by Jack M. Conway (120724 MMDigest)
Hi Group, For many years I have been trying to identify my original green paper Wurlitzer Automatic Player Piano (APP) rolls. These rolls (644, 750, 1845, 2666, and 20798) had no box or roll labels but do have the tail end pencil numbers.
Over the years many MMDers have agreed to listen to a recording of my unidentified rolls and have provided information on many of them. Those that I can remember who have helped are Matthew Caulfield, Frank Himpsl, Don Teach and a few others. I sent all of the information that I had on APP rolls to Julie Porter who has amassed a huge spread sheet on APP rolls.
Robbie had contacted me about APP rolls recently and I asked if he would be willing to give the tape a listen and see if he could come up any of the titles. He agreed and said he would post them on the MMD Sounds site. He has converted them into MPEG audio files.
Robbie asked that I tell you about the instrument that was used for the recording. It is a Wurlitzer BX orchestrion with piano, mandolin, violin pipes, bass drum, snare drum, and triangle. The "X" indicates that it has a roll changer. The changer holds six 5-tune APP rolls. Each roll has a book cloth and wire leader that allows the roll to be automatically threaded for play. It can be set to continuously play, up to 30 tunes, or to allow the customer to select a roll to play after rewind.
I would love to identify the tunes of these last five rolls so I can make labels for them and add the information to Julie's listing.
Jack M. Conway, Los Angeles, California, USA
24 Jul 2012 12:10:48 -0700
Please reply via MMD Editor using the web page form at http://www.mmdigest.com/Contact
I removed duplicated choruses from some of pop tunes, to reduce the the file size. That's why the duration is about 1 minute instead of 2 or 3 minutes. Tune 1845-2, "We're Gonna Have Weather, Whether Or Not", sounds like J. Lawrence Cook swinging happily at a dance party! -- Robbie
ROLL 644 (ca. 1915 pop tunes)
644-1.mp3 (239 kb) (1:01)
644-2.mp3 (270 kb) (1:09)
Always Be Honey To Me (Arthur Lange & Jeffrey T Branen, 1915)
644-3.mp3 (231 kb) (0:59)
644-4.mp3 (195 kb) (0:49)
644-5.mp3 (249 kb) (1:03)
In the Valley of the Nile (Richard A. Whiting & Dave Radford, 1915)
ROLL 750 (ca. 1917 pop tunes)
750-1.mp3 (225 kb) (0:57)
750-2.mp3 (321 kb) (1:22)
750-3.mp3 (181 kb) (0:46)
750-4.mp3 (239 kb) (1:01)
Moonshine Sally (Albert Campbell & Henry Burr, 1916)
750-5.mp3 (360 kb) (1:32)
Eat and Grown Thin (Albert von Tilzer & Chas. McCarron, 1916)
ROLL 1845 (1925 pop tunes, probably from QRS rolls played by J.
Lawrence Cook)
1845-1.mp3 (317 kb) (1:21) Collegiate
- Fox Trot (Brown, Jaffe & Bonx)
1845-2.mp3 (421 kb) (1:47) We're
Gonna Have Weather, Whether Or Not - Fox Trot (Wendell W. Hall)
1845-3.mp3 (307 kb) (1:18) Pal
Of My Cradle Days - Waltz (Al Piantadosi)
1845-4.mp3 (308 kb) (1:18) Because
of You (The World is Mine) - Fox Trot (Ted Fiorito)
1845-5.mp3 (313 kb) (1:20) Honey,
I'm In Love With You - Fot Trot, from "Mercenary Mary" (Wm. Friedlander
& Con Conrad)
ROLL 2666 (Spanish?)
2666-1.mp3 (480 kb) (2:02) (beginning
is missing)
2666-2.mp3 (778 kb) (3:19)
2666-3.mp3 (785 kb) (3:20)
2666-4.mp3 (712 kb) (3:02)
ROLL 20798 (Bohemian?)
20798-06.mp3 (510 kb) (2:10) (beginning
is missing)
20798-07.mp3 (687 kb) (2:55)
20798-08.mp3 (607 kb) (2:35)
20798-09.mp3 (575 kb) (2:27)
20798-10.mp3 (534 kb) (2:16)
Thanks to Paul Baker and Gary Watkins for help identifying the
songs of rolls 644 and 1845.
Thanks to Jules Shaffer and Candy Hawblitz for help identifying
the songs of roll 750.
Image courtesy Alan Mueller
26 July 2012, 6 April 2015