on early piano roles. Who are genuine fans (we almost said nut s!") and to • efforts of James P. Johnson, Luckey Roberts, Andy They All Turned Out Razaf, Fats Waller and others."

ACK ON THE ST**AGE, the* old-timer Inveigled To Hear Eubie Blake B Hines to play, It was father and child. "Eubie was the first man I ever saw wearing a I' a c c o o n coat," Hines recalled with a roar. Eubie sat on a QlI lIlIlIlIIlIIlIIllIIlIl/IBy John L. Wasserman ri ckety chair next to him as Hines played "Memories of You." It was five minutes-maybe ten-of match­ OST PEOPLE who were born in 1899 are dead. less supremacy, "Whip it !" Eubie shouted , "whip it!" M Eu bie Blake was writing songs in 1899. . . and Then he just sat there, holding his head in his hands. playing them Sund ay afternoon,March 28, 1971, at Again at the table, reverent young people Earthquake McGoo:J's. brought old 78s and sheet mu sic for Eubie to sign. In 1899, Blake was 16 years old, chasing girls One was an original 1921 score of "I' m Just Wild and writing "Charll'ston Rag." He has thus been per­ About Harry." "Fox-Trot Novelty Song from the forming for more than 70 years; ma ybe more than Sensational Musical Comedy Success - Shuffle 80. He is unquestionably th e oldest jazz musician Along," it said. By Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake-c­ alive and playing. Earl Hines, a piano giant of even Writers of All th e Lyrics and lUusic in This Success­ more stature th an Blake, came to hear him, hug him ful Production." and play a dazzling version of Blake's "l\Iemories of I asked him who was the gre atest. "I'm not You," Hines is eligible for Social Security himself. going to say who you think I am," he said conspira­ I\larty Balin also came to hear Eubie Blake. Balin is torily, "I'm net going to say who you think." He the leader of th e Jefferson Airplane. paused. "One-Legged Willie was the greatest pianist Blake looks 70, which doesn't sound so hot un­ I ever heard - with all respect to Tatum . . . with less you're 88; acts 50 and plays 25. Today he lives in all respect. Brooklyn and performs in public fewer than a dozen "One-Legged Willie (Joseph was his last name) times a year. He doesn't fly, so visits to the West was at Harvard, or one of th em colleges, and he was Coast are rare. in a piano competition. Th ey played in cubicles, you know, so the judges couldn't see who was playing, EUBIE BLAKE and One-Legged Willie won the contest, but when It's so easy "FELLA ASKED me*** once, 'Eubie, why won't you they saw he was black, they gave him second place," fly?' Look here, 1 said, I don't fly because I can Although it is said that Eubi e taught people read. Fella said 'How's that?'" Eu bie grinned with ranging from Jam es P. Johnson to Duke Ellingto n, sinful glee. "' Cau ~e I can read, don't you see, and every day I re-ad about th ose things falling down he says he never gave a lesson. "I'll tell you," he said with ano ther sneaky gri n, "I never had the patience. .. ." He gave the table a whack. Playing the piano is so easy for me, I can't und er­ So it was the train to Los Angeles last week, stand why you" - and he gave me a vigorous poke in and a couple of concerts there. Then th e Greyhound the chest--"can't de it . .." to San F ranci sco. It 's a shame he only did th e one afternoon but that's how things worked out. He'll probably not be back. Still, two better-than-nothings are available: Eubie plays and talks (and he does DMITRI TIOMKIN TO RETURN love to talk) for 40 minutes on David Frost's show TO TH E PIA NO AS CONC ERT PIANIST tomorrow (KPIX, Channel 5, 4:30 to 6 p.m.), and "The Eighty-Six Years of Euble Blake," a 1969 dou­ by Bill Knorp ble-album on Columbia, is available. Dmitri Tiomkin, after many years as a composer of Eub ie ma rch ed on the stage (he was later to fi lm scores in Hollywood, has decided to go back to demonstrate Jo hn Ph ilip Souza 's te chnique) at 3:30 the p iano. At one time in his life he played t he Paris p.m., sat down and ran th rough "Charleston Rag," premiere of Gershwin's famed Piano Concerto and he even "Semper Fidelis"and "Dream Ra g" for openers. recorded for Ampico two Ravel pieces. Thanks to Larry Givens t h is roll, recorded at t he reques t of Am pi co ' s F THE L.\TTER**SONG, h*e ex p l a ined that inventor, Char les F. Stoddard, is now available as a O "Fella named Jessie Pickett ta u g h t me this fine recut. The original had not bee~ originally re-' when I was in short pan ts. He was"-another sinful leased for sale by the Ampico Corporation, but after smile-"a gentleman of uh , leisure." Eub ie talked of ' hear ing his performance, one can surmise that Tiomkin playing for $1 a night in Baltimore , and of the ladies piani~t of the evenings .. . "Sweetbacks, we called 'em" ... must be a very ,f ine indeed. Whether he made and played a ragtim e-boogie mixture on "Eubie's any other rolls or not I do not know, but this one is Boogie." ' certainly a fine one. "It's not a regular boogie," he said sternly. "Re­ Recently he has been practicing the piano agai G gardless of how anybody else played, I always played di li gentl y , and he reportedly plans tc start i n HDy my way," Fats Waller, -Iames P. Johnson, Willie the 1971 , with a European tour to various cities including Lion, Tatum, Hines, even J elly Roll I\lorton . .... London, Paris and Madrid. they all came after E ubie. lUiI{e Lipscomb, a young A1though he is known as a f i 1m composer to today' s ragtime player who did a set Sunday afternoon him­ self, summed it up nieely. "I learned to play by lis­ audiences, he doesn 't plan , to play fi 1m mus i c , but tening to James P. Johnson records. James P. John­ mus i c of t he great masters suth as Bach, ' Beethoven, son was taught by Eubie." Stravinsky and we hope the pieces he recorded for Eubie and his par tner of 56 years, Noble SissIe Ampico by Ravel: Menuette in Db, his "Sona t ine" f or ("He's not well," Eubie said sadly), together wrote a piano, the "Oiseaux Tr i es ts" from his "Mi rois" for number of Broa dway musicals. According to Yale piano, the latter representing birds lost in a dark music historian Robert E. Kimball, "Shuffle Along" forest during the hottest hours of sunmer L He also (1921) "is remembered as th e show which brought jazz dancing to Broadway, stardom to Florence Mills wrote a piece called "Hippy Blue s" and one which is and Josephine Baker, and paved the way for creative a Salute to Hampstead Heath. THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

Tiomkin studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory nickel. (Note: Sutro's Hexaphone was electrified, which and came west in 1920. He developed an interest in the was a conversion job done by them to eliminate moderns' popular music of the period and when the film com­ need to wind.) panies began making IIta1kies" he carne to California. This was about the extent of my exposure to these old According to a newspaper review, he said: III gave a music machines for the balance of the 1960·s. I never very modern concert which nobody understood and in­ had the slightest idea that I'd actually own some of vited MGM along. They engaged me and that was my start these instruments myself. I thought that Just the few I in films. I am sure that it was because they couldn't saw at Sutro's, Disneyland and Knott's farm, as well as unders tand my concert.II Fran then on he wrote some Virginia City, Nevada, were the extent of these old fine original film scores. Also it is said he really pieces. I never realized, at the time, private indivi­ 1i kes the composer Stephen Foste r, pa rti cu Ia r 1y "I duals actually collected and restored music makers. Dream of Jeannie with the Light BrONn Hai r ," which he Then, in early 1969, I happened to be browsing through interpolated in some of his scores. a copy of an Antique Collectors' magazine and saw an ad He recently went to Russia and produced a film belonging to the Santa Fe Springs firm of Hathaway & (forthcoming) which is a biography of Tschaikowsky. Bowers, Inc., as well as a picture of a Seeburg KT or­ Presently he is involved in a similar project pertain­ ches tri on. ing to the life of Prokofiev. The ad to1d of "Musica 1 ins t ruments of mechan ica 1 We do hope to have an opportunity. to hear this operation bought and sold," as well as records and books great composer-pianist play at some future recitals on automatic musical instruments. It also told of a and wish him great success. catalog of instruments offered for sale. I sent for a catalog and about a week later, I got r r r r r r r r r i r r • ••••• " it. In it were virtually all types of automatic instr~­ ments, books, and records. I ended up ordering a few records and books, which upon arrival further stimulated my interest in music machines. I knew someday I'd own We have hopes of beginning a new column in the Bulletin at 1eas t one! this month. Since most of our members are acquainted by As time went on, 1969 poured into early 1970 and I mail only, it would be a good idea to get to know each had made up my mind as to which instrument I wanted to other a I itt1e better. We can do this, if each of you acquire. Through records, I came to really IIdig" the will cooperate. Send your Publisher a short autobio­ sounds and workings of the Mills Violano -- it was this graphy, with pictures if you'd like, and each month we instrument I'd get first. will feature one AMICAn. One of these days, when most Call it a twist of fate, or what you like: it was of you have had your turns, we might even publish a 1s about March of 1970 when I happened into a Union Street WHO·S WHO of MUSICAL AUTOMATAl So don't be shy ••• 1et antique store here in San Francisco and my eye was get better acquainted. caught by a fine Seeburg KT with flute pipes in the back of the store. It wasn't for sale, but the proprietor of INTRODUCING AN AMICAN : the store soon referred me to its owner and restorer, a LARRY BOYSEN, SAN FRANCISCO person residing in Belmont, California. The proprietor went on to say he bought, restored and at times sold in­ My particular interest in mechanical music goes back struments. So I contacted him. We talked, and finally I to around 1958. That year my parents and I made a visit told him of my interest in the Violano. No sooner did I to Disneyland -- it was there in the Main Street Arcade say this, that he replied,1I I have two Mills Violanos that I saw and heard the sounds of old-time music here for s a le I" I lost no time in getting down to his machines. One, in particular, still remains in my mem­ place to look the instruments over, as well as meet a ory of that visit -- a fabulous Nelson-Wiggin style 5X fellow musical box enthusiast. cab i ne t iorches.t r lon .Th i s un it, I 1ater Iearned, con­ When I got down there, he had only one as yet. It was tains piano, banjo attachment (mandolin), snare drum, a single, commercial model, in rather sad shape - the marimbas (xylophone), and a triangle! At that time, all case was "bo t ched' by bad re fin i sh i ng and revenee ring, I knew was that it was a fantastic machine that pro­ covers missing, broken strings and a thoroughly squee1y duced great old-time music! violin. It also had a DC rectifier which was replaced by For the next few years, I collected almost every Hi new electronics. The case was also of red mahogany. He Fi or stereo recording, as well as haunting our now gone mentioned he had a second machine coming within a couple Sutro's Museum plopping dimes and later quarters into of days. I left thinking perhaps I'd wait and look over such machines as a Wur1iTzer C-X with rotating jewelled the second machine before I really decided to buy. ll "wonder I ight atop i-ts 8' carved case, fi l Ie d with The next day I got a phone call from my Belmont piano, pipes, drums, and good music; the imposing 2011 friend telling me that the Violano I saw was sold just Regina parlor-style disc changing music box, housed in that morning, so this left me with one choice now. He its oak curved-front Queen Anne case; the Mills Violin­ also said the other machine arrived and if I'd like to Piano playing machine which II rep1aced five human vio­ come down to see it, I could. linists and a pianist - all for five cents a playll; as Back again I went and saw this other machine. There well as many smaller musical boxes and a Regina Hexa­ ll it was. As soon as I saw it, I said to myself, that's my phone (an early coin-operated acoustical IIjuke box Vio1anol It was 100% above the other one in condition. which played six 4-minute Edison cylinder recordings, The case was q... ite IIbeatll with its quota of dull cracked mounted on a ferris-wheel arrangement and powered by a varnish, loose veneer, and dings, but inside it was like large spring rnbtor. A patron had to work, as well as new. The piano was unbelievable - the harp plate, action, pay for his music, for it was necessary to wind the felts, and sounding board were mint. The machinery - bow mach ine "about six good turns" after depos i t i ng one I s motor, feeder motor, and AC-DC converter evidenced very THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

little use, and all other machinery was in good order. four upper violin compartment doors. I'm currently having It was a late (1928) model, thus saw little of the hard four new stainless steel bow rods made, as well as four use as did the early machines, for by '28 the Vio1ano new violin string tension weight arms to replace the old was beginning to wane along with its brothers and sis­ crumbled pot metal originals. In a few months, my Vio­ ters of the coin piano family. The electric jukebox was lano will be a fine example of this type of music machine. coming into use. Paul Whiteman, Whispering Jack Smith, Just recently, I've acquired two more machines. A Gene Austin, and later Duke Ellington, Eddy Duchin, and Coinola Midget style X piano, mandolin, and xylophone numerous other human orchestra sounds began eminating cabinet type, and a small (51) Fischer Ampico "B" of f rom the new lie1ec t ric box!' in the co rne r where the 1929 vintage. Both have yet to be restored, but these " rinky tink" had been. A new "e1ectric age was dawning." too will be completely rebuilt inside and out to give So, during this time my future acquisition began its enjoyment once again as they did years ago! long sleep in storage, almost till the day I decided to buy it! In April 1970 the old Vio1ano came home with me and thus began a full year of 100% thorough restoration, STODDARD BIOGRAPHY FRO~1 which is still in progress. As of today I've had such "WHO'S WHO IN THE EAST, 1948" things done as: Almost 95% of the case rebuilt of match­ contributed by Peter W. Brown ~g brown mahogany and added items like an entire new STODDAkD, Charles F., inventor; b. Chicago, tii ., Dec. top, new solid mahogany pil1isters and bases, new side I 26 1876; s. George Brain and Blance (Aldcock) S.: ed. baseboards, and new bottom doors. Of course everything Hyde Park High Sch. and Armour lust., Chicago; m, Ethel came out of the case'and I completely stripped the dead M. Corbett, May 1, 1913. Inventor automatic gas home finish and grime from it first - the beautiful wood came heating control, mallufactured by Standard Gas Regulator through after this was done! Then the case went to a . Co, , Chicago, 1<396; designed and patented all equipment cabinet-maker's shop for rebuilding. While the case was of pneumatic U. S. Mail Tubes System, made by Am. Pneu­ being done, I completely tore down all assemblies, hav­ matic Service Co., Boston, and used in all large cities ing all bright work rep1ated to original nickel color of u.S., 1906; invented Ampico Reproducing Piano, ~IaIlu­ and polished. My dad and I have done much rewiring of factured by Am Piano Co., N.Y. City, and used by Knabe, the machine, replacing the dangerous little insulated Chickering, Hason & Hamlin and other well kuown pianos, original wiring (the old rubber insulated wires were 1907-29; engaged in devising new method of restaurant left bare as the insulation crum~led much like old pneu­ cooking and operation since 1930; in connection with matic rubber tubing). The piano was completely restrung this work operates his own experimental restaurant on and all cast aluminum parts such as Violin player base, 16th floor of :Butler Hall, N.Y. City. Dir. Research covers and feeder frame were polished to their original Stouffer Restaurant Chain. Fellow Acoustical Soc. Of 1us ter. America. Cluu= Westchester Country (Rye, N.Y.), Hudson As of now - all is back together - the piano is play­ River Country (Yonkers). Home: 460 Riverside Drive, New ing (needs tuning) and the case is almost 100% done Yor k2t , i\.Y• except for the new bottom doors and finishing of the lOlOlOlOJO,O,O'OlOl

