Regarding new QRS rolls -- Keep in mind that the Richard Dolan's QRS is
not the same regime that reworked all those tunes during the 40's and
50's.  I think they are slowly working to correct the situation.

In the Billings Rollography, QRS writes this explanation: "If a song
comes back into popularity, it is often because a new singer has revived
it, or it has been featured in a new movie or television show.  Then it
makes good sense to return the song to the catalog, often in a new
updated version that satisfies the renewed demand.  Over the years, many
(but not all) updated versions were issued under the original catalog
number -- there are instances of several different versions of the same
song being issued under the same number."    It then goes on to say that
this is certainly confusing for the historian or collector.

In 1983, I purchased a copy of #2272 "Yes, We Have No Bananas" from QRS.
When I discovered that it had been shortened from the 1920's version that
I had heard elsewhere, I wrote to QRS to ask why.  I received a nice
letter from Bob Berkman saying that sometime during the 50's, the roll
had been shortened to save paper.  They had recently restored the roll to
the original 1920's version, and he sent me a free copy of the new roll,
which matched the original that I remembered.

I have since heard Bob mention other times that they had resurrected the
original master to replace some interim version that was introduced.
Resurrection, by the way, probably involves re-cutting the original lyric
stencil, converting the "found" master to computer, etc.  I would imagine
there isn't time to devote to the historical projects when you have to
produce new releases to keep the revenue coming in.

Bill Jelen¶
Akron, Ohio