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MMD > Archives > April 2015 > 2015.04.20 > 01Prev  Next


Filmusic "POP" & "Popularoll" Piano Rolls
By Robbie Rhodes

The Filmusic Company, Inc., was formed in 1918 and had a factory
at 1729 Highland Avenue in Hollywood (Los Angeles), Calif.  Ref.
"The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry,"
copyright 1998 by Anthony Slide.

Although the focus was the Filmusic "Picturoll", with music to
accompany silent films, under the brand name "POP" (and, briefly,
"Popularoll") the firm also produced standard player piano rolls
of popular songs of the day.

Early labels had "POP" in the background with an overlaid banner
proclaiming "Popularoll" (in the same fashion as "Picturoll").
On later roll labels the banner is changed to "Roll With Words".
I found images of labels of these Filmusic POP rolls:

Cat no.  / title        / style    / artist

POP 1063 / My Isle of Golden Dreams / Waltz / Vern Elliott
POP 1089 / Dardanella / Fox Trot   / Vern Elliott & Al Short
POP 1236 / Gingham Girl / Fox Trot / Chauncey Haines
POP 1243 / The Japanese Sandman /  / Chauncey Haines

I'll create a web page soon for the label images and other Filmusic
information at http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/MMMedia/Filmusic

I found very little information about the performers:

Vern Elliott was chief recorder and arranger for POP rolls.
( Ref. http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200905/2009.05.15.02.html )

Chauncey Haines, Jr., (1898-1981) was the organist at the
United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles in the 1930s.
( Ref. http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/758/ )

MMDigest articles about the Filmusic Co. and its products are indexed
at http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/F/filmusic.html  and
http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/P/picturoll.html  -- Robbie

Robbie Rhodes, MMD
Etiwanda, Calif.


(Message sent Tue 21 Apr 2015, 06:17:12 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Filmusic, Piano, POP, Popularoll, Rolls

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