cern about possible "disfigurement" of the instrument EDITOR DAVE SAUL RESIGNS when the Ampico mechanism was installed. The tension re­ sonator, sometimes referred to as "centripetal tension We are very sorry to hear that Dave Saul will no longer resonator," consists of several heavy metal rods extend­ be edi ting the II Ins t rumen t II sect ion of the Bull e tin. ing radially (like spokes of a wheel) from a hub under Dave has other commitments which leave him no time to the central portion of the piano's sounding board. The handle this part of his hobby right now. We hope to see outer ends of the rods are securely anchored to the piane him back again when his schedule eases up! casework below the periphery of the sounding board. In the meanwhile, send your instrument articles directly Turnbuckles are installed on the rods for tension ad­ to the Publisher, please. justment. This description applies to grand piano installations; upright models equipped with the tension resonator would have the device located behind the sounding board in a vertical plane. INSTRUMENT NEWS AND EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT The purpose of. the tension resonator is to insure by Dave Saul that a properly arched, or crowned, configuration of the sounding board'is permanently maintained. This is neces­ The thought occurs to your instruments editor, after sary for good tone production. Most pianos depend solely reading and re-reading Doug Hickling's fine article in on the sounding board's ribs and the mechanical stabil­ the April Bulletin, that some of our readers-may not be ity of the piano structure to maintain the proper amount familiar with the tension resonator used in Mason & Ham­ of crown. The tension resonator supplements the usual lin pianos. This is the device which, as you'll recall construction features in its own unique way. from Doug's article, caused the Ampico people some con- As Doug pointed out, most (if not all) Mason & Hamlin Ampicos are in fac t eq ui ppe d wi th t he t ension r esonator, in contrast to the company' s original ly announce d poli cy . Does this imply t hat t he builders of t he Ampi co we re EXCERPTS FROM PART III wi l l ing t o accept "disfigurement" brou ght about by OF COURSE INAMPICO SALESMANSHIP 1924 mounting both tension resonators and Ampico parts on the Mas on & Hamlin gr and 's unders i de ? Not a t al l ! Upon contributed by Doug Hicklin g careful exami nation of a Mason & Hamlin Amp i co gr and one 11 :A RIGHT SETTING FOR THE DEMONSTR ATION f inds t hat t he Amp ico parts are i ngen ious l y located be­ t ween t he "spokes" of the t en sion resonator so that no ex t ra depth is neces sary! Eve n wi th its t ension r eson­ It is obvious that the conditions under whi ch a a t or i n place, the Mas on & Hamlin Amp i co is no deepe r demonstration is given shoul d be such as to imp r e s s the t han any other Ampico grand. The geni us of the Amp i co pr os pec t f av or ab ly. The demonstration room s houl d be as engi nee ring sta ff seems t o have tri umphe d once again. comfortable and as luxurious as possible. Insofar as The re is also a sli ght hi storical discr epancy whi ch possible, it should suggest home surroundings, since s ome of our readers have pointed out. This is i n con­ t he natural pl a ce for the Amp ico is the home. The Am­ necti on wi th Mr. Foster's s tateme n t of Mason & Haml i n 's pico its elf s houl d be kep t constantly prope rly tuned pol icy "not t o accep t any repr odu cing mech anism in t he and regulate d. It should be properly connected with elec­ Mas on & Hamlin. " Tha t firm did, i n f ac t , permi t t he i n­ t r ical current so t hat there will be no awkwar d delays s tal l at i on of Ivelte-Mignon mechanisms a t one time. in the demmstration. The recordings that are to be Harvey Roehl men tions this in Player Piano TreaBury , us ed should be in a case in the room where they can and there is at least one Mason & Hamlin We l t e i n AMI CA. easily be found. These are ve ry early e xamples, equi pped t o play the It is i mpor t an t t hat the demonstration room be kept ~ l a rg e' ;" re d paper r olls me as ur i ng about 12 7/8 i n ches i n or de r, and he r e the salesman can give direct cooper­ wi de . Perhaps t he policy to which Mr.Fos t er refers was ation. I f extra recordings are strewn around or empty appl i cab l e only to gr and pian os. Does anyone know of boxe s lie about on the instrument or on chairs, or if Mason & Hamlin grands which play We l te r olls? Also, doe s o t he r dis t rac t i ng things are permitted to litter up the anyon e know of a Mason & Haml in Amp i co grand whi ch does room, the beauty of t he first impression i s impaired. not con t ain t he t ension resonator? The demonstr ation ro om should be kept aB a sanc tuary f or t he Ampico and s hou ld be such aB to show f orth t he ******************** i ns t rument against a beaut i f u l and natural background. I t is important also to see that the prospect is comf or table during the demonstration. While a selec­ t i on is being pl ay e d , he should be s ea t e d, not close to the i ns t r umen t , but pre ferably at the opposite end of t he room. This helps to focus the attention of the pro­ s pe c t on the music rather than on the instrument while . t he sel e c t i on i s being played.

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Bill Pi xley 's gen uine Ampico Roll Cab i ne t &his beauti f ul 6 ' 4" Knabe Louis XV Ampico "A" THE AMleA NEWS BULLETIN

The most unique part of the Quad system was not the Many of us have heard stories about the wonderful player mechanism itself, but the machinery used to per­ machine which cuts reproducing pipe organ rolls while forate the ro 11 s . 5 ince the pl aye r was concei ved to the organist plays. The marvelous part is that the control a somewhat IIstandardll three manual residence system is very much alive today, perforator and all, and organ which the Austin company offered at the time, a is actually being used to make new organ recordings. For small studio was built in the factory where one of these the following article on the Quad we thank AMICAn Allen instruments was set up in a typical home atmosphere. Of R. Miller, who is collaborating with the articleJs course, a player was included, and an adjoining room author Mr. William Petty in the development of a market­ held the roll perforating facilities. abLe organ player attachment to play Quad rolls. The recording was made by the artist on this studio organ through the mere process of playing, each key THE FABULOUS QUAD being electrically connected to a device that punched in a traveling sheet of'paper the exact duration of each by William E. Petty note held. The selection and change of stops, as well as contributed by Allan R. Miller the various opening and closing of the expression shut­ This is the story of the Fabulous Quad, short for the ters and movements of the crescendo pedal, were likewise "Austin Premier Quadruplex Pl ave r ," a name as large and so recorded. ·euphonius as the time in which it was invented--the Within a few minutes after the final note had been 1 Roari ng 120 s , Un like Gibbon I s famous work on the Roman played, the completed record roll was brought back to Empire, this story has a happy ending. The Quad was re­ the recording and reproducing console and played back to surrected wl th original concepts intact, but clothed in the recording artist. 50 photographically accurate and modern dress and utilizing some of todayls modern convincing was the reproduction that many organists used techno logy. it as a means of criticising and correcting their own First, a little history to set the stage. It all be­ playing in much the same way as recording tape is used gan in 1923 when John T. Austin, founder and long time today. They were also often embarrassed by the obvious president of the Austin Organ Co., turned his attention presence of wrong notes. to inventing and perfecting a player mechanism that One of the unique features of the Austin recording would automatically record and reproduce the playing of studio was the use of multiple consoles enabling several an organist with complete fidelity. At this date there organists to play the individual orchestral parts of were a number of automatic players on the market. Nearly symphonic transcriptions. It was also possible to over­ all of the major organ companies had designed their own dub rolls, that is, play back a completed roll and play systems, but all used a relatively short tracker bar, along with it while cutting a new roll. The original with a limited number of holes. All required some sort would be faithfully reproduced along with the added of lIarrangementll of the music to fit the short compass parts. But unlike overdubbing with tape recorders, any and all had serious limitations. It was to overcome number of copies or overdubs could be made with no loss these limitations completely, not just make improve­ in qua 1i ty. We put the "s 1e i gh be 11 s II in "Braz I l i an ments, that John T. Austin invented a whole new system Slei gh Ri dell th isway. It sounds ve ry rea 1is tic. of recording and reproducing. When John T. and his bro­ Frederic B. Austin, now President of Austin Organs, ther, Basil, put their heads to inventing you can be Inc., collaborated with his uncle in the development of assured that the result would be novel, marvelously this successful mechanism, and with his father, Mr. effective and would exhibit what I have come to call the Harry W. Austin, who was in charge of the studio and disarming simplicity of the Austin approach. Dr. William recording production. It was not until near the end of H. Barnes, in his book, The Contemporary American Organ, the player era that the IIQuadruplex Playerll was per­ pays the inventiveness and resourcefulness of the Austins fected, and with the decline of the residence organ and high praise indeed. And I might digress here to say that reorganization of the Austin company in the mid 130 15 , having rebuilt an Austin Player and· Perforator and con­ the player was discontinued and the recording studio sole, I too, have a very healthy respect for their eliminated. The player equipment and roli library were mechanical ingenuity. put into storage, and most of this was lost in a fire John T. Austinls efforts culminated in the granting some 20 years ago. Aside from a phonograph record made of a basic patent, which provided for a revolutionary by the firm in 1954 of the six rolls recorded by the means of controlling the expansion of the paper, and a late Lynnwood Farnam, the Premier Quadruplex Player al- five section tracker bar having four movable sections, most slipped into obscurity. which automatically expanded and contracted to compen­ Now this is about where we came in, some 40 years sate for the swelling and shrinking of a wide paper roll. 'later. I have been an organ buff for more years than I The expansion was controlled through a continuous series care to remember, but upon moving to Virginia decided to of holes in the paper sheet toward one end. This inven­ quit all this organ tinkering so sold the old organ and tion overcame the fundamental weakness of all previous eventually bought two different electronics. It became devices, permitted the use of a wide roll with close very obvious that this was a colossal mistake, and that scaling for the perforations, and provided extreme ac­ anyone in their right mind should get rid of ·these little curacy in tracking. compact electronics and go back to filling the house In 1926 the fi rst. IIQua·druplex Playerll was bui 1t. This to overflowing wi th good 0'1 d organ gear. So with the wonderful, yet unbelievably simple player mechanism usual amateur zest and zeal we hunted until we found a operated over the entire roll punched with 235 holes to 3-M 22-rank Estey, equipped with their player in Scars­ playa pipe organ of thre~ 61-note manuals, full pedal dale, N.Y. My ~on and I dismantled it in s~mmary fashion compass of 32 notes, two expression pedals, crescendo and had it moved to Virginia. pedal, and the complete registration capabilities of an Now my interest in this particular organ,bes ides the organ with 30 ranks of pipes--a range unequalled by any fact that all the basses are Haskells, for which inven­ other organ player before or since. tion he should be eternally blessed, was the fact that t his organ had t he Estey player t ogethe r with so me 200 woul d neve r have been rea l ize d wi t nout th~ heip , en ­ ro lls . I had wante d a pl aye r for yea rs beca use I am a cour ageme nt, and su gges t ion s made by Mr . F.B.Aust in . mu ch better me chani c t han performing musi ci an, whi ch i s To h im and his orqan i ze t ion we e re g re atly indebted . a not ve ry su bt le way of sa y ing t hat " Chops ti cks ," even An d es pec ia lly do we app reciate the he l p of Al Hi 11er. on your ve ry own organ, ge ts pre tty mono t onous in time. he has t he quic. kes t anu most i nve nt i ve mind of anyone Anyw ay , we rebui lt the Es tey , vin tage 1927. got player i know . He has spent nume rous weeken ds at ou r house and ~ v e ryth in g wo rk in g and prom pt ly became d isenchanted work in g on t he project, and in aedi t ion to all t hi s , wi t h the player. Especia l ly so, since in t he bac k of he i s a dandy organist .I have s co res of ro l ls he has our mind was t he i dea of bui l d ing a pe rfo ra t or t o make made , and t he sounds he ge ts al most make ou r old Estey our own roll s . Thi s ca n't be done di re c tly wi th Estey's so und I ike a " re al Wur ly ." sys tem and I had remembered Aust in 's set-up having v isit­ In hono r and to commemora t e t he f i rs t new Qu ad rol l , ed t he factory in the early '30's. Bill Fean l ey , who used t o ma ke ' rol ls for Aus t i n 40 vea rs A le t ter to Austin el ici ted a prompt reply from Mr. ago, and who is now organist at th e Greenbr ie r at White F. B.Austin, President, indicati ng that the punch assem­ Sulphur Springs , ca me ove r and made a re cording of bly was the only part of the original set-up still i n "Ramo na." This was the sa me song whi ch bo re ser i a l num­ exi stence , and extending a wa rm invitation t o visit and ber 1 in th e o ri ginal Austin ca talog . S ince t he n Bi ll dis c. uss the Quad system. To make a long story short, has ma de a numb e r of roll s , all wi t h h is in imi t able many helpful hours w~ r e s pent with Mr. F. R. Aus t in and a r rauqement s and master ly musi c ia nsh ip . :lr . Al l en Mi l ler accumula ti ng i nfo rma t ion on t he Quad, A few pipe chang es have been made so th at we now have how it f unctioned and how i n gene ral the va r ious con­ th e s ame s pecifications as the o r i qi na l recording o rgan . tro ls we re used. Some prin ts we re still available of Earl y this year , we d isposed of th e Estey console and t racker bar layouts, etc. We also secured t he names of playe r and rep laced i t wi t h an Aus t in conso le . Thi s was some of .t he original player in stallations and after completel y re bui l t, and t hanks agai n to help from t he assidi ous ly sea rchi ng fu r a year located one in Cinci n­ Austi n fac t ory , we in co rpo ra t e d t he signifi cant im­ nati, Ohio, wh i ch we obta ined along wi th some 30 ro l i s . pr ovements t hey have made in thei r cons oles ove r the Even more imp o r t an t , Mr . Austin generous ly made t he yea rs . punch assemb ly availab le fo r our use . So early in 1965, the punch assembly was shi pped from Ha rtfo rd , and th en PAR2' 'INO OF THIS ARTICLE WILL APPgAR NEX'!' MONTH . began wh at tu rned out to be nea r l y two years o f wo rk designing and buil di ng al i t he e q ui~me n t and controls ...... necessary to produce roll di rect ly from an organis t 's play ing. This 1925 Ampico Louis XV rol. l: cabi net , al-so beZonging At t imes , I wonde re d if we would n't ge t a man on t he to Jim Kohnke, per! ect Zy mat ches hi s piano. moon be fo re I got t he perfora t o r pe r fora t in g. Howeve r , wi t h a great dea i of he l p f roru Mr. F. B. Au s ti n and es­ pe c ia l ly f rom AI Mi l le r we had i t go i ng in mid- su mm e r of 1567, wi t h va rious changes and ~dditions being made s ince, unti 1 now all s ignais a re go! Th i s happ y state

