AMICA Bulletin - Stacks are the Stanford

Transcription

The
AMICA Bulletin
Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association
www.amica.org
Volume 48, Number 6
November/December 2011
This ad prepared with the help of Rosanna Harris,
with thanks
ISSN #1533-9726
T he AMICA B ulleTIn
AUToMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CoLLECToRS' ASSoCIATIoN
Published by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax exempt group devoted to the
restoration, distribution and enjoyment of musical instruments
using perforated paper music rolls and perforated music books.
AMICA was founded in San Francisco, California in 1963.
VoLUME 48, Number 5
Visit the AMICA web site at: http://www.amica.org
to enter the “Members-Only” portal,
Current User Name: AMICA
Current password: rewind (to end 2011)
New password: treadle (from 1 Jan 2012)
November/December 2011
AMICA BULLETIN
FEATURES
DEADLINES
Ads and articles must be received
on or before the 1st of these ODD
months:
AMICA in England 2011 . . . . . . by Shirley Nix . . . . . . . . 300
AMICA in Pittsburgh 2012 . . . . .by Tim Baxter . . . . . . . . 303
Nickel Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Matthew Jaro . . . . . . 304
Mechanical Music Today . . . . . . by Marc Sachnoff . . . . . 308
Visit to the Popper Showroom . . by Q. David Bowers . . . 330
Duo-Art Organ Concertola . . . . . by Paul Morris . . . . . . . 333
Tribute to Larry Givens . . . . . . . .by 3 Friends . . . . . . . . . 348
January
March
May
Bulletins will ordinarily be mailed in
the 1st week of the even months, for
expected delivery mid-month.
COLUMNS
President’s Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Vice-President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editorial Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
80 Years Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .by Alan Turner . . . . . .
AMICAn in the Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Web Sites of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sutter Creek Organ Rally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Call for AMICA Award Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2011 Annual Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AMICAn Making Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
296
297
296
298
299
313
313
314
315
315
321
345
347
357
July
September
November
Terry Smythe
55 Rowand Avenue
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3J2N6
204-832-3982 (email preferred)
smythe@shaw.ca
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Front Cover: ETUDE Cover December 1947
Front Cover Border: Kroeger ad, Music Trade Review, December 1925
Inside Front Cover: Announcement of new book by Q. David Bowers
Inside Back Cover: AMICA 2011 in England photos
Outside Back Cover: QRS Display ad, Music Trade Review, ~1928
Lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirski
416 Colfax Drive
San Jose, CA 95123-3403
408-227-9284
sswirsky@sbcglobal.net
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AMICA Publications reserves the right to accept, reject, or edit any and all submitted articles and advertising. While the AMICA Bulletin offers accurate and historic information to its members,
the bulletin, its publisher and the AMICA Board cannot be held responsible for contributions that may be considered by some as inaccurate, speculative, or of an OP/ED Format
Entire contents © 2011 AMICA International
Printed by Engler Printing Co., Fremont, OH • englerprinting@ezworks.net
293
AMICA INTERNATIoNAL
- International officers PRESIDENT
Tim Baxter
939 Briarcliff Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30306-4664
404-377-1220
baxdig@mindspring.com
PAST PRESIDENT
John Motto-Ros
110 Allen Ranch Road
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
209-267-9252
mottoros@sbcglobal.net
EDIToR
Terry Smythe
55 Rowand Avenue
204-832-3982
smythe@shaw.ca
VICE-PRESIDENT
Alan Turner
148 Kingsway Avenue
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3M 0H1 204-489-3075
duo-art@mts.net
TREASURER
Joe Orens
8917 Wooden Bridge Road
Potomac, MD 20854-2448
301-340-6664
orens@prodigy.net
SECRETARY
Bob and Bonnie Gonzalez
26 Foremast Cove
Corte Madera, CA 94925
415-924-6834
bobsrags@comcast.net
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirsky
416 Colfax Drive
San Jose, CA 95123-3403 408-227-9284
sswirsky@sbcglobal.net
- Committees AMICA ARCHIVES
Tom hutchinson
15361 Hopper Road
Sturgeon, MO 65284
573-442-6675
hutweb@tranquility.net
CoNVENTIoN CooRDINAToR
Frank nix
6030 Oakdale Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
818-884-6849
nixmusic@att.net
AMICA MEMoRIAL FUND
Ray Dietz
1250 Lanier Road
Martinsville, VA 24112-5212
276-638-8563
ranfdietz@hotmail.com
AMICA Honor Roll
Thomas & Donna Stengel
46 Court St.
Lancaster NY 14086-2302
716-683-5309
tjstengel@verizon.net
AUDIo-VISUAL & TECHNICAL
harold Malakinian
2345 Porest Trail Drive
Troy, MI 48098
248-528-3111
halbetmal@sbcglobal.net
WEBSITE MANAGER
Karl ellison
6 Lions Lane
Salem, MA 01970-1784
978-740-5680
KBEllison@verizon.net
AMICA ENDoWMENT FUND
Richard VanMetre
1506 South Courtland Avenue
Park Ridge, IL 60068-5333
847-318-7310
rdecanter@aol.com
294
AMICA Bulletin - Nov/Dec 2011
AMICA INTERNATIoNAL
Chapter officers
FoUNDING CHAPTER
Pres: John Ulrich - 510-223-9587
julrich2847@att.net
Vice Pres: Karen Simons
Sec: Jack & Dianne Edwards
Treas/Bd Rep: Lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirsky
Reporter: Bob & Bonnie Gonzalez
BoSToN AREA
Pres: Phil Konop
Vice-Pres: Bob Hunt - 207-985-2308
Sec: Kirk Russell
Treas: Dorothy Bromage
Reporter: Don Brown
Board Rep: Bob Hunt - optimist@gwi.net
CHICAGo AREA
Pres: Jerry Biasella - 708-756-3307
Vice Pres: Richard Van Metre
Sec: Carol Veome - 773-338-1042
veomec@sbcglobal.net
Treas: Joe Pekarek
Reporter: Curt Clifford
Board Rep: TBD
HEART oF AMERICA
Pres: Bob Stout - 816-833-1556
stoutpiano@yahoo.com
Vice Pres: Dan Davis
Sec: Trudy. Moffitt
Treas: Brian Graham
Reporter: HC and Marlene Beckman
Board Rep: Gary Craig
LADY LIBERTY
Pres: John Dousmanis (646) 638-2201
Vice Pres: Vincent Morgan - 718-479-2562
vincentwmorgan@gmail.com
Sec: Bob Stuhmer
Treas: Maryam Morgan
Reporter: Martin "Buzz" Rosa
Board Rep: Vincent and Maryam Morgan
Newsletter Editor: Bill Maguire
LAND oF DIXIE
President: Walt Gerber - waltgerber@bellsouth.net
Vice President: Robert Soule
Treasurer: Tim Baxter
Secretary: Danita Gerber
Board Representative: Tim Baxter
MIDWEST (oH, MI, IN, KY)
Pres: Don Johnson - 248-650-1840
bodon@worldnet.att.net
Vice Pres: Liz Barnhart
Sec: Hilda Merchant
Treas: Alvin Wulfekuhl
Reporter: Christy Counterman
Board Rep: Liz Barnhart
NoRTHERN LIGHTS (MN, ND, SD, MB,
Northernontario)
Pres: Paul Watkins - 763-421-0672
bpwatkins67@gmail.com
Vice Pres:
Sec: Mark Kraabel
Treas: Barbara Watkins
Reporter: Jerrilynn Boehland
Board Rep: Paul Watkins or Mark Kraabel
PACIFIC CAN-AM
Pres: David Goodwin - 360-403-1970
seattledavid@earthlink.net
Vice Pres: Mark Baratta
Secretary: Larry Sanchez
Treas: Mark Smithberg
Reporter: TBD
Bd. Rep: Dan Brown
RoCKY MoUNTAIN
Pres: Jere DeBacker - 303-570-6243
jere@totalspeed.com
Vice Pres: Ken Hodge
Sec: Louise Lucero
Treas: Barry Weiss
Reporter: Larry Emmons
Board Rep: Jere DeBacker
SoWNY (Southern ontario,Western New
York)
Pres: Glenn Roat
glennroat@yahoo.com
Vice Pres: Bob and Kathy Singer
Sec: Shirley Roat
glennroat@yahoo.com
Treas: Holly Walter
bballmomma99@yahoo.com
Reporter: Audrey Cannizzaro and Bill Lukasiak
ahuntress452@aol.com
Board Rep: Mike Walter
Photographer: Bill Lukasiak
SoUTHERN CALIFoRNIA
Pres: Jerry Pell - bruderorgan@verizon.net
Vice Pres: Mike Choate
Sect/Reporter: Shirley Nix
nixmusic@att.net
Treas: Diane Reidy
Board Rep: Frank Nix
TEXAS
Pres: Rich Clayton - 972-369-0470
richclayton@sbcglobal.net
Vice Pres: Michael Barisonek
barisonek1@att.net
Treasurer: Janet Tonnesen
rtonnesen@tx.rr.com
Secretary: Suzanne McCall
j-mccall@sbcglobal.net
Bulletin Reporter: Ken Long
daltex@hotmail.com
Board Rep: John McCall
j-mccall@sbcglobal .net
Affiliated Societies and organizations
American Theatre organ Society (AToS)
President/CEO – Ken Double
5705 80th Street North
St. Petersburg, Florida 33709
Phone: 281-798-6205
E-mail: k.double@atos.org
THEATRE ORGAN Co-Editors –
Mike Bryant and Don Feely
Editorial Office
3111 NE 165th Pl.
Vancouver, WA 98682
Phone: 206-619-6645
E-Mail: editor@atos.org
Associazione Italiana Musica Meccanica
Villa Silvia - Via Lizzano, 1241
47023 Cesena (FC), Italy
Phone: 0039-547-323425
Fax: 0039-547-661264
Email: info@ammi-italia.com
Website: www.ammi-italia.com
Australian Collectors of Mechanical Musical
Instruments
Peter Phillips - Editor
26 Alice Street
Padstow, NSW 221, Australia
Phone: (612) 9773-4734
email: eleced@idx.com.au
Netherlands Pianola Association
Nederlandse Pianola Vereniging
Att. Jan van Hulzen, Member of the Board
Chopinrode 25
2717 BH Zoetermeer, Netherlands
email: info@pianolavereniging.nl
Carousel organ Association of America
Editor/Publisher: Ron Bopp
(918) 527-0589
4725 Montrose Dr., Bradenton, FL, 34210
bopp@peoplepc.com
Friends of Scott Joplin
1217 St. Croix Ct.
Kirkwood, MO 63122-2326
website: http//stlouis.missouri.org/fsjoplin
Email: fsjoplin@stlouis.missouri.org
International Piano Archives at Maryland
Performing Arts Library,University of Maryland
2511 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
College Park, MD 20742
Phone:301-405-9224
Fax: 301-314-7170
Email: dml37@umail.umd.edu
International Vintage Phono
& Mechanical Music Society
C.G. Nijsen, Secretaire General
19 Mackaylaan
5631 NM Eindhoven, Netherlands
Musical Box Society of Great Britain
Alison Biden
St Giles Hilltop, Northbrook Close
Winchester, Hants.
SO23 0JR, UK
email: ali_biden@hotmail.com
Musical Box Society International
Rosanna Harris, Editor
5815 West 52nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80212
Phone: 303-431-9033
Fax: 303-431-6978
Email: mbsi@estreet.com
Netherlands Mechanical organ Society-KDV
A. T. Meijer
Wilgenstraat 24
NL-4462 VS Goes, Netherlands
Northwest Player Piano Association
Everson Whittle, Secretary
11 Smiths Road, Darcy Lever,
Bolton BL3 2PP, Gt. Manchester, England
Home Phone: 01204 529939
Business Phone: 01772 208003
Email: nwppa@hotmail.com
Pianola Institute
Clair Cavanagh, Secretary
43 Great Percy St., London WC1X 9RA
England
Player Piano Group
Adam Ramet, Bulletin Editor
42 Park Road, Westcliff on Sea, Essex, UK
Email: publicity@playerpianogroup.org.uk
Smithsonian Institution
Division of Musical History
Washington, D.C. 20560
Society For Self-Playing Musical Instruments
Gesellschaft fur Selbstspielende
Musikinstrumente (GSM) E.V.
Ralf Smolne
Emmastr. 56
D-45130 Essen, Germany
Phone: **49-201-784927
Fax :**49-201-7266240
Email: president@musica-mechanica.de
295
President’s Message
This issue will contain the first descriptions of our 2012 convention in Pittsburgh
(see page 303). Your convention chairman (me!) is working hard to insure a fun and interesting experience. I know it is not possible for all of our members to attend the conventions, but I
think it is one of the most important things we do as a group. Besides the necessity of convening to conduct AMICA’s business affairs, the ability to speak face to face with folks
remains critical, even in our well-connected world. None of Skype, e-mail, or similar technologies can replace an in person, one-on-one interaction. Maybe there’s a technical issue
you want to vet, and the gal who knows so much about it is just across the room. Perhaps
you need to discuss local chapter issues. Or maybe you are just reveling in the great company of friends from years past or chatting up someone new. And if your world is like mine,
there’s not a lot of people outside of AMICA with whom you can discuss reproducing piano
repertoire, nickelodeons, Aeolian player organs, etc. For folks without a local chapter, the
annual convention plays an even greater role in making these important and enjoyable connections.
So I would say: try to get to the convention if you can. The convention hotel is itself a destination, situated alongside an
historic train depot in downtown Pittsburgh, right on the banks of the Monongehala. We are opening the convention to our brothers
and sisters in MBSI and COAA to increase vitality within the hobby and to insure a great turnout, all while giving us the chance to
demonstrate our legendary AMICA hospitality.
One final request: this convention is being staged without the assistance of a Pittsburgh-area chapter. If there is anyone
within a few hours of Pittsburgh that would be willing to either help at the convention, and/or lend an instrument for the hospitality
room, would you please contact me at your earliest convenience at the e-mail address below. We are looking for a pedal pumper, a
Duo-Art or Welte-Mignon (we have an Ampico A), and, if possible, a nickelodeon or something else lively and interesting. All the best for the holidays and a Happy 2012,
Tim Baxter
Editorial observations
A stunning surprise was sprung on me on the occasion of my recent 80th birthday. While
Eleanor and I were attending the AMICA Convention in the UK, our daughters Heather and Linda,
quietly, discreetly contacted friends and family with an invite to a brunch/party. A number of AMICAns were also contacted who expressed kind regards, very much appreciated. Our Vice-President,
Alan Turner, who happens to be a neighbor, attended and insisted that the next issue contain a brief
report of that delightful event, attended by about 50 people. My sincere thanks and appreciation to
those who were contacted and responded with best wishes, Made my day!
This issue contains obligatory reports from our officers and committee chairs. Ordinarily,
this issue would also contain our convention photos. With well over 2,000+ photos of this event, this
issue could easily be several hundred pages deep. As a consequence, it will contain just a few, with
the bulk appearing in the next issue, Jan-Feb 2012.
Our Sep-Oct issue contained a fine article by Ray Fairfield, about the restoration of his Cremona nickelodeon. What made that article very special was his real-time documentation with
before/after photos. That article represented a huge commitment and discipline, very much appreciated. An appeal to all is extended for similar articles, which really add to the richness of our journal,
that which binds us together.
For this issue, a number of members have contributed a variety of articles that, for the first
time, leaves me in the position of actually having a couple for a future issue. Wonderful birthday present!
Enjoy!
Terry Smythe
smythe@shaw.ca
296
Vice-President’s Message
Greetings one and all! It is with great pleasure that I am able to say that this year's
AMICA convention and tour in England was Ship-Shape and Bristol Fashion, a great success!
First and foremost I must extend my personal and AMICA's thanks and appreciation to all
those who participated in making this year's convention interesting and jam-packed with sights
and activities. In particular, Liz Barnhart, Julian Dyer and Boz Oram who, among many others
working behind the scenes, joined forces to bring this monumental task together while managing to keep all of us on time and loaded into the coaches with very few glitches and not losing
one of us! A job very well done! Thank You All!
Near the end of the first week of the tours and convention in England an impromptu
meeting was held with the members of the board and committee members who were present.
A number of topics were discussed, among which was our ongoing effort to maintain the current membership as well as brain-storming ideas to entice new members into AMICA. A number of ideas were brought forward which will be explored over the next few months and this
upcoming year. One idea of particular merit (and one that I could act upon immediately) was
the following:
Many of our membership have videotaped their instruments and posted the recordings on YouTube. The suggestion was to
use those YouTube Videos to advertise (this is free) AMICA and provide a link to the AMICA website for those people who are
watching and following our videos to see what AMICA is about. It is our hope that some of these people visiting the AMICA website will be interested enough to become members of AMICA or at least to find out more about what our hobby is about. If you have
videos posted in YouTube please consider adding something like the example I have provided below to your profile to generate new
interest in AMICA.
I posted the following in my YouTube Channel profile, which I hope will direct some people to check AMICA out online.
My YouTube Channel is located at http://www.youtube.com/user/AlanWTurner
If you enjoy the music that I have posted on my YouTube channel, which was all recorded and played back using
technology from the 19-teens, twenties and thirties, you may consider checking out the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association (AMICA) at
http://www.amica.org
AMICA is an organization that has the following objectives:
(a) To provide an organization for collectors of automated musical instruments, such as roll operated player pianos and
pipe organs, orchestrions, nickelodeons etc.
(b) To promote the acquisition and distribution of instruments, recordings, and technical and historical information concerning these instruments.
(c) To encourage the preservation and restoration of automatic musical instruments to the highest possible standards.
(d) To discourage the destruction and dismantling of restorable automatic musical instruments, or the irreversible modification of original instruments.
(e) To acquaint collectors with services and repair opportunities.
(f) To encourage and assist in the production, distribution, and preservation of recordings - both reissues and new performances.
(g) To educate the public about the historical and cultural significance of automatic musical instruments.
In addition, AMICA works to encourage interest in the hobby, to entice people to start collecting and/or
appreciating these wonderful (and historic) instruments and ultimately to join the ranks of AMICA International as
members, thus keeping this aspect of the world's musical history alive for future generations.
AMICA is truly a world-wide organization with members in 17 countries around the globe. Our membership ranges from those with very modest collections to those with collections of museum quality pieces. During my
time as a member of the organization (and only having a somewhat modest collection), I have been made to feel
welcome at every member's home that I have had the honour to visit. I believe the music and this hobby transcend
language, cultural and economic barriers!
More information on AMICA can be found on our website at:
http://www.amica.org
Another avenue for promotion of AMICA (again free for the using) is to take advantage of Social Media services such as
Face Book, Twitter, My Space and the like. Terry Smythe alluded to this in his Editorial Observations in the May/June 2011 edition of
the bulletin. This is technology that AMICA as an organization that hopes to continue well into upcoming century and beyond should
embrace and exploit to our benefit.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the Call for Awards Nominations article which is printed at the beginning of
the Chapter Reports section of this bulletin. It is that time of year again where I am appealing to the membership of AMICA for nominations for the Leo Ornstein Literary Award and the AMICA International Awards.
Musically,
Alan Turner
Vice-President AMICA International
297
letters
Subject: amica article - Cremona Restoration
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:09:52 -0700
From: Jstevens <jstevens@olypen.com>
To: miterfixit6@chartwe.net
CC: smythe@shaw.ca
the body was moved or not.
John Davis' e-mail address is
Vincent
HiRay--I wanted to thank you for the wonderful article you wrote
about restoring your Cremona. It resonated everywhere with me
as someone who also does this for fun, but tries very hard to do
the best work possible. It is too bad that I did not read such a
description some 30 years ago when I started learning the"hard
way" about piano and organ restoration. In addition, the writing
is delightful, and obviously carefullyconsidered--an outstanding
contribution. Jack Stevens
Subject: Blind Tom
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:24:22 -0400
From: Vincent Morgan <vincentwmorgan@gmail.com>
To: Terry Smythe <smythe@shaw.ca>
I hope you are enjoying your trip. From what I hear
from Keith, you are.
I was intrigued by the article in the current Bulletin
about Blind Tom. His historian, John Davis, is a friend of mine
who lives in Brooklyn. He is the person who brought the family
together, and even brought the descendants of Tom's former slave
owner family together. Then he provided an opportunity for the
two families to meet each other and begin reconciliation. He is
also the initiator and promoter of the Blind Tom festivals. To our
knowledge only one of Tom's own compositions has ever been
put on a piano roll, "The Battle of Manassas". It was recorded on
my piano. I will find out if it is available online. There are only
2 known copies of that roll in existence that we know of and
John owns both of them. He paid over $300 on e-Bay for the
first one and I was able to get the second one through MMD for
$30. He paid me $50 for it. John has produced a CD titled "John
Davis Plays Blind Tom The Eighth Wonder". It is available on
Amazon.com. In the front is a 12-page biography of Tom Wiggins.
When Tom played The Battle of Manassas, he held a
whistle in his mouth and had various other things that made various noises so that he could imitate the sounds of the battle that
the piano couldn't produce. In this composition, you can hear the
Southern soldiers advance as Dixie is played. Then there are
drum rolls, cannons and more. The north retaliates with Yankee
Doodle and more shouts, drums, guns, etc. Eventually, the South
wins with a triumphant rendition of Dixie. It helps to familiarize
oneself with the battle before listening in order to follow the
music. Still, it is enjoyable and exciting even without the background. The same goes for George Gershwin's Rhapsody in
Blue. Few people know that it is the train fro NY to Boston
starting, running fast, then slowing down for a station, starting
again, etc. All the while the tempo is the clickety-clack of the
rail joints as the wheels run over them.
It is not known if Tom actually recorded the piano roll,
but we believe so. No one else was interested in playing his
music until John Davis revived it. Still, today, he is the main
source of Tom's music.
Tom continued to work for his owners long after the
Civil War and moved with the family to NJ for a long time and
then eventually to Brooklyn, where he died and was buried.
There is now also a grave in his home town. I don't remember if
298
johndavispianist@gmail.com
PS. I talked to Matt Jaro at the MBSI meetings and
thanked him for his great articles in the Bulletin. He mentioned
that he doesn't get much feedback, if any. We wanted to talk
more, but were both busy.
To: Boston Area Chapter
Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association
November 20, 2011
Greetings: Present, past and perspective members of the
Boston area chapter of AMICA
When I was a boy living in Terre Haute, Indiana during
WW ll because my father was away in the service, I had a friend
up the street whose family owned a player piano. I found the
piano totally fascinating. It truly was the neatest thing I had ever
seen. My mother who was a pianist and had hopes that I might
also learn how to play was decidedly cool to my enthusiasm;
pianos were to be played by the hands, not the feet. I never went
very far with piano lessons but I never forgot that player piano. Years later when my wife needed a piano, I actually
found a player piano that worked, but opted for a smaller lighter
spinet because there were questions about the floor in the old
farm house we rented being able to support the larger heavier
player. Still I had some lingering regrets. It seems that the purchases that produce the most lingering regrets are the ones you
don’t make.
Later while working as an engineer at Draper Labs in
Cambridge, MA I met Bill Koenigsberg, also an engineer. Bill
was excited about a piano he was rebuilding, a Weber Duo-Art
reproducing baby grand. I was really a setup for this one after all
the years thinking about player pianos. I ended up buying Bill’s
piano and started a hobby that has given me great pleasure ever
since.
One of the things that has greatly enhanced this hobby
has been my AMICA membership both on the national level and
on the chapter level. The national level with the AMICA Bulletin
and the contacts and information it provides broadens the scope
of knowledge about what people are doing and how things can be
fixed if needed. Most people have more interest than stuff. The
size of a collection or the mechanical abilities of the owner are
not important compared to the appreciation that interest and
knowledge can bring.
On the chapter level all of this is made even more personal and relevant. Meeting friendly people in their homes with a
common interest to share is what AMICA membership is all
about.
I certainly hope interested automatic musical instrument
fanciers, if they are not members, give AMICA some consideration. I think they might like it. Past members, let me know what
you think about AMICA, and present members, I hope we see
you soon at a future meeting. Philip Konop, President
Boston Area Chapter AMICA
978-456-8467
80 Years Young
TERRY SMYTHE – Editor of our AMICA Bulletin
by Alan Turner
international vice-president
Terry Smythe celebrated his 80th birthday in grand
style! over 50 of terry’s family and friends joined together on
sunday, october 30th, 2011 to celebrate this wonderful occasion
with a surprise brunch, held at the star Conservatory Restaurant
in Winnipeg, Canada. Five local aMiCan’s were pleased to be
among those in attendance. the company was delightful, the
food delicious, and terry was overwhelmed by the outpouring of
love and well wishes. terry’s daughters shared birthday messages
sent from around the world, including many from his aMiCa
friends and colleagues. a beautiful flowering plant was displayed
with congratulations on behalf of aMiCa, and Tim Baxter,
president of aMiCa international who sent the following message:
“On behalf of myself and AMICA members everywhere, many happy returns on this great day! You’re
more vital at your age than many at half your age!
Thanks for all your hard work and keep at it; it will keep
you young.”
Congratulations terry on this milestone, and know that
aLL your friends in aMiCa wish you many more healthy and
happy birthdays to celebrate over the next few decades!
