Mark Williamson asked in MMD 2002.08.16:

> Does anyone know if many Salvation Army tunes were made into
> organ cobs or any other mechanical music formats?

The answer to Mark's question is "yes."  I recently rediscovered a
piano roll that I bought a few years ago, "Salvation Lassie of Mine"
(Connorized 6437).  After Mark's inquiry, I set out to learn if there
was any connection between this song and the Salvation Army.  A Google
search revealed that indeed there is.

When the United States entered World War I, Commander Evangeline Booth
sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson offering the services of
the Salvation Army.  The "Salvation Lassies" as they were known,
performed many services for soldiers from knitting and sewing clothing
articles to operating canteen services for them both in the U.S. and in
Europe.  "Salvation Lassie of Mine" is a song which praises the efforts
of these women.

Another song from that time period is "Good-Bye Sally, Good Luck to
You."  Money earned from sales of the sheet music was used to support
the work of the Salvation Army.

As I'm sure Mark knows, Salvation Army bands play more than just hymns.
Their renditions of marches are especially rousing.  A good number of
songs played by them are well-known tunes shared by many groups.  These
tunes should be easily available in mechanical music format.

These are a few of the web sites providing information about Salvation
Lassies:

   http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/worldwar1-3/ww1no3.asp

   http://www.museum.heilsarmee-basel.ch/freizeit_heilsarmeemuseum_
   welcome0_movies,musicals,theater0.cfm

   http://www.besmark.com/irish.html

A great web site for listening to Real Audio recordings by the New York
City Salvation Army Band is:

   http://www.salvationarmy-usaeast.org/nysb/

Joyce Brite
Player Piano and Mechanical Music Exchange
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Exchange/