Jim Kohnke 's 1925 Knabe Ampico Louis XV Fren ch WaZnut Ampico 5 ' 8" Grand. THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

Some AUGUST 10, 1969 NEW YORK TIMES

swer Questions. Santaella is Only In the early 1920's diu Rbapsocl1played by the Uszt Rolls a J1ar{)sichordist, but he also somebody get the epochal pupil Artlwr Friedheim nette Essipov, Bernhard Sta­ worth over $100.000. Among bv Hofmann an: available;,b-n ceeded, and everybody the great I. P. L. rarities is watched the JDysterious rise venhagen and Fannie Bloom­ there is not one known off­ Edvard Grieg playing his tJ1e-air performance by Ll'Ie­ and fall of the keys with field Zeisler among them. own "Humoresque." The gogle • eyed fascination. What is more, these pianists vinDe or Gabrtlowitsch. Yet were recorded in major com­ I. P. L. bas the onl) known Benko feels that somcwhere4' lbose of a certain age had copy, and Benko paid $800 a JlostaJalc look on their positions. Carredo, for In.. somehow, material by tho::iU for it. "I~ was louhd in • two great pianbt3 wlll turn races. YO_ler llsteners stance, recorded Schumann's junk shop In England. The leemecl entranced. Gad.""hat: C major Fantasy. In the days up. When It does he wants to purchaser pslld two shillings, be first OD the spot, evenif it wDl the)' come up with before electncal recording­ abo\lt 24 cents, tor it!· Also next? At intermission a large electrics started around'925 means swimming the Atlantic in the J. P. L. collection are OCean under water. An" be group surrounded Santae11a. -the format of the flat disk several rare disks by Raoul who Wit ,Itanding by to an· did not lend itseJf to works Pugnoi a 7 - inch Emerson will have tl1is writer swim­ much over four minutes lonR.. disk of the Liszt Second mIDI with him. THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERI 70 years, Ragtime and Jazz are being realized as having musical art•. by Lawrence Jacob Abbott Just recently in the Los Angeles Times, there was an contributed by Bill Pixley article by a renowned concert pianist who had discovered Ragtime. He was amazed at the complexities of this music Recently I enjoyeCi the novelty of discovering a series of reviews covering new and intrigued by the difficulties in executing the in­ piano roll and phonograph record releases in Outlook Magazine. The period tricate rhythms and expressions of this music. covered is March 18, 1925 and the first issueeach month through August, 1927. The reviewer is Lawrence Jacob Abbott. I have also come to realize how charming and beautiful Ragtime can be when properly performed. I had had 13 Each month, Mr. Abbott reviewed about a dozen new recordings, divided years of classical music training on the piano and flute. between "rolls and discs." He usually preceded the reviews with comments Al though certainly not an accomplished pianist, I do about the new trend of public favor toward mechanical music or new talking machines. Some of his comments are nostaligic indeed. On November 3, 1926, fairly well in most respects and have a fair repertoire. Mr. Abbott remarks, "Years from now people will probably be amazed to My husband and his father have been Ragtime buffs for recollect how few persons back in the twenties were really interested in years so I was pressed to learn to play Ragtime. Fortun­ recorded music." And, he foresaw a day when every home would have its ately, I had very good training, so after three months library of recorded music and schools would use mechanical means to teach I was able to render a not-too-horrible rendition of music. He also made note, May 6, 1925, that the Library of Congress was planning a collection of phonograph records to be installed by the Victor Dill Pickles Rag. It was no small task, believe mel falking Machine Company and that the University of London had done a Since then, I have become a saleswoman for the higher similar thing in tis circulation library of phonograph records and reproducing appreciation of Jazz and Ragtime. piano rolls. He insisted these were radical steps in that the public was just The rolls of Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton are -beginning to esteem recorded music. very rare. It is a shame that these artists were not able to record for the reproducing pianos, but the 88­ (ApPi;Z 1, 1925) . note rolls of their performances are colorful enough to WITCHES' DANCE, Op, 17, No. 2 (MacDowell). Played by give one an idea of their abilities. Both of these com­ Guiomar NOVaBs. DUO-ART. posers and performers have composed pieces so difficult This perfoxmanee of Mlle. NOVaBS is well-nigh jlC1JJJ­ that very few pianists can play them. They were also "less. She has taken a bri. l: l.iant piece, PequiPing able to elaborate on their own compositions and rarely technical skill, and has run thpough it with ease and played a tune the same way twice. Both men were highly lightning rapidity. The ''Witiohee ' Dance" is nothing skilled as pianists, each having a highly individualized but a ~ight salon piece, but it is a vePy effective one. style of playing and each having had a fine background in classical ~usic. tttttttttttttttttttt Scott Joplin only made five player piano rolls. Of course, he was prominent during the early days of player (March 19, 1925) pianos. Jelly Roll Morton, who came a little later, made NOCTURNE IN E FLAT MAJOR (Chopin). Played by Alexander piano rolls in the 1920's of which only twelve have been Bpaitowsky. AMPICO. discovered. A piece of quiet and repose played ver'Ji sirrrply. But If you are interested in reading more of this color­ Bpailowsky seems to be a little too fPequent OP not ful, fascinating era of American music, you should read smooth enough in his »etaxds, At any Pate, the perform­ "They All Played Ragtime" by Rudi BLeau and Harriet ance has a slightly halting effect. Janis, and ''l·lister Jelly Roll" by Alan Lomax. Also, Jelly Roll made a series of records for the Library of Congress tttttttttttttttttttt and some of his recordings have been reissued by RCA Victor on the'ir Vintage Editions. TIle above sources are THE ONLY ORIGINAL AMERICAN MUSIC the ones I used in gleaning information for this by Julie Riley article. Richard was able to pick up several reissued records Most of AMICA's members are primarily interested in of Jelly Roll l~rton in Italy several years ago as they reproducing pianos and the rolls made to play on them; are still very popular there. These records are not however, there are a ~reat number of 88-note rolls with availabLe in the Uni ted States, however • much to credit them. P'rimarily, I am thinking of the works of such pianists and composers as Scott Joplin, () I () I () I () I () I ()I () Jelly Roll Morton, and James Scott, to mention only a few. 1918 ROLL LIST In case you are not familiar with the above performers and composers, they ~ere the creators of a whole new era contributed by Alan Pier in music, Ragtime and Jazz. This fine form of music, Alan Pier of Los Angeles makes the following com- America's only original art form, has often been dis­ ment in regard to the roll list found in his copy of credited due to its place of origin--the bawdy houses the Apri 1 27, 1918 Music Tpade Review: "Several and Negro quarters of such places as New Orleans and interesting observations may be made from the music Sedalia, Missouri. The music was further distorted and roll lists. Note that the releases for Themodist, disregarded as having serious musical value in this Universal, and Wilcox & White are very similar, espec­ country due to exploitation of 'lOin Pan Alley "artists. n iall y for the expression rolls. I think they were all In fact, American music from that time until today made from the same masters at the Aeolian plant in stems from this Negro music of the early 1900's. Meriden, Conn~ They did have different information In Europe, where the opera is as familiar to every stenciled on them, however. The list for American child as the cereal commercial jingles are in our coun­ Piano Company contains only Rythmodik rolls. Of course try, Jazz and Ragtime are considered an art form and this same company made Ampico rolls starting in 1916, the works of Scott Joplin, joseph Lamb and Jelly Roll but I think the rolls listed here are not reproducing Morton are revered. Even in our own country after almost rolls. THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN ------