Cheers,
aMiCa Board of Directors
AMICAns Alan Turner, Terry and Eleanor Smythe,
Morley and Marlene Golden
Terry’s daughters, Linda and Heather
(authors of the surprise event),
Ed Note: Within our unique slice of musical heritage, we have
another octogenarian, who shared his 80th birthday one day
after Terry. Bill Flynt, of Dallas, Texas, who has done much
over the years for our special interest. He may be contacted at:
Bill Flynt <flyntw@prodigy.net>
1-972-644-2493
299
AMICA in england, 2011
by Shirley Nix
This year the Convention was held in England, and what
a trip it proved to be. Summer seemed to have forgotten England
this year, with rain and cold weather more or less the norm, but
the itinerary and the good company proved to be more than a
match for that.
Right at the start we need to thank Julian Dyer, who
headed up the whole trip and found some really fantastic spots
for us to visit. Of course, special thanks also to Liz Barnhart,
who acted again as registrar, handled the money, and many of the
headaches. Thanks also to Boz Oram and Linda Paskins, our
tour guides who arranged the travel details for us. The hotels
were great, as were the meals and buses.
The trip started on Monday, when the buses picked us
up and took us to Kew Gardens, where we were free to roam this
huge area on our own. It’s a lovely place, and one of the highlights for me was the Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, which was built
solely as a picnic spot-inside. All the lovely grounds available
for them and the picnics were held upstairs in the cottage.
This is acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost
botanical gardens, with 55 acres, and a really impressive “treetop
walk”. It seemed most of our hearty AMICA members managed
to take this walk, even though the elevator to the top was out of
order, but what are a few stairs?
From the gardens back to the bus for a short trip to the
Kew Bridge Pumping Engine Museum. We had visited this
museum back in ‘93 when we had our first AMICA convention
in England, but there was quite a change this time. The original
beam engines of 1869 were up and running and the whole place
had been changed. We were thrilled to see the 100 inch engine
running. Then it was on to the Musical Museum at Brentford,
which had been located in an old church last time AMICA visited. After 40 years in the leaky church the museum is now in a
new building specially designed for the collection of automatic
musical instruments. The instruments were demonstrated, much
to our delight, and a buffet dinner followed. When we had been fed it was time for the pumper contest, which is always a lot of fun. There were several contestants,
including Terry Smythe who admitted he had never played a
pumper before.
The judges “chewed on it” for a while and decided the
winner was Al Rustad. Since “footsie” didn’t make it over the
pond this year the award was a diploma, appropriately dubbed by
Julian Dyer as “a flat footsie”. Tuesday we left London, driving to the West Country
via a great detour through the countryside villages filled with
charming thatch-roofed cottages. We also went through a very
upscale, be it rural, area where Madonna used to ride her horse,
and where rockstar Sting has his mansion. Our final destination was the UNESCO heritage site Stonehenge, where we were supplied with headsets pointing out the
different sites and telling of the different theories of the origin.
These ran from giant men bringing the stones from Wales, Merlin
using his magic at the bequest of King Arthur, and the latest
being, of course, aliens from another planet.
300
This is a very imposing monument, and the audio sets were really very
interesting as we walked the trail. One
could almost imagine the above theories of
origin having some merit, since these huge
Shirley Nix
stones were brought from Wales, a few
hundred miles away, and evolved between 3,000BC and 1600
BC. What a massive undertaking, especially for prehistoric people. These stones would be a huge job even today.
Then it was on to Salisbury, for free time to tour and
shop in this medieval city. We had two hotels in this spot, since
Salisbury is not large, nor are the hotels.
In the evening we were able to visit the magnificent
cathedral for a private recital on the “Father Willis” organ. For
those who wished, they could arrive earlier for a choral presentation by a visiting choir from Innsbruck.
The cathedral is a very imposing structure. It was built
in just 38 years starting in 1220, and houses one of the four
remaining original copies of the Magna Carta. It also houses
Europe’s oldest clock, from 1386, which has ticked over 5 million times. Wednesday was the day many were here for - the Great
Dorset Steam Fair for the day. This is probably the largest show
of its kind in the world, set on 600 acres of land. The displays of
the steam engines are just mind boggling. These huge machines
are restored to perfection, and are driven and worked throughout
the day, as was evidenced by the smoke and fumes. There were
tractors from very small to very large and some pulled very
heavy loads, some cut lumber, and some powered the fairground
organs.
Mixed in with the engines and tractors are the fairground organs, which of course were the items of most interest to
most of us. This year they didn’t have as many as usual....only
40 large and larger organs! This was an organ lover’s paradise,
with organs everywhere it seemed. There were Gaviolis, including the first book playing organ delivered to England. One Gavioli had a setting for the organ complete with a waterfall and
flowers, a stream and fountains. There was a huge Verbeeck, a
101-key Mortier, a Dean organ, a few Bursens, a very small
DuWyn, a small Bruder, a few Marenghis, and just on and on.
As an interesting sidelight..one of the organs was owned
originally by a showman who was married to England’s champion sword swallower. Several of the organs also had displays of
showman wagons, which were used as we use trailers today.
What a fabulous way to spend a day. For those brave hearts there were also fairground rides,
some stomach lurching just to watch, and two carousels. Of
course, food courts were everywhere, and there were booths with
just about anything you wanted, from souvenirs to clothing.
There were two scheduled pickups, one in the afternoon
and one at eight p.m. so we had the choice to go back to the hotel
and spend more time in Salisbury or to stay until evening. It was
a long day, with lots of walking, but well worth the effort.
On Thursday we drove to the West Somerset Railway
for a train ride to Minehead. This is a preserved steam operated
branch, which took us through some lovely scenery for a relaxing
ride. AMICA Bulletin - Nov/Dec 2011
When we arrived in Minehead, a seaside resort, we had
free time to explore the town. Unfortunately the weather didn’t
cooperate too well, and many of us spent a lot of the time in coffee shops watching the rain. In the afternoon we visited the private collection of
Bernie and Anne Brown. When we arrived they had set up a
lovely afternoon tea for us (the rain had stopped, fortunately),
with tea and cakes. We sat in the backyard and enjoyed this and
then went inside in groups to see their collection. This is a very
interesting collection, with many reed organs, harmoniums,
music boxes, and other rare items not generally seen. We had a buffet dinner at the hotel and then had the
evening free to explore the village of Bristol, or just to relax.
Friday was perhaps the most unusual trip of the Convention, with a visit to the “Big Pit”, a coal mine in Wales. On the
way the road was lined with heather, and goats were roaming
free. The ride into the area was worth the trip on itís own, but the
best was yet to come.
This is the remains of a working coal mine, and the trip
into the hole was really a trip into another world and time. The
tours are run by retired miners, and they really knew the story
well.
It was, in a way, a shocking experience to learn how the
miners worked mostly in darkness, along with the horses who
pulled the ore trains and the children who stood in total darkness
to open the fire doors as the carts approached. The lights were
turned out so we could get the full impact of total darkness. Of
course, we didn’t have the rats and cockroaches to keep us company as the inhabitants did in the heyday of the mine. When the tour was over we were free to visit the other
buildings on site where the repairs were done to the equipment,
and the shower rooms, which were a later addition, which made
home life a little easier. We boarded the buses again and started off to the city of
Bath, but one of the buses had mechanical trouble (it wouldn’t
go!), so our bus had to turn around on a very narrow road, go
back and load up as many as we could on our bus. The bus company sent out a mechanic and the bus was repaired very quickly
and didn’t give us any more trouble on the trip.
We had a couple of hours to explore Bath. The original
Roman baths are available to visit, and the town itself has many
interesting sites.
Tonight was our farewell dinner, since this was the end
of the original tour, and about half were going home or on to
other tours from here. The farewell dinner was aboard Isambard Kingdom
Brunel’s famous ship, the SS Great Britain.
This was the first ocean-going iron ship. It had been sitting and rotting in the Falkland Isles for a long time, but was
finally returned to England, where it was restored. It was built
almost 170 years ago, and is another trip back in time. The dining room is quite a fantastic place, with all fixtures as close to original as possible. The engine is viewable, and
the whole ship is in a special building to keep the hull from rusting further. It was quite a visit, and a lovely way to end the first
part of the trip.
The next day the buses drove through some fantastic
areas, stopping in Swindon for lunch and more exploring. Then
it was back to Heathrow to drop off those leaving us.
The extension tour continued on to Ipswich, where we
stayed for the night.
Sunday it was on to Thursford, which many may
remember from the previous England trip. This is another magical place, with the wonderful
organs, and the two carousels, one featuring three-abreast galloping horses and the other with gondolas and rolling track. The latter is probably the only one of its kind still in existence. Started by George Cushing, who fell in love as a teenager in 1920 with the fairground sights and sound, from the steam
engines to the fairground organs. He bought a used steam traction engine and worked it as a contractor. As internal combustion and diesel engines came to favor he could not stand to see
his beloved steam engines scrapped, so he began buying every
one he could, making many think he was mad. When he began
to restore these beautiful engines it was regarded as a joke by
“normal folk”. He also began collecting fairground organs, and
the result is the magnificent Thursford collection.
The organs are quite lovely, with the huge 98-key
Marenghi with the chariot, two horses and driver on the facade
probably at the top of the list. Others are the 121-key DeCap, the
De Leeuwin “Lion”, a 112-key Mortier, two 101-key Hooghuys, a
112-key Carl Frei, a lovely Wellerhaus, and a Wurlitzer Theater
organ. All the organs were played for us, and both carousels
were available. Later in the day we rode to the North Norfolk Coast,
where a steam train festival took place. We could wander down
to the seaside, shop, or ride on a train. Again, the rain came
down, but it didn’t dampen our spirits, just our clothes.
Monday we went to Stowmarket to the Museum of East
Anglian Life, where all aspects of life can be seen by way of
reconstructed houses, barns, windmills, and other things relative
to the area. This was another really interesting place, with lots of
photo ops.
If it’s photo ops you were interested in, our next stop
was the well-preserved Medieval town of Lavenham. This was a
very wealthy area in medieval times, being a trading center for
wool. Many fine and expensive buildings were built here, and
when the wool market collapsed there was no money in the area
to replace them with more modern structures, so they survived.
Many of the buildings, built in the 1300’s, are suffering from the
fact that the wood originally used for beams was wet wood,
which twisted when it dried, leaving the houses with some really
outlandish bends and leans. As I said, really a photographic spot.
Tuesday included a journey through the fens (a unique
wetland landscape) for a visit to the museum at Strumpshaw, a
fascinating place started in the 1950’s, a third-generation museum with steam engines and musical instruments. There is also a
theater organ.
From there we went to Great Yarmouth, another seaside
resort, quite full of arcades with various games of chance
designed to take your money. Since it rained quite heavily again,
it was easy to partake of the games and lose your money. When
the money was gone it was time to find a good coffee shop to
take shelter in. That evening we were treated to a traditional, and
I must say great, fish and chip dinner at what is, I am told, a quite
famous fish and chip restaurant. Wednesday found us visiting Bressingham Gardens,
which is a world-famous garden with fine floral arrangements
laid out in the 1930’s by Alan Bloom. This was as pretty a place
301
as you ever want to see, and the flowers were just gorgeous. A
huge area, and each one more beautiful than the last.
Just to add to the fun of the gardens, there is a merry-goround and a couple of trains which ride around the gardens. When we left the gardens we went on to Bardwell,
where there is an 1820’s built windmill. The owner also has a
Ruston traction engine, and is able to disengage the sails and
drive the machinery to grind the corn. Unfortunately, the windmill suffered greatly when the remains of a hurricane hit the area
and the top was blown completely off, landing on the steam
engine, but fortunately not the house. The owners are restoring
the windmill, most of it done and slowly coming back into shape.
The owner told us he “owns the air space” around the
mill, so when a developer tried to build a tall office and commercial building he was able to stop the project. The townspeople
sided with him, since they want the windmill to stand where it is
and to continue to operate. On Thursday we sadly realize that the last day of the
tour had arrived. The buses headed back to London with our first
stop at the Cotton museum, where the late Robert Finbow started
the eclectic collection of mechanical music. This is now run by
small but active group of enthusiasts. We saw reproducing
pianos, barrel organs and pianos, and much larger instruments.
There were collections of all sorts, and “eclectic” hardly does it
justice. Phonograph records and sheet music were on the walls
and ceilings everywhere, and display cabinet after display cabinet
housed the unusual and rare items. There were toys, movie
memorabilia, china heads for storing tobacco, and just too much
to mention.
One of the rare pieces is a Hooghuys monkey organ,
only one of three left in the world. It was really meant for fun
and enjoyment here, and enjoy it we did.
Our last stop was the Musical Museum at St. Albans,
the dream of one of the earliest importers of mechanical music in
the UK, Charles Hart. We wandered through, enjoyed the
demonstrations, and really appreciated the lovely instruments.
The St. Albans is home to a huge Mortier organ, a
Bursens, a DeCap, music boxes, cob organs, a Mills Violano,
pianos, and a Wurlitzer organ and a very rare Rutt organ. Another great visit.
Then it was back to the Hotel in London, and home for
most. The memories of this Convention will last forever, along
with those of other trips. AMICAns who took the extended tour, enjoyed the Thursford
collection, started by George Cushing
One of many, many fairground organs at
the Great Dorset Steam Fair, but this one
recognized our presence. Neat!
Julian
Dyer at
Stonehenge
Our AMICA Convention 2011 souvenir, a delightful reminder of
our time at the Great Dorset Steam Fair
Ed Note: The vast number of photos of the convention would
have caused this issue to expand beyond reasonable expectations, so next issue, Jan-Feb 2012, will contain a proper photo
spread. ts
302
AMICA 2012 Convention
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
July 11 – 15, 2012
please plan on attending the 2012 Convention in Pittsburgh, PA, an exciting city with attractions galore, many within
walking distance of our convention hotel.
our convention hotel, the Sheraton Station Square, is
situated at the premier location in the city: on the Monongahela
Riverfront in downtown pittsburgh overlooking Fort Duquesne
and the golden triangle, where the allegheny and Monongahela
Rivers meet to form the ohio River. the hotel is part of the
Station Square shopping complex, which comprises 52 acres of
indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment. Being
among pittsburgh’s largest tourist destinations, it attracts more
than three million people annually. station square incorporates
the former “grand” station of the pittsburgh and Lake erie Railroad, with some of the original structures such as the freight
house building and the elegant concourse being converted into
restaurants and a shopping mall. (if you ever saw the movie
“Flash Dance,” a portion was filmed at the grand Concourse
Restaurant). station square boasts a stop on Pittsburgh’s Light
Rail System (“pat”), as well as the docks for the Gateway
Clipper River Fleet and “Just Ducky” Duckboat tours.
our planned activities include visits to the following:
(1) Frick Art and Historical Center, including Clayton, the mansion of pittsburgh industrialist henry
Clay Frick,
and the Car
and Carriage
Museum. the
m a n s i o n
includes
a
Welte Cottage
Orchestrion
restored by
Durward Center in a rare “original installation” location.
(2) Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens,
where we will take in over 17 distinct botanical experiences,
including a palm Court, Butterfly house, orchid Room and formal outdoor garden. the phipps Welcome Center is the first
LeeD-certified building in a public garden and boasts a fabulous
Dale Chihuly chandelier.
(3) Blackwood, a 35-acre estate in Butler County built
in its entirety by two of aMiCas most enterprising members,
Don Fink and Ben
Robertson. our visit will
include a concert by Dave
Wickerham on Blackwood’s meticulously
restored 3 manual, 20
rank Wurlitzer theatre
organ with gold-leaf
“waterfall” console. We
will also be treated to a
Mini organ Rally on the grounds during
a wonderful outdoor catered lunch and
after Dave’s concerts. a tour of the
grounds will include viewing the clock
tower with its 1907 seth thomas tower
clock and roll-playing schulmerich carillon, the Blackwood gyrocopter, and an
antique radio collection.
(4) a riverboat dinner tour of pittsburgh’s three rivers
and stunning skyline.
of course we’ll feature workshops, the Mart, the
pumper contest, collection tours and a fabulous Banquet with
live “period” music.
if you have any spare time (or would like to take a day
on either side of the convention, which is recommended), you
would be well-advised to visit any of:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the Warhol Museum
the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (the
biggest and best dinosaurs, and much, much more)
the Carnegie Museum of Art
the National Aviary
the Duquesne and Monongahela Inclines (and
the breathtaking view of the city from atop Mount
Washing ton)
the Nationality Rooms at the University of
Pittsburgh
Bayernhof Museum – Former home of Mr.
Charles B. Brown, iii – 19,000 square feet featuring mechanical instruments, music boxes and other
collectibles (likely to be on the “collection tours”)
“Just Ducky” Duck tours on vintage WWii
amphibious transport
the hotel rate is $119 a night, and the convention registration fee of $365.00 will include all attractions as well as two
breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners. the convention will be
open to members of MBsi and Coaa at no additional charge (or
aMiCa membership requirement).
to make a hotel reservation, call 1-800-325-3535 and
mention the aMiCa room rate.
We look forward to seeing you in pittsburgh!!
sincerely,
Tim Baxter, Your Convention Chair
Useful links:
sheraton station square: http://www.sheratonstationsquare.com/
Frick art & historical Center: http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/
phipps Conservatory and Botanical garden:
http://phipps.conservatory.org/
Blackwood: http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/
gateway Clipper: http://www.gatewayclipper.com/
Duquesne incline: http://www.duquesneincline.org/
Carnegie Museum of art: http://www.cmoa.org
Warhol Museum: http://www.warhol.org
nationality Rooms at pitt: http://www.pitt.edu/~natrooms/
national aviary: http://www.aviary.org/
Just Ducky tours: http://www.justduckytours.com/
303
Nickel Notes
by Matthew Jaro
In this column I would like to feature a prominent nickelodeon, orchestrion and band organ collection in Annapolis,
Maryland. This collection belongs to Richard and Cheryl
hack. I think this is appropriate since there are very few articles
written about specific collectors, and collections are at the center
of mechanical music. A collection and collector are the focus of
all activity, acquisition, selling, restoration and last but not least:
home construction. When a collection fills all available space, the
collector can either add on to their house or decide not to add
more instruments to the collection. The Hacks are currently in the
middle of an ambitious and beautiful construction project in
order to provide a stunning setting to display their instruments. (larry Givens). This gave Dick the
idea that maybe it would be possible for
him to rebuild a reproducing piano. He
acquired a Stroud upright Duo-Art
Matthew Jaro
reproducing piano and rebuilt it with
some additional help from friends like
John Grant. It took about six months of work part-time. He
taught himself to do everything from the pneumatics to the refinishing. The next machine was a Mills Violano which the Hacks
also acquired from Bill Edgerton. That needed refinishing and
total rebuilding. Mark Reinhart was knowledgeable about
Violanos and lived very close to Annapolis. Dick also read Mike
Kitner’s book on restoring the Violano. The book and advice
from Mark enabled Dick to complete the Violano project in about
nine months to a year, part time. Getting Serious
Cheryl and Dick Hack in front of their beautiful Mortier organ
Beginnings
I love asking collectors how they got interested in
mechanical music. The Hacks were putting their first addition
onto the house and they were staining some oak boards. Dick’s
parents came to visit and said: “You need an antique wall telephone for your new room”. Not knowing about antiques, the
Hacks accompanied Dick’s parents to an antique mall and picked
out an antique oak telephone. It happened that the dealer also
sold Edison phonographs. They acquired an Edison phonograph
while they were there. Armed with the phonograph, the Hacks
wanted to meet people in the area that they could talk to about
the machines. They ran into a collector in Annapolis that also had
music boxes, reproducing pianos and jukeboxes.
Their first mechanical music machine was a Regina 15
½ inch music box. This was around 1980. Dick fell in love with
the mechanical aspect. He was amazed at how well a machine
could play music mechanically. Dick was in electronics his
whole life, so to get music that played mechanically was something quite different. The Hacks acquired the music box from
Bill edgerton’s Mechanical Music Center in Connecticut. They
would drive from Maryland to Darien, CT to check out what Bill
had and then drive all the way home – in a single day! The Hacks acquired books from Bill Edgerton on
rebuilding the piano (Art Reblitz) and rebuilding player pianos
304
The wonderful aspect to all of this activity is that Cheryl
likes the machines and music as much as Dick, and she falls in
love with instruments that the Hacks will then acquire. They are
really a team interested in mechanical music. Their local friends introduced them to both AMICA and
MBSI and the Hacks became members right away. The Hacks
went to their first convention, MBSI in Philadelphia in 1983 and
acquired a cylinder music box from nancy Fratti. It played 48
tunes, all operatic and they basically just fell in love with the tune
card. elton norwood repinned all six cylinders and rebuilt the
music box. It is a Conchon music box. After the Violano, the Hacks got really carried away,
and worked on three machines at once: a Knabe Ampico “B”, a
Weber Unika, (which they acquired in pieces with no tubing),
and a reproduction Wurlitzer Harp. Cheryl heard Bob Gilson’s
harp and fell in love with it, so Dick decided to build one for her
to celebrate their anniversary. In order to build the harp, Dick visited Bob Gilson, who took his harp out of the case and let Dick
take measurements and make drawings. It took a couple of years
to finish all three pieces.
Around this period of time the Hacks acquired their first
Welte (it’s almost like you could just buy Weltes at Wal-Mart),
which was close to a style 3. It was a barrel machine so it really
didn’t fit the standard style numbers. They acquired it from a
collector in England. It sat for a long time, while they were waiting for Durward Center to restore it. It was weight driven and
Durward said that there is no room for the top pully for the
weight. Cheryl said, “Just cut a hole in the ceiling”. Durwood
said “Really?” – He couldn’t believe it. It turns out that the
Hacks wanted to redo the ceiling anyway. Durward rebuilt the
Welte and Dick built a temporary roll player to test the machine.
During the time that machine was being worked on, the Hacks
acquired the machine they have now. When the first Welte was
sold they gave the temporary roll player they built to the new
owner. The first Welte is in a museum in Japan now with most of
the roll player still in use. AMICA Bulletin - Nov/Dec 2011
The second
Welte came from
France, in Aix-enProvence. It’s equivalent
to a Style Five. It was
also a barrel machine
which they converted to
rolls.
house
Construction
By 1985, the
Hacks finished the addition of their downstairs
music room, to house
the ever-increasing collection. The room was
actually built for the
Welte Orchestrion
first Welte. This was an
area with thirteen foot ceilings dug out from what used to be
crawl space under the house. The house had to be propped up
with steel and a ramp was dug from the waterfront side down
into the new music room. About 150 yards of dirt were hauled
out. To get the instruments into the new room, they took off the
front of a three stage fork lift truck, had brackets welded onto the
fork lift part, and they had that bolted onto the wall. They made
up an electrically operated hydraulic system. Now machines
could be lowered from the front deck into the basement. Professional Restoration
Dick’s first professional restoration was about 1993. A
friend wanted a Pierre Eich Solophone restored and he couldn’t
find anybody who would do it quickly at the time. He wanted to
see how it would work to do a job for somebody else. What got
Dick started in doing restoration as an occupation was that he
really enjoyed doing the work for his customer. The Solophone is
still playing today as good as when he restored it. Dick owned a TV and appliance store, but the nature of
that business was changing, so he went into full time restoration
in the mid to late nineties.
When he closed the store, a building went up for sale in
Baltimore that was reasonably priced. So Dick and John Grant
together acquired the building. That’s where the major restoration
projects are done with smaller jobs being done at the house. DeCap 92 key dance organ
sale. He watched the prices continually fall, and decided this
would be a good time to buy an organ .
Seeburg G
In the Trader there was a Seeburg G that came up for
sale, very reasonably priced. When Dick called immediately he
found he was the second person in line. Someone had already
bought it. The lady who owned the Seeburg said her brother-inlaw had a Seeburg G he might sell (all God’s Children have Seeburg G’s!). One problem was that it was converted to play “A”
rolls! Fortunately, most of the original parts were available. The
Brother-in-law said, “Yes, I’d like to sell the Seeburg G but I
have to test the market first. I’ll call you when I set a price.” Dick
would call him once a month, but the price he wanted was still
too high, given that in addition to the roll problem, the glass was
broken, the case was cut on the sides, etc. The Hacks went back
and forth with the owner for about a year. Finally the Hacks went
on a vacation with the kids, and the Seeburg owner called his
business to say he was going to sell it this weekend and could
Dick top an offer that he got? Dick never got that message.
Since the owner didn’t hear back from Dick, he figured he was
no longer interested and he sold the machine. The machine went
through two other owners and Dick finally wound up acquiring it
several years later. Bill emerson rebuilt the glass and Dick did
all the rest of the restoration work. There was a lot to do. The
pipes, drums, etc. were all gutted since it was now an “A” roll
Instrument Acquisition
The next major piece was a DeCap 92 key dance organ.
Bob Brown brought a Mortier organ to a rally in Freemont,
Ohio. The Hacks were now interested in dance organs. They visited haning and White, nearby to see what they were selling,
and acquired the DeCap. The Hack’s room wasn’t ready so Haning and White had to keep it until the room was ready. Around this time Dick was watching every issue of the
Antique Trader and memorizing the mechanical music ads. In
fact, this was how Dick found out about the Haning and White
Seeburg G Orchestrion
305
piano. The pipe chest and drum shelf came from Mike Ames.
