[ Ref. Luca Pastore in 220702 and 220703 MMDigest. ]

The subject of Milne's many names has been heavily covered for decades.
But it's not a binary matter -- Milne would adopt musical ideas from
artists in order to make a roll, so the rolls were a composite. The
degree of input can only be speculated; it's not as well documented
as (for instance) the contribution of George Martin and the other EMI
studio staff to the output of the Beatles.

A very similar process happened at QRS with J. Lawrence Cook, as he
spelled this out in interviews. Some rolls he arranged from his own
ideas, others he arranged using ideas from real recordings, and some
(not for dancing) were directly from an artist recording. Cook named
Lionel Belasco as an artist that QRS really recorded.

It can be seen that Aeolian issued quite a number of single-roll
artists. Almost certainly these were produced as a commercial tie-in
for a stage show or a band promotion. You can hazard a guess that most
of these were Milne masters incorporating ideas from the named artist.

Comparisons of discs and rolls show the effect of this, for instance,
Rube Bloom's 'Spring Fever'. The roll is strict tempo and clearly
related to the disc, but quite different in detail.

However, there are some pitfalls in Aeolian's output. They had two
roll factories: the American one at Meriden, Connecticut, and the
British factory at Hayes, Middlesex. There was an independent team
of roll editors at each location. The British dance rolls were either
anonymous or used pseudonyms, but all were products of the staff team.

Because musical shows typically opened in London once their New York
run had finished, or vice-versa, pop tunes were frequently issued at
different times in each country. That's why the two factories used
different roll-numbering series.

If a tune was first a hit in London, Hayes would create a roll of it.
One of their pseudonyms was Cliff Norman. Such rolls were issued only
in 88-note form, with only a handful of London Duo-Art dance rolls.
If Meriden later produced a Duo-Art roll, of either Milne or a real
performer, that Duo-Art would be issued in London with a different
arrangement and artist name to the 88-note roll.

In October, 1932, Aeolian sold the Hayes factory to British owners, and
the flow of roll masters ('stencils') from the USA ceased. The reason
is unknown, but seems likely to be a result of the closure of Meriden
and the switching of all Aeolian-American roll production to East
Rochester, New York. Whatever the reason, Hayes would make rather poor
one-to-one copies of production Duo-Art rolls, issuing them in both
88-note and Duo-Art forms.

Hayes never adopted the type of fox-trot medley roll that Milne excelled
in. Instead, they would chop these into three or so separate rolls. And,
rather than putting Milne's name on them they revived their old friend
Cliff Norman. So, there are two wholly-unrelated Cliff Normans, only the
post-1932 one being Milne!

Read this and much more in my complete Meloto dance roll catalogue,
published last year by the Player Piano Group. I have tried to produce
a concordance between the various issues, as best possible.

Julian Dyer