a partial list: AUTOGRAPH WOJlD R.OLLS "Under the Wi 1cox s Whi te heading, the death of r~ llet'OW'-Fox-troL_••••••••.•••••••Buter.~~d: Granados on the torpedoed steamer Sussex is mentioned $De Bird-WalU So Baxter-Kordander in rather emotional te rms ;!' ~of(~::~):::::..:.::i::.:'::..::.:'::..:..:.:~~A~ 1 Ca:re~~:tf~:-Si:~F~.~i::: :.::i.~~r:.~~r: I..eluDanD---ln a ~ ~ Brockway 1'.. AI..,.. CJauiIIc JtaiaIao..-Fox-trot ("011,. This 4:OIIlpallY'. 1Ia~ bulletin is impressive in CarreDo---JIi Te:rmta _•••••••••••••Geirts L.ookJ·') ...,.~._ ••••.•••••••••• < •••••••••••••Weadlioc the eomprehell1liYeaesa of ita lists u well u ]a Dar DId SaDar ~Wt ~ J" Lite W~ C tile DeIa~ in their variety. The song' roll edition is very CONNORIZED MUSIC co. A LiUle BircIl c.a.e ~ Y >-Waltz~~ strong in papular hits, while the Metro-Art ,[lae IJttIe.Good..pers.!IadIiap (Good fer ~ band-played instrumental list is mainly devoted The Coanorized Malic Co. list for May COQ­ PipeA&:a~~c:~::::::::::::.&;;~-~~ tains a great nriety of tdeebons. most of them to the same styles. There is also a select list rn~~~ ~~ ~:~= of regular Themodist-Metrostyle rolls and a oi a distinctly ~ OI'clcr. and. with a fair ...i:':-.:':':..:.. Teach Me to Ku. y~ Tan A..)'-Ballad••••••JlGIterts large number of new arrangements for Duo-Art spriJllding tJf the c::ureat war SQ8.gS aad near­ ~~:;:.-tre~··iia~:~~~ reproducing piano. Below is a selection: war soap.. Some of tb.e aOGCl thin.. from the t=e SONG ROILS eurreat Broadway ~ are' mdudecl iD ~~~~c:··s:.au ....:B~· M;·~· ii~w;Jiz~~n Co~ Title Played by cIancinc ••••••••••••.••••••••.•••••.••••Scott-Walter's the bulletin. both is word lOlls aacl ill the hud.. AUTOGRAPB .JlOLLS Flyn~Bihf! .~~~f. ~~ :~. ~~••t~~. ~~~:'Werzoc Kummel"-Bluebird-Wala ••••••••••..••.•Sterrett-Barten played hst.. TIle NPIac cditioa is represented ~u Fait~~h Fay")-Intermczw••••••••~:A:ntz ~~r::l~eoffi:rn:·;~~nT~f·lo·N~~d:~T~~~bach by a half dozc:a IIUIIMss of tile 5taDdard order. ~~t!~~~~~;.·s·~F~~.i;~~t Eriebadl·Eastwood Some of tile i1rWrestiac dIiDp ill the Connor­ Baster-Kortlander 'How"ird-ln Dear Old Sunny Spain-Tango Fox-trot, ized May list iDdaae: BoroW'8ki-Prelude 7.••••••••••••••••.•••••Sturkow-Itydcr Erlebach-Markley de e.ta-Tilat SoadIiac .Seraade-Fox-trot, .3eetho-]ust a Little Bunch of Roses--One-step. WOO Jt.QU.S Ba1ter·KDrtJaDder Erlebach-Herzoc t~~ Sa~~ Bry&D-YeJlelr...O...weTla~·. a Lump of Sapr Down McCarron-Keep Cool the Country's Saving Fuel- the TDit ...... ,...... u .. in Dixie••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••XortlaDdel' DuJ~~Zddi~·i.i· F~~' ys" ih~g::o.;~.;t~p~ark1CT ~~K~h~i·T.-*·iiiiiit·..·.-Ai..j:(...·~'Bara ¥cKaY..straicht-U~~ lOiISot StniPt -. Herzog·PIUIDJIIU Title ~lCr Brin:a~:; i~::::::::::::::':::::~~~~ At Siesta Time ("Clu CJaia Chow..) ...... - •••••••••NOrton ~~:rt;!\f: C~u~~ i~v"~r·.:·:::::::::.~~~el~~d~ I·m Sorry I Made Y01l Cry •••••••••••.••_ ae.i Columbia Patrol••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• J~~k:~~~::T~~:J:·~~n~:'f~:ht~t·~{:~~l:;:isoQ There's a Little Blue Sial' in the Wi~KlidmIaa Robbers March C&'Chu Chin CIIow'·) .•••••••••••••••Nortoa Stolen Sweete--Waltz-'WitIl KaadotiD IDtc~C:'Tiber waltz •.•.•••••••.••••••..•••••••••..•Barton·unison Whea It Coaaes to a ~ Day •••••••••••••••••Fraet Guinan-When Tbere's a Hom~ Sweet Home on Just I.ike Washinpm Cniaed the DeLLwue, General Texas--F_.trot ••••••••••••••.•.••.•••••••••• _••.•Guion Every Shore-One~ElfRQ..ART..••••' Barton-MarJdey Penhinc Will Cross the Rhine.H •••.•••••••••John_ I Think Y01I·re AbsoI", WODderfu1 (U~~~ Composer Title Played by En.~Intel"lRzzo U STANDARD MUSIC ROU. CO. IYAmbrosio-Badinant, ••••••.Felix Arndt The Last Lone' Mile (from "Toot·Toot ) •••••••Bleitenfc1d Rees--Blue Dreams Waltz•••••••••••••••••••R.ees-Erlebach HAND-PLAYED RECORD ROLLS Huerter-e-Bluette•.••.••••••.••••.••••••••• a ••Felix Arndt May bulletin consists entirely Hickman-Rose Room Fox-trot-Tanao Fox·trot. ~e ECh~Waltz•..••••••••••••••••••.•.••• ~~~~ The Stanclar4's Erlebach·Barton Wedding Bells (\\'ill You Eyer RiDe for Me?)-Fox· of song rolls. of which we give a selection below. Pinkard-Stock Yard Blues-e-Fox-trot•••.•••••••Paul Paris trot .....••....••.••••••• _•••.••••••••••I..ewis·YounJ THEMODIST-METROSTYLE lIost of the important successes ()f the day are Composer Title Played by ~a:e ~.:::: :I~~~~r.!~~~.~~::::::::Pi~d included, as may be seen from the partiilt list Graniad~--Goyesca-EI Pelele..•...•....•••••The ~ I"m Going Back to Home, Sweet Home••••••Sterling·Lanp Denni-Nation's Awakening--Military March••••• __.Denni given herewith: Hahu-Rotary March••••••••..•••••••••••••••••••••Hahn REGULAR EmTION Title Com~ SONG R.Ou.s DUO-AR.T ~r C~mposer ~renade d' Autrefois._•••••••••••••••••••eli Vita·Silve8tri Title Title Played by Mother Kac:hrec ....._ .••• _•••.•••••••••••••••. ~ .Olcott·Ball t1=Et~~ifiat~~~~~·.:::::.·::.·~Te:h ~~d~c.::=~.~::::::::::::::::::~.= ~,~~~rc:f~!i~t~~F~·~::::::::(·:::::= Liberta Xilitary Man:Ia•••••••••••_•••••••••••ImpalllOmeni Haa.del-Harmoni~ Blacksmith-Air and. Variations, I Want • Daddy Like you••••.••••.••••.••••Von Tilzer ~pi Rubinstein-Polka Boheme--Qp. 82, ~o. 7•••.••.H~=r: I iii. That JIan Tllat Miues IKe•••••WeDdliD ~:-R~o~c:~e~th=WJ:::~~:·.·.·.·.·.·.E~=: IMPERIAL PLAVER ROLL CO. k~1':eIy:~iq: g-: J~:;S:e ~:f~V';'; ~ ~~~·(Th~·iiob~·W~)'::i~~,aftrez 01 Yoa Woaderful Girls•••••••••••••••• -...... Friedlaader The usual number of Imperial artists contrib­ ~=&nlf:tof· 1a:-U~s.dA::. ::::::::~ ::::::.V~;'cnc ~dman ute to the May lists this company. Mary At the a)"••••••••••••••••••••••••• VolaY}' ARiYal of the Egles--lIarclt•••••••••••••••••••. lfanle)"-Th~ WeaderiUI I..etten FIVIIl Home•••••Makay H~ Co""" CaJliq (~e MGdaerlaad) •••H~ Gottler-When the FJowen moe- on NQ AlaD·s La.n~ Dublin-Daddy Mine.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••PoI~ QRSCO. Van ~tyDe-Yoa·R ia StJk WMa You.'re Wearing a y Mah~::;.;~iq!· ~i"·'F.;,; ~ ·th~· iihit;:aka There is a very large list of Autograph haud­ Meyer-Just Like W~ en-a tile DeIa~:::a-Kinc played word rolls for May, inc:ludiDat about INST'IWJIENTAL .-\rden-Kina everyth,ing there is of any special interest in Composa" Title Played by the popular line of the mO~Dt. The art of, Carroll-I'm Ahra,. ChasiIwRainbcnrs•••••••••ArdcD-KiJIC Schwartz-&ock-a-e,e Your -...-, Witla a Dixie Melody, Mme. Sturkow-Ryder is exhibited in a Pre­

6'Cubifiu lude by Felix Borowski, of Chicago, published GuseIle-- •••••••••••••••••••••••••Gusel1e-~= ~::==i?~~~!.~~..~:::::::::::: ::::: :~t:i::= in the Autograph list. which contains likewise Sartori~ eo.u.-....••...... Emita-I...ambel"i. a number of good dance records. We append THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

WILCOX AWDITE 00. AlTfOMADC IWSIC ROLL 00. MdodaDt-Artisty1e .iDstrumental rolls ~nd Eight If,.ItGUa I..iIIted .. Tbia Compan,.,. Re­ haad-played. mag rolla aft mdaded in the An­ 1easd-lIa7J-t&med gelus list for Kay. A JUIIIlber from the fine opera "Goyeac:a," by the Spanish composer CHICAGO, IlL. A9I"l'22.-1'be Automatic Music Granados (m..4erecl on. t~ Susex in 1916 with Roll Co., of tbis city, bas just sent out to its many other aoa-eomhataDts by the Huns), is dealers a list of its releases for the month of the outstaadia8 feature of the first; and the sec­ May, the rolls being intended for all standard oDd includes most of tile hits of the day in the 65-note rewind electric pianos. The eomplete line of popuIar"L A .election from the list is as follows: list £0110••: RiJIl Jill. A ....7& 1IELODAIiT...Alf'DSTYI.E 1. \\"hat Are YOli Goiu to Do to Help tile JIoJo.....one­ ~ rille Played by step. 2. 101. Jlecimmt U. S. A. Mardi. 3. They Were AU Out of Step But I--.FGK-trot.. -t. My Dram of the ~.~~jr"&;;':;iiMd.:::~~~ 8~~~~Ji.~~iil;·~ri:a~~~ B~ lli~4S-F""" 1m- pr1IIIIJIIt1I --••••- -. •.~ _ ••••••••Bnhaal 1i~:~~~~~~14~C ::rC:~n~! • .....--Twelfth ~ ~ Bowman SONG JtO(~YEJ) step. 10. 'h~ EftJ)'tIIiIIc. JnIa SiDIIad. RtHJ JI.. A-f7f. ~;-=LitllaOt1DWt ~~IJT Edebacb-....Il va:.-~~~~ ~~:N~S~ ~:d~ Jl'J)'IIIl-BincJ ...... 1M ~erzog Yeller .Ribbou (For IIa' Lowu Who Is Fur, Fur Away)­ Fox-trot. .. Viye l'&moIIr-Waltza. S. J Miss the Old KUIII1IIeI'--BlueIiJd-WalU _ ••••••• _ ••••••Sterrett·Barton Folks Now-Fox-trot. 6. I'm AU AJoue ToDight-One· Tie~<-Sa .....) ••••••••••Tie!Dq·Er1cbada step. 7. A Little Bit of SaDslaine-Fox-troL 8. On the Howatd-la (at ~ ---T-rmtda~e, Square-March. 9. ~ and PJapaata--Waltz. 10. Ky LiuJe Scnice FUa JIM Sewell SIar..-oae-step. ~~1Iaf:~J:~·"~T;;;~ llMI N D. A-480 Er1eIJKh-EaStweed DaIm...... -l ..... Y-.cJa ~~~ L't.~~=-L7.ip.3.?J~·r~ Jc T~ 4. BaaIifIII ~ ., tile Nife-Fox-trot. -JadmDa-WMa J 0... ~ of yr:!-Jau. S. YothCl1l o£~ 6. c.u..Picken' Picnic Day Waltz Bartoo-EDDisoa Gaimatt=-Wlleanere'••a.e. SweetJl-.e on EftlY ~= ~~~~v1oJJrkwY;t:::' ~••••_ ••••••••••••••••Bartoa-MarJde, 10. Au &e.oir. Bat Met ~ &oidia' Boy-Oac-step.

HAVE YOU CHECKED INSIDE YOUR SPOOLS LATELY? by Ginny Billings Ed Hayden, our ARTIO UBER ALLES man, one-upped your fortunately. From detailed examination, the story was Publisher the other weekend by digging up a nice little reconstructed. The termites happened to stumble on the cache of reproducing rolls in Oakland, including several END of the roll. They nibbled through the roll box end, Artrio-Angelus. My disappointment lessened considerably, then through the inside box end, and found themselves though, when Ed came up with the following tale: before the open slot in the spool end of the roll it­ self. being lazy creatures, they entered the hole, and One of the rolls, a Chopin Bolero, seemed to rattle set up housekeeping inside. One extra-enterprising a little when Ed took it out to play it. This happens fellow, not choosing to take the easy way out, decided sometimes •••no problem. Somewhere in the middle of the to blaze new trails, and headed straight out through roll, however, some even little pinpoints appeared. And the roll. We don't know what finally happened to him they grew. and grew. AND GREW. Until the Bolero was (perhaps he was ,jus t lazy, too), but he gave up his sounding regularly with radar-ish blip-blip, blip-blip. aspirations about half-way through the roll, and appar­ Aside from that slight irregularity, the roll was in ently returned to t:he: nest. The Bolero now lives in a perfect condition. little plastic bag, surrounded by Black Flag mist. Since this required further study, Ed removed the Take an exterminator to lunch this week! spool end, and found -- a whole termite city! Deserted,

AMPICO BLACK BOX LABELS, LEADERS, & ROLL NUMBERS by Vernon Brown SECTIONS I, II, AND III OF .THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN tHE MAY 1971 AMICA BULLETIN [Your publisher goofed last month and made two critical mistakes in typing Part One of this article. Following IV. ROLL NUMBERS is the corrected version, page 18, second paragraph: From the mid-20s on, only the letters E, F, G, and Ampico black box rolls are divided into eight series, H were used on small _and large rolls. Only the letters each with a distinctive number code. Here are the eight P, R, and V were used on long play rolls. Rolls issued series with their roll numbers and the years in which with the late-B-label do not carry the appended letter these numbers were issued: except for the first twenty-six long play rolls and the BALLAD 11-3171 1922-1939 initial issue of the model B test roll. Rolls reissued CHRISTMAS GREETINGS 4760-7133 w/omissions 1923-1929 with the late-B-label omit the original appended letter VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT 30001-30741 1924-1927 except for the first group of rolls prepared for reissue VIOLIN ACCOMPANIMENT 40003-40031 1926 with this label. The last few issues with appended INSTRUMENTAL 50004-71903 w/omissions 1916-1941 Jetter appear in December, 1929. In the late 30s the DESCRIPTIVE STORY 90003-90143 1925-1929 set price increments were abandoned, and rolls with LONG PLAY 100005-101065 1929-1935 prices as low as 65~ appear. POP 200003-216673 w/omissions 1918-1940 Now on to Part Two of Vernon's article.] The first digit plus the number of digits identifies ·THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

III III III It

•III -- the series. In all series but one, the last digit in­ later) this recording was issued (now with Ampico dicates size, and the other digits are the serial coding) as pre-black-box Ampico 721021. In 1922 number of the roll. In all series but three, the last this roll was renumbered 471 and reissued in digit is lor 3 indicating small roll, large roll, or black box with copyright 1921 as shown above. more specifically: small box, large box. 1 Circa 1927 the roll was again reissued with, as shown above, its original copyright date replaced by a pre-b1ack-box issue date. The circa 1927 re­ THE BALLAD SERIES issue also has Brockway instead of Kmita as pianist. This could have been accidental, or it A two or three digit number, and a four digit number may be that Ampico wanted to confuse the issue. having 1, 2, or 3 as first digit indicate a word roll int~nded Kmita was Brockway·s pseudonym. Lest it be thought not for dancing, here (and in Ampico terminol­ that the 1927 reissue is a new recording, it must ogy) deiignated BALLAD roll although not all selections be mentioned that Brockway left American Piano are ballads. Labels bear the legend RECORDING WITH Company in late 1918 or early 1919, some two years WORDS. Last digit 1 or 3 indicates size. before even the first Ampico roll with this title This number series was established in 1922, just a appeared.2 few months before the introduction of the black box and the A-label in May of that year. The first sixty-five 661 LITTLE GREY HOME IN THE WEST Lohr (Fairchild) -rolls in this series are reissues selected mainly from Label #8 [cherubs, American Piano] 5-22. This is among the pre-black-box rolls with five and six digit the first roll originally issued in black box in numbers issued between 1916 and 1921. this series as nearly as can be determined. All In the following-material, month-year dates are lower numbered rolls found with label #8 have issue dates, year in full dates are copyright dates prior number. There are also a few renumbered unless otherwise stated, early copyright dates (1911­ earlier recordings among the following ro11s. 3 1927) are by Ampico, late copyright dates (1929-1941) 2181 IN THE GARDEN OF TOMORROW Grofe-Jeppen (Carroll) are by music publ isher, roll title is followed by name Label #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 11-27. This is of composer then by name of pianist (or pianist and the last A-roll in this series. arranger when they are the same) in parenthesis. Label number and additional label data are included when 2193 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SONGS (Carroll) Label #13 pertinent. [stars, no cherubs, London] 12-27. From this roll on, a 11 roll s are B- roll s • 11 NANCY·S FAREWELL IIAPPLE BLOSSOMS· ' LeBaron s Kreisler(Kreisler) Prior Number 201234. Label #8 2791 IF GOD SENT ME YOU Steaver (DeBert) Label #13 [Cherubs, American Piano] 1920. This is the first [stars, no cherubs, London] 11-29. This is the ro 11 in the ba 11 ad se r ies • last roll with early-B-1abel and the last roll with appended letter. 471 THE BIRTHDAY OF A KING Neidlinger (Kmita) Prior Number 721021. Label #8 [cherubs, American Piano] 2801 JUST COUNT THE STARS Calahan-Grey (DeBert) Label 1921 #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Corp.] 12-29. From this roll on, all rolls have 1ate-B-1abe1. 471 THE BIRTHDAY OF A KING Neidlinger (Brockway) Label #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 12-21. The 12-21 issue 3171 BLUE ORCHIDS Carmichael (Lawrence) Label #16 [bold date on the second of these two labels is the AMPICO, Aeolian American] 1939. This is the last earliest found in this series, but it does not in­ ro I 1 in th is se r ies . dicate issue in black box at that time. Tne black Series summary (figures are approximate): box did not exist in 12-21 and neither did The Pre-b1ack-box reissued in black box: 70 Ampico Corporation (label #10). The 1921 copyright Black box A-roll issues: 148 date on the first of these two labels does not in­ Black box B-ro11 issues: 99 dicate the date of recording; it indicates only Black box total rolls: 317 that the roll was issued as an Ampico roll at that time. This recording was first issued by American Piano Company circa 1914 as(hand played 88-note) Rythmodik Record Music Rolls 9943 THE BIRTHDAY OF A KING Neid1 inger{Kmita). In 1921 (some seven years