They had to find pipes, and then had a reproduction bass drum
made by Dana Johnson. Dick found an original snare drum. I
commented to Dick, “It’s amazing you bought that machine with
all that work required.” Dick said “The Worse they are, the better
I like ‘em”. He said you could get machines like that for reasonable prices if you are willing to do the work required. He said
that since restoration started out as a hobby, he didn’t really count
the time as an expense. Now that he does restoration professionally, he realizes that time spent on a wreck takes time away from
paying projects. Organs
Mike Kitner told Dick that he had a Wurlitzer Style 153
band organ to sell from an estate. Dick said, “That sounds like an
interesting machine”. They had been acquiring a lot of pieces
lately, and so he told Cheryl that there is a 153 for sale, mostly
complete, all in pieces with the paint peeling off, and the price is
real reasonable. Cheryl said, “well, we ought to buy that”. Cheryl
was really enthusiastic about this. The organ sat around for about
ten years until they got it playing. In this time period they
acquired a Ruth 36 organ, that still needs to be completed. The
Ruth was acquired from Haning and White. Dick brought Mike
Kitner with him. They noticed that the organ had a lot of work
done to it that needed to be done over. Mortier 86-keys dance organ
They acquired a Bursen organ, advertised on MMD.
Dick had difficulty reaching the owner. The owner said “I’m glad
you talked to me, because I have ten other people interested in
that organ, but you are the first one to actually talk to me. The
owner was a piano technician who acquired the organ in the seventies and totally took it apart and put it in storage, until the time
the Hacks acquired it, five or six years ago. When it arrived, it
was in 75 different pieces. A lot of those pieces were boxes of
parts. Even the chassis of the organ was cut in half, because they
thought they needed to do that to get the organ out of the building. Dick said, it had to have been gotten into where ever it was,
so it should have been able to be gotten out. There was no tubing,
so Dick retubed it in metal, as it was originally. Strangely
enough, considering all the parts that came in, the organ wasn’t
missing a single part. The latest Addition
The Hacks had a philosophy that you acquire something
first and then worry about where to put it. But when they
acquired the Mortier, there was no solution. The façade wouldn’t
Wurlitzer 153 band organ
On Ron Bopp’s Bumbling Bruder tour seven years ago,
Henk Veeningen in Holland had this Mortier organ for sale. The
facade hadn’t been painted but the organ was restored. Cheryl
went over to Dick and said “did you see the Mortier organ for
sale?” Cheryl then said “I think we should buy that”. Rosa Patton (formerly Ragan) painted the façade to the
Mortier, the Ruth 36 and the Wurlitzer 153. Rosa is the premier
painter having done projects such as the Glen Echo carousel,
horses and 165 band organ. The painting is glorious, to say the
least. During the process of stripping the new paint off of the
153, Rosa found enough of the old painting so that she was able
to recreate the original look. It was also amazing that the original
artwork survived until the owner before Dick had it repainted.
They acquired it from an estate and they were told that the façade
was out being painted, so they would get a freshly painted façade
when they got the organ. Of course, Rosa had to strip all of that
and restore it to its original glory.
306
Bursens dance organ, art deco style
fit in the garage since the ceilings were only eight feet high. Anyway, they knew they needed more space because they were running out of room. They designed the latest addition and put the
maximum square footage that the county would allow them, for a
new music room, a quilt studio for Cheryl and an elevator. The
county was fussy because of septic capacity, even though the
addition wasn’t to be used for living space. However, the county
figures that if you have more square footage then you will have
more people, one way or another; so they just blindly apply the
rules. But, Dick said, and I totally agree, that they were able to
get a pretty good addition out of it. The county required the
Hacks to sign an agreement that they wouldn’t do any more additions (so what happens if they buy more instruments?) Dick says
there’s still room for another piece, or two or three. The addition has required over a year so far and is
almost complete. This space of time has enabled the Hacks to
consider carefully what they want to do, and even make some
last minute decisions to greatly improve things. The hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina
The latest acquisition was the Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina. Dick was called out by Bob Brown to repair the lighting of a
façade of a very large dance organ in Phoenix. Bob knew that
Dick was always interested in Phonoliszts, and he knew that
Mike Ames wanted to sell some of the things in his collection,
among which was a Phonoliszt. So, instead of coming home after
the job, Dick went directly to California to look at the Phonoliszt.
He came home, talked to Cheryl about it and decided to acquire
it. Conclusion
Now, the Hacks have a fabulous collection of automatic
musical instruments that are displayed in a gorgeous Arts and
Crafts setting, with stained glass windows and meticulous wood
work. I have always felt that it is important to provide a beautiful
setting for beautiful instruments, and Dick and Cheryl Hack have
certainly done so. Hupfeld Model B Phonoliszt Violina
Dick Hack
contemplating
his next
restoration
Ed. Note:
Matthew Jaro may be contacted at:
mjaro@verizon.net
1920's Seth Thomas weight driven tower clock mechanism
from a church in Pennsylvania
Dick hack may be contacted at:
rhack1@verizon.net
307
Mechanical Music Today
By Marc Sachnoff
Most people think that the technology behind the
mechanical music machines we AMICA members enjoy stopped
being developed around 1930. But that is not the case. A rich
variety of music machines has been developed in the years following the golden era using technology not available to the folks
at Wurlitzer, Aeolian, Seeburg or Regina.
Of course there have been several revivals of the original technology of pneumatic roll and book operated instruments.
The player piano craze of the 1950s with Crazy Otto and The Old
Piano Roll Blues, and the resurgence of interest in the early
1970s because of the hit movie, The Sting, are just two examples
of times when new instruments and the rolls to play them were
manufactured. But the technology introduced during these short
periods of renewed interest was, by and large, the same as was
used in the first decades of the century.
This column will investigate and celebrate the advances
and innovations in modern technologies used for the same purposes that mechanical music has always served – to entertain, to
educate, and to promote the joy of music, music delivered in a
mechanical context.
To start our examination of mechanical music today
we’ll look at the computer operated reproducing piano. The first
person to make the commercial leap from pneumatically operated
pianos to computer driven solenoid operated pianos was California electrical engineer, Wayne Stahnke. Wayne has been inventing, designing, and building electronic reproducing pianos since the
early 1970s. He is known for his
designs of the Bosendorfer SE, his
Telarc recordings of the Rachmaninoff ’s 35 AMPICO rolls on the
Bosendorfer SE, and his work on the
Yamaha Disklavier line. Today he
produces the Live Performance LX
player system – a top of the line
product available for installation in
Wayne Stahnke
grand and upright pianos. Wayne was gracious enough
to allow an interview for this column. Excerpts of that interview
appear below.
MS:
How did you become interested in mechanical music?
Wayne: My interest dates back to 1956. I went to Disneyland at
the age of 13 and I saw a player piano in the Wonderland music
store. I was absolutely taken by it. I was a piano student at the
time and I was struggling with the technical aspect of piano playing. There it was, playing all those notes with great rapidity and
precision. You can imagine the wheels turning in the head of a 13
year old mechanically inclined boy. I decided I needed to own one, so, I put a classified ad
in the Los Angeles Times. The phone rang and a woman had a
Weser Bros. upright with a Simplex action. I paid $35.00 for it –
money I earned on my paper route. It wasn’t in playing condition. All the rubberized cloth was worn and leaky. I had to
find a source for materials and I was told that Knott’s Berry Farm
had a building way out of the way with some nickelodeons in it.
A man named Stan ran the shop, but the person who did the
repairs was Ed Fritze. Ed helped me and sold me tubing and
cloth. 308
I always wanted to be an Electrical Engineer at least since the age of 4 or
5. I loved electricity and working with it.
I repaired radios and TV sets. My dad
said when I was in my early teens I used
to tell him, “When I grow up I’m going to
Marc Sachnoff
build a piano that plays from a tape.” I
always had that in mind and planned to do so when I was done
with my education. In college I developed a plan of buying a
player piano at beginning of Summer, repairing it and selling it
before school started. This was in lieu of holding a typical summer job. I did this every year for several years in a row. MS:
Did you get involved in understanding piano roll technology?
Wayne: Oh yes. I made a trek to New York in 1961 to QRS to
meet Max Kortlander and J. Lawrence Cook. This was about one
month before Max died. He had a large office in the factory with
a Steinway Duo-Art. J. Lawrence Cook had a recording piano
and I spent some time with him. He was very nice and he even
invited me to his home in Harlem. In his basement he had another recording piano for making nickelodeon rolls. He let me watch
him arrange using that piano which had organ-like stops for holding notes down. He would play a chord and then depress the
footplate and it would go “ka-chunk” as the perforator punched
holes into the paper. I even had him sign some of his rolls for
me.
MS:
How did you get interested in reproducing pianos?
Wayne: Ed Fritze, the man at Knott’s Berry Farm, liked Ampicos and used to rebuild them. He had several of them at his
home. He played some of his rebuilt instruments for me and I
purchased one when I was in college – a 1927 Fischer with a
Mediterranean case. This was when the A mechanism was highly perfected with many changes made to it, just before the B era.
I rebuilt the piano over several summers and began collecting
rolls. MS:
When did you begin development of the electronic
reproducing piano?
Wayne: There was a long delay. After college, I got a job at
Hughes Aircraft. There I learned a lot about designing and building electronics. Later I worked at Fairchild Semiconductor in
Mountain View, California. By the age of 30 I was married and I
decided the time had come. My wife volunteered to support me. I
quit my job and I started building a device that would record
Ampico rolls on magnetic tape and play them back through electromagnetic valves teed into the tracker bar of an Ampico piano. However, what I really wanted to build was an all electronic player piano operated by solenoids. [Solenoids are basically plungers activated by a magnetic coil, driven by electric
current.] I was aware that it would be a large undertaking. In retrospect I was exactly right. Early on, I realized that I needed to
tackle this complex job one piece at a time. The first job was to
figure out how to record data onto magnetic tape, recover the
data from the tape and put it back in useful form. AMICA Bulletin - Nov/Dec 2011
MS:
Did you do this alone or with partners or investors?
Wayne: By 1974 people began to express interest in my work
and so with investors we started a company to commercialize it. I
did a production-worthy design and it was called the Cassette
Converter CC-3. About 25 were built. It predated the
Pianocorder [See sidebar about the Pianocorder], but it was not
widely distributed. We ran into resistance by piano owners and
despite the fact that it played wonderfully, it was not nearly as
well received as I hoped. We produced 20 cassette tapes for it, all
taken from Ampico rolls. [See also Jul 1976 AMICA Bulletin
for a full report.]
MS:
But that wasn’t an all electronic instrument, it was more
of a digital interface for improving the enjoyment of traditional
reproducing pianos.
Wayne: That’s true, but having built the CC3, I was ready to
tackle an electronic player piano. I found a backer in Dick Carty,
a Los Angeles area restorer and piano dealer. Dick gave me a
place to work in his piano shop and paid for out of pocket
expenses. It took me 18 months to build a working prototype.
The piano was a new vertical manufactured by the Gordon Laughead Piano Company of Michigan purchased specifically for this
purpose. It was the first player piano in all history to have individual expression on every note. Until then every other reproducing piano built had a split pneumatic stack with one dynamic on
each half of the keyboard at any instant. About this time Marantz Superscope was looking to buy
my design. There were at that moment three different electronic
player piano designs in existence; one was mine. The second one
was built by Charles Groeschel of Houston, Texas who was hired
by mechanical music dealer, G. W. MacKinnon, who wanted to
be in this business. Groeschel was very secretive and he would
never reveal anything. I learned that his piano was completed and
was being demonstrated. I was crushed – he beat me to the
punch. I decided I wanted to see it and called to make an
appointment. [Wayne was relieved to discover the piano was not
a musical or mechanical success and posed no credible competition to his work.]
The third was invented by a man named Ray Vincent; it
subsequently became the Pianocorder. Ray designed it himself
and was trying to commercialize it. Somehow he fell in with
Teledyne – the big aerospace company. What they were doing
building player piano kits is beyond me!
Superscope was casting about looking for something,
so Joseph Tushinsky and several Teledyne engineers came to
visit me. I played the working prototype instrument for them and
they liked it very much. They talked about buying it and taking it
to market, but I was not free to work with them, because there
were investors and I did not control the business decisions. For
whatever reason, the deal fell apart and Marantz Superscope
decided to buy Teledyne’s product, designed by Ray Vincent,
which they did.
MS:
So the Carty project fell apart?
Wayne: That’s right. At this time, J.B. Nethercutt of Merle Normand Cosmetics wanted an electronic reproducing piano for his
San Sylmar collection. [The San Sylmar collection of the late J.
B. Nethercutt is world famous and still open to the public on a
regular basis, just north of Los Angeles.] He had hired an engineer to build one for him – I don’t remember his name. This
engineer planned on measuring dynamics by putting something
beneath the keys and to capture 16 levels of dynamics. J.B. came
and heard my work and contracted with me to build an instrument for him. He let the other engineer go, so he must have been
impressed.
MS:
Was this the beginning of the Bosendorfer SE?
Wayne: No, not yet. Mr. Nethercutt chose a brand new Steinway
9’concert D for me to install a mechanism into. I started in
November or December of 1975 and delivered it in June of 1978.
This instrument was the first completely new reproducing player
grand piano since the 1940s. It played superbly. It used hammer
velocity sensing for extremely accurate dynamic recording. It
also had 1023 dynamic levels for each key. It could play louder
than a human can and so softly it could even record and reproduce silent notes. It was at that time that I developed the standards that I have used for all my work up to the present. They’ve
never changed since 1978. MS:
Why 1023 dynamic levels?
Wayne: Because 1023 is one less than a power of 2, 1024. I built
the system using binary arithmetic so powers of two are important. I chose 256 pedal positions with proportional pedaling, and
1.25 millisecond timing resolution.
MS:
Why 1.25 millisecond timing resolution? And what does
that mean?
Wayne: Timing resolution is the resolution that the human ear
can hear. The human ear cannot distinguish infinitely fine temporal differences, so you want to determine the resolution of the
human ear and make the resolution of the instruments finer than
that. If you play a chord at mezzoforte and the notes are not
exactly together, ordinary ears can hear about a 10 millisecond
offset in the notes played. I wanted to know what kind of split
people can just barely distinguish through blind testing. Can people really hear the difference? Well it turns out some can – if
ordinary ears can hear 10 milliseconds of split, Carl Seashore and
his colleagues at the University of Iowa found in the 1930s, that
people with “golden ears” can hear a 5 millisecond split. With
that number in mind I divided 5 milliseconds by 4 and decided
that resolution of my pianos should be 1.25 milliseconds. So I
went to a standard finer than the human ear can resolve.
MS:
But that seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?
Wayne: My goal was to use good engineering judgment. I settled
on standards for timing resolution, pedaling and dynamic range,
and I have used exactly those same standards until now. The
recordings I made in 1979-1980, sound the same as if they were
made on any instrument I have built since. They are every bit as
good. The same with dynamics. I needed them to be finer than
the human ear can distinguish, but there were no standards or
research, so I had to come up with my own. Mr. Nethercutt loved his Steinway. It was kept inside
San Sylmar and played only on tours. Not many people had
access to it. When I built it, the first of its kind, my goal was to
make it play properly. Having finished the project, I had learned
a lot, so I planned to make another one for my own use. I bought a new Yamaha Conservatory Series C7, which
in those days was 7’4” long. It took me two and a half years to
complete, until 1982. It was a wonderful instrument and every-
309
thing I had hoped for. [This instrument was used for the Podolsky
recordings, reported in the March-April 1987 AMICA Bulletin]
Plus I made some tremendous advances in technology. It was
with that instrument that I came up with the modern method of
hammer velocity sensing. Here’s how it works: there are shutters
on the shanks of each hammer. A light-emitting diode and photo
transistor stare at each other just above the shank. The shutter
breaks the light beam twice as the hammer moves upwards
toward the string. [This makes it possible to record individual
hammer velocities with high accuracy, something never previously possible in recording a live pianist’s performance.] I applied
for a patent on this and it was granted in 1983.
Nine years later Yamaha wanted it for their Disklavier
and bought the patent from me. That method is in use in every
Disklavier equipped piano from then until now, which is why
they record so well. Mr. Nethercutt learned about the improvements I made
and commissioned me to build a second piano for him – this time
in a Bosendorfer 290. At the time, Kimball owned Bosendorfer
and they are the people who named it the “SE” for “Stahnke
Engineered.” About the same time the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology commissioned me to build a piano for them in a
Bosendorfer 290 as well. So Kimball decided they wanted to
commercialize my system and sell the SE system in Bosendorfer
pianos.
instruments sold very slowly at that price, but still at a rate of
around six per year. I thought it was a pretty good clip for something as expensive as it was, but Kimball’s management did not
think they were selling as briskly as they planned so they stopped
production in 1987. Thirty-two were built and all of them ultimately were sold. To the best of my knowledge every one is still
in working condition and many are in daily use. It is very satisfying to work on something with such a long life.
MS:
These were extremely expensive pianos, weren’t they?
Wayne: Yes. The first one was sold in 1987. Initially, the plan
was if you paid full retail for a model 225, 275, or 290 Kimball
would toss in the SE system for free. As you know, new pianos
MS:
How long did it take to build the first one?
Wayne: It took me three years to do the design and build the first
prototype. The first Live Performance LX system shipped in
July of 2007.
MS:
When was the Disklavier introduced?
Wayne: The Disklavier was not introduced until 1988 – and
never was available in any piano other than Yamahas. I joined
Yamaha in 1991. They wanted to improve the Disklavier design
and I had two key patents they needed if they wanted to sell the
Disklavier in the US – optical hammer velocity sensing and proportional pedaling. They bought my patents and hired me as a
consultant for ten years. I went to Japan four times a year to
attend meetings. My hands were tied for 10 years in terms of
developing my own products.
MS: But that relationship ultimately expired didn’t it?
Wayne: In 2001 my contract with Yamaha expired but I had
agreed to a three year noncompete arrangement, so I was not free
to do anything on my own until 2004. I waited until the appropriate time and a little more and quit my software job as Principal
Software Engineer to work on my own design for the LX
MS:
What was the response like to your new product?
Wayne: The response to the LX was mixed. People who saw it,
heard it, and bought it loved it. But a lot of people didn’t even
want to see or hear it. As one dealer told me, “Player pianos are
all the same so you might as well buy the cheapest one.” There
was and still is a lot of that, but I used to get letters from owners
saying things like, “Thank you for bringing this into the world.” MS:
Yes, I know of one gentlemen in the Los Angeles area
who has installed LX systems in three vintage Steinways. What
is the future of electronic reproducing player piano? Wayne: I think they are mature now. By that I mean that we have
several different kinds to meet different market segments, and
the technology is mature. I do not envision any changes other
than evolution in them. Bosendorfer 275SE reproducing piano with microphone array
used for recording Robert Silverman’s Beethoven cycle.
Photo: John Atkinson, Stereophile magazine,
www.stereophile.com
are normally heavily discounted – especially on the high end.
The management at Kimball was not happy with the margins so
they later raised the price on the 290 SE to $150,000. Now, that’s
at least $300,000 or more in today’s dollars – so it was a lot of
money at the time.
MIT ended up buying a production SE instrument from
Kimball. Other customers included Ohio State University, the
Royal Conservatory of Music in London, the University of
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and wealthy individuals. SE
310
MS:
What is the modern electronic player piano market like
today?
Wayne: The recession has hit all piano sales, but 3-4 years back
30% of new pianos sold had player systems installed. I believe
that 30% of all Yamahas sold are Disklaviers. That’s a lot of
player pianos.
MS: Tell us some of the advantages of the Live Performance LX
system.
Wayne: First of all, the LX plays all of Yamaha’s CDs all of
Pianomation’s, and most of Pianodisc’s. It plays more music
and more kinds of music than any other modern player piano. It
also plays the thousands of MIDI files available over the web and
from other sources.
The LX uses full proportional pedaling [discussed
above]. Other playing mechanisms use "on-off" pedaling, which
destroys the pedal shadings that make fine piano playing so satisfying. The combination of proportional pedaling and high-resolution control yields musical results that are head and shoulders
above the competition’s. You simply have to hear it for yourself.
The LX playing mechanism is completely hidden from view,
and does not interfere with the trap work.
MS: Wayne, I’m kind of biased as you know. I’ve had the LX
system installed in my 1924 Steinway B for over two years and
I’m always amazed at the performances. Recently, after having
moved to the Seattle area, I had the piano tuned by a local technician and I mentioned that I had your system installed. He’d said
he’d heard of it and kind of waved it off as another player system. But after the piano was tuned, I demonstrated the piano
with one of your disks with Earl Wild’s performances and frankly
he was blown away. He just stared at the piano and began praising it profusely. I wish you could have seen his face!
You can learn more about the Live Performance LX system at: www.live-performance.com
The Pianocorder 1978-1987
The LX sustain solenoid remains cool even
when the piano is played for extended periods.
The LX note driver boards use the latest advances
in high technology electronics.
Joseph Tushinsky was an inventor,
musician, optics innovator, writer and chairman of the board of Superscope Corp. and
the Marantz Co. A visionary, Tushinsky was
an early believer high-fidelity audio and
became the American importer-distributor of
Sony audio tape recorders in the late 1950s.
Together with his brother Irving, he developed a wide-screen film projection process
known as Superscope, which, when introJoseph Tushinsky
duced in 1953, helped to usher in the era of (photo courtesy Consumer
wide-screen motion pictures. Tushinsky colElectronics Association)
lected reproducing pianos and amassed a
large library of music rolls, and even commission the creation of
a unique vorsetzer capable of playing the rolls of all three major
reproducing systems.
Keyboardless demonstration Pianocorder unit adapted from a
Marantz spinet by Grant Leonard of Minneapolis
311
In the 1970s, Tushinsky produced the Superscope
Pianocorder Reproducing System. Superscope already had a
large facility for manufacturing cassette players and the new system used regular cassette tapes as its data storage medium, playing the piano directly from commands encoded on the cassette
tape. Pianocorder expert, Mark Fontana relates that the
Pianocorder was actually based on a system called the "Piano
Player" designed by Ray Vincent.
Superscope created a fairly extensive library of material
for the Pianocorder system, reaching over 30 ten-cassette volumes. While the majority of tapes issued were made by converting traditional 88 note player piano and reproducing rolls to the
Pianocorder format, several famous pianists, including Liberace,
George Shearing, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson, and even Chick
Corea produced recordings directly on Superscope's Kawai medium-sized grand piano. This author has had a chance to listen to
them – played on a great piano – and I can attest to the surprising
quality and sparkle of these celebrity recordings. In 1987, the Pianocorder Division was acquired by
Yamaha. Yamaha had already developed its own competing system – the Disklavier – and quickly discontinued sales of the
Pianocorder. In all, Mark Fontana says that about 16,000 units were
sold between 1978 and 1987. Unfortunately, the Pianocorder
library is no longer commercially available. Original tapes are
deteriorating, but several people have created digital archives of
the original Pianocorder data files. Additional Pianocorder
information can be found online at http://www.pianocorder.info
A typical installation of the Pianocorder in a grand piano, this one
is a former Ampico, and equipped with Mark Fontana’s
wireless module, bypassing the cassette deck.
The Pianocorder system was available in both factoryinstalled versions and aftermarket kits. Many of the factory
installations were done in lower quality spinet and console
pianos. In fact, larry Fine, whose Piano Book surveys the
American Piano industry says that these Marantz Pianocorder
spinets and consoles might actually hold the dubious honor of
being the worst pianos ever made in America! 312
[About the Author]
Marc Sachnoff is a two time Emmy Nominated television
writer/director/producer who now leads an education reform nonprofit in the Seattle, WA area. He has been collecting mechanical
musical instruments since purchasing his first player piano at age
13. Teaching himself to play piano from player rolls, he went on
to have a successful professional music career specializing in
jazz, blues, ragtime and stride piano styles. His interests span a
variety of music machines from Fotoplayers to nickelodeons,
MIDI operated devices to reproducing pianos and modern computer controlled pianos. He is a member of AMICA. He welcomes ideas for this column and can be reached at MJS@EnlightenedEnt.com
AMICAn in the Spotlight
around town
Hi Babit
south palm Beach, FL
7 october 2011
I Finally Got To Meet The Piano Roll Man
by patrick Mascola
i was rapping with owner Glenn Easton at his Lighthouse Cove
tiki Bar, when my ears pick up an unusual piano sound. it was
a familiar piano style that i couldn’t quite place. i looked to the
band stand and there was this old 94 year old geezer attacking on
al nero’s keyboard with lightening fingers. i asked glenn,
“Who the hell is that?” glenn replied, “oh he comes in once and
a while. he used to cut piano rolls.” My excitement stemmed
from when i was a kid. an aunt had a piano roll piano. it was
rolled paper filled with thousand holes that was turned by a foot
pump. as the roll would roll, the air would pass through the
holes and cause a piano key to strike, playing the melody of a
song. the roll had the words type on it and we would sing
along. this was fun. i often wonder who cut these rolls. it
seemed that every piano key played at the same time. Well, the
guy’s name is Hi Babit from Coconut Creek. i went over to
him and marvelled at the speed and strength he still had in his
fingers. he admitted that arthritis had slowed him down some.
and what a charming man. he is still active as a technician and
tunes pianos. i am going to have him tune up my grand and
keep him at it for as long as possible. What a treat to have a
dream come true after 70 years. i finally got to see, hear and
meet the, Piano Roll Man.
