•MMD subscribers may be aware that I have an 88-note, full reproducing Telektra brass roll player installed in a 1905 A.B. Chase piano. Most of the rolls are arranged (and most are really well done and do sound hand played) but they did a series of hand played rolls by many top name pianists we know...

Here's an individual offering some reproducing and non-reproducing piano rolls for sale in Columbus, Ohio. I thought I'd pass the list along to automatic-music in case anyone's looking for rolls. - Mark Fontana - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Date: Thu, 01 Feb 1...

Regarding the use of mechanical musical instruments in films, over the weekend I watched a 1954 film entitled "Beat the Devil", with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Gina Lollobridgida, and, I believe, Jennifer Jones. A player piano was actually part of the action: The scene was a ship bound for Africa...

What so many MMD and collectors don't realize is that (a) companies did "whatever works" and on a production line (stores had new rolls/78's a certain times every month, and customers who visited to hear the new releases in those days of The City), and (b) pianists got money and publicity from the p...

•In response to Bryan Cather's questions: 1.) Meloto rolls -- these are the commonest of the Aeolian (not AEolian, please!) dance rolls, introduced in January 1925, finally stopping in 1939. In 1927 a cheaper range of 'classical' rolls was started -- the originals being from the Themodist, money bei...

•Sub-title: Is You Is Or Is You Ain't A Real Baby, Edythe Baker ? Well, according to my research, which got flooded out two summers ago, Edythe Baker was a real live female babe. I had references to all the photographs, from which artist Mark Kote made the drawings, but are now lost. I do not know m...

•[ Karl Ellison wrote to Douglas]: >> Pauline Alpert WAS A MAN! > > Oh Jesus ... in the music industry, these things (and vice-versa) > don't surprise me. ;) > > I have since found out, from numerous helpful direct e-mails, that > she was indeed a woman. (I also discovered that she was a smallish, >...

•I was flattered that Mike Walter wrote in MMD, that I might shed some light on Ampico recording techniques. I am afraid that I cannot be very helpful. The person who knows most on this subject is Larry Givens. Although Larry is not feeling up to par and has been battling Parkinson's disease, I am c...

•Recently, I submitted a question to the MMD concerning the monkey music box used in "Phantom of the Opera." I was very disappointed that there was no response, especially since my question was in response to a plea for more discussion about music boxes. When you take into account the number of thea...

•In 98-06-29 MMD Joyce Brite wrote: > Recently, I submitted a question to the MMD concerning the monkey music > box used in "Phantom of the Opera." I was very disappointed that there > was no response, especially since my question was in response to a plea > for more discussion about music boxes. > ...

•Yesterday, I saw a something like a European young artists competition on TV, where young (around 16-20 years old) solo artists played with an orchestra. The young talents were quite impressive on different solo instruments like piano, cello , violin, even accordion! But now to the point; one of th...

•When I came to the Player Piano Co. in 1979, after I had stashed my tools and the pianos I brought with me, the girls in the roll department all gathered around and started talking all together about their "ghost." PPCo had this translucent figure that was scaring these girls half to death. They ha...

•The most popular and still easiest found movie music rolls are those made by the FilMusic company in Southern California. I don't have much info on this company. I know of two basic types of rolls: strictly silent movie accompaniment and straight popular tunes of the day. Some of the popular rolls ...

•I requested and received from Wayne Stahnke his transcription of Automatic Music Roll #1146 (MMDigest 990314) and the View editor, and I'm now enjoying the songs. Getting re-acquainted with DOS after several years (via the "MS-DOS Window" under Win95) was fun, too! One of the songs was very familia...

•Hello MMDers; here is a story about an unusual piano roll. About 25 years ago I bought an Aeolian 65-note pushup player and shortly thereafter a big heap of 65-note rolls. Among them was a big roll of "Rule Britannia" Overture, written by Richard Wagner. It looked very intriguing, but as the player...

•Gabe Della Fave concluded [010707 MMDigest]: > So, 1 in 25 pianos is a player piano. 1 in 125 pianos is a > working player piano. 1 in 1400 pianos is a working expression piano. Autoplayer was a player piano sales and repairs shop which operated during the 1970s in Slough, about 30 miles west of Lo...

•Hi, If any readers have the time, wade through my treatise about the mythology of 'recording' artists for perforated music rolls, here at http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/rollnews.htm Pianola rolls are an _arranged_ music medium, laid out according to mathematical principles and which 'create' an ...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I have just read Bill Wineburgh's letter regarding the elusive Phantom of the Opera music box. [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/199806/1998.06.29.08.html ] Having visited a number of Phantom of the Opera related web sites, I noticed that...

•The piano illustrated on John Tuttle's web site is much earlier than 1919 -- more like 1905. This earlier date makes it a great deal easier to figure out. I've seen one other Weber Pianola with the flap at the rear of the keys hiding the controls, which was a 65-note instrument. The illustrated ins...

•Hi All, I'd like to thank everyone who wrote to me to give me their opinions or methodology for charging a fee for driving to and from a customer's home. As some of you may know, I display my rates at my web site on two different pages. When a customer calls, one of my first three questions is, "Do...