1. Box sizes are here designated SMALL (2 1/4 x 2 3/4" and attitudes directed toward Qr developing around or 2 x 2 1/8"), LARGE (2 3/4 x 2 7/8" and JUMBO an object" -- Webster). Early Ampico rolls were (3 5/8 x 4"). A few rolls with last digit 3.are frequently coded versions of note recordings issued found in small boxes. Some rolls with last digit 3, previously as 88-note rolls or as Hupfeld rolls, although spooled with large flanges and issued in but there is no reason why this fact should be dis­ large boxes, are shorter both in playing time and turbing. After all, until the development of the in paper length than many rolls with last digit 1. dynamic recorder, all coding was empirical, and There was originally a 2 between the 1 and the 3, even after the development of the dynamic recorder, but by May 1922 the intermediate box size had been some judg~ment was necessary on the part of the discontinued. editors.

2. For this dedicated Ampicophile, enjoyment and 3. Five (721, 981, 1171, 1231, 1301) are known, and appreciation of the Ampico requires no mystique ("a there may be others. complex of transcendental or semimystical beliefs THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

THE CHRI STMAS GREETINGS SERI ES THE VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT SERIES The four digit numbers below having 4, 5, 6, or 7 as A five digit number having 3 as first digit indicates first digit indicate a roll presented to Ampico patrons VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT word roll. Last digit 1 or 3 indi­ at Christmas from 1923 to 1929. The series is here cates size. Vocal accompaniment rolls (without words) 'designated CHRISTMAS GREETINGS although not all labels were issued in the instrumental series until the estab­ carry these words. Rolls in this series have only what 1ishment of this series in 1924. is apparently the Ampico WORKING NUMBER assigned to all rolls regardless of category at the time of recording 30001 LAZY SONG Lawson (Turpin) Accompaniment for Bari­ or processing. All four digits are serial; the last tone or Contralto. Label #8 [cherubs, American digit does not indicate size. Labels do not indicate Piano] 6-24. Thisis the firs t ro 11 in th is se r ies • issue date or ~opyright, but all except those issued in 30113 A VISIT FROM ST. NI CHOLAS Van Vollenhoven (Van 1923 and :1924 have year in full on the box label. Four Vollenhoven) Recitation With Music. Label #10 of these rolls appear renumbered in the descriptive [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 12-24. Although numbered story series, ~nd one appears renumbered in the instru­ in th is se r ies, th is ro 11 is not, s t rict 1y mental series. As there are only seven Christmas speaking, an accompaniment roll. Upon the estab­ Gree t ings ro 11 s , a 11 are ] is ted he re : lishment of the descriptive story series in 1925, 4760 ADESTE FIDELES, 0 HOLY NIGHT, 0 TANNENBAUM (Sus­ this roll was renumbered 90043 in that series. kind). This is the first roll in this series. 30741 NIGHT AND THE CURTAINS DRAWN Feratta (Browning) Label has MERRY CHRISTMAS. The year (1923) is not Accompaniment for Mezzo-soprano or Baritone. Label i ncl uded, and theword RECORDI NG after AMP ICO is #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 6-27. This is the last ami tted. There. is' rio roll number on 1abe 1 or on ro 11 in th is seri es , leader, but roll number is perfed in roll tail. This roll was never renumbered. Series summary: Black box A-roll issues: 75 5148 CHRISTMAS RECORDING HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING, Black box total rolls: 75 SLEEP HOLY BABE, CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Suskind). Label has CHRISTMAS GREETINGS: roll number appears in lower right corner; year (1924) is not included. THE VIOLIN ACCOMPANIMENT SERIES The roll number also appears in lower right cor­ A five digit number having 4 as first digit indicates ner of leader. This roll was never renumbered. VIOLIN ACCOMPANIMENT roll. Last digit 1 or 3 indicates 5472 THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS (Carroll). Label has CHRIST­ size. Violin accompaniment rolls were issued in the in­ MAS GREETINGS 1925. Roll number appears in lower strumental series until the establ ishment of this series right corner of leader. This roll was later re­ in 1926. numbered 90103. 40003 ADAGIO FROM THE THIRD SUITE Ries (Browning) Label 5976 TOYLAND, A CHRISTMAS FANTASIE (Carroll). Label has #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 6-26. This is the CHRISTMAS GREETINGS 1926. Roll number appears in firs t ro 11 i n th is se r ies • lower right corner of leader. This roll was later renumbered 90113. 40031 BANDANNA SKETCHES OPe 12, NO.1 White (Browning) Label # 10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 11-26. This is 6418 GRANDMOTHER·S CHRISTMAS (Carroll). Label has the 1as t ro 11 in th is se r ies • CHRISTMAS GREETINGS 1927. Roll number appears in lower right corner of leader. This is the last A­ Ser ies s unma ry : roll in this series. Although it was presumably Black box A-roll issues: 4 issued in December 1927, when B-coding was the Black box total rolls: 4 rule, i t was.. .appar.er.l:t.ly.-~prepared earl ier. This roll was later renumbered 90123. THE INSTRUMENTAL SERIES 6800 A CHRISTMAS EVE FANTASY (Loth). The special design label has only AMPICO RECORDING, the above title, A five digit number having 5, 6, or 7 as first digit and GREETINGS 1928. Roll number appears in lower indicates INSTRUMENTAL roll, a roll without (song) words. right corner of leader. This roll was later re­ This series is generally referred to as the CLASSICAL numbered 90133. It is a B-roll. series as the classical piano repertoire is found here. Also included, however, are orchestral and operatic 7133 TWILIGHT MUSIC _ROMANCE, PEARLS, LOVEIS OLD SWEET transcriptions, semiclassical or salon music, vocal, SONG, SERENATA, IN THE GLOAMING, IN THE STARLIGHT violin, and cello accompaniment rolls, piano duet rolls, (Carroll) Label #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Corp.] first piano part of two-piano works and transcriptions, with addition of Christmas motifs, and with green piano instruction rolls, music theory instruction rolls, ink instead of bl ack , Roll number appears in lower ballet, ballroom, tap, and fancy and interpretive dancing ri ght corner of 1abe 1. Th is roll was 1ater re­ instruction rolls, patriotic music, folk dance music, numbered 70923. It is a B-roll, and it is the last test rolls, demonstration rolls, ragtime and pop rolls, ro 11 i n th is se r ies • ballads, marches, tangos, rhumbas, hymns, spirituals, Series summary: Odd Fellows· Odes, and other miscellany. Black box A-roll issues: All black box rolls with 5xxxx numbers are reissues. Black box B-roll issues:' The instrumental series was inaugurated with 50004 and Black box total rolls: 1abel #2 (Amp ico-Art igraph ic) in 1916, and many b1ack 7 box 5xxxx ro 11 s bea r copyr ight da tes between ,1 ~ 16 an d THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

1921. A great many earlier (Stoddard-Ampico) rolls were mentioned above, it was not 9riginally issued in also, however, selected at random and renumbered and black box. This black box reissue carries ,a pre­ reissued in this series from time to time, and some of black-box issue date. these bear copyrights as early as 1911. Thus among the 60603 INVITATION TO THE DANCE Webber (Schnabel) Label #8 5xxxx numbered black box rolls there is considerable [cherubs, American Piano] 5-22. This roll may be date displacement in relation to roll number. For ex­ the first black box roll issued in this series; it ­ ample, 50665 has a 1916 copyright date, and the next is the lowest numbered roll found with this issue roll, 50676, has a 1911 copyright date. date on label #8. From 5-22 through 9-22 there is About ninety percent of the 5xxxx rolls survived to considerable disorder in the instrumental series. be reiss~ed in black box. Many of these rolls utilize During this transition period there are a number early note recordings issued as 88-note Rythmodik Record of pre-b1ack-box 1abel #7 roll s with copyri ght Music Rolls and even earlier note recordings made by 1922 scattered among the black box rolls with is­ Hupfeld. sue dates and with copyright dates only, and among Most of the 5xxxx rolls have a slightly different the rolls with issue dates, there is consfderable number code. Rolls 50004 to 59253 have last digit 2, 3. 4,5,6, or 7 indicating size in six steps.4 Rolls 59263 number displacement. to 59572 have last digit 1, 2, or 3 indicating size in 60743 FANTASIE-IMPROMPTU Chopin (Schnitzer) Label #8 three steps. Rolls 59581 and on have last digit 1 or 3 [cherubs, American Piano] 5-22. From this roll on, indicating small, large -- as do all 6xxxx and 7xxxx all rolls found are in black box. Preceding roll rolls. 60733 is pre-black-box. Black box rolls with low 6xxxx numbers are also re- 68351 BAL MASQUE Ilgenfritz (Ilgenfritz) Label #10 issues. Not until 60743 are all rolls found in black box. [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 11-27. This is the last Most 6xxxx rolls were recorded between 1921 and 1929, but a few are reissues of earlier rolls with number A-roll in this series. (Exception noted below.) change. 68361 DANCING TAMBOURINE Ponce-Pola (Delcamp) Label #10 Most of the 7xxxx rolls were recorded between mid­ [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 11-27. From this roll on, 1929 and mid-1941. There are, however, a few earlier re­ all rolls are B-rolls. (Exception noted below.) corded delayed issues, reissues with number change, and This first B-roll is the only known S-issue with Duo-Art-to-Ampico conversions among the 185 known 7xxxx A-label. rolls. All rolls are B-rolls. The first thirty-seven 68373 SONATA OPe 57, F MINOR, 1ST MOVEMENT, PART I make their initial appearance with early-B-label, the Beethoven (Levitzki) Label #13 [stars, no cherubs, remainder with late-B-label. In the first year and a London] 12-27. From this roll on, all rolls found half of 7xxxx production, many classical rolls were is­ have early-B-Iabel. (Exception noted below.) sued, but in 1931 production declined sharply, and classical production all but ceased. Although roll pro­ 68843 CONCERTO OPe 22, IS1 MOVEMENT, SOLO PIANO PART duction continued haltingly for another ten years, most ONLY Saint-Saens (Levi tzkl ) Label #11 [cherubs, of the classical production consists of the above no stars, London] 4-28, and the next roll mentioned delayed issues, reissues, and conversions. Most of the remaining instrumental series rolls are pop 69243 CONCERTO OPe 70, NO 4, 1ST MOVEMENT, SOLO PIANO medleys, and most of these were produced by Frank Milne PART ONLY Rubenstein (Orns'tein). The first of and i ssued under his own name or one of his pseudonyms. these two rolls is an A-roll. The second, although ­ unlocated, is presumably also an A-roll as it is 50004 MENUET Paderewski (Adler) 1916. This is the first of the same nature and its issue date, interpo- roll in the instrumental series. Although it is lated from roll number, is either 9-28 or 10-28. the first black box roll numerically, it is not These rolls are the exceptions mentioned above, the first roll chronologically. As mentioned A-rolls issued months after-tthe onset of all-B­ above, other 5xxxx black box rolls bear copyrights coding. The Levitzki roll has an AlB-label which as early as 1911. in this series normally indicates an A-roll re- 53933 BE RCE USE OP. 38, NO. 1 Grieg (Grieg). Th is ro 11 is issue in the early-B-era before the practice of noteworthy as the first known Ampico roll. The note recoding began. It seems likely, considering the recording was made by Hupfeld presumably shortly nature of these rolls, that they were prepared for after the turn of the century, as Grieg died in concert demonstrations with orchestra. As the 1907. American-Piano Company issued the note re­ Model B Ampi co was not formally introduced unti 1 cording as Rythmodik Record Music Rolls 123 and late 1929, the demonstration piano would at this (w i th Amp i co cod ing) 'as Stodda rd-Amp ico 321--both time (1928) have been a Model A, and these rolls in 1911 as nearly as can be determined. In 1918 thus have A-coding in order to insure a maximally Stoddard-Ampico 321 was renumbered and reissued effective performance. as 53933, and this roll was reissued in black box 70363 FIREFLIES WALTZ Ilgenfritz (Ilgenfritz) Label #13 in 1922. [stars. no cherubs, L~ndon] 11-29. This is the last roll with early-B-label, and with one eX­ 59107 SYMPHONY NO.6, 4TH MOVEMENT Tschaikowsky (Suskind ceptio~ and Loesser) 2-21. This roll bears the earliest the last roll with appended letter. issue date found in this series, but like roll 471 70371 SLUMBER SONG Schumann (Levitzki) Label #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Corp.] 12-29. From this roll on, all rolls have late-B-label, and with one excep­ 4. On these rolls the last digit will generally give tion none have appended letter. the playing time to the nearest minute, 7 indicat­ 70403 TEST ROLL FOR USE WITH SERVICE MANUAL 1929. The ing seven minutes or longer. date is part of roll title; the label bears no t THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