Web Sites of Interest
Unusual musical instrument...
http://tinyurl.com/3fgcf2t
(contributed by Vince Morgan)
An Unusual Performance of Ravel's Bolero
http://tinyurl.com/6j6m7vg
(contributed b y Thad Kochanney)
Dangers of labelling CD/DVD discs
http://tinyurl.com/2axejo7
(contributed by Vincent Morgan and Hi Babit)
Fairground Organs of Cuba
http://www.orgsites.com/wa/organito/
(contributed by Art Reblitz)
AMICAn Bill Blair with Jay leno
http://tinyurl.com/6evorwh
(contributed b y Thad Kochanney)
Franz Liszt 1811-1886. A European in
Thuringia
http://tinyurl.com/67dwd5b
http://reconcavo.org/?lang=en
(contributed by Bill Dean)
John Arpin Collection Launch and Celebration
http://tinyurl.com/6zqnxjr
Fairground organs in Cuba
http://www.orgsites.com/wa/organito/
http://tinyurl.com/6g6k4fk
(contributed by Art Reblitz)
The Eden Palladium carousel (now Ecomusee Carousel) http://tinyurl.com/d6paktp
Fur Elise like you've never seen/heard it
before.
http://tinyurl.com/3fgcf2t
(contributed by Vincent Morgan)
Friends of Johnny Mercer
http://www.friendsofjohnnymercer.com/
(contributed by David Oppenheim)
Library of Congress National Jukebox,
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/
William Gaddis' fascination with the player piano
http://tinyurl.com/6h3d3ve
(contributed by Keith Bigger)
Roberts Musical Restorations
http://tinyurl.com/clvm2w8
313
2011 Sutter Creek Organ Rally
Reporter - Jack Edwards
Photographers - Jack Edwards, Darryl Coe & Josh Groeneveld
Ardis Prescott
John Iles, Philip Wright, Dan Wright, Bob Meyer, Landon
Steven Caringella, and Julie Porter
This year's Sutter Creek Organ Rally featured some
repeat performer's such as Frank and Shirley Nix, Darryl Coe,
Lyle Merithew - Sandy Swirsky and maybe a new one or two.
Organs were shown from Southern California in the case of the
Nix family and Jerry Pell, more locally, San Jose and San Francisco, and from as far away as Dan Danko's Washington State.
The rally virtually stopped when a convoy of vintage Dodge
Brothers automobiles came through town. I found out later that
the street organs caught the fancy of some of the antique car
owners, and they made their way from where the cars were
parked back downtown to hear and in some cases to crank.
As is pretty much always the case, we had a good time,
and the street organs were appreciated by all concerned, including the shop owners along Sutter Creek's main street who very
much appreciated the influx of shoppers from Sacramento, San
Jose, San Francisco and beyond.
Darryl Coe
Dan Danko
Chuck
and
Peggy
Schoppe
Jerry Pell’s
Bruder
fairground
organ
314
Call For AMICA Award nominations
As Vice-President one of my duties is to chair the nominations Committee for the awards AMICA gives out each year.
Please do some thinking about worthy recipients and send your
suggestions for nominations for both awards to your Local
AMICA Chapter who will then pass those nominations up to me
and the awards committee. .Please submit your suggestions to
your local AMICA Chapter at your earliest convenience so that, if
possible, we can meet the deadline of December 31, 2011 for the
nominations for each of the two annual awards to be reach me
and the awards committee.
Each Local AMICA Chapter should compile the award
nominations received from their membership and submit up to
three nominations for each award to me and the awards committee. Please try to get the nominations to me before December 31,
2011. Send these nominations to me by email at duoart@mts.net If an AMICA member who is not a member of a
Local Chapter would like to nominate someone for an award,
please send that nomination directly to me at the above email
address. Relevant Award by-laws and a brief
description of each of the awards
The Awards: Presented in the form of an engraved brass
and wood plaque. In addition, the basic registration fee for the
annual membership meeting for the year of the award will be
waived for each recipient in attendance. The plaques may be
accepted by any AMICA member designated by the recipient in
the event the recipient cannot be present. The award shall be
funded by the AMICA treasury.
Mechanism of Awarding: An awards committee will be
appointed annually by the President. The committee will be
chaired by the Vice-President and have two additional members.
The Board Representative for each chapter shall be asked to
obtain from the membership of their chapter three nominations
for each award each year. These nominations shall be submitted
to the chairman of the Awards Committee to arrive no later than
December 31st of the year prior to the year the award is to be presented. At that time the committee will convene by
mail/phone/email and select the three best candidates by number
of ballot and/or outstanding qualifications. The Awards Committee will present the lists of the three best candidates for each
award to the Executive Committee who will vote to select the
final winners from these lists. The Awards Committee Chair will
then have the plaques made up and make arrangements for the
presentation of the awards at the next annual membership meeting.
leo Ornstein literary Award
Presented for contributing in some way in a literary
effort to further and promote the goals of AMICA - either by contributions to the Bulletin or by independent books, articles, etc.
The contributions must have been made in the past two years. AMICA International Award
Presented for contributing substantially to the promotion
of automatic music and AMICA as viewed technically, musically,
archivally or from the perspective of the general public.
Alan Turner
Vice-President International
duo-art@mts.net
Chapter news
Dixie Chapter
President - Walter Gerber
Reporter/Photographer - Walter Gerber
The Dixie Chapter had its third meeting in historic
Savannah Georgia on June 25th. Eight members began the day
with a guided bus tour through the historic area. We were quite
surprised as to hear about the many events that occurred here
affecting early Colonial America. The tour dropped us off at the
Crystal Beer Garden for lunch. This landmark eatery has been
open since 1933. We re-gathered at David Oppenheim's home
along with four guests to hear some of his fine instruments. The meeting was called to order and with no old business a discussion began regarding ways to increase membership
with a focus on encouraging younger folks to join. For new business, the Dixie chapter will have a strong presence at the Pittsburg Convention helping out wherever possible. Walt Gerber
announced his retirement from Cisco Systems to take up player
piano rebuilding full time. After doing rebuilds as a hobby for
thirty years his association with Crabb Piano service in Tucker
Georgia both as a rebuilder and instructor will help ensure a continuing supply of knowledgeable technicians are available to
"keep them playing". Charleston was proposed as a location for the next chapter meeting. After adjournment many stayed to hear more music
on David's machines. A great time was had by all.
Lee Lanier
and David
Oppenheim
by 1930
Marshall
and
Wendell
AMPICO A
Victor,Taylor
Crawford,Lee
Lanier, Roger
Dayton, Guest
Frank McDonald, and David
Oppenheim
standing by
Seeburg "L"
315
Boston Area Chapter
Danita
Gerber
and
Marie
Pendelton
Larry Norman
engaged in
conversation
with Roger
Dayton, with
Jim Blanco
and his brother Michael
seated, and
Frank
McDonald
David
Oppenheim,
Guests
"Beanie"
Barbee and
"Bubba"
Horovitz,
alongside a
1902 Double
Comb
15.5 in.
Regina Disc
music box
President - Phil Konop
Reporter - Phil Konop
Photographer - Phyllis Konop
The Summer meeting of Boston Area Chapter was held
September 11th at the workshop of piano restorer and member of
the chapter, louis Gentile in Quincy, MA. It was a beautiful day
and made for a pleasant drive down to Quincy where Louis and
his wife Rosemary had arranged the shop for a meeting and set
out a large spread of refreshments for everyone to enjoy.
After a period of socializing President Phil Konop
called the meeting to order at around 2 p.m. Kirk Russell read the
minutes from the previous meeting which had been held at
Charles Jacksonís Piano Museum in Hopkinton, MA. Treasurer
Dorothy Bromage then gave a report and also commented on our
membership. Membership over the last two years has ebbed from
well over 40 members to currently 36. Our attendance at this
meeting, including guests was 16, a number less than 50% of our
membership. It was decided that a letter would go out to current,
former and perspective members discussing the benefits of membership in the hopes of improving our numbers.
Old business turned out to be more upbeat. The “Museum Piano” which we provided the Charles River Museum of
Industry and Innovation and was subsequently badly damaged in
a flood has been replaced with a very nice Marshall and Wendell
upright Ampico that can be pumped or played electrically. The
piano came from Charles Jackson and was put in fine working
order by Louis Gentile. The piano is circa 1920 but looks almost
brand new. Charles and Louis delivered the piano to CRMI
where it was well received.
Following the meeting Louis gave us the background as
to how he got into the business of restoring pianos. His shop has
a “kid in a candy store” effect on piano enthusiasts. It contained
60 pianos waiting to be restored or picked up by owners. As part
of Louis’s business he has to dispose of derelict pianos and he
has removed and saved many of the iron plates or partial plates
with the brand names inscribed on them. These make for a spectacular display on the workshop walls. We were happy to welcome guests Bill and Mollie
O’Connell from Worcester, MA and Bob Cordier from Biddleford, ME. Bill and Mollie had expressed an interest in Amica to
Bob Hunt. We hope their interest continues.
Arthur
“Bubba”
Horovitz,
“Beanie”
Barlee,
David
Oppenheim,
and Lee
Lanier
316
Rosemary
Gentile
our
Hostess
Louis
Gentile
tells about
his shop
Tom
Ahern at
one of
Louis
Gentile's
newly
restored
players
Kirk
Russell ,
Bob Hunt,
and Bob
Cordier
confer
during the
meeting
Louis
Gentile's
workshop
Unique
wall
display
Bob Hunt
showing his
e-valve
system to
Davis Kay
Dorothy
Bromage
and Bob
Cordier
Replacement
Museum
Piano
317
Chicago Area Chapter
President - Jerry Biasella
Reporter - Curt Clifford
The Chicago chapter of AMICA held its August meeting at the home of Marty and laura nevel. The Nevels live in
an historic landmark in Schaumburg Illinois built in 1929. When
purchased the house was in a major state of disrepair and through
their hard efforts they have turned it into a magnificent show
place, keeping all the charm of the original builder while bringing it up to a more livable and spacious home. The interior space
was totally renovated with some rearrangement and reconfiguration. In this very large 3 story home they replaced 99 windows,
added new doors, enhanced original wall moldings, and added art
and whimsy everywhere as a wonderful background for their
automatic musical instruments and various collectables. This
was a fun house to visit and a good time was had by all. The Nevel Collection includes a 1915 Violano Virtuoso
Home Model, a 1914 Gabel Automatic Entertainer, a 1900 Imperial Symphonian, a New Century 4 Comb Disc Music Box, a
15.5" Curved Front Regina Changer, an 1870 Orchestral Interchangeable Conchon that rests on its matching table, a 1925 Seeburg KT with flute pipes, Steinway Art Case Reproducing Grand
Piano, an 1894 Capital Cuff Box, a Phonograph Lamp, and an
1895 rare and unique 20.5" Kalliope with Bells. The Nevels also
collect Gadget Canes and Light bulbs.
Our business meeting was conducted by our vice president Richard VanMetre. The secretary's report was read and
approved along with our treasurer's report. Under old business
Mel Septon reminded us there are still a few of the 2006 convention favors left. Under new business Tim Trager made a suggestion regarding guests and membership. We frequently host guests
at our meetings, so it was suggested to request of these guests
their contact information i.e. an email address, or phone number.
We may then include these folks in some of our future notices to
reach out to them as possible new members and to make them
feel welcome. Warren and Barbara Stiska mentioned that members
might be interested in attending meetings of JATOE - Joliet Area
Theater Organ Enthusiasts - held locally at the historic Rialto
Theater in Joliet. Their comments prompted suggestions that at
future meetings members could provide information about other
hobby related events that might be of interest to our group. Also,
members indicated that they would like to hear about individuals
who can restore/repair instruments
Ed Lisaukas, who was not present at this meeting, had
previously advised that he wanted to share one of his latest discoveries - parlorsongs.com - the web site for The Parlor Songs
Association Inc, Preserving Americaís Popular Music History.
The corporation was established for and dedicated to the preservation of popular American music and musical culture. Their
purpose is to preserve, educate, share and also provide a forum
for study/discussion of popular American music and musical culture. At the end of the meeting we once again thanked our
hosts the Nevels for allowing us to enjoy their magnificent home
and collection. 318
Our hosts Marty and Laura Nevel
VP Richard
VanMetre
conducts our
business
meeting
Members
listen
eagerly
during
our
meeting
The
Nevel's
magnificently
restored
home
1915 Mills
Violano
Virtuoso,
Home Model,
circa 1915
20.5"
Kalliope
with 10
bells in
custom
made
walnut
case,
circa 1895
15.5" Regina
Curved Front
Automatic Disc
Changer
Chicago Area Chapter
SATURDAY – OCTOBER 29, 2011
President - Jerry Biasella
Reporter - Curt Clifford
About 64 people attended the chapter meeting in the
home of Kathy Stone and Mel Septon. Their beautiful new
home provides a perfect background for their automatic musical
instruments and plenty of space for the group to mingle. Their
9’6” Steinway Duo Art is 1 of 10 made and 1 of only 2 left with
the original mechanism. It has 2 pumps, 2 motors and a factory
designed special stack for extra loud capability. In addition to
the piano, the couple has a beautifully restored Seeburg G, 2
musical boxes, a victrola, and a violano on loan from Marty Persky. All instruments provide joyful noise. President Jerry Biasella called the meeting to order, the
minutes of the August 13, 2011 meeting were read by the secretary and approved by the group and Kathy and Mel were thanked
for hosting our fall meeting. Joe Pekarek reported that the Chicago Area Chapter
ended 2010 with 75 memberships (124 members) which reflects
a slight decrease for the calendar year. As of today we added 3
new members. Mel Septon advised that we still have for sale 4 Nipper
dog favors and 4 piano roll favors of the Chicago Blues. VicePresident Richard Van Metre put out a request for hosts for 2012
meetings. We would like to have 4 gatherings next year. Members were reminded that our 2012 annual convention will be held in Pittsburg and a lot of fun activity is being
planned. Tim Baxter, our international president, is actively promoting this city. After the formal meeting we had a special treat. Beverly Chatfield, one of the guests, played Brahm’s Ballade Op 118
No. 3 for the group. She and the Steinway were both superb.
This was followed by a piano roll - “Procession of the Sarder” one of Mel’s favorites which also showed the capability of a
great piano. 18.5"
New Century
4 comb disc
music box,
circa 1903
The Lamp
Phonograph
Our hosts, Mel Septon and Kathy Stone
with their 9'6" Steinway Duo-Art with dual pump
319
Halloween
Greetings,
carved by
Maria
Bronson
Secretary
Carol Veome
reads the
chapter
minutes
An
unexpected
guest
dances
up a
storm
President
Jerry
Biasella
and Joe
Pekarek
Seeburg G
Guests enjoy an excellent catered dinner
Mills
Bow-front
Violano
Virtuoso
Upright player
with a new form
of right hand
accompaniment
Mel and Kathy's new home
Cont’d on page 335
320
2011 Annual Reports
President's Report:
Treasurer's Report
This has been a good year for AM/CA. While we all
know that membership is not as robust as we would like, we have
several chapters whose meetings and attendance would be the
envy of any enthusiasts' organization. Stated another way, membership can never be just about numbers; we must look as well at
the commitment of the members we have and the quality of our
events. In this regard, A MICA is indeed healthy and thriving
and A MICA continues to be a vital part of the lives of its members.
I am enjoying serving as your president and am grateful
for the high-quality officers you have elected to help me. I would
like to give special thanks to John Motto-Ros, who is gracious
enough to act as my "sounding board" on numerous issues, and
to Terry Smythe, who works so hard to give us a bulletin that has
so much rich content.
The President's Award this year has been awarded to
Bob Taylor of Columbia, Missouri. Bob's accomplishments
include, but are by no means limited to: (1) being a vital part of
AMICA at the local and national levels, both by hosting meetings and serving as a technical resource; (2) placing mechanical
music in the public eye with his resolution/high fidelity You
Tube postings; and (3) providing your President with hours of
technical support (including actual component repair!) as to
Bob's unique expertise: Aeolian Residence Organs. Bob's help
has enabled me to bring "on line" the 116 note player mechanism
of 55 rank Aeolian Residence Organ at the Callanwolde Fine
Arts Center here in Atlanta. In the last year I have given numerous public presentations of the organ as a player instrument and
have been able to raise awareness of AMICA as a result (and
gained some new members).
The Callanwolde Organ had its Duo-Art player gutted in
the 1960s; the replacement and restoration of same will be the
subject of an "Adopt an Instrument" proposal/ will be submitting
to the Board.
AMICA National had revenue in fiscal year 2010 of
$65,748.54. This was 13% less than in fiscal year 2009. The
majority of the decrease was due to a decrease in bulletin advertising and no convention revenue in fiscal year 2010. National
membership dues in fiscal year 2010 were almost identical to
membership dues in fiscal year 2009. AMICA National had expenses in fiscal year 2010 of
$75,856.11. This was 37% greater than in fiscal year 2009. The
majority of the increase was due to an increase in the printing
and postage cost for the AMICA Bulletin, 2010 Convention
expenses, and seed money for the 2012 Convention. The total AMICA International revenue (National and
Chapters) for fiscal year 2010 was $124,443.66 and the total
AMICA International expenses (National and Chapters) for fiscal
year 2010 were $135,287.68. At the beginning of fiscal year 2010 the net assets of
AMICA International (National and Chapters) were $192,497.73
and at the end of fiscal year 2010 the net assets of AMICA International (National and Chapters) were $181,653.71-a net
decrease of $10,844.02. The revenue and expenses for fiscal year 2011 are
expected to be similar to those for fiscal year 2010. AMICA
International remains financially sound.
Respectfully submitted,
Timothy Baxter, President
Past President's Report
This past year has been relatively quiet as Past President. President Tim Baxter seems to have a good handle on
things and does not need much advice on matters of concern;
although we have communicated frequently via e-mail. I have
also stayed in touch with other officers and amica members. As
Chairman of the Nominating Committee, it is my responsibility
to make sure we have a current slate of officers. presently, all
officers are in place with no anticipated vacancies.
During my final term as President, I felt it was very
important to advertise AMICA, and I put aside advertising funds
in the budget. I still feel this is an important issue for AMICA to
pursue. My expenses were minimal; therefore, I am not billing
AMICA.
John A. Mottoros, Past President
Joe Orens
editor's Report
In my role as Editor of our AMICA Bulletin, I have now
published 12 issues. I very quickly learned that previous issue
were all laid out by our printer in Ohio, but we never knew the
cost because invoices always emerged as a one-line total charge. I am doing the layout now, and translating the savings
into color pages, something we had very little of in the past. Over
the past 4 years, our average cost per issue is still approximately
$4,600. Current feedback suggests that the increase in color
pages has been favorably received by our members.
Member articles are very much appreciated. In particular, articles about restoration of an instrument, including
before/after pictures, are particularly desirable. Very good recent
examples are those by Ray Fairfield, Stephen Goodwin, Jim
Lowell, Peter Phillips, Tockhwock, and Richard Zipf. Such articles are undeniably a huge commitment and difficult to compile
on a consistent basis. All members are strongly encouraged to
commit to progressive documentation, by photo and text, of
future restorations.
Columns by various of our members continue to be
encouraged. Matthew Jaro's "Nickel Notes", and Ken Long's
"Lost and Found" are excellent examples. More are invited
embracing such as "A Visit With ......... ", or "The Story Behind
.......... "
In my role in providing original literature into AMICA's
on-library, some 47 documents have been added over past year,
with 24 of them emerging from member contributions. There
would have been more, but all my AMlCA activities tend to hob-
321
ble my quest for new old original literature. The library now contains about 430 documents, making it now a very useful repository for personal research.
ln earlier years, AMlCA and related associations thrived
through the continuing stream of literary nourishment emerging
from Harvey Roehl and his Vestal Press. When it evaporated, we
were deprived of that critical nourishment and a gradual decline
emerged within all related associations. In recent years, we are
seeing a revival of interest in new literature, such as "The Golden
Age of Automatic Musical Instruments" by Art Reblitz.
Q. David Bowers, author of a number of publications
over the years, has recently written a number of new books. As
an outright gift, he graciously offered to AMICA a manuscript,
"Violin-Playing Machines", co-authored by himself and Art
Reblitz, for publication by and for AMICA. I have completed the
layout and it will soon be published. He successfully invited a
number of grand patrons to make significant contributions to
AMICA to help defray total costs.
This initiative will somewhat follow in the footsteps of
AMICA's publication of the purple Welte book, authored by
Charles Davis Smith and Richard Howe. This occurred in the
early 90's and AMICA earned a net of $7,000+ for its commitment. An RFQ is in the process of being requested, and upon its
receipt, it is expected that AMICA will be asked to commit to an
initial expenditure in excess of $10,000, offset in part by donations by Grand Patrons.
Q. David Bowers has also authored "An Encyclopedia
of Disc Music Boxes" soon to be published, and is currently
working on "American Coin-Operated Instruments", also soon to
be published. Watch for announcements in our AMICA Bulletin. AMICA member, Bill Edgerton, has initiated an independent reference library of significant interest to AMICA members - Mechanical Music Library, International, Inc.,. Bill is also
a member of MBSI, and to get this library started he entered into
a contract with MBSI. MBSI has agreed to make its archives
available to the MMLI on the understanding that much of it will
eventually be digitized, and all of it be made publicly available,
dominantly for research purposes.
Conversely, AMICA has few physical archives. It does
have a digitized on-line library of some 430+ items of original
literature in digital format. Some years back, AMlCA donated its
physical archives to the International Piano Archives at Maryland
(IPAM). I have never been able to determine what is in the
AMICA collection at IPAM.
I personally donated 25 books to this newly formed
MMLI. All are either duplicates or have already been digitized. I
am very supportive to donating physical archives to the MMLI,
but only after they have been digitized.
Prior negative experience with access of such material
at the University of Maryland strongly suggest that donations of
original literature to institutions should only occur after they
have been digitized. Institutions typically excel as caring for and
protecting original physical archives, but typically severely
restrict access. It is expected that access to the MMLl collection
will be much less restrictive, particularly so in favor of our members.
2. That the Board approve in principle the MMLI proposal, Recommendations
1. That the Board approve in principle a commitment to support
publication of this "ViolinPlaying Machines".
2011 ... The England Convention is now past, and it was a great
trip.
2012 .. .. Pittsburgh, PA.
322
Terry Smythe, Editor
smvthe@shaw .ca
Membership Secretary Report
As of September 15, 2011 we had 1107 members (This
number includes Affiliates, Founding Members, Gifted Members, Honorary Members.) Of these 1107 members, 1091 were
paying or gifted members. A member can be an individual, a
family or an organization.
New members and rejoining members: So far this calendar year we have 52 new and rejoining members. We have about
the same number of members as last year.
Late Dues Payments: The deadline for payments is January 31. Dues notices are sent to everyone in mid-November.
Reminder notices are sent in February with a requested late fee,
which some people honor.
Payment Methods: AMICA accepts cash, checks, credit
cards (not debit) and PayPal. This year Robbie Tubbs has been
receiving the PayPal notices and forwarded them to the Membership Secretary and to the Treasurer, but this should soon be
changed so that PayPal will come directly to the Membership
Secretary.
Gift memberships have been made available for one
year from piano technicians for their clients. Advertising: in the
renewal letters a coupon for a free 100 word classified advertisement is included as part of the renewal.
Archivist Report
Over the last year I have received with great regularity
the bimonthly shipments of extra Arnica Bulletins. The amount
of Bulletins received greatly exceeds the number needed to fill
the few requests that come in from Terry. Over the last year shipments of Bulletins have been
made to; France, Australia, Texas and the ice cream parlor in
Columbus, Indiana. The initial request for 40 bulletins to each of
these foreign counties proved to be very costly so the shipment
was reduced to five. Terry has suggested that foreign authors
needing extra copies of their articles develop a means of making
copies from withn their countries from PDF electronic copies of
the Bulletin. The storage of the old Bulletins is becoming a major
problem. I give away to every visitor that comes thru as many
Bulletins as they will take but that hasn't put a dent in the pile.
The officers of Arnica fairly soon need to make a decision on the
disposition of these old issues. I am reluctant on my own, to
make the decision to take them to a recycling facility but that is
eventually what I will be forced to do.
Respectfully submitted Tom Hutchinson
Convention Chairman Report
2013 ... San Francisco, CA.
2014 ... Denver, Colorado
2015 ... Pending confirmation.
We need chapters to host conventions in the coming
years. It is work, but it is fun, too. No one knows your area like
you do, and the best places to go. Really, it's each chapter's
responsibility to host in turn, so talk to your chapter members
and call Frank if you can do it. We need from 2016 on.
Respectfully submitted
Frank Nix
AMICA honor Roll Report
During 2011 I have received the following nominees to
add to our Honor Roll:
Dr. Frank Adams (Automatic Music Roll Company)
Jeffrey Morgan (literary contributions to the Bulletin)
Durrell Armstrong (player piano supplies)
On a sad note, larry Givens, an Honor Roll member has recently passed away.
Any additions, corrections or other information is
always welcome to update our Honor Roll list.
Tom Stengel
Memorial Committee Report
The following is the final Memorial Committee Report
for the year of 2010. This report includes activity from August
2010 through 10 March 2011.
