I just saw the 1940 movie, "Sergeant York", on Turner Classic Movie
Channel.  This is a biography about Alvin York, war hero of WW1.

In the saloon scene there is a man playing a player piano.  You could
see the keys move up and down and the roll turning, and in another
scene the piano player is adjusting one of the control levers.  It
actually sounded like player piano.

Lee Walker