issue or copyright date. This roll is the excep­ Long Recordings for the New Ampico tion mentioned immediately above, the last roll in The group recordings listed in this section this series to have appended letter. Although are the first of the long play rolls for use numerically this roll falls in 12-29, it was ob­ only in the New Ampico with the larger viously prepared for issue at least a month drawer. Additional group recordings will be earl ier. This roll also appears later without appended 1ette r , listed in this section monthly. The rolls listed are 100005 to 100235 and roll 70833 THE ERL KING Schubert-Liszt (Levitzki) This roll is found both with box label leader and with 100255. Thus these twenty-five rolls were either issued fretted 1eader. in or had been issued by November 1929, and the others were issued between Dece~ber 1929 and mid-1935 when the 71903 TH ISIS NEW, JENNY, MY SH IP IILADY IN THE DARKII series was discontinued. It is also significant that Weill (Milne) Label #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico the above listed rolls plus 100245 (the first twenty­ Corp.] 1941. This is the last roll in this series, six long play rolls) are the only ones with appended and this is the last roll issued by Ampico in any letter. series. Month of issue is unknown, but Frank Milne 100005 SUMMER SKIES, DANSE CAPRICE, DANSE COQUETTE, TO left Ampico in June 1941. A FRINGED GENTIAN, THE ZEPHYR, THE SOLITARY PINE Series summary (figures are approximate): Loth (Loth). Th is is the firs t ro 11 in th is Pre-black-box reissued in black box: 900 series. Black box A-roll issues: 762 Black box B-roll issues: 101065 DANCE MUSIC SERIES NUMBER 20: WOULD THERE BE LOVE 347 (Arden), 1 1MMISUNDERSTOOD (Shipman), SHEIS A Black box total rolls: 2009 LATIN FROM MANHATTAN (Lane), ABOUT A QUARTER TO NI NE(Lane), LI FE' IS A SONG (Arden & Carroll) THE DESCRIPTIVE STORY SERIES 1935. This is the last roll in this series. Series summary: A five digit number having 9 as first digit indicates Black box B-roll issues: DESCRIPTIVE STORY roll although not all labels have these 107 words. Last digit 1 or 3 indicates size. As mentioned Black box total rolls: 107 above, four rolls in this series were originally issued in the Christmas greetings series, and one was origin­ THE POP SERI ES ally issued in the vocal accompaniment series. A six digit number having 2 as first digit indicates 90003 VALSE PARISIENNE Roberts (Roberts) 5-25. This is POP roll. Labels generally have SONG ROLL or RECORDING the first ro 11 i nthisse r ie 5 • WITH WORDS or RECORDING WITH WORDS FOR SINGING OR DANC­ 90093 ARMISTICE DAY (Carroll) 11-28. This is the first ING or RECORDING WITHOUT WORDS FOR DANCING. Second digit B-roll issued in this series. All lower numbered is 0 or 1. Last digit lor 3 indicates size. rolls and all higher numbered but earlier dated The 2xxxxx series was not originally a pop series but rolls were issued as A-rolls. The next three rolls a WORD ROLL series. Established in 1918 to complement (90103, 90113, 90123) are earl ier (1925, 1926, the instrumental series, it originally accomodated all 1927) Christmas greetings rolls later renumbered rolls with words. With the establishment of the ballad and inserted in this series. series, many early 2xxxxx rolls were renumbered in that 90133 A CHRISTMAS EVE FANTASY (Loth) 12-29. Although the series, and by May 1922, the 2xxxxx series had become late-B-label with this number carries the above the pop serie s , issue date, this roll was fi rst issued at least 2000030H FRENCHY Ehrlich & Conrad (Pollock & Arden) """"oneyear earl ier with four digit number and Christ­ 1918. Thi sis the fi rs t ro 11 in th is series, but mas greet ings 1abe 1. The ro11 is a B-ro 11 • whether or not it was ever-irelssued in black box 90143 ALPINE STORM Kunkel (Loth) 12-29. This is the last is unknown. ro11 i nthisse r ies • 200253 GENERAL PERSHING MARCH Vandersloot (Arden & Lam­ Ser ies summa ry : bert) Label #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 1918. Black box A-roll issues: 12 This is the lowest numbered verified reissue in black box. This copy is a reissue circa 1926. Black box B-roll issues: 3 Black Box total rolls: 15 200773 SWEET HAWAI IAN MOONLIGHT Frost & Glickman (Banta & Frey) Label #8 [cherubs, American Piano] 1919 THE LONG PLAY SERIES 200773 SWEET HAWAIIAN MOONLIGHT Frost & Glickman (Banta & Frey) Label #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] 10-19. A six digit number having 1 as first digit indicates The 10-19 issue date on the second listed roll a LONG PLAY roll, one made up of selections issued pre­ is the earliest found in this or any series, but viously or concurrently as single rolls or multiple roll as mentioned above, it does not indicate issue sets in ballad, classical, or pop categories. Second in black box at that time. The note recording of dig i tis 0; 1as t dig j tis 5. Th isse r ies isusua 11 y re­ this roll was issued as Rythmodik Record Music ferred to as the JUMBO series as boxes, labels, and Rolls i04523 in September 1919. The Ampi,co roll flanges are Jumbo size. Although many of the selections was issued in October 1919, reissued circa 1923 included were originally issued as A-rolls, all long in black box with pre-black-box copyright date, play rolls have a-coding throughout, and all have late­ B-label #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Corp.]. The November 1929 Ampico Bulletin carries the following notice: 5. Roll 100265 bears issue date 12-29. THE AMICA NEWS BULLET1N

and reissued circa 1927 with pre-black-box issue years before the advent of the black box -- reissues in date. Both the above Ampico rolls are in small black box can only be estimated from catalog listings box but have last digit 3. and other data presently available. There are also a few 202391 HAWAI IAN MOON Hall (Clair) Label #8 [cherubs, instrumental and pop series roll numbers for which American Piano] 5-22. This is the first black box titles are not yet known, and there are a few numbers in these two series which may never have been issued. In issue in this series. But between this roll and the following black box summary, the last two digits the roll listed immediately below, labels #7 and #8 are mixed. have been rounded. The probable accuracy of the figures in each case is plus-minus fifty rolls. 202481 GYPSY BLUES Black (Clair & Fairchild) Label #8 Pre-black-box rolls reissued in black box: 1000 [che rubs, Arne r ican Piano] 6'-22. From th is roll Black box A-roll issues: 1700 on, all rolls found are in black box. Preceding Black box B-roll issues: 1300 roll 202471 is pre-black-box. Black box total rolls: 4000 209241 YQU DON'T LIKE IT NOT MUCH Miller-Kahn-Cohn (Lane) If Richard Howe's estimate of 1604 pre-black-box 11-27. This is the highest numbered A-roll. rolls is added to the black box issues above, it appears 209251 OOH MAYBE IT'S YOU Berl in (Shipman) 11-27. From that about 600 pre-black-box rolls failed to survive th is ro11 on, a 11 ro lIsa re a- ro 11 s • Al 1 have into the black box era, and that the total number of simultaneous crescendos, but not until about a Ampico rolls, both pre-black-box and black box, is ap­ year later do all have zero perfs. From 11-27 to proximately 4600. 11-28 some rolls have both zero-B and zero-T perfs, many have zero-T only, and some have neither. These B-rolls continue to have label VI. ANOMALOUS ROLLS

#11 [che rubs j vno stars, London] until late 1928 and label #12 [cherubs, stars, London] thereafter There are a few rolls which can not be accomodated in There is no apparent relationship between label the above analysis or which differ in some respect from and zero perfs. There are label #11 rolls with those mentioned above. Among them: both zero perfs, and there are label #12 rolls with neither zero perf. NI-l NYMPH ERRANT Porter (Milne) LG recut. NI stands for Ne ve r Iss ued by Amp i co. Wh en ro 11 pro duct ion 210601 AMERICAN TUNE DeSylva-Brown-Henderson (Arden) ceased in 1941, this roll existed in the form of Label #11 [cherubs, no stars, London] 9-28. This a factory trial roll. It was discovered some years is the last roll issued with label #11 in this later in a private collection and was numbered, or any series as nearly as can be determined. recut, and issued in 1967 by Larry Givens. Al­ 210611 I'M ON THE CREST OF A WAVE DeSylva-Brown-Henderson though this roll does not have simultaneous cres­ cendos, it is obviously coded for the Model B (Carroll) Label #12 [cherubs, stars, London] 9-28. Ampico. This and following rolls have early-B-label. 212151 SONG OF THE ISLANDS King (Shipman) Label #12 NI-2 MENUETTE IN D FLAT, OISEAUX TRISTES Ravel (Tiomkin) [cherubs, s ta.rs, London] 11-29. Th isis the 1as t LG recut. This factory trial roll was discovered roll with early-B-label and the last roll with in the collection of Mrs. Charles Fuller Stoddard appended letter. and was numbered, recut, and issued in 1968 by Larry Givens. Dimitri Tiomkin states that he re­ 212161 TRUE BLUE LOU Robin-Coslow-Whiting (Banta) Label corded these selections and approved the edited #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Corp.] 12-29. From this roll "about 1929" and that the ro 11 "defi ni te 1y roll on, all rolls have late-a-label and none was intended to be released." The unusual perfs have appended letter. The late-B-label continues in this roJl are a result of the recutting pro­ to carry' the issue date, but only for one month. cess; the original roll has the usual slot~ot- 12-29 is the last issue date found in this or any dot Ampico note pe rfore t lonsv The roll is a B-roll. seri es . 6002 HYMN TUNES: HIGHER GROUND; IN THE GARDEN, I LOVE 216673 FRESH AS A .DAISY, LET'S BE BUDDIES, MY MOTHER TO TELL THE STORY (Ahlers). This roll appears WOULD LOVE YOU, I'VE STILL GOT MY HEALTH "PANAMA circa 1926 with only the above working number. HATTIE" Porter (Sherry) 1940. This is the last ro 11 i n th is se r ies • 6134 CHICKERING TONE DEMONSTRATION Label #10 [cherubs, Ampico Corp.] This roll appears circa 1927 with Series summary (figures are approximate): only the above working number. Pre-black-box reissued in black box: 50 Black box A-roll issues: 681 61193 MURMURING ZEPHYRS Jensen (Suskind) Label #8 [cher­ ubs, American Piano] 10-22. This roll appears both Black box B-roll issues: 743 Black box total rolls: 1474 in the usual large box and in an intermediate size box one-quarter of an inch narrower. This is one of only four known examples of an intermediate size black box, the size used in the pre-black­ v. EIGHT SERIES SUMMARY box era when last digits were 1, 2, 3. The card­ board is covered with the large box black paper, Although the exact number of rolls in bal lad, Christ­ and the gold borders on sides are thus not centered. mas greetings, vocal accompaniment, violin accompani­ The box bears a large label which overlaps the ment, descriptive story, and long play series is known, sides 51 ightly, and the A-roll has the old inter­ in the instrumental and pop series -- which began some mediate size flanges. The other three known rolls THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

are 61213, 61243, and 61913, and there are probably NOTE COMPENSATION TESTER and TEST ROLL NOTE COM­ others. Era is late 1922 and early 1923. PENSATION ONLY 1929 SERVICE MANUAL, both without ro 11 numbe r • 63213 AMP I CO DEMONSTRATION RECORDING (Cooper) Label #8 [cherubs, Arne ri can Piano]. Th is roll appea rs in 100675 FOX TROT MEDLEY NUMBER 6: 1 1 M YOURS, MAYBE ITIS various forms: one with the above roll number but LOVE, I GOT RHYTHM (Arden & Carroil) Label #l5 no issue date, and one without any roll number on [bold AMP ICO, Ampico Corp.] 1930. This is the only the leader or perforated in the roll tai 1. known roll issued both in jumbo box and in large Numerically the roll falls between rolls dated box. Both labels carry the long play series number. 5-24 and 6-24. Th is roll is a1so tit1ed DEMONSTRA­ TION RECORDING liTHE INCOMPARABLE AMPICO. II TEST ROLL This combination Model A -- Model B test roll produced by Larry Givens has no number. It 68783 THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, SPINNING SONG Wagner-Liszt is a montage incorporating features of 61391 IN­ (Prailowsky) 4-28. This is the only known roll SPECTOR1S TEST RECORDING and 70403 TEST ROLL FOR wrth label with stars in upper corners. The London USE WITH SERVICE MANUAL 1929 plus certain addi­ Iabe 1 has no che rubs, no s ta rs in lower co rne rs • tional material. It was issued in 1961. The roll is a B- ro 11 • 70403 TEST ROLL FOR USE WITH SERVICE MANUAL 1929. The VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS initial issue of this roll has the only known late-B-label with stars in lower corners. This roll aiso has one of only two known leaders During the year and a half in which this analysis was printed on other than the roll paper. The fretted in preparation, many AMICA members and a few non-members contributed box label data and other information. The leader is printed on a green cloth or cloth-l ike paper joined to the roil paper about six inches assistance and cooperation of the following people is especially appreciated: Richard J. Howe, Ralph R. Oben­ above the leader printing. This roll appears later chain, William H. Coverdale, Nelson Barden, William with the usua 1 1ate-B-l abe 1• Knorp, Bill Englund, Bill Pixley, Bill Burkhardt, Doug 70601 TEST ROLL NOTE COMPENSATION TEST ONLY SERVICE McGee, Larry Givens, ~rank Adams, David Wallis, Peter MANUAL 1929. Label #15 [bold AMPICO, Ampico Brown, Allan Pier, Thomas Meeder, Jim Elfers, Sam Corp.] The above date is part of roll title; the Thompson, J. B. Nethercutt, O. Fred Rydeen, Elmer label bears no issue or copyright date. This roll Brooks, Jr., Donald L. Stewart, Harry E. Riley, John has no roll number on the box label. It has the Armstrong, Lee Martin, Edgar Fairchild, Wilbur Chenoweth, green cloth or cloth-l;ke leader mentioned above. Emse Dawson, Ge rma i ne Schni tzer , Les1ie L. Loth, Ange 10 LG recuts of this roll have two additional titles: Valerio, and Dimitri Tiomkin.