Memorials Received By Sandy Swirsky With Membership
Renewals
Memorial Gift
Albrecht. William and Rosemary
Olds. Dorothy
Andre, Norman
Drapkin, Christina
Chase, Thomas
Spencer, John
Bird, Linda
Cappel. Ron
Chapman, Bill
Diamond, Franklin
Edwards, John
Epstein, Benjamin
Glier, Daniel
Goldman, Kenneth
Howard, Robert
Irelan, Wayne
Isogai, Norio
Jacobs, Eileen
Launderville, Joseph
Linker, Jack
Metcalf, Peter
Palmer, Tony
Tracey, Ed
Tyler, Charles
In Memory Of
Derald Kirlin
Whitney, Bill
Willing, James
Lange, Lloyd
Barret, Andrew
Rutoskey, John & Elza. Dennis
Ubreita. Javier
Tom Grace & Jerrv Doring
Total donations to the Memorial Fund are $621.00.
Thank you letters have been written to all donors and acknowledgement letters that a memorial donation has been given. have
been sent to the families of memorial recipients. The Memorial
Committee Chairman has sponsored all postage as a contribution
to AMICA.
Ray Dietz, Chairman
Website Manager Report
Our visit counter now reads 89,259. Compared to last
year's reading of 76,121 we've had over 13,000 visits to our website this year. This averages to 36 visits per day.
The major improvement made this year was to standardize the way the "Historic Video" is handled on the MembersOnly area. My changes now allow computers of any kind (Windows, Apple, Unix, hand-held etc.) to be able to view the videos,
whereas this was not the case before. I was lucky enough to have
the owner of the MMD, Jody Kravitz help me accomplish a
tricky section of necessary programming. The project took me
about 10-hours total to complete.
Additional functionality is the ability of a visitor to
translate the webpage into any number of languages, making the
website truly international. In the heading of each page is a pulldown list of languages the user can choose from. This improvement should assist non-English speaking visitors to enjoy our
content and learn more of what we're about.
Jack Edwards in San Jose continues to field inquiries
from the site. Terry Smythe in Winnipeg continues to provide
new content to the "Original Literature" section of the MembersOnly page.
If you haven't visited lately, please go to
www.amica.org, and take advantage of the great documents,
movies and sound recordings found only in our Members-only
area. The login Name and Password to this exclusive area is
located in your latest Bulletin at the top of the masthead.
Karl Ellison, Website Manager
Founding Chapter Report
President: John Ulrich
Vice President: Karen Simon
Secretary: Bob & Bonnie Gonzalez
Treasurer: Lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirsky
Reporter /Newsletter: Jack & Diane Edwards
Board Rep: Lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirsky
The Founding Chapter, which includes Northern California and Western Nevada, has 56 paying memberships, 78 individuals. Our total treasury is $4,888.16 as of 8/31/2011. This year
we held six meetings. They were held at the homes of: Julie
323
Porter, Roy Powlan, Bruce Grimes & Tockhwock, John Ulrich,
Bob & Bonnie Gonzalez and Richard Reutlinger. We also supported the Organ Rally in Sutter Creek.
The Founding Chapter is sponsoring the 2013 Convention in San Francisco to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of
AMICA. We are working diligently toward that event. We hope
to see everyone there !
Sandy Swirsky and Lyle Merithew, Board Representatives
Chicago Area Chapter Report
In the Chicago Area Chapter we ended 2010 with 75
memberships (124 members) which reflects a slight decrease for
the calendar year. We gave a $1000 donation to the Sanfilippo
Foundation which donates to local and national charity organizations. Our 4 meetings were all quite different this year with a
good turnout for each one. We waited for spring this year to
insure good weather before we began our meetings.
On May 16th about 25 mechanical music aficionados
joined many others for a delightful afternoon concert at The Polish Museum of America in Chicago. This 1935 museum, one of
the oldest ethnic museums in America, has a special room filled
with Paderewski memorabilia. This special concert was put
together by Rex Lawson and Denis Hall, founders of the Pianola
Institute in London, and was dedicated to the memory of the late
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria who had
just recently died in an airplane crash in Russia. The beautiful 7
foot 1925 Model AR Steinway was provided for the concert by
Jim and Wynette Edwards. The piano rolls featured works of
Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Debussy and Schelling along with
Ignace Jan Paderewski playing his own creations. In the Great
Hall of the Museum the piano resounded impressively and provided a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience for all.
Our June 6, a group of 25 was hosted in the home of
Margaret Bisberg and Richard VanMetre in Park Ridge, IL. They
have a medium size collection of disc and cylinder musical
boxes, a Steinway Duo Art piano, and a Victor Credenza phonograph. We enjoyed a great potluck dinner and homemade treats.
The discussions centered on the upcoming Union, IL antique
phonograph sale, the remaining Nipper dog table favors, and the
reissue of Leo Podolsky Ampico rolls.
In September Joanne and Jim Tharp hosted 30 people in
Palos Park. Their ranch home, decorated in the Arts and Crafts
style, comfortably accommodates their 1926 Steinway Duo Art
Reproducing Piano (Italian Renaissance style art case) and their
1929 Mason & Hamlin Ampico B Reproducing Piano (heavily
carved Louis XV walnut case). They also have some 1960s hi fi
equipment which includes a JBL Paragon stereo speaker and
some interesting model cars. Members brought side dishes and
desserts to the table. The Buffalo, NY convention news was
shared and the discussion centered on future meetings.
In December 141 attendees came to our holiday gala at
the Sanfilippo estate in Barrington, IL. In the late afternoon the
party began in the house where we were greeted on arrival with
holiday music. Two spectacular new additions, the Hupfeld
Helios ill/39 orchestrion and the 84 key Mortier Astrid cafe
organ, were featured in the theater. After a brief business meeting
around 5:30PM in the theater, we were treated to the party's high324
light, a live holiday concert on the 5 manual 80 rank Wurlitzer by
acclaimed theater organist, Jelani Eddington. Festivities then
moved to the Carousel Pavilion for more music, wine and a holiday buffet dinner in the midst of the 1890 Eden Palais Salon
Carousel and 24 fairground and dance organs. In addition, the
Steam Engine Gallery featured many beautifully restored marvels
of the industrial revolution. The colossal 110 key Gavioliphone
with resurrected angel trumpeters, maiden harpists and winged
lions delighted us all with more concert fare. A good time was
had by all.
Carol Veome, Chapter Secretary
heart of America Chapter Report
The Heart of America Chapter held three meeting in
2010 because a spring meeting had to be cancelled.
Our first meeting was an organ rally held at Gage Park
in Topeka, KA hosted by the Bechmans H.C. and Marlene. We
had approximately 30 participants who brought 8 street organ
and one accordion to perform at the park. As part of the event we
had a train ride around the park and a free ride on the carousel.
Later that evening we had a dinner at a local steakhouse. The
meeting concluded with a breakfast and chapter meeting at the
Bechman's house.
Our second meeting was in conjunction with an organ
rally at The Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Leawood,
Kansas. We had ten street organs and one large organ participating. That night some of us attended Ed a dinner theater performance in Overland Park, Kansas. The next morning we had a
breakest/ meeting at Trudy and Greg Moffitt's house.
Our third meeting was a split meeting held in December
at Harold Engelhaupt's house on Saturday and Doug Cussick's
house on Sunday. There were 38 participants for the happenings
at the Englhaupts. We began with a mart on Saturday morning
which represented a departure from what we usually did. This
was followed by a partially catered and partially prepared dinner.
The evening was topped off by our infamous gift exchange
which at times can become quite raucous.
On Sunday we meet at Doug and Barbara Cusick's
house in Leawood, Ks. 45 of us spent several hours listening to
the Cusick's large collection that included a variety of band
organs, a Hupfeld B Violina-Phonolist, a 1928 Mortier 84 key
orchestrion ,and a Mason-Hamlin reproducing piano. We then
had a marvelous brunch prepared by Barbara Cusick with assistance from several other members. We had a brief membership
meeting followed by more listen to the Cusick's many instruments.
Gary Craig, Board Rep
lady liberty Chapter Report
John Dousmanis, President (646) 638-2201
Vincent W. Morgan, Vice President (718) 479-2562
Maryam Morgan, Treasurer (718) 479-2562
Vincent & Maryam Morgan, Board Reps.
The Lady Liberty Chapter currently has 51 families (74
individuals) up from 44 families (68 individuals) in 2010 who
have paid their dues for 20 I I. We have been asked what our
secret is for getting new members. It is simple, members inviting
friends to meetings. We also have membership applications and
old AMlCA Bulletins on hand to give to guests. That's it.
In the second half of 2010 we held meetings at: the
home of Bill and Ann Edgerton on Sept. 11th and at the home of
Glenn Thomas and his wife, Kim Kleason, on Dec. 11th. In the
first half of2011 our activities included: 1-A rare outdoor treat of
the Pratt Institute's steam calliope on March 19th, 2-A meeting at
the home of Vincent and Maryam Morgan on April 23rd and 3The second annual organ rally at Nunley's Carousel in Garden
City.
The meetings at Edgertons and Morgans featured as our
special guest, Hi Babit. His memories, stories, ability to adlib on
the piano and his timely jokes held us spellbound. In fact, at the
Edgertons Bill had to ask Hi for permission to show off his many
wonderful instruments.
The outdoor event with the steam calliope at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn was the first time that the calliope had been used
outdoor except for New Year's Eve. People came from 3 blocks
away to find out what was making that strange and VERY
LOUD music. Quite a few of them lined up to try their hands at
the keyboard. Most were stumped at the time delay between
pressing a key and the sound. However, one professional pipe
organist was able to overcome this, having experienced similar
delays on pipe organs. Others finally figured out that they had to
just play and not listen to the music themselves. It was a wonderful and fun-filled event.
The organ rally is the one that wasn't. Not one of the
organs showed up whose owners promised to be present. However, Vincent Morgan did take his Castlewood busker organ and
was able to persuade people to crank a few tunes. We also sold
piano rolls at 50¢ each or 3 for $ 1.00 and gave people copies of
the AMICA Bulletin. Later we were given a free tour of the Long
Island Space Museum.
Someone in NJ donated 750 player piano rolls to the
Chapter. Those who attended the meeting at the Morgans were
able to take their pick for a donation to the Chapter. Some members came a couple days early to find special gems. Others
picked some out at the meeting and even came back later for
more. 45 of them were donated to a missionary couple in Montreal who use a player piano in their ministry. There are still
about 150 available.
In December a single ballot was cast for all officers to
remain in their respective positions, with a unanimous positive
vote.
Vincent & Maryam Morgan,
Lady Liberty Board Reps.
Midwest Chapter Report
President- Don Johnson
Vice President- Liz Barnhart
Secretary- Hilda Merchant
Treasurer- Alvin Wulfekuhl
Reporter- Christy Counterman
Board Rep- Liz Barnhart
The Midwest Chapter has 60 family memberships. Any-
one is welcome, but our main area is Ohio, Indiana, Michigan
and Western Ontario. We convened a chapter meeting in the Atrium of the
Genesee Building during the Buffalo Convention with 16 members in attendance. We discussed our future meeting sites as well
as other business.
Our Fall Meeting hosted by Don Johnson and Bob
Andersen was in the Detroit, Ml area on Sat-Sun., Oct. 23-24.
We toured Woodlawn Cemetery with the help of lra Grinnell,
who told us about his grandfather and gave us insights into his
life and piano business beginning in the early 1900's. His efforts
in promoting music education in Detroit helped make player
pianos popular in Michigan. Our guide was very convincing, but
we later found out he was an impersonator and a friend of Bob
and Don's. We visited the grave of Richard Storrs Willis who
wrote, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" and sang his song in
his memory. We saw the elaborate gravestones of many Motown
artists and the memorial stone for Michael Jackson. Also included, were crypts of early automotive pioneers like Horace Dodge
and Edsel Ford.
Saturday evening was an Octoberfest celebration at Don
and Bob's with the singing of German songs around their 1917
Schumann 88 note piano. On Sunday morning we returned to
Don and Bob's for a delicious brunch and business meeting.
Our Spring Meeting was held May 7-8 in Columbus, IN.
We started with a bus tour of many National Historic Landmarks
in the area and ended back at the Visitors Center where we
enjoyed their beautiful collection of Chihuly glass. We then went
to Zaharakos' Ice Cream Parlor and Museum for dinner and
enjoyment of their beautiful music machines. During dinner we
were serenaded by Hugh Mcintire on his player accordion.
Across the street from Zaharakos' was a city building being used
for a high school prom. We were unexpectedly treated to 2 hours
of a parade of teens arriving for the prom in every sort of vehicle
available (limos, convertibles, Army trucks, hay wagons, semi
cabs, horse and buggy carriages, etc.). They circled the block at
least 3 times before alighting to go into the prom and many
townspeople were there to enjoy the proceedings. Our business
meeting was held at the hotel on Sunday morning.
Our next meeting is planned for Traverse City, Ml in
October.
Liz Barnhart- Midwest Chapter Board Rep
northern lights Chapter Report
President - - - - - Paul Watkins
Vice President Secretary - - - - -Mark Kraabel
Treasurer - - - - Barb Watkins
Reporter - - - - - Jerrilynn Boehland
Board Rep - - - - Paul Watkins
Our local chapter holds three to four membership meetings and/ or events with attendance ranging from 10 to 20 people.
On a national level our membership surpasses local participation.
With MN, N & S Dakota and Manitoba we have a total of 35 single and/or family memberships (+/- 55 people). Some national
members don't participate locally while others participate only
through MBSI. Christmas is the best attended and it has been a
325
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member hosted party each year. Our attending members prefer
the "hosting" of meetings, but in looking at what other chapters
do 1 notice a considerable amount of festivals, rallies, museums,
theaters, etc. Some are even two day events covering both Saturday and Sunday. This is evidently an area for further consideration by our chapter. Another consideration would be more
advanced planning of meeting dates and sites.
Usually in the early spring Don Barton of Barton Player
Piano Co. hosts a Piano Roll Flea Market and Silent Movie/
Organ Concert. This was year eleven and it was a March Saturday enjoyed by customers, families looking for adventure and
newbies. We're fortunate to have Don as a participating member.
He is a player piano rebuilder/technician who has been active in
our local chapter for many years.
We often participate in a Phipps Center For The Arts
organ concert in Hudson, WI. This year it was an early summer
June event, but many times it's Winter or Spring. They have outstanding concerts played by leading organists and we combine
that with an AMICA meeting and lunch or dinner. They have a
wonderful Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ with an attached Wurlitzer Grand Piano which helps to attract some very good performers Summer in Minnesota is almost sacred and it's wrapped
into twelve (1 2) weekends that start with June, July and end with
August. Doing group events during this time is hard to plan
because outdoor activity is at a premium. However, a boat ride in
late August or early September should be OK, but those three
months are close to being sacrosanct.
Our Christmas 2011 plans have yet to be established.
Several people may be interested in hosting our year end event,
but nothing has "come to the fore." However, we finished 2010
with a delightful Christmas Party hosted by Randy Hammond at
his home in Brooklyn Center, MN. We held the party a little later
in December than usual because he wanted some extra time to
"spiff up a bit." Randy was a gracious host and we all enjoyed his
extensive collection of phonographs, pianos and antiques. Our
afternoon was spent in conversation and music from Randy's
1923 Fisher Ampico-A grand and his 1920 Steinway Duo Art
upright. He also has a 5'8" Mason & Hamlin Ampico that's
awaiting restoration. A nice surprise was Terry Smythe appearing
with Christmas presents after making his trek from snowy Winnipeg. Terry presented a DVD to each Chapter member on "The
Art of Piano," which contains rare archival footage of many
reproducing piano artists. Randy provided a sumptuous buffet
and members brought complementary dishes. We toured the
house, played records and music rolls and closed out the Winter
daylight hours in Randy's warm and cozy musical environs.
Submitted by Paul Watkins, Chapter President.
Southern California Chapter Report
Our chapter is alive and well, and has an active agenda.
We have had meetings at the homes of Mike and Marilyn Ames,
joint meeting with MBSI), the Christmas party at the lovely
home of Dana Bashor, a joint venture as always with MBSI, and
in February we were fortunate to have a meeting at the home of
Fred and Deanna Roth. April found us at the home of Frank and
Shirley Nix. In June we traveled to the Dana Point home of Mike
and Kathy Choate. It's really appreciated when people open their
homes for a meeting.
328
We won't have a meeting in August, since the Convention starts then. We also had organ rallies in Sutter Creek, Long
Beach and the Los Angeles Arboretum. These were all very successful and a lot of fun. Our Treasury stays pretty solid, with a good balance.
Jerry Pell is our President, Mike Choate is Vice-President, hirley
Nix is Secretary, Dianne Reidy is our Treasurer, and Frank Nix is
our International Board Rep.
We're looking forward to another year of fellowship and
sharing of this wonderful world of mechanical music.
Submitted by
Shirley Nix
SOWnY Chapter Report
The SOWNY Chapter is an active chapter in the Southern Ontario and Western New York area. We have a current chapter membership of22 paying members representing 12 households. Our financial outlook is steady. We have $2,500 in a Certificate of Deposit and $943 in a Savings Account for a total of
$3,443 in assets after all2010 convention expenses are accounted
for. Chapter meetings were held in September 201 0, December
2010, May 2011, June 20 11, and July 2011 . The December
meeting was the ever popular Christmas Party/Meeting, held at
Mike and Holly Walter's house. Plans for 2011 -2012 include
scheduling Chapter meetings for Spring, Summer and Fall.
Glenn Roat, SOWNY Chapter President
Texas Chapter Report
The Texas Chapter has 51 household memberships, representing 79 persons.
The treasures report shows a bank balance
12/31/09 12/31110
$2193.65 $2131.74
The chapter had 4 scheduled meetings in the year 2010.
In March, the chapter met in the lovely home of Vance and Judy
Kemler in Corinth, Texas, near the shores of Lake Lewisville.
They have a 1917 Weber Player Grand Piano, equipped with a
CRSP Pianomation digital system, a Symphonium 19" upright, a
polyphone 15 1/2" music box, a Bremond 13" cylinder music
box with bells, a Hofbrauer Harmonipan pushcart organ, a miniature Ferris wheel band organ, and a Scopitone jukebox and video.
Other items include a Scopitone, a Hofbauer monkey organ and a
few Edison cylinder phonographs as well as a number of antique
clocks. Vance and Judy became interested in automatic musical
instruments when Vance's parents, Arden and Charlotte Kemler,
College Station, Texas, joined AMICA and MBSI.
Our second meeting was held on May 23rd in the home
of the late Walter Moore, and his wife Jessie and son Charles.
They have a beautiful 1905 Aeolian Orchestrelle Model V, so
large they had to add a room to house it. They have a Melodeaux
piano which plays from large cardboard folded sheets of music,
and a 20 note Gem Roller Organ. They have many types of reed
organs, organettes and several music boxes. They have a 1925
Nelson-Wiggen Casino X Nickelodeon and a 1920 Aeolian Duo
Art upright piano. Charlie Moore has developed a computerized
process for pinning new Cob rollers. Jessie Moore has a beauti-
fully displayed doll collection. Some of the dolls have been
dressed in authenitic period clothing by her daughter, who is a
former editor of a doll magazine.
In October, the Chapter had a rare treat, a "grande"
meeting in the estate home of Ken Long. Some 63 music aficionados attended. Mr. Long, a former President of the chapter,
has an estate home with 3 floors of museum quality instruments
and pianos. His collection includes 15 reproducing pianos with
Ampico, Duo Art, Welte, or Apollo reproducing systems. A
description of the many pianos and instruments can be found in
AMICA Bulletin (Nov.-Dec.,2010) pp.394-398. Amica is indeed
fortunate to have Ken Long as a member and collector of museum quality instruments.
The Year 2010 ended with a wonderful and gala Christmas Party at the home of Sal and Elaine Mele in Dallas. This
well attended (32 persons) meeting showcased the Mele's collection. This includes a 1921 Steinway Grand piano with a QRS
Pianomotion MIDI system and a 1926 Kranich and Bach Welte
art case grand piano. They also have a 1929 Steck Duo-Art
reproducing upright piano, a 19th century pump organ, and many
music boxes. A fine dinner followed the demos and set the stage
for the "Chinese" gift exchange. This was a beautiful finale to the
year 2010.
Submitted by Suzanne and John McCall
Rocky Mountain Chapter Report
Jere DeBacker, President Ken Hodge, Vice President Louise Lucero, Secretary Barry Weiss, Treasurer
The Rocky Mt. Chapter of AMICA had a good year
with Five to Seven meetings - depending on how you count
between December of 2010 to October of 2011. We gained several new members, and we have all our members paid and current in the chapter and we verify that they are in AMICA International as well. Our long time member Ben Haass moved back to
Colorado from North Carolina, Clara Wingfield moved to Aurora, CO from Kansas. We had AMICA members from Utah,
Wyoming, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, and of course Colorado at various meetings through the year. We always welcome
guests and encourage them to join our club. December 11, 2010 we were hosted by Bill and Rosanna
Harris at their collection of European dance organs, Orchestrions,
phonographs and music boxes. We always have a large turnout
and this meeting is no exception. We shared a meal and listened
to music as we enjoyed the Holiday Spirit. December 12, 2010 we were entertained by Dick
Kroeckel with his 9’6" Steinway Duo-Art and his thousands of
piano rolls and around a dozen or so of his other pianos. It’s
always a feast of music at Dick’s house. Earlier that day we
enjoyed brunch and a meeting at the home of Steve McCormick,
which is right down the street from Dick’s home. Steve always
entertains in the grand style and his Art-Echo piano is something
which no one else has. One or the other of his pianos played the
whole time we were there. The winter weather was perfect, of
course. April 2, 2011 took us to Colorado Springs, Colorado to
the home and shop of Art and Jeannie Reblitz where we were
invited to view the latest restoration which was a Weber Unika.
It was built in Germany in 1917. What a thrill to hear and see an
instrument of this caliber and hear about the interesting engineering, design and construction of such a complex machine. Especially for it’s age. It’s really fun to preview these instruments
before they fine their new home in a big collection elsewhere. June 25, 2011, we had a most interesting visit to the
Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, Colorado. The Carousel
has a beautiful working and restored Wurlitzer 125 Military Band
Organ. The animals were all carved by our host, Scott Harrison
who started this dream many years ago from a gift of a music box
from his sister, while stationed in Viet Nam. Scott and his wife
and the Carousel of Happiness are a tremendous addition to our
state and to our Rocky Mt. AMICA chapter! July 11, 2011 - The Last Harrah at the Harris’ Collection. We’ve all been there - but we are always ready to go again.
Always something new, and something else working, and this
time the group included members of MBSI, the local antique
Phonograph Club, the Rocky Mt. Chapter of AMICA and guests
from members of all the organizations. It was a big crowd, a big
day, and yet it was quiet relaxed and fun to enjoy and say good
bye to this glorious attraction to our club. October 15, 2011 - One Fine Piano and the marriage of
two centuries of technology with a Virtual Roll Player System
and a Steinway Duo-Art. The home and lovely family piano of
Rick England and his wife Jill Seabrook was the focus of our
meeting. Everyone enjoyed the time and the piano and the
music. This instrument is an inspiration. And Bob Hunt from
Maine was there to talk about his work and his development of
the Virtual Roll Player System. October 16, 2011 - Our very own Founding Chapter
Member, Dick Kroeckel was one of the featured performers at
the Paramount Theater in Downtown Denver. The program was
called Red White & Blue Ragtime Revue with Dave Wickerham
on the Wurlitzer Theater Organ and Dick Kroeckel on the Concert Grand Steinway. It was a great afternoon and nearly as
many AMICA members attended as were at our official meeting
the day before in Ft. Collins. Boston Area Chapter Report
Since the last report, the Boston Area Chapter has met at
the historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI (September 26, 2010), in
Hopkinton, MA at the residence and piano museum of Charles
Jackson (June 26, 2011), in Harvard, MA at the home of Phil and
Phyllis Konop (March 20, 2011), and at the shop of Louis Gentile in Quincy, MA (September 11, 2011).
On August 13, 2011, a crew from the chapter delivered
a piano to the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
in Waltham, MA, known as the Watch City. It is a 1920 Marshall and Wendell upright replacing an Aeolian piano that was
ruined in a flood. The museum is in an old mill on the Charles
River, and in a spring flood, the score was River 1—Museum 0. The Aeolian, restored by chapter members, had been
donated in September 2009 as a replacement for an upright that
had been in the museum and demonstrated for visitors for many
years—but had seen its days. The chapter is committed to maintaining the placement of a piano in the museum, since it is near
the entrance and happily demonstrated by museum staff. In
2009, the chapter held its fall meeting there.
329
A Visit to the Popper & Co. Showroom
by Q. David Bowers
Popper & Co.
