Years ago, I put aside a few excellent 65-note ragtime rolls, which
I felt deserved to be translated and re-issued as 88s.

In addition to the rags, there is an absolutely incredible 65-noter
of "The Flying Dutchman Overture".  It looked like lace rolling down
across the tracker!  Obviously it would require a system in top
condition, with outstanding reiteration.

For some reason, we had removed the front cover of the under-keyboard
stack on our Melville Clark Apollo multi-roll player.  Watching the
stack as this roll played was awe-inspiring.  One had the impression
that the instrument had contracted St. Vitus' Dance!  I foolishly sold
that piano years back.  I've located a twin on the west coast, and am
trying to determine the cost of moving it from California to Virginia.

That particular piece will be familiar to East Coast American "Senior
Citizens" as the introduction to the "Captain Video" programs, which
held forth on the old DuMont Television Network from 1949 to 1955,
and then another year in syndication.  One can gain an appreciation
for classical music in surprising places.

The various WXYZ radio (Detroit) programs of our youth are perfect
examples:  "The Lone Ranger", "The Green Hornet" and "Challenge of
the Yukon" (also known as "Sergeant Preston of the Canadian Mounted
Police") were heard widely across America and are remembered fondly by
our "Golden Years" generation.  Our ears and memories perk up and are
titillated when listening to a classical music station, and one of
these dozens of works wafts into one's gray matter.  Delightful!
I have learned that music and odors can translate one instantly back
to an earlier, easier, more peaceful time.

All those programs featured classical works (public domain; that's
the point!) supplied from the WXYZ library of recordings, by a musical
department director who really knew his stuff for the required "mood
swings" of that era!

I suspect that venerable gentleman perhaps got his start playing piano
in the early cinemas.  The "silent movies"   They were never really
silent in their heyday, you know, until shown in retrospect years
later, or in home-movie versions before piano or organ or orchestra
soundtracks were added.  I've been fortunate to have known several
of the artists who specialized in this work, most notably the late
theatre-organ giant Lee Erwin and honky-tonk expert Charlie Young.
The works of both have been preserved on various LP recordings (and
now one must assume, on later CDs).

The "nickelodeon" movie palaces featured pianists, violinists,
organists galore.  Then there were numerous player devices (many huge
and remarkably elaborate) in larger theatres.  Some had dual-player
units, so one theme roll could be inserted and cued while another was
playing.  At the same time, the operator literally had at his fingertips
all kinds of sound effects.  Sirens, thuds, punches, gongs, and
literally the "bells and whistles" of that day's computer technology.
They were computers, after all.  Our late friend Harvey Roehl had
an outstanding example in his collection, which he delighted in
demonstrating to "visiting firemen" such as my wife and me.  Our fond
thanks still to Harvey and Marion Roehl.

I'm still hoping to find someone who will convert my 8 or 10 special
65-note rolls to 88.  Right now they're packed away, after my recent
move from New Jersey to Virginia.  But it is my long-term fond hope
to find their 88-note versions a lot of happy homes!

All the best to you all, whether you are 58, 65 or 88-noters or all
of the above!

Lee Munsick
Appomattox, Virginia USA -- Where our nation re-united