ROLL STORAGE by Jim Elfers I have heard VaPioUB theories on the daily care of ly ironing in any wrinkles that might be caused by rol.le, and although I'm not prepared to pronounce which imperfect alignment of the paper. Now I think Alf of them is the Eternal Tputh~ it might be worthwhile to Werolin's reoonmendabion is best (May '66 & October repeat some of them and perhaps start a lively running '69 AMICA Bulletins): "hold gently at center and tum debate in the Bulletin. right-hand flange lightly--until 'birdie' just begins Larry Mangus feels the rolls should be left eanplete- to whistle." Then aut him off in mid-chirp. ly unfettered in their boxee, to allow fop better ei.r- I was recently reminded by a collector of another of oul.atrion of air. But it's diffiault to remove a the instructions printed on old player rol/le-s-the bit completely loose roll from the box without creasing or about holding the roll loosely and dropping it on the teax-inq the l-eader; and I feel excessive exposure to flange several times to align the paper before tight-. air is What ages them (precious documente are kept under ening it. I resumed that praatrioe, and noticed a draetd:o qlaee, and sometimes in a vacuum), so I religiously -inareaee in "clinkers" on my Duo-Art. It finally ooourr- rubber-band each roll before replacing it in the box. ed to me that although the practice may align one edge Careless removal. of the band can sometimes tear the of the pape», this isn't necessarily desireable. if the edge of the leade», but as the pvioee of original rolls paper width varies throughout the roll. NOlJJ I tighten »iee, you learn to be more careful. The metal clips in the roll just as it has been aligned by the instrument's the old Duo-Art boxes were perhaps the best eolubion, tracking 8ystem~ and the incidents of extraneous notes but even those coul-d oatch on the tab if you don't have vanished. This paper variation might be peculiar think to avoid it. Unfortunately~ many of the clips to Duo-APt~ however. My 1924 Welte-Mignon has no rewind have been removed by earlier collectors who found them brake at all~ so the oaeuat tightening I do to Duo-Apt an obeiaole to hurried removal and replacement of the polls 1JJill not suffioe for' the verry loose Weltes. I ,N- rol-l: move the left-hand fiange and place that end of the »ol.l: In my foolhardy youth I used to take to heart the on a flat sUZ't..aoe 1JJhile holding the roll in the middle inst:r-uotions about tightening p1'inted on old player' and turning the seOUN rtight-hand flange. This effeot- 'l'Olls--winding them tightly until they pr'oduoed a vezti- iveZy aZigns the pape%' on one side, but I have no table p%'Clluds of equeek» e::tmnsoUB to the musio p%'ob'Lems of skeuJing on the WeZte. ~oo%'dSd on them. Anothe%' ooZleoto%', witnessing this pe%'fo~anoe, shudaS%'ed and told me I 1JJaB very effeotive- I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I! THE MIICA NEWS BULLETIN

TECHNICALITIES by John Patten

May is the month for spring flowers and wedding plans. prefer Sears' White Multi Purpose Adhesive for use with May is also the month when people start thinking about Numalon. You buy this stuff in the carpet section of what they will do on their vacations in the following Sears Roebuck •••not as you might suppose (it cannot be months! Why not overhaul your player piano or orches­ obtained in the Sears hardware section). I thin the trion? You know it isn't performing as it should--in cement a little with water and apply it with a roller. fact it may even be gathering dust in the garage! (See Feb. AMICA Bulletin.) My complaint with contact When we think about repairing a fine instrument, let cement is that it has been my experience that it has a me again stress, as I have in the past, the need for tendency to "let go" in hot dry climates! I have seen care, patience, and quality materials! All too often a several rather sticky messes occur under these condi­ player Ls "butchered" by someone who uses the wrong tions. No one wants to see pneumatic cloth separate from material'to do a specific job. the pneumatic boards after the player has been assembled. I once saw a cartoon depicting a very disappointed Use your common sense when you elect to use a new mater­ ·wizard, who had just conjured up a four-inch critter ial. Run some tests on it--before you trust it to do a ~rom the Theologic Place of Eternal Damnation. The cap­ specific job. It sure beats re-doing the job later! tion read as follows: "You use inferior materials, you Dow Corning Bathtub Caulk and Miracle China Cement get inferior demons." The Same Thing is true when you are a no-no in your player! I have seen a lot of this overhaul or repair a player piano. used by amateur would-be-technicians, and it is diffi­ lam, I guess, opposed to the use of materials that cult to remove and wholly ineffective! Beware! Bathtub were not o'rLgdna.lLy used in the player. I am, I will caulk belongs around bathtubs, not sealing leaks in admit, old fashioned "about this, but as a general rule, gaskets you· were too lazy to replace! whatever the instrument, it worked for 40 years or so Time was when you could replace a couple of hoses and on the same old cloth, leather, and glue! a player would play beautifully. Those days are gone! There are exceptions to the rule. Barden and Clark's (So is the nickel CocaCola.) Later on in the column we NwnaZon is a good substitute for light weight pneumatic have an article that will suggest what to do with those cloth. Numalon, however, is a lousy substitute for pump old lead elbows in your piano. I can suggest new cast cloth, and the boob whose pump I recovered down here ones from Durrell Armstrong or Pacific Piano. Powdery should have used his head! junk in your pump comes from flaking elbows •••replace When you replace tubing in your player do not buy them! that gray natural rubber stuff sold by some of the supply A good buffing wheel is a must for cleaning trans­ houses. I have seen it rot in the carton over a 6-month mission parts, polishing screws, and rods and linkages. period! Instead, buy neoprene or a quality plastic If you find these parts are rusty, a wire wheel with tubing. Our smoggy environment isn't going to help our fine bristles helps here. If you will clean your polished pianos' tubing last, without our help. Pacific Piano, parts with lacquer thinner, you can lacquer them with 11323 Van Owen, No. Hollywood, Calif. handles both neo­ clear lacquer and they will stay shiny and rust-free. prene and a "good grade of plastic tubing in 9/64 and Do not attempt this with tracker bars or shafts! Tracker 3/16 sizes, common to most American-made instruments and bars will become draggy with a coat of lacquer and the some European ones. Durrell Armstrong, 620 E. Douglas use of same on shafts will increase their diameter and St., Wichita, Kansas 67202 handles tubing in all sizes, make them hard to turn. and in most cases can be depended upon for quality Gaskets should be replaced with a good grade of supplies. packing leather. Do not attempt to change the chest Glue ••• a rather sticky subject to say the least. If gasket on your standard valve board, however, unless you you feel that you want to be a purist use nothing but replace it with the same thickness leather as you re­ hot glue (except with Numalon) and although you will moved (unless you wish to re-calibrate the valve stems). need a lot of practice, you can obtain satisfactory re­ Too thick a leather on this chest will destroy repetition sults. Unfortunately for most of us, it is impossible and too thin a piece will cause all the valves in the to "practice" on 6 or 7 pianos before you become "expert" chest to leak like mad! Should you have to change this enough to use hot glue alone. gasket use a micrometer to measure the leather's White glue, (Elmer's, Glue Bird, etc.) is an excel­ thickness! lent substitute for hot glue in many cases. It is Valve facing leather should, in most cases, be of perfect for pneumatic recovery.because of its ability the type originally used. When glue is applied to the to glue cloth to wood with a moderate set-up time. White valve button be sure it is applied as it was in the glue, however, isn't the best thing to use to glue pnue­ factory. Do not make the mistake of using too much glue, matics to their decks. For this I suggest the old glue as it will stiffen the leather and make it leaky! Un­ pot! Unless you use Numalon, someday someone will have fortunately there were too many types of valves made to to get that stack apart, and believe you me, that white give accurate instructions for each type. One rule does glue is MURDERI Unless you want two pieces of wood to apply. The leather should be the same thickness as or­ stay.together for ever and ever and ever -- do not glue iginally used! This is especially true in pianos where two pieces of wood together with white glue. You will there is no adjustment potential in the valve's design. destroy one piece or the other in an attempt to separate Aeolian used punchings under the upper seat leather them! for valve cal1Pration and Ampico used an adjustable Contact cement? It has its place ••• In my opinion upper seat. However, if you own a Gulbransen, this isn't they haven't found it yet! However, some have had mild the case. The "throw" of a valve should be measured in success using it to glue Numalon on boards. I personally your stack,' b,efore the valves are taken apart. As a THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

general rule, valve buttons move between 1/16 and 1/32 Cut-Out Block. Insert a straight connector between these of an inch between seats, but measurements save head­ two tubes. You should now have one hose running directly aches, ~eaky valves, and sluggish repetition •. from hole #7TB on the bass end of the tracker bar to the Enough of this for this month! Tom TroUbled has a cancel valve on the bass" expression valve box. Do the real problem with his Ampico, and I am going to solve same with 17TT and 17. Connect these two tubes together. it, By George! He writes: Do one pair at a time to prevent getting the tubes crossed! Mr. Patten: You should now have four connections on the A.U.C. My Ampico grand model A was recently overhauled by a with no tubing running to them. These four connections :reputable technician, and although it is satisfactory are right in front of the cancel pneumatic (#16 illus- in every way when it plays Ampicorolls , it seems to t r atton 114, page 10). . lose "steam" ·when I pla:y popular modern rolls. Why is 'Now, here comes the fun. part! Connect the tubes this? Did the man who did the work do something wrong? running to the bass and treble button through the A.U.C.! The rolls (QRS, Melodee) .play quite softly, or the bass Cut the line running to the bass button and connect it s creams over the treble. What can I do? to 17TB, and run a tube from there to port #44 on the -~Tom Troubled expression unit. Cut the line running to the treble Dear Tom, button and connect it to IIlTT. Run a tube from 117 to Hany people have your problem. There seemed to be a port 44 on the treble expression unit. trend in t~e industry in those days, to pr~vent competi­ .A drawing is in order: this whole thing is confusing tors.' products from playing on other mechanisms. Duo-Art at first glance. but. simple to do. rolls won't play on an Ampico, and Welte ro~ls won't play on a Duo-Art (etc.). IRETUBE DIAGRAM I The Ampico is an enjoyable Lns t rument , with Ampico rolls. However, as the factory tubed it, it doesn't do .{.$ justice to "regular" rolls. So •••1et's retube that piano so that it plays almost anything! .8//.. This, at first glance,sounds like a losing proposi­ cancel tion! You might guess a lot of work would be involved, pneumatic but this is not the case! First you must realize that your piano is equipped with two expression buttons. They are located on the left hand side of the drawer, and are marked Bass and Treble. Depressing these buttons raises the piano's playing pressure, over-riding the expression system. What you must do, as the piano was originally designed! A.U.C. is hold down these buttons in order to raise the pres­ sure when playing regular rolls. In today's fast-paced society this is doggone inconvenient. So••• I have de­ signed a way to "hold" down these buttons automatLcal.Ly without affecting the performance of your Ampico selections. Ready? T First note that there are two tubes running toward buttons the rear of the piano underneath on the left-hand side in drawer B (bass end). These two tubes are now connected to the expression buttons in the drawer. They are (the tubes) 3/16" diameter, and larger than the other tubes on the Do not connect the 7th hole in .the tracker bar (117 bass end. (Be sure you are looking at the tubes in the Cancel) in either the bass or treble to port #44! These transfer under the piano' on the bass end and not the tubes simply go from the 7th hole in the tracker bar to treble.) These two tubes are the last two in the trans­ the expression unit's #7 cancel port. fer between the drawer and the stack. This leaves the A.U.C. cancel pneumatic free to do If you follow these down they will be connected to a, better. more important job! When the Ampf.co switch in the underside of the bass and treble expression units. the drawer is .in an "off" position, the cancel on the -If you own a copy of the Ampico inspectors' reference A.U.C. opens the pneumatic covering the por ts that now book (Vestal Press), Illustration 3B port 44, page 9), have your bas's and-treble buttons tubed to it.These you will see where ~hose button tubes go. tubes allow air into the tube to port f/44, effectively Understanding where these tubes go gives us an ad­ cutting off the first 7 holes on each side of the paper, vantage. Our next step is to discover where the auto­ raising the pressure in the piano to any desired volume! matic expression cut-out block is. (Above, Illustration Now, with the modify switch, you can set any level No.4, page 10) Locate ~this"block in the rear of your you wish, when playing regular rolls. piano. Crawl underneath and you'll probably find it To play an Ampico roll just turn the switch marked screwed to the primary chest. "Ampico'" to an "on" position. The A.U.C. cancel pneu­ No way out of it in order to describe my system. matic covers the two 117 tubes, allowing the expression You'll need a copy of' the Inspectors' Reference Manual, system to work as it 'd1dbefore you re-tubed it._ Vestal Press, 3533 Stratford Drive, Vestal, New York With this system, you'll never find an Uneven pres­ 13850. Sorry about that. . sure on re.gular rolls, -and it in turn in.no way harms Get two 9/64 straight connectors and crawl under the the expression system. If you Wish to express a regular piano. Remove the 117 and 7TB- tubes from the Automatic roll, operating the expression buttons, just turn the THE AMICA NEWS BULLETIN