In the 1970s I was co-owner with Claes O. Friberg of
the Mekanisk Musik Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Located
at Vesterbrogade 150 in a three-story brick mansion, the museum
was a great attraction in its time, until it closed at the end of the
decade. Visitors could see, hear, and enjoy a wide selection of
instruments, from small music boxes to large orchestrions,
including a Weber Maesto, Seeburg Style H, Imhof & Mukle,
and Lösche Titania. Other attractions included an Hupfeld Dea
and Steinway Welte reproducing pianos, Encore Automatic
Banjo, Monopol “Gnome,” Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina, Mills
Violano-Virtuoso, and more. Part of the MMM business involved the buying and selling of automatic musical instruments. Claes O. Friberg made a
special arrangement with the DDR (East Germany) that allowed
him and me to travel unrestricted. If I recall correctly, there were
three types of passes available to Danes and Americans: a day
pass to visit something specific, a longer pass for which an itinerary had to be approved in advance, and an unrestricted pass. The
government had an agency that specialized in the acquisition and
sale of antiques. If a citizen had a music box, Ariston organette,
or other small instrument for sale, the government would either
buy it outright or make some other arrangement—and move it to
a central warehouse. If someone had a Hupfeld Sinfonie Jazz 19,
Popper & Co. Gladiator, or other large instrument, a government
agent would take a picture of it and send it to Claes. He would
then visit the owner on his next trip to East Germany and make
an arrangement with the owner to buy it. The government collected a fee of some sort.
Although Claes went there many times and bought a lot
of things—mostly table top music boxes by Polyphon, Symphonion, and Kalliope, plus many other lesser-known makes. I made
several trips in which we took time to track down old-timers in
the business, look through former factory buildings, and the like.
On one such trip to Leipzig we spent part of a day with Hanns
Popper, a son of Hugo Popper, who directed Popper & Co.
Popper & Co. was founded in Leipzig in the early 1891
as a wholesaler of small musical goods, mainly for export to the
Orient. By the mid-1890s the company made a specialty of disc
music boxes and handed the goods of several different makers
and had a worldwide clientele, working with other wholesalers
and manufacturers. Into the 20th century the company expanded
and offered a selection of automatic pianos, organs, and
orchestrions. Many of these were sold under the Popper & Co.
name, but were made by others. By 1904 the firm was manufacturing many of its own instruments, including roll-operated and
barrel-operated orchestrions. The last, driven by weights, found a
ready market in many small towns and villages not yet wired for
electricity.
In 1904 Hugo Popper worked with Karl Böckisch and
Edwin Welte (of M. Welte & Sons of Freiberg im Breisgau) in
the development of the world’s first reproducing piano—the
Welte Mignon. The “Mignon” name was selected, as in French it
meant “small,” which it was indeed in comparison to the firm’s
large orchestrions. In Leipzig at the offices of Popper & Co. the
Welte Mignon was tested and developed and held the registration
330
for the trademark. Hugo Popper was a
raconteur of sorts, enjoyed the company of
leading musicians, and was highly respected for his enthusiasm, generosity, and
innovations. By the end of the first decade
of the 20th century Popper & Co. was mak- Q David Bowers
ing many of the instruments it sold, rather
than depending on suppliers. The Welte Mignon was introduced
in 1906 and soon marketed worldwide by M. Welte & Sons. The
Popper offices included a recording studio, and all of the early
masters were made there.
Hugo Popper died in 1910, from “too much of the good
life,” his son Hanns said. However, he probably died with a smile
on his face. An obituary and tribute appeared the November 21,
1910, issue of Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, and an English
translation of this (by Claes O. Friberg) is in The Encyclopedia
of Automatic Musical Instruments, pages 584 and 585. Popper &
Co. was carried on by others and continued into the early 1930s.
Its line of instruments was remarkably extensive, with many different models of electric pianos and orchestrions, some of very
large size. The Popper & Co. Showroom Circa 1905
Hanns Popper recalled the family business with fondness. During our visit he brought with him several catalogs, all of
which I had seen, except a brochure on the Popper exhibit and
concert hall at the 1911 Turin (Italy) Exposition and a catalog,
Bureaux und Mustersäle der Firma Popper & Co., Leipzig,
Reichsstrasse 53-55 (Offices and Display Salon of Popper & Co.)
Included in the last were 12 pictures of the Popper showrooms
with instruments for sale, circa 1905. Popper & Co. had recently
advertised itself as an orchestrion factory and had its own line of
models, most of which took paper rolls, but some of the smaller
styles used pinned barrels. In addition, Imhof & Mukle, the
orchestrion maker of Vöhrenbach, Germany, was well represented in the salon as was the Polyphon Musikwerke.
The salon was a magnet for visitors to the Leipzig Trade
Fairs held each year. Representatives came from all over the
world to inspect instruments that Popper made or represented and
made wholesale purchases. Selections emphasized large
orchestrions but also included disc music boxes, disc orchestrions, electric pianos, and foot-pumped piano players.
The pictures in the album were not captioned. Some
comments by the author are included here.
A room with five
large orchestrions
on the right and
one on the left,
probably by Imhof
& Mukle. At the
end is drapery on
the entrance to
another showroom, flanked by
torchieres—figures holding
lamps aloft.
A particularly large Imhof & Mukle orchestrion is against a drapery
background. An overstuffed chair is in front of it, comfort for a listener. At the right is a heater and to the far right a telephone or
intercom.
A table with disc phonographs, each with a brass horn, is the
focal point of this room. In the distance are some of the same
orchestrions pictured in the picture on previous page. An
orchestrion with orchestra bells (glockenspiel) in a lyre on the
front is seen to the right. At the left are standing figures on bases,
perhaps just ornamental rather than musical?
Two orchestrions of unknown make are seen, with a chair
between them. Disc music boxes are seen at the far right.
Disc phonographs with brass horns are in this well-lighted room.
Between the windows is a Polyphon disc music box on a stand, and
to the right are two orchestrions with pipes arranged symmetrically,
possibly made my M. Welte & Sons, with whom Popper had a close
relationship.
At the left is a Polyphon Rossini disc-operated orchestrion with a
winding crank on the right side. This was introduced in 1904. A
1906 brochure stated that 600 had been sold as of that time. At
the right is another Polyphon disc orchestrion.
Polyphon disc music boxes in deluxe walnut cases are at the
center of a room featuring several orchestrions, including an
Imhof & Mukle “Trumpeter of Sackingen” with animated figure at
the right.
331
To the left is an electric piano with a paper roll visible
below the keyboard. To the right is a large piano orchestrion.
Popper & Co. business office at Reichsstrasse 53-55.
A foot-pumped vorsetzer piano player is in the foreground with
orchestrions against the walls. The one at the left has a keyboard
and is a variation of the “Tonika” model
Popper full page cover
ads extracted from the
German music trade
journal Zeitschrift für
Instrumentenbau
(ZfI) on the dates
shown.
332
Aeolian Duo-Art Pipe Organ Concertola
by Paul Morris
Some notes about Concertola no.204
Thoughts about the
tracking mechanism
in concertolas
I acquired this wonderful machine in December 2001
from Jim Russell, together with the Aeolian Pipe Organ that was
Paul Morris
commissioned for Walter Langshaw in 1919. The Concertola, as
how
the
system
works
far as I am aware, was not originally used with this organ, but
These are thoughts based on observations made from
rather just part of Jim Russell's large collection of “ Aeoliana”
concertola 204 which is an early design front loading player,
Jim Russell was selling his collection at this time, and the Conclaimed to be made by Aeolian-Skinner, but thought to have been
certola was offered as part of the deal that included the 33 rank
Aeolian Pipe Organ Op.1458. I am quite sure that the role of the refurbished by them some years after initial manufacture. I do
not claim to have solved every
Concertola was to act as “bait”
last problem associated with
to entice an otherwise reluctant
this fairly complicated device,
purchaser of what might be
but these are my thoughts so
considered a huge pile of junk!
far.
I was so overwhelmed
The roll tracking and tracker
by what I found in New Hampbar expansion functions are
ton then, that I rather failed to
effectively combined into one
appreciate the scarcity, ingenudevice with two pneumatic
ity and desirability of the Conmotors, one of them a double
certola amongst all the other
motor, and activated by two
things that were becoming
edge triggers, which are
mine that day, and I think it is
adjustable by grub screws set
true to say that only now, as I
into the tracker bar. Both of
write these notes, the full joy of
the pneumatic motors work on
ownership has sunk it. It realwhat was known as the “bally is an amazing machine!
anced system” which functions
Although the concept
without valves. The motors
of a Concertola – a device
Aeolian Duo-Art Concertola #204, for a Duo-Art Pipe Organ
are constantly connected to a
capable of being loaded with a
vacuum supply via tube no. 25 and collapse until a bleed is
quantity of rolls and giving a continuous performance – was
opened by tubes connected to the edge triggers, whereupon they
probably around for a long time prior to its realization, they seem
to have been first introduced around 1927. Because of their remain in a state of balance. These tubes go via cut-off pouches,
immense cost, starting at $3000, and the fact that they were made and are only open when the hole in the take-up spool (sleeve
when they were, it is unlikely that more than several hundred valve) is closed by roll paper as it is spooled onto it. (This fires
were sold. Contemporary opinion seems to indicate that, in the external valve no. 13a which amongst other things applies the
hands of the wealthy patrons who first owned them, they often necessary vacuum to open the the cut-offs.) If the system is set
misbehaved. No doubt their high quality wooden cabinets were up correctly, this state will have caused the tracker bar to contract
all too often later gutted in order to make way for a drinks cabi- to the correct size for the roll paper, and held the tracker bar in a
net or the like – something with which their owners would have central position, as indicated by the alignment holes punched at
the beginning of the roll.
had no difficulty. Initially, the tracker bar is at its maximum length, but as
Concertola No. 204 was supplied by the Aeolian Skinsoon as the sleeve valve is closed, the expansion pneumatic (now
ner Company, which means that it must have been sold sometime
after the merger in 1931. Bearing in mind, however, that it has connected to the vacuum supply) begins to close, and continues
the earlier style of control panel, and the likelihood that only one to do so until the left hand trigger is just opened. Air enters
set of castings was made anyway, which were then finished as slowly through a small bleed* inside this motor. It then remains
required, I consider it to have been made around 1927 and sold at this position, having become balanced. If the roll has been
later, possibly having been refurbished after an earlier sale, or spooled on so as to be central on the tracker bar, as it must be,
kept for several years as a demonstration model somewhere. It only one trigger is needed to do this, because the tracker bar is
would be nice to know. It is probably the only Concertola in expanded and contracted symmetrically by levers operating at
England now, and certainly one of the very few that were made both ends of it. At this point, the right hand trigger should have
been adjusted so that it will be just resting on the right hand edge
that still works.
What we do know, however, are some of the rolls it of the roll.
Having reached the above state, so long as the roll
played during its lifetime, since their titles are still to be found in
tracks by itself perfectly, the tracking mechanism has no work to
the control panel. I would like to think that these were the last
do and will remain inactive. The double tracking pneumatic
rolls it played before becoming derelict, I suspect in the 1950s. motor will not move if both triggers are shut (since both are subAMICA Bulletin - Nov/Dec 2011
333
jected to the same level of vacuum) or if both triggers are open
(since both are being bled at the same rate) If the roll drifts to
the right, opening the trigger pallet will cause the tracking motor
to move in such a way as to push the tracker bar to the right, and
vice versa. The left hand ear will also cause a very small shift to
the expansion motor, but this is kept to a minimum since the
bleed in this motor ensures that even when the trigger opens,
only a small amount of air can enter, making for a small movement, and insignificant change made to the size of the tracker bar
whilst the change to the position of the tracker bar is made. This
is my understanding of it.
Setting up the system
1. Remove the tube from the sleeve valve, and the
drive chain to the spool.
2. Use the grub screws to throw both triggers towards
the edges of the tracker bar.
3. Have the concertola on, and call for a roll selected
for good condition.
4. Manually wind the roll onto the spool, and check
that it is centered, using the alignment holes. If it is
not, make it so, by adjusting the threaded rod which
connects the tracking pneumatic to the lever arm which
moves the tracker bar.
334
5. Now, connect the sleeve valve tube, and the tracker
bar starts to collapse.
6. Use the left hand trigger to set the size of the tracker bar, by moving it towards the edge of the paper,
using hole no. 172 (the first hole to be cut in the roll) as
a guide. This hole should end up centrally over antipenultimate tracker bar hole in the top row of holes.
7. Now, adjust the right hand trigger so it just touches the edge of paper.
8. Stop the concertola, and replace the drive chain.
Note to the above: as a result of studying the system, so
that I probably understood how most of it worked – it was clear
that at the time of writing, none of it was working properly. This
was almost entirely due to tracker bar tubing having been put on
too tightly, the combined effect of which made the tracker bar
and expansion sections almost impossible to move. Lengthening
the tubes and going back and thoroughly cleaning the expansion
levers had the desired effect, and the system performs almost
unbelievably well.
Ed Note: Paul Morris may be contacted at:
theatrone@yahoo.com
Midwest Chapter
President - Don Johnson
Reporters - Don Johnson. Bob Andersen We enjoyed perfect Midwest Fall weather for our October 22-23 meeting in the beautiful city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our first activity was to visit the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. The building and grounds are very attractive.
President Ford's entire life is portrayed as well as the events in
the tumultuous years of the end of the Nixon era and Gerald
Ford's becoming president. Particularly dramatic for most of us
was the exhibit with the stairs from the roof of the American
Embassy in Saigon where the last of the fleeing Vietnamese and
Americans were rescued by helicopter! This exhibit represents
the end of American involvement in Vietnam, which occurred
during the Ford presidency. Both President Ford and his wife
Betty were laid to rest on the grounds of the Museum.
Following the Museum, our group moved on to the
beautiful Meijer Conservatory and Sculpture Garden. This is
a very large and attractive center with excellent displays of plant
materials, supplemented by unique sculpture. Of particular note
among the sculptures is a mammoth bronze horse designed by
Leonardo da Vinci and completed by American artist Nina
Akamu with the assistance of a $2.5 million donation by Henrik
Meijer, son of the founder of the Meijer store chain. The photo
of Don Johnson and the horse gives some idea of the immensity
of the bronze statue. There were extensive exhibits of plant material, both indoors and in the outside gardens. We spent a very pleasant Saturday evening over dinner
and on Sunday morning gathered for a wonderful brunch at our
hotel, followed by our business meeting. Sunday afternoon we
toured the Meyer May house which was designed by Frank
Lloyd Wright. It has received extensive renovation and a very
interesting guided tour was enjoyed by our group. The near-perfect Michigan Fall weather made our visit to Grand Rapids a
delight.
Enjoying a
favorite
AMICA
activity Checking
out the Gift
Shop at the
Gerald R.
Ford
Presidential
Museum.
Meijer Conservatory
and
Sculpture
Garden
Midwest
President
Don Johnson admiring the da
Vinci horse
in Meijer
Gardens.
Did Don
grow or
the horse
shrink?
Tour leader Bob Andersen outlining the visit to Nancy and Ed
Group, Bennet Leedy, Carole and Dan Harrett at the impressive
entrance to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.
Dan and Carole
Harrett, Bennet
Leedy, Don
Johnson, Nancy
and Ed Group
admiring the
beautiful
grounds surrounding the
Ford Museum.
Bob Andersen
spending a
moment with
old friends?
335
Bob Andersen, Don Johnson, Ed Group, Thad Kochanny, Bennet Leedy, Nancy Group, Carole and Dan Harrett
at the Meijer Conservatory and Sculpture Gardens.
Alvin
Wulfekuhl
and Shirley
Ekvall in the
foreground
with all of
the group
enjoying
Saturday
night dinner
together.
The
wonders
of Frank
Lloyd
Wright
total
design.
The group
gathers outside
the Meyer May
house to say
goodbye after
the end of the
weekend.
Thad Kochanny
and Don Johnson discuss the
subtleties of
Frank Lloyd
Wright residence
design.
336
Founding Chapter
Founding Chapter
President - John Ulrich
Reporter - Bob Gonzalez
President - John Ulrich
Reporter - Bob Gonzalez
Parking was tight this holiday weekend (3 Sep) in the
established older neighborhood where Don ellison’s beautiful
home is located. I parked about half a block away. As Bonnie
and I strolled toward Don’s home, the sound of the KT Special
was heard all around. It was a sure sign of a good musical time
to come.
Don’s home is graced with a large backyard with a
cabana to provide a shady area for food and drink. The guests sat
around umbrella-shaded tables to enjoy lunch and chat about the
latest instruments to join the Chapter. The weather was sunny
and perfect.
After lunch and a short business meeting conducted by
President John Ulrich, Nan Bostick treated the guests to a concert. Nan is a nationally known ragtime pianist and historian on
the topic of women ragtime composers. Gary Schneider, a theater organist with a long career in the Bay Area, sat at the Wurlitzer three manual electronic theater organ and played duets with
Nan. Then Gary took over and regaled the party with an hour of
popular music of the 1920s and 30s. It was wonderful!
Later, many fine Roy Bargy novelty rolls were heard
from Don’s 1921 Knabe Ampico grand piano. All in all, it was a
fine summer afternoon of vintage music. I wish you all could
have joined us. Thank you, Don.
The 30th was a glorious October day in Northern, California. Especially on the upper deck of the home of our host’s
lovely home, nestled in the Eastern Santa Rosa hills. Bruce
Grimes and Tochkwock opened their home for 31 members and
shared their three unique Duo-Art grand pianos for the Chapter’s
October meeting.
Our tour began with the smallest grand piano this
reporter had ever seen. A 4 ft. art case drawer Duo-Art grand
with the fan expression system. The piano did not always have
an art case. Inspired by the art-work on a roll box, Tochkwock
painstakingly duplicated the scene in delicate wood inlay. The
nine foot long work surrounding the piano case took six months
to complete.
The tour advanced to a 1910 Steinway grand extended
to 7’6” some forty years ago. This piano is equipped with a full
top action and a long-play fan system Duo-Art. The case was
refinished as a Georgian.
The highlight of the afternoon was one of the rare 10’6”
Steinway Duo-Arts. This was one of several built to travel the
world demonstrating expression pianos. When Tochkwock
obtained it, it had been shortened by six inches and was the victim of much abuse. Inapt technicians had discarded original parts
along the way. Tochkwock restored the case to its original length
and constructed a Duo-Art system for it. It plays beautifully.
The tone is superb whether hand-played or roll-played.
One of the Chapter members, Frederick Hodges, an
accomplished concert pianist, sat at the ten foot Steinway and
duplicated several Duo-Art performances. It was marvelous!
From outside on the deck, you could not tell the roll from Frederick’s playing.
Spencer Chase was on hand as well. He demonstrated
his new software designed to add lyrics to midi files by simply
tapping the computer keyboard space bar in time with the music.
The program inserts word syllables into the file so a midi player
can display the lyrics for sing-a-long sessions.
The afternoon was way too short for all these activities.
Add the fine buffet in the kitchen and you have another memorable Chapter meeting. Founding Chapter
leaders Blanche
Korfmacher and
Richard Reutlinger
share a moment
with Don's KT
Special. The
doors were open
to better hear it
play outdoors.
Ragtime pianist
Nan Bostic with
Rob Thomas and
organist Gary
Schneider enjoy a
shady spot in Don's
large backyard.
Ragtime performer and
historian Nan Bostic
begins an afternoon of
wonderful music playing Don Ellison's midi
equipped Schimmel 6'
grand piano.
Host Tochkwock extolling the virtues of their one-of-a-kind
Steinway D Duo-Art outfitted as a Pedal-Electric grand piano
337
(l to r) Newest
member Melissa Tillman,
Tochkwock and
Karen Simons
are ready for
Trick-or-Treat.
Full disclosure:
Our host often
wears Native
American clothing.
Our tour began with the smallest grand piano this reporter had
ever seen. The “Marionette” graced the cover of our Sep-Oct
2005 AMICA Bulletin. A 4 ft. art case drawer Duo-Art grand with
the fan expression system. The piano did not always have an art
case. Inspired by the art-work on a roll box, Tochkwock painstakingly duplicated the scene in delicate wood inlay. The nine foot
long work surrounding the piano case took six months to complete. Note the model river boat that Tochkwock made entirely
out of toothpicks.
Host Bruce
Grimes
busily
preparing
something
very special for
their
guests.
Ed Note: An illustration of the roll box may be seen in the May/Jun 2010
issue of our AMICA Bulletin.
Chapter VP
Karen Simons
with stride
pianist Mike
Lipskin.
While demonstrating their Marionette Duo-Art, Tochkwock displayed a period program in the same art style as the piano and
Arto roll box, and appealed for help in identifying the art style.
Frederick
Hodges
handplaying
Duo-Art rolls
at the 10'6"
Steinway D
John MottoRos, Darryl
Coe and
Julie Porter
enjoy good
conversation out on
the deck.
Ed Note:
Frederick Hodges may be contacted at:
http://www.frederickhodges.com
Mike Lipskin may be contacted at:
www.mikelipskinjazz.com/
338
lady liberty Chapter
President - John Dousmanis
Reporters - Vincent Morgan, Keith Bigger and Stephanie Varis
On October 1st 7 members of the Lady Liberty Chapter
and two guests met at the wonderful restored Victorian home of
Phil Jamison and lucille St. Pierre in West Chester, PA. Following a luscious lunch the hostess brought out a delicious
chocolate cake in honor of Maryam Morgan’s birthday. She didn’t get to take any home as several people insisted on seconds.
However, while the cake was being served, Lucille played an
Odin book organ from France, belting out a couple tunes, one of
which was “Happy Birthday”.
Following lunch we held a brief meeting. The chapter
reconfirmed our commitment of sending $500 to the Nisco
Museum in Ein Hod, Israel that had suffered severe loss in a
large forest fire in the area. Our Treasurer reported that our bank
account was moved to a new bank that doesn’t require a nonprofit organization to maintain a minimum balance of $5,000 and
that as soon as the new checks would be received that commitment could be fulfilled. Vincent Morgan, our Vice President, reported that in the
past several months over 1,000 piano rolls have been donated to
the chapter to be sold to people who would provide a happy
home for them. Many of those rolls went out in our March meeting. People came by at other times to buy even more of the rolls
that were still available. Between meetings many more rolls
were donated to the chapter with more people showing up at the
house to load up their cars still leaving many to be claimed at
Phil's house. There are still more rolls for a future meeting. We
suggest a donation to the chapter of $1.00 per roll, but no price is
too cheap. Our President, John Dousmanis reported on his rescue
of various reed organs and pianos in the past few months. He
said that one of the reed organs is one of only 6 known to still
exist by the company that built it. Keith Bigger reported on a piano that he had restored
about 25 years ago that was up for sale. It turned out that the
piano’s first owner was J. Ernest Cutting, who originated the first
amateur radio program titled “Airbreaks”. The more Keith
inquired of Mr. Cutting’s granddaughter, who wanted to sell the
piano, the more it was discovered what an influence this man had
on the entertainment industry. He discovered and promoted
many people who became famous stars. In his later years he
became an accomplished painter of seascapes, one of which was
purchased by John Wayne. There will be more, much more,
about this man and his contribution to the entertainment industry,
player and reproducing pianos, etc. in an upcoming Bulletin article.
Following the meeting we were entertained royally by
Phil Jamison, first in his home and then in his shop, which is
located about 2 blocks away in an old combination barn, carriage
house and stable.
Phil and Lucille's Victorian house with both gas and
electric lighting is magnificent and is a small version of Durward
Center’s house in Baltimore. The ceilings are papered with special wallpaper made specifically for that house. Many of the
items in the collection are unusual, one of a kind, items that most
of us had never seen before. In their home we saw several sand operated automata
pictures that did not have music. There was also a picture frame
automaton that portrayed a comical scene in the kitchen of a
French restaurant where none of us wanted to eat. A young man
was licking a freshly frosted cake while a nearby worker was
skinning a cat to be roasted and served as rabbit. The cook was
stirring something in a pot and others were doing various other
comical things.
Phil entertained us on his foot-pumped Steinway 65/88note pianola, which was located in the same position as an earlier
piano that he once worked on for the previous owners of the
house. Then came a Gavioli Meloton hand cranked reed organ
that is the size of many small street pipe organs, but had many
more notes and sounded like a large fair organ. Also in the house were: a Seeburg K, a French
Accordeon-Jazz Orchestrion, a Pierre Eich Accordeon-Jazz
Orchestrion, and several barrel organs and music boxes.
Once we had exhausted those instruments, we moved 2
blocks down the street and up an alley to the carriage house
where Phil’s workshop is located. We first encountered a Jan
Van Eyk, 51-key, Dutch street organ. Across the room were: a
1905 Maxwell and a 1921 Peugot in process of being restored to
their former glory. There were also a few other items waiting in
line for the master’s touch. On the second floor of the carriage house (the level
where carriages were once kept) we covered our ears when the
Gasparini barrel organ blared its trumpets. On display were also:
a small square piano, a Japanese Princess upright piano and a
copy of a 7'4", 1772 Backers English fortepiano made by Peter
Redstone for Williamsburg.
We all had a marvelous time, ending with people raiding
donated piano rolls that were in the back of the Morgan’s car.
Our hosts,
Phil and
Lucille
339
1905
Maxwell
under
restoration
Vincent
Morgan
conducting the
business
meeting
French
Accordion
Jazz
Orchestra
Phil
demonstrating
a Criterion disc
music box
Phil alongside
his Jan van
Eyk fairground organ
Seeburg KT
Orchestrion
A portion of
Phil’s book
and roll
collection,
and a Gavioli
Meloton reed
crank organ
Aeolian
Model W
Orchestrelle
340
Southern California Chapter
Phil
demonstrating
his
Steinway
pedalelectric
Duo-Art
piano
President - Jerry Pell
Reporter - Shirley Nix
Photographer - Lowell Boehland
A good crowd of AMICA members joined neighbors
and friends of Jerry Pell and Diane Minzey in Wrightwood for
the last meeting. Jerry had picked just the right time, since it was
a lovely day with great views of the mountains and big trees.
