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MMD > Archives > May 2008 > 2008.05.29 > 01Prev  Next


Wurlitzer APP Rolls 20071 & 20462
By Matthew Caulfield

In the process of identifying, labeling, and boxing a collection of
Wurlitzer 165 band organ rolls for someone, I have found two Automatic
Player Piano (APP) rolls in the bunch.  One is an original green-paper
roll, complete and in good condition (except for intermittent aging of
the paper in the first three tunes where the roll lay in storage for
decades).  It is a Spanish roll.  Here is a listing of its tunes from
a Wurlitzer APP catalog:

 1. La Caprichosa (A.G. Viloldo) -- Tango Criollo
 2. Gorges de Pajaros (B.T. Missler) -- Mazurka
 3. El Chingolo (Gerardo Metallo) -- Tango
 4. Molinos de Viento (P. Luna) -- Valse Lente
 5. El Talar (P. Aragon) -- Tango Criollo
 6. Sol de España (Gerardo Metallo) -- Aires Españoles
 7. La Calgarza (Carlos B. Nieto) -- Tango
 8. La Casta Susana (Martin Quijano) -- Valse
 9. Uno Noche de Garufa (E. Aralas) -- Tango Criollo
10. Curro Cuchares (Gerardo Metallo) -- Paso Doble

(If you notice any spelling errors in the above, I'd appreciate the
correction.  Wurlitzer typesetters were notoriously bad in handling
non-English words.)

My question is merely whether this is a unique copy or whether other
APP roll collectors already know of roll 20071.  The owner may want to
sell it, as I doubt he has any use for APP's.  It was hand marked as
a Caliola roll ("will not play on a band organ"); but it is, as I said,
listed in the Wurlitzer APP catalog.

The other APP roll among the batch of 165 rolls I am working on is
a ten-tune roll, clearly APP -- not Caliola -- from the look of the
many staccato punches.  It is missing the beginning of tune 1.  When
I rolled the roll to the end to find an end number, I did find one
pencil-written in a rather flourished hand that makes it difficult to
read.  But what I make out is 20462 - 3.

The -3 is not unusual for certain periods of Wurlitzer production,
where the end number included a suffix, as here, indicating which copy
the particular roll was in that production run.  The 462 is clear; it
is the 20 that is a bit uncertain.  But the number 20462 fits in the
Wurlitzer APP listing I have, although that particular number is one
that falls in one of the many gaps in the list.

I made a JPEG photo image of the end number if anyone wants to see it.
My aim is to identify the tunes on the roll.  I have no way of playing
APP/Caliola rolls.

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, New York

 [ Song #1 is by A. G. Villoldo, the composer of "El Choclo".  -- Robbie


(Message sent Thu 29 May 2008, 15:20:47 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  20071, 20462, APP, Rolls, Wurlitzer

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