Ampico switch to "on" and express to your heart's con­ Both the nut holding the bearing on the crank and the tent. flywheel are threaded left hand, and with the connecting If you read what I have said, and follow it carefully, rods removed rotate the pulley and listen for a rumbling you will get a lot more enjoyment from your instrument sound. If present this indicates that the flywheel and I am sure it won't make you "troubled" againI should be removed, and new bearing installed in the cast housing. The crank can be held in a vise while the Nick Jarrett sends us an article on Duo-Art pump re­ wheel is turned counter-clockwise. The outer races can covery. It is authoritative and worth reading. Pay be driven out with a hammer and punch, and, remarkably attention to his suggestions concerning bearings. enough, these are still available for about $3.00 apiece. --J.P. In fact a whole new set of all available bearings costs under $15.00 and I strongly recommend their replacement NEW LIFE FOR OLD DUO-ARTS: to anyone adept at this type of work. REBUILDING AND MAINTENANCE OF THE VACUUM PUMP A good quality grease should be used~ and at maybe two-year intervals the bearings should be removed, by Nick Jarrett washed in gasoline, and re-lubricated. Before replacing the pump in the piano it should be Nothing is more important to the performance of the tested by connecting the motor and supporting the assem­ Duo-Art than the vacuum pump being in good condition. A bly on two by fours. Most Duo-Arts I 've seen have a faulty pump can be likened to an automobile engine that half-inch wide belt which runs high in the pulley is misfiring, and can cause all manner of problems, grooves, turning the pump faster than intended. Two ranging from wrong expression and loss of pianissimo bucks can be well spent on a Dodge 3V 630 belt which is to torn rolls. The pump is so ruggedly built that little the same size as the original. The piano is now fitted -harm and much personal satisfaction may be derived by with its new heart and the spill valve and the accom­ the enthusiastic amateur mechanic tackling it himself. paniment pneumatic a~justed. The ailments that occur fall into two categories: As many pianos are now missing the cover from the First are the obvio~s knocks and rumbles caused by worn underside of the works, I would like to commend the use bearings. Second are the leaks which take place at the of six-foot wide neoprene sheeting which is available flexing point of the bellows. A good indication of the from the Sullivan Awning Company in San Francisco. A general health of the pump can be measured with a zero little time with an eyelet tool and those annoying sighs to 60 vacuum gauge such as are obtainable from player and clicks of the mechanism are effectively muffled. piano supply houses. An air tight pump will draw a steady 60 inches plus, whereas a leaking one will waver %/%/%/%/%/%/%/%/%/%/% at a somewhat lower figure. The main culprit here is the pot metal fittings con­ necting the hoses in the air system. They have a nasty Just a CODDllent or two on Nick's ideas •••A blow torch, hab i tof ending up 'in small pieces in the creases of the Berns or propane, is a very effective tool for the re­ motor cloth, where they eventually cause a hole. Un­ moval of old bellows cloth. Used judiciously, it removes coated pot metal can be guaranteed to self-destruct in the glue and stubborn pieces, or rather loosens them so just a few years, and all these fittings should be re­ that they may be scraped away with a putty knife. Re­ placed with either plastic or copper, or, if you prefer, place any loose hinges. Measure your bellows' opening the larger sizes with spiral wound hair-dryer hose. before you try to remove the cloth, and be sure that ,Kangaroo skin has long been recommended for re-cover- those hinges have no wobble or side play. ing the motor bellows, but the Australian government Hand sand these bellows with a coarse grit sandpaper hates to see kangaroos end up this way and English and a block. This prevents mating surfaces from becoming lining kip will be found very satisfactory. The old mis-mated. You might put some identifying marks on the cloth can be used both to estimate the size of skin outside of the pump to be sure that all those pieces go required, and as a template for cutting each piece. The back together exactly as they came apart I leather flaps should be brushed thoroughly and the felt All for this month. If you have a question, write s t rips rep laced. Re-icovering the be11 ows requ i res fa r John E. Patten, 601 Penn St., Pasadena, Ca 91104 less dexterity than for smaller pneumatics, and when the And get a friend to join AMICAA glueing is complete a half pint of neatsfoot oil should be applied to the leather with a paint brush. Knocks are usually the result of wear inone or mere of the connecting rod bearings. They should never be ignored in the hope that they will go away, for they will only get worse and involve a bigger job when re­ pair is ultimately undertaken. Minor wear can be taken up by adjusting the cone nuts until all play is removed. In more severe cases however the outer races should be pressed out in a vise and turned 90 0 so that the eccen­ tricity is at right angles to the thrust. This probably sounds like a hammer mechanic's ploy, but I researched the bearing market and was unable to find a suitable re­ placement. The cones should be inspected for wear and if they show signs of pitting are best taken to a good man with a lathe, though acceptable results may be ob­ tained by Judicious use of a file and an electric grinder. Extreme care must be used. USE ONLY ON THE FOR USE ONLY ON THE fOR PICO AMPICO ~~UC1NGPlANO REPRODUCING PIANO 70947 tDl 72504 • (OJ Rhapsody in 6\ue Carmen - Variations PART O.-&E Gershwin Bizet - Horowitz ORGE GERSHWIN '!G!ed by VLADIMIR HOROWITZ ,Iayed by GE d d for the Duo-Art Originally recorded for th D r Origina\\Y r8CO • e uo-Art

FOR USE ONLY ON THE fOR USE ONLY ON THE AMPICO AMPICO REPRODUCING PIANO REPRODUCING PIANO 68787 (0) 72750 - (0) Rhapsody in Blue La Vallee des Cloches PART TWO No.5, from "Miroirs" Gershwin Ravel Played by GEORGE GERSHWIN Played by MAURICE RAVEL OrIginally recorded for the Duo-Art Originally recorded for the Duo-Art

An Important Offering.....

..... of MUSIC ROLLS for the AMPICO REPRODUCING PIANO.

Shortly before Ampico music roll production ended in 1941, Frank Milne re-coded a small number of Duo-Art music rolls for use on the Ampico, Now, for the first time in more than thirty years, this procedure has been repeated.

Four historic music rolls are offered here. Three are played by their composers, and the fourth is performed by a pianist who may well be termed the greatest technician in the history of the instrument. These rolls are produced from masters which have been meticulously checked against the original recordings to ensure accuracy. Ampico expression coding has been expertly inserted to duplicate the original performances as reproduced by the Duo-Art. Model B Ampico sub-intensity and amplification controls are employed wherever necessary to ensure complete fidelity. The rolls are produced on the original Ampico factory perforating equipment and are made from the finest quality dry-waxed paper. Satisfactory performance is unconditionally guaranteed. These historic music rolls are offered at the standard price of $5. 75 per roll, postpaid (orders for foreign countries, please add 75~ per roll). Please include payment with order and allow thirty days for delivery.

Order from: Larry Givens, Wexford, Pennsylvania 15090. REPRODUCI G ROLLS AV AILABLE FOR TRADE

In ternational Piano Library 215 W. 91st Street New York, New York 10024

International Piano Library has a large number of reproducing piano rolls - Duo Art, Ampico and Welte - available for trading. Please send lists of what you have available for trad ing and wants lists. Particularly wanted are 88 note rolls that were recorded for Metrostyle and other companies by various artists and composers, as well as other reproducing rolls.

CULTURAL MISSION gftlle Duo-ART REPR.ODUCING PIANO

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JOSEF HOFMANN INTERNATIONAL PIANO I unhesitatingly and y acquaintance with the Duo-Art extends over strongly recommend> M a period of several years. During this time LIBRARY the Duo-Art I have recorded and authorized the publi cation of 215 W. 91st Street New York, N. Y. 10024 more than thirty compositions, which faithfully represent my playing. From the standpoint of this intimate familiarity with the Duo-Art, I unhesitatingly and strongly recommend it. The Duo-Art will foster musical culture in any home where it may be in­ troduced. Its influence will go far towards off-setting the demoralizing effect of much of the so-called " popular" or vulgar music of the day.

49 58 THE S.RTURD.flY EVENING POST October 9, 1920

rI OIA ..It was," she rejoined. " T his was father's hours we sat in that gre at dim hall and listened Christ mas present to us. ,·, It is a Duo-Art to the piano magic of H ofma nn. Then home, Piano. Let me show you the secret." and seated in the fire-lit dus k, we conjured the same magic music-reveled at close range in Padereuuki J Playing M ade the ravishing piano playi ng of the master. toLit» Forever . His technical perfection, his incompar able H E lifted a sectio,n at the fro nt, disclosing beauty of tone, that myst ic quality which only a perforated music -roll. " Hofman n evokes from the pi.no, were as S Pad erewski played it , andas he played , clearly distin guishab le as they had been earlier these cu ttings were made in theroll and each in the day at Carn egie H all. touch of his fingers, each' tone shade, each Wh at inspirat ion-what education for any­ , phrase of his interpretation was mad e to live one studying music to be ab le to hear at leisure forever.J ust as Paderewski played his beloved over and over the inspired art of the grea t Chopin at Aeolian H all one da y before he pianis ts such as Gabrilow it sch, N ovaes, sailed for Poland, you hear it when we put Grainger, Ganz-forty of them the re are-who this roll in the piano and press this little lever." play r ecords only for the Du o-Art ! Daddy, dear, that Sunday afternoon, I pic­ A Theatre Party», tured a Duo- Art in our living-room and you I listened to two or three lovely num bers and and I sitting on the sofa, my head on your would have sat for hours drin king in the won­ shoulder, listenin g to th e music that is dear est der of it, but E lea nor bore me away to dre ss to both of us-e-the things M umsie played so for dinner, and the thea tre. Six of us went to often , ~~7 n .she was. with u s-;;- t~e Cl Melody see " Buddies " that night; Elea nor's brother m F, T he Ev ening Star, Kamenn oi­ Ostrow," "To the Spring." ~.,...... ~ .- J im, with two college friends of his and her cousin Nan, who is visiting her, too. Such a Great masters have played them for the Miss Castleman's School corking show- we enjoyed it imme nsely. The Duo-Art and the y sound to me as though they next morning we th ree girls went down to played them with special tenderness and sym ­ Aeolian H all and bough t a Duo-Art Roll of pa thy, knowing they were to place the ben e­ D ADDY DEAR: two of the quaint, dainty songs from" Buddies" diction of beau tiful mu sic in countless homes­ .You say I seldom write you a long letter made into the snappiest Fox-Trot. to bring sweet memories to inst ill the love of !I0od music in the breasts of little child ren, to unless I want something. Well, this is going Dancing to the M usic to be the exception. It's going to be a long light the dim ming path of tho se grow n old! let ter, because I have lots to tell you, but it, ofthe Duo-Art main object is to tell you of something y ou ATUR DAY night they had a dance- four­ L 'EN YOI want-something you need very badly. teen coup les. The drawing-room was Father, I had the most wonderful time at S cleared for dancing, and such music as the AM sending you a beautiful Duo-Art Cata­ the Lawrensori's over the week end- it seems Duo-Art gav e us! Dadd y, it is the weirdest, I logue ,by registered ma il. Of course, the like a fair y dream to me. most fascinat ing instrument ! Imagine at one Du o-Art costs more th an a plain piano, I arrived Fri day, late in the aft ernoon, but time its playing Chopin wit h all of Paderewski' s but not so very mu ch, and it is so wond erful­ before any of the family came home. After genius; at another, .perfect dance music; one­ it is worth an ything that anyone who loves taking off my things I went down to watc h steps, fox-trots, the dreamie st of walt zes-as music can afford to par' If I thought I would for Eleanor, who I knew was at a matinee. though possessed of the ver y spirit of Terpsi­ find a Duo-Art when come home for Easter The draw ing-room was in semi-da rkness. I chore-dashing it off with a richnes s, a sparkle, vacati on, I should like, oh! so much to hav e a went to the window and looked out. a clear pulsing rhy thm that would make a week-end party like Eleanor Lawrenson's, with A downy snow-blanket lay over every thing. wooden Indian dance ! the crowni ng touch of joy added by the pres­ The sun had left a faint rose flush in the West ence of the nicest Daddy in the whole world . and j ust above hun g th e slender, silver crescent Singingto Perfect Duo-Art moon.One by one the lights began to twinkle Accompaniments in the park; the sky purpled slowly.I stood Then in the interims between da nces, Eleanor spellbound and listened-for softl y to my ears, would put in the piano a music-roll of a popu lar as if to paint indelibly upon my mind the song. Man y of them have the words printed lovely winter scene before me, came Mu sic- right on th e roll, and what fun it was to ga ther 'round the piano and sing. Chopin Played Tenderly, The vocal event of the evening, however, Bewitchingly was J im's clear, well-trained tenor singing I listen ed almost breat hlessly to the end . Frank La Forge's " Like a Rose Bud ," pla yed Then leaving the window, walked across to by La Forge himself. Th e world's grea tes t ac~ where stood a grand piano. Then I paused ; companists and song-writers are making record­ there was no one there! roll, for the Duo-Ar t ; ,can you imagine what But as I hesit ated, half star tled , a low laugh th ~s would mean to a sing er or vocal student ? greeted my ears and E leanor rose from a dim corner and came toward me. Greetings over, The M agic ofJ osef Hofmann I turned again to the pian o. When it was an nounced the next da y that .. T hat might have been Paderewski," I said, we were going to hear Josef Hofmann at sti ll wondering. Carnegie H all, my cup of joy was full. For two THE AEOLIAN COMPANY L ONDON P ARIS NEW YORK CITY MADRID M ELBOURNE r------~ t The Aeolian Com pany I I 29 West 42d St. . New York City I : Gentlem ..n : : U'lfakers Ofthe inter­ I K indly send me your illust ra ted ca talog I Foremost M anuf ac­ I of th e> Du o-A rt Pia no. I na tionally famous I I turers of U'lfusical , N am~ __ I "Phonograph - t he I I Instruments in the I Address. I .Aeolian-Vocalion, I I W orld. I ,