The next weekend snow fell and there would have been no meeting.
Phil and
Lucille’s
home
Our hosts, Jerry Pell and Diane Minzey
in front of their Nelson Wiggen Pian-O-Grand style 3 orchestrion
Phil’s
shop 2
blocks
away
Diane had, as usual, put out a fine assortment of food
and we were greeted by the wonderful Artrio-Angelus piano, of
which Jerry is justifiably proud. This piano plays classical or
pop tunes with equal aplomb, and can play 88-note rolls as well
as the Artrio Angelus rolls, and is one of only three in California
known to be playing. We enjoyed listening to it as we waited for
the rest of the group to arrive. Phil
proudly
in front of
his shop
entrance
Diane Lloyd, Marilyn and Mike Ames,
Dave Reidy and Bob Lloyd
When everyone was there we went downstairs to the
treasure trove of instruments there. The largest and probably the
gem of the collection is Jerry’s Bruder organ. This is a wonderful instrument, and we really enjoyed listening to it. Jerry and Diane have a nice assortment of instruments,
including (but not limited to) Wurlitzer 103 and 125, and assorted others. They all were played, and filled the air with music,
which we all enjoyed.
341
After the meeting most of us went to a local Mexican
restaurant, which turned out to have super food, which we
enjoyed with gusto. The company of the other attendees was
great, too, and we all thank Jerry and Diane for their hospitality
in hosting the meeting and arranging the dinner.
Our next meeting will be a joint AMICA/MBSI Christmas party at the home of Bob and Diane Lloyd, always a
favorite.
Jerry and
Diane’s
lovely
home in
Wrightwood
Lloyd Osmundson tries to decide what to eat, while Robbie Rhodes and Richard
Ingram watch. Betty Toth points out the "good stuff"
Jerry’s
mighty
Bruder
organ,
enjoyed
by Robin
Biggins,
Richard
Ingram,
Jerry and
Mike
Choate
Jerry
selects a
roll for the
ArtrioAngelus
342
Rocky Mountain Chapter
President - Jere DeBacker
Reporter - Jere DeBacker
Our meeting was a great success with two brand new
members attending an AMICA gathering for the first time, and
with relatively new member, Rick england hosting only the second meeting he's attended. Plus our special guest from Maine,
Bob hunt. We essentially had an open house with our host
and hostess providing lovely Continental Breakfast and snacks
and lots of music of all types. Following is a scenario of our
day. Bob hunt:
Bob lives in Maine and is the owner and founder of the
Hunt Piano company. He has been restoring automatic musical
instruments for almost 50 years. His experience restoring musical instruments, coupled with his professional background as an
industrial machine designer led to him developing "The VirtualRoll". Bob completely restored the Duo-Art mechanism in the
piano that will be featured at this meeting. He also has been the
board representative for the Boston chapter of AMICA. paper Duo-Art roll beautifully and perfectly, as well as regular
88-note rolls, too. The Virtual Roll system only enhances the
capability of the player. It is like a modern day Concertola.
In addition to a superb Duo-Art restoration, the piano itself
underwent a very extensive restoration and refinishing. It looks
and plays as well or better than new by hand as well as with the
automatic music. Everyone had a chance to enjoy it, too. Rick told us the story of his acquisition of the piano and
the restoration. No one else in the family really wanted it, but
Rick saw the potential and the beauty in the old mechanism.
His mother, upon hearing that he was having it restored wasn't as
pleased, because she said "Oh, the men always gathered in under
that piano, and we couldn't drag them away from it." It was true
again on this fine fall day in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Rick has an extensive book of before and after pictures
of the restoration and Bob answered countless questions and
gave us an amazing report on the development and future plans
for the Virtual Roll System. We enjoyed lots and lots of music
on this fun day, almost without stop. The VirtualRoll:
The Virtual Roll was conceived, engineered and developed over a 10 year period. It enables roll operated mechanical
musical instruments to be played by digital files as well as paper
rolls. Most of the music software used with the VirtualRoll
comes from original fragile paper rolls that have been optically
scanned into a computer and then converted to MIDI note information. All roll data including expression is conveyed to the evalve system via MIDI where it controls the instrument’s pneumatic valves exactly and precisely as the original roll would
have. The 1st production VirtualRoll was shipped in 2006 and
there are now VirtualRoll systems installed all over the world. In
the last two years the success of the VirtualRoll has blossomed to
the point that Bob now spends more time building and shipping
VirtualRoll systems than he does restoring pianos! See:
www.VirtualRoll.com
Our hosts, Rick England and Jill Seabrook
The Piano:
The piano that was used to demonstrate the VirtualRoll
is a 1929 Steinway Duo-Art "OR". It was purchased new in
1934 by Rick's Grandfather on the East Coast. The piano probably stopped playing in the late 1950s and sat dormant in New Jersey until 2004 when it was moved to Massachusetts and then
restored in 2005/6. The piano restoration was done by Brian
Grindrod of East Coast Piano Rebuilding. See:
www.EastCoastPianoRebuilding.com
and the Duo-Art mechanism was done by Bob hunt. The piano
is tuned and maintained by hank lea of Colorado Piano works.
www.ColoradoPianoWorks.com
This instrument is a stunning example of Steinway's best, the
Aeolian Company's finest and the superb craftsmanship of Bob
Hunt, Brian Grindrod. It beautifully combines the technology
of the 20th Century in the Duo-Art mechanism and the technology of the 21st Century in the Virtual Roll System. The original
Duo-Art system is 100% complete and intact and will play a real
Bob Hunt, Hank Lea and Art Reblitz
343
Art Reblitz delights in seeing how it all works
Room full of top technicians, Bob Hunt, Rick England,
Art Reblitz, Hank Lea and Bill Decker
Early 20th
Century
meets
21st Century where
the Virtual
Roll System tubes
into the
Duo-Art
System
The same
group of
technicians, in
and under
the piano,
of course.
L to R Hank Lea (seated), Wayne Irelan, Art Reblitz, Barry Weiss, Don Hein, Marilyn Decker, Bill Decker, Ben Haass, Jere DeBacker,
Stephen Weidner (1st AMICA Meeting), Faye Irelan, Pat Moore, Ken Hodge, Bob Hunt, Rick England
344
AMICAns Making Music
by Bill Decker
Dick Kroeckel
On October 16,
2011, The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society presented “Red,
White, and Blue Ragtime Revue” at the Paramount Theater in Denver,
Colorado. Featured artists
were AMICA’s own Dick
Kroeckel at the Steinway Concert Grand
Piano, and Dave Wickerham, curator and chief
organist at the Milhous
Museum in Boca Raton,
Florida, at the 4/21
Mighty Wurlitzer. Dave
and Dick played to a
crowd of around 550
including families and 7
busloads of senior citizens. Dave Wickerham and AMICAn Dick Kroeckel
The concert consisted of a variety of ragtime selections played as a piano and
organ duo as well as solos by each artist. One of the highlights of
the show was the beginning of the second half when the twin
consoles emerged from the pit with Dave at one console and
Dick at the other. Dressed in full Red, White and Blue marching
band uniforms, complete with hats and plumes, they wowed the
unsuspecting audience with a roaring rendition of "76 Trombones". Halfway through the number, they left their organ consoles, while the organ kept playing using the record/playback
system of the UNIFLEX relay, and they reunited at the Steinway
to add a piano duet to what the Wurlitzer was playing.
AMICA member
Dick Kroeckel is a master
piano rebuilder as well as
an excellent musician. The
organ is maintained by a
mixed crew of ATOS and
AMICA members lead by
AMICA member Don
Wick. This past summer
Don and his crew updated
the UNIFLEX relay system and added back the
original 2nd Vox Humana
which had been previously
removed to accommodate
a Posthorn, bringing the
organ up from a 4/20 to a
4/21.
For additional photos of the event take a
look at:
www.rmcatos.org
and look for the "Public
Events" page.
345
346
In Memoriam
nan Alomong
Mike Montgomery
Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow,
but remember me in every tomorrow.
Remember the joy, the laughter, the smiles,
i've only gone to rest a little while.
although my leaving causes pain and grief,
my going has eased my hurt,
and given me relief.
so dry your eyes and remember me,
not as i am now, but as i used to be.
Because, i will remember you all,
and look on with a smile.
Understand in your hearts,
i've only gone to rest a little while.
as long as i have the love of each of you,
i can live my life in the hearts of all of you.
Nan clowning with Bob Hope in earlier years
There were no services for Nan, as per her wishes. Cards and
charitable donations to a charity of choice, may be sent to her
family at her address:
Family of Nan Allomong
54 Locust Avenue
Oak Park, Ca. 91377-1116
What a loss......
Shirley Nix
R Michael Montgomery
March 9, 1934 - june 22, 2011
Mike Montgomery was born and grew up in
Chicago,Illinois. He attended the University of Michigan and
graduated with a Degree in English. He worked at Michigan Bell
Telephone Company in many different managerial positions. He
married Sue in 1962 and they had three sons. Mike played the
piano with The Boll Weevil Jazz Band as well as many other
groups.
He contributed many, many articles for books and periodicals. He was an encyclopedia of knowledge of early ragtime,
jazz and blues. He lectured at the Smithsonian Institute and many
other venues. He compiled and published the Rollography Of
Columbia and Capitol piano rolls, and was instrumental in
enlarging and augmenting the music collection of the Stearns
Music Collection at the University of Michigan. He entertained
For over forty years at the Dakota Inn Rathskeller in Detroit,
Michigan. He was active in many other music related groups.
His memorial service was held in Southfield, Michigan at St.
John's Armenian Church. It was attended by over 200 people. It
was an afternoon of oral and musical tributes, by his many
Friends. He will be greatly missed.
Nan Flint
Ed. Note: Mike Montgomery made it possible for AMICA to
acquire the 1925 run of The Music Trades, an important research
source now on our AMICA web site. Very much appreciated. ts
347
A Tribute to larry Givens
by Three of his Friends
Q David Bowers, Wally Donoghue and Art Reblitz
Photos by Q David Bowers, Wally Donoghue, and Alan Mueller
A hobbyist at a Young Age
seeing Wally’s car parked on campus, left a note on the front
seat. The message said that he would like to meet the owner of
the T. He left his phone number and included the mention that he
owned a 1915 Model T and would be pleased to show it to Wally.
Thus began a friendship that endured for the rest of Larry’s life.
Larry Givens, who passed away on August 24, 2011, at
age 73, was widely known and admired in the mechanical music
hobby. Less widely known were some of his other pursuits. This
article is a brief review of his life along with some personal
remembrances by the authors, three of his many friends. ContriA Visit to the Musical Museum
butions by Alan Mueller have also added much.
He was born on May 7, 1937, and after high school
Larry related to Dave Bowers that his passion for autoattended, first, the Carnegie Institute of Technology and later the
matic musical instruments began when he was with his family on
University of Pittsa vacation trip in
burgh, studying priUpstate New York.
marily journalism and
They stopped at the
musicology and
Musical Museum, a
receiving a graduate
popular roadside
degree in Musicology.
attraction in DeansIn addition to his
boro. On display
musical instruments,
were dozens of
Larry also had a
things Larry had
strong interest in
never seen before—
antique clocks and
music boxes,
watches, antique and
organettes, player
classic cars and all old
pianos, automatic
things mechanical.
orchestras, and more.
What is amazing is
In front of the musehow young he was
um a Wurlitzer Style
when all these things
125 band organ could
started to interest him,
be turned on and off
in 1952 when he was
by a remote switch
a young teenager. By
and was a siren call
the time he was in
A Wurlitzer 125 band organ and its proud owner in 1960.
to those who passed
high school he was a
by. The owners, members of the Sanders family, were on hand to
very accomplished curator of the things he collected. He joined
greet the Givens group and to demonstrate their treasures. Larry
the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors in 1953
asked for explanations of how certain things worked and how
at the young age of 16 making him a very early member and
rare they were. As the family left, probably no one realized that
surely one of the youngest.
Larry’s life had changed forever!
Antique cars were one of his interests. One of the
Upon
authors, Wally
returning home
Donoghue, met
Larry started
Larry as a result
hunting for anyof this. Wally
thing available
was a student at
in mechanical
Carnegie Tech in
music. By the
Pittsburgh and
time that Wally
was driving his
met him he
restored 1920
already had a
Model T as his
display of music
everyday transboxes, reed
portation. Larry
organs, and
was also a stuThe Welte orchestrion to the left was rescued
other things to
by Larry from a mansion being demolished
dent at CIT and
Larry takes friends for a ride in his
accompany his
near
Pittsburgh. To the right is an impressive
about late 1955,
Model T Ford, circa 1963.
Aeolian Orchestrelle foot-pumped reed organ.
collection of
348
clocks. Wally was intrigued, and his life, too, was changed!
Soon, he learned more and embarked on his own search. The two
continued their friendship, and periodically attended classic car
meets together until Wally graduated and went into the Army for
a six-month stint. After leaving the Army and moving to Michigan they continued their friendship, visiting each other back and
forth.
Larry’s treasure hunt continued, with unlimited passion.
One of his most interesting finds has been chronicled by Terry
Hathaway for his Mechanical Music Press website:
Sometime during the early 1920s, Fred Volkman bought
a large orchestrion and moved it, along with himself, into the old
Slater Hotel, located in Skaneateles Falls, New York, not far
from the town of Skaneateles. The Slater Hotel was an old, once
stately two-story wooden structure. It had been purchased by
“Freddie”, becoming the Volkman Hotel. As the story goes, Volkman had been literally run out of town due to his "socially unacceptable," illicit activities, whatever they might have been. Freddie then set up operations in Skaneateles Falls. The PianOrchestra occupied a spot just inside the doorway in the upstairs grand
ballroom. It was a large, almost square, room, with a very high,
ornately painted ceiling. Several very tall, stately windows
adorned both of the outside facing walls
While engaged in his annual two-week summer Air
Force service stint at Hancock Field, near Syracuse, New York,
Larry Givens heard a rumor of some sort of interesting music
machine at the Slater Hotel in the crossroads known as Skaneateles Junction. He drove to that small community, found the building, inquired, and was taken upstairs to a long-abandoned ballroom. There before him was a large and impressive Wurlitzer
Style 30A Mandolin PianOrchestra! He opened the doors, looked
inside, and was amazed at its orchestral contents. He explained to
the owner that his was a music machine that in its day furnished
melodies for dancing. “So that’s what that old thing is!” was the
reply. “I always wondered what it was.”
Further research by Terry Hathaway revealed that the
PianOrchestra had been installed in the Curtin Hotel in Auburn,
New York, in the early 20th century. These were the glory days
Wurlitzer catalog
illustration of the
Style 30A Mandolin
PianOrchestra.
The second floor ballroom of a hotel in Skaneateles Junction,
New York, where Larry Givens found a long-abandoned Wurlitzer
Style 30A Mandolin PianOrchestra (about two-thirds of the way to
the right, once in front of the shadowy area in the wall, now with
furniture piled there). Photograph taken in 1966 by Dave Bowers
on a visit to the site.
of large orchestrions, and Wurlitzer PianOrchestras, imported
from J.D. Philipps & Sons of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, were
widely sold in the United States, an estimated 1,000 or so, plus
about 300 Philipps Paganini instruments (combining a reproducing piano with ranks of violin-toned pipes). This Wurlitzer Style
30A Mandolin PianOrchestra, superbly restored by Terry Hathaway, is now in the collection of Michael Ames.
The Ampico
By the late 1950s Larry’s focus had become the Ampico
reproducing piano, and he set about learning as much about it as
possible. He developed friendships with Ampico inventor Dr.
Clarence Hickman and with Ethel (Mrs. Charles Fuller) Stoddard. He was able to obtain copies of photographs taken years
earlier of the Ampico research library, the Stoddard home in New
York City, and information about the development of the Model
B Ampico by Charles Fuller Stoddard.
The Ampico reproducing piano was
Larry Givens’ first
love among automatic musical instruments. By archival
research and by interviewing people once
connected with the
American Piano
Company he learned
much information that
might have been lost
otherwise. His 1970
book Re-Enacting the
Artist, shares this.
His friend Alan Mueller recalled:
“In late spring 1994 Larry began sending to a number of
his friends a special group of photo's he had taken in the summer
of 1965. The group of 14 copied photo's each friend received
were views of the Stoddard's penthouse.apartment at 460 Riverside Drive. Typical of Larry, each photo was charted on a layout
of the apartment as to the angle of each shot and all the details
that he could remember about each. So you saw their love for
Oriental decor, their Knabe Ampico B (second one to be produced; Doctor Hickman's Fischer was number one), Following in
short order were glossy prints of the Ampico Research Lab and
other assorted gems. His note to me stated ‘As an officially designated (by me) Ampico historian, I'm sending you this little present. - If you like the stuff I've sent you before, you should love
this! No One else on earth could send it to you. “Vive Le Ampico!!! Best--- ‘Larry”
Alan also remembered this:
“Larry would often use a quote from an author at the
end of some of his longer letters. At the end of one letter about a
349
particular difficult time in his life he said: ‘As usual, Edgar Allan
Poe says it best: The fever called living is over at last.’ Another
time at the end of a letter about the Gourley-Givens MelOdee roll
years: ‘I have many pleasant memories, as well as a few no-sopleasant ones. But then, as my mother used to say, ‘Time lends
enchantment.’ Perhaps this case is no exception.”
Still further from Alan:
“On the way to another of his two-week summer Air
Force obligations at Hancock Field, Larry had located a Wurlitzer Pianino and called and asked if I could meet him at an old
saloon just off Erie Boulevard in Syracuse. He had purchased it
and needed some help to move it from the cellar. I found the
place, and with the aid of the bartender we inched it up a narrow
outside stair with a cement slide for entry of the beer barrels next
to the stairs. We were sure it would come apart, but it made it up
and into his truck. A box of well-worn rolls also got loaded.
After a few beers and much talk Larry was off to Hancock Field
and I back to Rochester.”
The Collection by 1960
By 1960 Larry had acquired about 250 instruments of
all types including music boxes, phonographs, reproducing
pianos, band organs, nickelodeons (as coin-operated pianos were
called), and orchestrions. These were displayed and cared for at
his home in Wexford, on his family estate outside of Pittsburgh.
Larry’s grandfather, Mr. De Cesare, was an Italian immigrant. He
went into the business, joined by Larry’s father, of demolishing
old buildings, many of them in the more fashionable districts of
Pittsburgh. Larry recalled that his grandfather decided to Anglicize his surname, and out of a telephone directory picked
“Givens.” The family enterprise was very profitable. For Larry it
brought the opportunity to visit many fascinating Victorian
homes and other structures in Pittsburgh as well as the outlying
“society town” of Sewickley Heights and rescue artifacts of interest. Often when these homes were abandoned the owners left
behind all sorts of old furniture, pianos, music boxes, lamps, and
even large orchestrions. One house contained a Welte orchestrion
just sitting on a staircase landing! How amazing this is to recount
today. Sometime around 1963 he found a collection of automobile catalogs from the 1910 to 1916 era in Sewickley Heights,
really great stuff which he showed to Wally Donoghue. They
were just sitting on a closet shelf in one of the mansions. Most
were in color and some of the nicest he had seen. Larry took
them to the annual old-car meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where
they sold quickly.
His parents were modestly well-to-do and provided substantial storage space in buildings on their property. They were
also interested in antiques and the like and understood and appreciated his passion. While we don’t know the financial situation
for sure, it is likely that his father helped with funds to purchase
instruments that were popping up all over the place at giveaway
prices in these very early days. Some could be had for free just
for hauling them away and those that required purchase were
very inexpensive. Imbued with endless energy and enthusiasm,
Larry traveled widely in the Northeast. In the Crystal Tea Room
on Main Street in Johnson City, New York, he found and bought
a two-violin “Double Mills” that had been purchased by the proprietor, Onofrio Tona, in the 1920s.
350
An October 1956 gathering in the Givens music room. Durrell
Armstrong is adjusting the endless roll in the bottom of a Link 2E
coin piano with mandolin and xylophone. Larry’s dad Frank is first
in the line of observers, then Alan Mueller’s mother, with Larry
next—with a Wurlitzer 125 Band organ behind them. Larry’s sister
Nancy is next and Alan’s dad completes the group.
Larry’s mind was a sponge absorbing everything available about mechanical instruments. As there was virtually nothing in print to help collectors, this involved talking with oldtimers, finding other collectors who were willing to share information, and doing historical research in newspapers, directories,
and reference books. The first truly useful reference book on
music boxes was by John E.T. Clark, Musical Boxes, a History
and Appreciation, published in London in 1948. This told of
leading British collectors of the early days, nearly all specializing
in cylinder boxes, automata, and the like, with some mention of
disc boxes as well. Suitably inspired and informed, Larry
acquired some beautiful examples—including a Regina 27-inch
automatic disc changer and the largest model made by the highacclaimed Mermod Frères of St. Croix, Switzerland, using 24½inch interchangeable cylinders, in an oak case measuring nearly
four feet across.
“After I located this music box I drove to pick it up in
an old hearse I had in my collection,” Larry recalled in a later
conversation with Dave. “When I arrived home my parents
thought I had brought a casket with, perhaps, a child’s body
inside!”
Three friends at
Larry’s home in Wexford in October 1956.
Alan Mueller is on the
left, Durrell Armstrong in the center,
and Larry Givens on
the right. In later
years Armstrong built
the Player Piano
Company, of Wichita,
Kansas, the nation’s
most important
source for supplies
for rebuilding instruments.
enthusiastic reception and always learned a lot by the time they
departed. He was always a warm and gracious host. Meanwhile,
he added other instruments to his display along with posters and
other memorabilia.
The early 1960s
Dick Howe (left), Alan Mueller, and Larry Givens in Larry’s music
building, April 1958. The center of attention is a Seeburg KT Special orchestrion. Introduced in 1925, the model became wildly
popular and many were sold in the next several years. It uses a
10-tune G (or 4X) roll.
The first American book on player pianos, coin-operated pianos, and orchestrions was The Player Piano: An Historical
Scrapbook, by Harvey N. Roehl, who lived in Vestal, New York,
and was an instructor at the Broome County Technical College.
Released in 1958 this was an amateur clip-and-paste effort. To
make matters worse, the publisher, Century House Books, of
Watkins Glen, New York, printed it on cheap paper, gave it a list
price of $3, or more than twice what Harvey thought would be
fair, and billed it as a standard reference. (Gee whiz, how prices
of books have multiplied since then!) Harvey was very embarrassed about the whole thing.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania in 1958 Larry Givens visited the store of a leading dealer in antiques, where he met the
dealer’s daughter, Suzanne Wilson, who he married a year later.
usanne’s father had many valuable connections with other dealers. He steered to yet more instruments. By that time Harvey
Roehl and Larry were good friends and had exchanged visits several times. Harvey was a prankster and enjoyed a good joke. In
contrast, Larry was on the serious side. One day Larry said that
he was engaged to be married, and Harvey should meet his brideto-be on his next trip to Wexford. Without knowing the slightest
thing about Larry’s romantic inclinations or about Suzanne, but
wanting to kid Larry, upon meeting her Harvey said to Larry:
“Is this the wealthy heiress from Cleveland that you told
me you have been so excited about?”
Well, that did not fit Suzanne at all, but there had been a
well-to-do girlfriend from Cleveland. Suzanne ran off in a big
huff! Harvey was super embarrassed, but could not undo it.
Returning to music, by about 1960 Larry had one of the
largest and most varied private collections of mechanical instruments in the United States if not, perhaps, indeed the largest. His
name and his collection had become well known and he was
becoming friends with collectors all over the country. He also
had a great talent for getting any that were not working restored
to work as well as new. And, finally, he had a knack for nicely
displaying these and all the other things he collected in a way
they could all be played and enjoyed. Visitors found a warm and
In 1960 Dave Bowers discovered the world of automatic
musical instruments by purchasing an 11-inch Regina disc music
box for $125 at an antiques show in Johnson City, New York.
Soon, he found a copy of Music Boxes, Their Lore and Lure, by
Helen and John Hoke. The text was captivating and told of the
Hoke family finding a Regina disc-changing music box in an old
castle (of all places) and related the story of a huge automatic
orchestra, called an orchestrion, rescued from its original location
in the Banner Theatre in Los Angeles. A local radio personality,
David Greacen, suggested that Dave meet Harvey and Marion
Roehl and see their collection. Dave lived not far from the
Roehls. A visit was arranged, Dave saw an orchestrion for the
first time (a Seeburg G) and many other things. At the time Harvey had negatives and layout sheets and was creating Player
Piano Treasury, a fine book about automatic musical instruments—a quality production—that his newly-created Vestal
Press would publish in 1961. This was the defining event in the
history of collecting such instruments, thousands of copies were
sold, and within a few years the number of hobbyists multiplied
many times, clubs were organized, prices rose, and other evolutions took place. Among the events, AMICA was formed in
1963. The officers of the Musical Box Society International,
formed in 1949 and specifically dedicated to the enjoyment of
Swiss music boxes, made it clear to Harvey that members were
not interested in pneumatic or electrically-operated instruments.
That would change in time, and Harvey later served as president
of the MBSI.
Dave jumped into the hobby with both feet and was
determined to build a fine collection specializing in coin-operated pianos and orchestrions, but with some other instruments as
well. Dave, accustomed to writing and research in the field of
rare coins (his business since he was a young teenager), found it
amazing that there was no in-depth information available on coin
pianos and orchestrions, except for Player Piano Treasury, which
was great, but did not go into many details. Thus began a search
in America and Europe (where Dave went frequently on business) to track down as much information as possible and to
acquire instruments as well. He located quite a few old-timers
once associated with the industry and conducted interviews with
them. Among current collectors, Larry Givens was especially
helpful, suggesting sources and also lending printed material for
study.
“In 1964 Larry was a guest in my home in Vestal,” Dave
recalled for this article. “We were seated at dinner, when I asked
my son Wynn, age two, ‘Please put a nickel in the Violano.’ He
did and the Violano Virtuoso and its accompanying Violano
Orchestra cabinet burst into melody. ‘That is terrible,’ Larry said,
‘Your son will grow up not realizing to have all of these things in
your house is not unusual.’” And, I guess this was the case, as
such instruments were always a part of our family life.
351
Dave related when Harvey and Marion Roehl had visitors they would often bring them to Dave’s home a mile or so
away so they could see more instruments. Once a collector from
France landed in New York City and drove with his wife and
young daughter to see the Roehls—first stop on their itinerary.
After enjoying the Roehl collection they went to see Dave,
whereupon their daughter asked her mother, “Do all homes in
America have things like this?” Larry and Dave engaged in frequent correspondence.
Larry, who was building a business of making music rolls, often
asked Dave questions about business practices as well as concerning the history of coin-operated instruments. Dave had built
a large collection of original catalogs and the like, which eventually grew to include the New York Public Library’s run of Music
Trade Review and The Presto magazines (Dave paid to have them
microfilmed, in exchange) and a full set of the German
Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau (Magazine for Builders of Instruments). Larry told Dave of a Berry-Wood A.O.W. orchestrion
for sale in Upstate New York, for $2,000. Dave had never seen
such an instrument except as a catalog illustration and was very
enthusiastic. Larry said he was going up that way, would look it
over on his behalf. Dave said if he liked it Larry could put down
a deposit and he would send the owner a check right away. When
Larry returned he called Dave, followed up by a letter, to the
effect: “I am so embarrassed, and I won’t blame you if you never
speak to me again. I asked Jake DeBence, a collector I know, to
go along for the ride. He saw the Berry-Wood and made a deal to
buy it. I am beside myself and don’t know how I can ever make it
right with you.” Larry and Dave moaned about this for years
afterward. Dave never interfaced with DeBence again, although
he had met him once when he came to Vestal for a visit.
The Piano Roll Business
As if collecting and restoring instruments were not
enough to keep Larry busy, he was immersed in his business of
making piano rolls. In the late 1950s he had acquired two original Ampico roll perforating machines from John Morse who had
located them on a loading dock at the old American Piano Company factory in East Rochester, New York. The equipment was
scheduled to be junked and sold as scrap metal. He also managed
to borrow a large quantity of original Ampico master rolls. Larry and a roll perforator, as photographed for
Put Another Nickel In, published in 1968.
352
After much preparation, Larry began production in the
early 1960s. Wally Donoghue recalled that he initially made
recuts of Ampico and Duo-Art rolls, although the first Duo-Art
rolls were not 100% satisfactory because the Ampico perforator
did not have the very small dies to cut the “snake bite” perforations for the theme valves. Accordingly, these were made with
the same size die as the rest of the holes and were too large. Later
he had properly-sized dies made and the Duo-Art rolls were satisfactory. Larry also tested various papers for his rolls hoping to
find something more durable than what was originally used. He
located what was referred to as glassine paper which was apparently used between windings in large transformers and had a tan
color. Many readers of the AMICA Bulletin may have some of
Larry’s rolls made with this paper.
Later he began making new 88-note rolls with the brand
name of MelOdee, inspired by an early brand of the same name.
In the late spring of 1962 he took in a partner, John Gourley, who
was very knowledgeable with respect to music and was a fine
pianist. The company was then named Givens and Gourley, Inc.
One of the thoughts at the time was that John could become “the
J. Lawrence Cook” of the enterprise and issue new rolls of current selections, Wally recalls. The 88-note rolls were not financially successful, in part because the long-established QRS was
difficult to compete with. But only in part. Harvey Roehl, who
often shared business ideas with Larry, made the gentle suggestion that while using Ampico masters for tunes of the 1930s was
nice, a much greater market could be found if the latest popular
melodies were issued as well. Larry had no particular interest in
doing this. He discontinued the MelOdee brand and concentrated
on the Ampico and Duo-Art and also a limited number of Welte
rolls. All during this time he immersed himself in trying to
learn as much as possible about the history of player pianos in
general and reproducing pianos in particular, tracking down those
involved with manufacturing the instruments and making rolls.
Fortunately, many were still alive. Primary among these people
was pianist Adam Carroll, from whom. He learned a great deal
about Ampico, other artists, and roll making. Adam and Larry
became close lifelong friends and Larry named his first child,
born in 1963, after Adam, his full name being Adam Lawrence
Givens. Among his lesser-known products was an 88-note player
piano roll, Adam’s Arrival, sent to friends as a birth announcement. Later, he and Suzanne had a second child, Mark. (Still
later, Larry and Suzanne divorced, and in time Larry remarried,
taking Joan as his wife.)
With his knowledge of rebuilding player pianos Larry
authored a book for the Vestal Press that has become famous in
the hobby, Rebuilding the Player Piano. Many tens of thousands
of copies were sold, initiating a nationwide boom and excitement
in restoring old players. This went into high gear with the Robert
Redford movie, The Sting, became popular some years later.
Larry also authored another book for the Vestal Press and wrote
many features and fillers for the AMICA Bulletin. Articles describing how to cover pneumatics and bellows, clean dirt out of valves and regulate them, etc., had
appeared in music trade magazines during the heyday of the
player piano, but these were never available to the public, and
Larry’s was the first book-length treatment of the subject. Its contents included sections on how a player piano works, rebuilding,
specific information on the four major brands of reproducing
Piano included a few of the most common tracker scales for
American coin pianos and orchestrions, some of which were
obtained from the late Durrell Armstrong, and contained errors.
In the Seeburg H scale, for example, the lock and cancels functions are reversed (‘flute on’ should actually be ‘flute off,’ etc.).
When Terry Borne later had several of Larry’s original H rolls in
his possession, he found that Larry had gone through every song,
taped over every “loud” and “soft” lock and cancel hole, and then
meticulously cut the opposite setting with a razor blade, convinced as he was that every roll was perforated incorrectly
because he did not realize that the tubing was connected wrong in
in his Seeburg H.”
Definition of a True Collector
Publisher Harvey Roehl congratulates Larry on the release of
Rebuilding the Player Piano, a Vestal Press book that sold tens of
thousands of copies and made player pianos popular nationwide.
pianos made in the United States (Ampico A, Ampico B, DuoArt, and Welte Licensee), and a little on nickelodeons, reed
organs, and supplies. Tracker scales for the most commonlyencountered American reproducing pianos, coin pianos, and
orchestrions were also included. As always, he wrote clearly and
precisely. Some of the materials he recommended, such as white
glue, are no longer considered to be correct, but his instructions
helped thousands of people bring player pianos back to life who
otherwise never would have had a chance to enjoy them. Art Reblitz recalled:
“When I agreed in 1971 to write Piano Servicing, Tuning and Rebuilding, and Harvey Roehl arranged to publish it
through his Vestal Press, he stipulated that I would have to supply all of my own illustrations. As we worked together laying out
the galley proofs in 1976, he told me why he had required this.
When Larry wrote the text for Rebuilding the Player Piano, he
didn’t provide any photographs or drawings, so Harvey photographed Marion (his wife) holding pneumatics, trimming the
cloth, etc., and then made the line drawings by tracing the photos
on tracing paper. He also said he had to format Larry’s manuscript in the largest possible font, on the smallest standard size
pages, to make it into a full-length book.
“When Durrell Armstrong, the owner of Player Piano
Company, learned that I was working on the manuscript for Player Piano Servicing and Rebuilding he called me and asked if I
would be recommending the use of any tools or supplies that
weren’t already in common use. When I asked why he cared, he
said Larry’s recommendation of the use of spring clamps for
securing pneumatics to deck boards in Rebuilding the Player
Piano precipitated a huge increase in orders for spring clamps
when that book first came out.
“Larry’s encore, a great little book, Re-Enacting the
Artist, published in 1970 by Vestal Press, and dedicated to
Charles Fuller Stoddard, should be required reading for every
reproducing piano enthusiast. “Larry’s perfectionism and stubborn streak sometimes
led to interesting results. The back of Rebuilding the Player
Larry’s acquisitions slowed, but he mounted a hunt for
that resulted in the aforementioned Seeburg Style H orchestrion.
At the time this ornate instrument was not in the “must have” category for collectors, as Harvey Roehl had heard an example and
stated in Player Piano Treasury that its musical arrangements
were uninspired in comparison to the smaller Style G. (Harvey
later changed his mind when he heard some well-arranged rolls
on an H, but the book was already in print.) He corresponded
with Dave Bowers at length about the H and one he was on the
trail of in Canada. Larry had heard a nice one. In a letter to Dave,
not to be shared with Harvey, he said that the Style G, of which
Harvey was so proud, was in fact quite inferior. Today the Seeburg H is considered to be the ne plus ultra of American keyboard orchestrions.
This brings to mind that Larry had strong opinions on
many subjects, always expressed with conviction and backed by
knowledge—but not always “politically correct.” When he heard
that cosmetics magnate (Merle Norman Cosmetics) J.B. Nethercutt, who had one of America’s finest collections of classic cars,
was enlisting the talents of Terry Hathaway and Dave Bowers
and their Hathaway & Bowers company to build a superb collection of automatic musical instruments, Larry was interested to
learn more. This was related to J.B., who treated him to a trip to
California. At first Larry was impressed, but later he became critical, telling Dave, Harvey, and others, “This man does not know
the first thing about how to restore and maintain these instruments, and he doesn’t know anything about the music arrangements.” Dave remonstrated that J.B. was a fine gentleman, and
although he left the restoration and maintenance up to others,
including Terry Hathaway and an in-house staff, he did open his
collection in the San Sylmar Museum to all visitors and did much
to encourage interest in the hobby. Larry felt that a true collector to be worthy of being
called such should be passionate about the items acquired and
learn everything possible about them. He told Dave Bowers
about an enthusiast friend of his who learned of an old Baldwin
steam locomotive that was being junked. His friend bought the
right to remove the large curved Baldwin name plate—and, fearful that someone might take it, he went in a howling blizzard,
stood on a ladder, and detached it. Larry loved that story, a collector defined.
When Dave was writing The Encyclopedia of Automatic
Musical Instruments in the late 1960s and early 1970s (1,008
pages, published by the Vestal Press in 1971), Larry was a copy
353
editor and proofreader. In a letter in this era he spelled the first
name of a person as Guiseppe. Dave questioned this, but was not
quite sure, and looked it up, than wrote to Larry that Giuseppe, as
in Giuseppi Verdi, was correct. Larry turned red, became as
embarrassed as all get-out, and said, “Of all people, as I am of
Italian ancestry, I should not have made that mistake.” This
seemingly trivial and forgettable gaffe remained in his mind for
years afterward and he would frequently mention it. In the Encyclopedia manuscript he fixed “mfgr” as an abbreviation for
“manufacturer” to the correct “mfr.” Dave insisted on spelling
the name of certain Belgian organs as Decap, despite Larry’s saying that it was an Italian name and should be given as DeCap. As
to whether it was Italian Dave never checked. Letterheads and
printed material in Belgium had it as Decap.
Wally Donoghue recalled that Larry had many friends in
the hobby. There were some such as Albert Petrak and wellknown race car driver Phil Hill with whom he kept close contact
in the early years, but not later. Other favorites included Bill
Scolnick, Gerald Stonehill, Ruth Bornand, Lloyd Kelley, Adam
Carroll, J. Lawrence Cook, Ken Caswell, Mike Montgomery,
Dick Howe, Al Zamba, Dave Saul, Bill Knorp, Steve Lanick, Ed.
Fryer, Bob Yates and Peter Brownthis being but a short list.
On January 24, 1966, Larry wrote to Wally to say that
the MelOdee business had been great in the Christmas season,
but had now “slowed down abruptly.” He was using the time to
create new master rolls. “We haven’t made any money yet, but
sooner or later we will find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I hope.”
In the same letter he commented: “Visited Dave Bowers
last weekend and really had a treat listening to his stuff. He specializes in big orchestrions, and he just imported an enormous
Weber orchestrion from Belgium which is the most amazing
machine I’ve ever heard. He knows of a duplicate of it which I
am trying to scrape up the cash to buy (unfortunately, it’s also in
Belgium!). We will see.…”
The orchestrion was a Weber Maesto. Dave recalls that
he and Larry dimmed the lights in his music room and spent the
best part of an evening listening to dozens of rolls arranged by
Gustav Bruder, of Waldkirch, Germany, where the Weber factory
was located. “To achieve complete contentment all I would need
is a Weber orchestrion, a loaf of bread, and a jug of wine,” he
commented. Dave secured for him a near-duplicate, a Weber
Solea in a large and impressive cabinet, with instrumentation
nearly matching that of the Maesto, less one rank of jazz trumpets.
This was a pivotal point for Larry, and he developed a
strong interest in learning more about the larger European
orchestrions, including those made by J.D. Philipps & Sons and
Ludwig Hupfeld. He was already well acquainted with Welte
instruments, but the piano orchestrions were new to him. With
great enthusiasm he corresponded with Dave about these in ensuing years.
Transition
Larry’s emphasis shifted. By the late 1960s the prices of
automatic musical instruments had multiplied. No longer were
Seeburg, Wurlitzer, and other coin-operated models available for
a few hundred dollars. Larry bought John Gourley’s interest in
the music roll business, probably as profits were minimal and
likely John wanted to move on. Larry invited Dave Bowers and
354
Terry Hathaway to come to Wexford, where they bought his collection of automatic musical instruments, less some favorites.
These were later distributed to collectors worldwide, where they
are prized to this very day.
By 1974 Larry had left the roll-making business behind
and was seeking regular employment since he was raising a family and was not earning enough to support his life style, which
was comfortable, but not lavish. It seems that by then most of the
“old money” in the Givens family had been spent or otherwise
distributed. Luck was with him. Wally Donoghue recalls that in
1974 the Society of Automotive Engineers was moving its office
from New York to Warrendale, very near Larry’s home in Wexford. A number of employees did not want to relocate including
the assistant editor of their journal, titled Automotive Engineering. They placed advertisements for job openings and Larry was
hired as the assistant editor. His history of writing books and articles, his journalism studies at the University of Pittsburgh, his
keen interest in automobiles and his mechanical knowledge all
contributed to his being offered the job. He was now in a prestigious position paying well, which he enjoyed immensely. It
offered travel to car shows and conventions, meeting automotive
engineers, visits to factories and the various manufacturers’ engineering facilities.
Some months after Larry started working for SAE as
assistant editor, the editor, who had ALS, often called Lou
Gehrig’s disease, resigned because his symptoms became bad
enough that it prevented him from doing his work. By then Larry
had well proven his abilities and was promoted and became editor in chief. This was his dream job and he thrived in it.
Unfortunately, in 1981 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. However, he was able to productively work until 1986. His
final editorial in the November 1986 issue of the SAE magazine
was titled “Lightning Does Strike Twice.” He related how his
predecessor had to resign because of ALS and now he was
resigning because of Parkinson’s. He bid a farewell saying how
much he enjoyed being editor.
Now he had the time to devote to his main hobby of
mechanical instruments, although minus the great collection he
had formed. He continued to correspond, even more than formerly, with authors and other friends, continued his pursuit of reproducing pianos and other instruments, their history and occasionally buying, selling, or trading. The “bug” still made him unable
to resist a particular instrument, and he would sell something he
cared less about to buy a new treasure. He continued to write articles including a lengthy five-part study titled “Five Essays on
Collecting” for 1996 issues of the AMICA Bulletin.
For the present tribute to Larry his long-time friend
Alan Mueller shared some memories of their friendship. Alan
furnished most of the pictures used in this article:
“Among my photographs is one from August 29, 1993,
of Larry and his then second wife Joan with Adam Carroll's
youngest son Jack behind. Jack was reluctant to visit Larry
because he had ambivalent recollections of his father. Ampico
recording pianist Adam was not very attentive to his family, it
seems. Jack’s wife Harriet insisted he make the trip from a summer home they had in North Carolina north to Wexford. He had
never heard an Ampico and had only vaguely known that his
father had made piano rolls. The visit ended up being very emotional for all, but Jack was very happy he had made the trip and
got to discuss many things with Larry, a true epiphany.
Larry Givens in August 1993 with Jack Carroll, son of Ampico
recording artist Adam Carroll, standing behind him and
Larry’s second wife Joan to the right.
“Larry and I were friends from 1956 on. Sometimes a
few years might pass with only a line or two or a phone call, but
we remained friends until the end. He was a brilliant person. He
alone got the Ampico perforators working in the early 1960s.
Like all families, the Givens were complicated but loving people.
His Mom was a down-to-earth lady with great common sense.
Larry and his younger sister Nancy were rather indulged by their
parents, within reason. The family had money gained through the
Austin L. Givens Co. demolition company started by his grandfather. All the family members seemed to collect something such
as clocks, watches, Chinese ivory, crystal, glass, early daguerreotype cases, and so on. Accordingly, it was natural Larry would
gravitate to being a collector also.”
Twilight
Over the years, Larry
was a prolific letter writer,
sending lengthy letters continuously to his many friends.
Wally Donoghue recalls that his
favorite typewriters were the
IBM Selectric II and Selectric
III. When computers became
inexpensive and easy to use,
Wally repeatedly tried to convince him to buy one to make it
easier to write letters, edit them
as they were being written, and
store them as files. He also
pointed out how it might benefit him to get on the Internet,
find information on subjects
that interested him and send
quick messages by email. His
wife, Joan, had and used a computer and had e-mail. Wally
would occasionally send him a
Larry holding his Honorary Member award from AMICA in 1996
and his often-used IBM Selectric typewriter to the right.
message by way of Joan’s email which she would print and give
him but he would only reply by “snail mail.” After typing his letters he would often cross out some passage. A favorite way to
sign off was “In haste, Larry Givens.”
His decline by Parkinson’s
was very slow, but for the last
three years of his life it incapacitated him although he was completely mentally alert. He had
difficulty talking, and finally in
2008 he moved into an assisted
living facility in Wexford, with
his sister Nancy and children
Adam and Mark looking after
him.
Larry was a true historian
and mechanical genius and a
great friend to all who knew
him. We all miss him and the
hobby is much the poorer for his
passing.
Photo of himself sent by Larry Givens
to his friend Alan Mueller in later life.
Appreciation: The authors thank
Terry Hathaway and Alan
Mueller for their contributions to
this article.
355
356
ADVERTISING
FoR SALE
GeneRAl InFORMATIOn ABOuT All ADVeRTISInG In
The AMICA BulleTIn
The GOlDen AGe of AuTOMATIC MuSICAl InSTRuMenTS.
New reduced price — order now! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, Art Reblitz’ award-winning reference is now only $99 plus $5 S/H (single copy USA ground shipment). This
book has set a new standard with its hundreds of spectacular color photographs.
We guarantee you’ll find it to be one of
the most interesting, inspiring, informative books you have in your library—or
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delighted, and some readers have
ordered several copies. Get your copy
today. Mechanical Music Press - A, 70
Wild Ammonoosuc Rd., Woodsville, NH 03785. 603-747-2636.
6-11
http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com
All advertising should be directed to:
Terry Smythe
55 Rowand Avenue
Phone: (204) 832-3982 (email preferred)
e-mail:: smythe@shaw.ca
Ad copy must contain text directly related to the product/service being
offered. Extraneous text will be deleted at the Editor's discretion. Advertisers will be invoiced, with payment to AMICA Treasurer. Telephone
ads will not be accepted due to high risk of errors. AMICA reserves the
right to edit or to reject any ad deemed inappropriate or not in keeping
with AMICA'sgoals and objectives
.
The BulleTIn accepts advertising without endorsement, implied or
otherwise, of the products or services being offered. Publication of business advertising in no way implies AMICA's endorsement of any commercial operation.
AMICA PuBlICATIOnS ReSeRVeS The RIGhT TO ACCePT,
ReJeCT, OR eDIT AnY AnD All SuBMITTeD ARTICleS
AnD ADVeRTISInG.
All items for publication must be submitted directly to the Editor/Publisher for consideration.
neW PIAnO ROll BOXeS - Duo-Art Audiographic series Exactly like the originals! Maroon with Gold Printing, all 3
sizes available! (small & medium are "Top Hat" style) $6.00 ea.
Quantities are limited, so get them before they are all gone!
AMPICO boxes in two sizes: "Top Hat" boxes (for small rolls
with false bottom), and Large (for 3" flange). Black Leather
with Gold Printing, Exactly like the originals, $5.00 ea.
88 note roll boxes in two sizes-Large (fits 2 34 flange) covered
with Black Alligator paper (Top), Black Leather (Bottom) $3.00
ea. Small (fits 2" flange) Covered with Black Leather Paper
(Top), White Litho (Bottom) $2.00 ea.
ClASSIFIeD AD RATeS FOR AMICA MeMBeRS:
1-100 Words $20.00
Non-member rates are double for all advertising.
DISPlAY ADVeRTISInG
Double page color
$ 200.00
Full Page color
$ 150.00
Double page B&W
$ 150.00
Full page B&W
$ 100.00
Half Page B&W $ 75.00
Quarter Page B&W $ 50.00
Business Card $ 30.00
Non-member rates are double for all advertising
Other repair supplies available- Parchment Leaders, Tabs,
Tubes, Flanges, Repair Tissue. Quantity Discounts available.
Rich Ingram 626-824-4404 (1-12)
rollguyrich@yahoo.com
Special 6 for 5 Ad Offer - Place any ad, for a full year (6 issues), and
pay for only 5 issues. Payable in advance. Photographs or halftones
$15.00 each. Loose Sheet or Insert Advertising: Inquire
Display advertisers supply camera-ready copy. Copy that is oversized or
undersized will be changed to correct size. We ordinarily do not prepare
advertisements from raw content.
PAYMenT: Advertisers will be invoiced. Make check payable to
AMICA INTERNATIONAL. Typesetting and layout size alterations
charges will be billed if required by professional services.
DeADlIneS: Submissions must be received no later than the first of
the odd months (January, March, May, July, September, November).
The Bulletin will be mailed not later than the first week of the even
months.
The Pain of Discipline
Trumps the Pain of Regret
Val Brown
I have a Pell Busker harmonette monkey organ for sale. It is
in "like new" condition and comes with 2 cartridges (20 tunes
each ). It is an electronic player.
AC-DC. It has a rechargeable battery. It will play on the battery for
about 2 hours or it can be connected
to an electrical outlet. There is a
Tremulent knob you pull out that
makes it sound more like a monkey
organ. The former owner Mr Richmond built a metal case for it. Before
he passed away, I bought it. I paid $2500.00 and had it serviced
about two years ago to reset the movement of (20 pipes 21 note)
and to check the electronic system. That cost me $350.00
Years ago I bought a new power plug from Angel Rulli for
$25.00. I am asking $3000.00. If anyone is interested, please
call herb Mercer at (818) 889-7751 or email. I live in the NW
Los Angeles, California USA area. rf
herbmercer@sbcglobal.net
.
Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding of Pianos, Player Pianos &
Pump Organs, Seller of Player Piano & Pump Organ Supplies;
Recut Regular Piano, Reproducer Service, Demonstration,
Instructional, Advertising Rolls.
hechler Piano & Organ Services
Owner: Duaine hechler
357
1013 Justice Ct
Florissant, MO 63034
Website: www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com
Online Store: www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com/store
eBay Username: hechlerpianoandorgan
Phone: 314-838-5587 Worldwide Mailing rf
dahechler@hechlerpianoandorgan.com
FOR SAle OR GIFT - Valuable sheet music collection from
1836 to present. Will give to reputable university, archive, museum, etc. for preservation and historical usage. There are 536
collectable items, including pre-1900 Civil War, WWI, WW2.
Included are patriotic , ragtime, dixieland, jazz, popular, waltzes,
classical, Soloist, Schottisches, religious, Hawaiian, color litho
ET Paull marches, Sousa marches from 1890's, polkas, and 15
song books. I also have a rare 1888 10 1/2 x 13 1/2 603 page
Book of Music Manuel with history, biographies, and composer
rf
portraits in excellent condition. Contact: Jack linker
513-821-1744
Jack.sousa@zoomtown.com
Rare Rags and Marches - many never available before on any
roll - newly arranged. (not a re-issue) "A" roll. Limited Quantities. Plays great on all "A" roll instruments from pianos to Calliaphones. Send $80.50 to Stephen K Goodman, 5731 E
Bernadine Dr, Fresno CA 93727-7235 (includes shipping within
us). CA residents add sales tax. For shipment outside the US.
Hear midi samples at: http://Gnaw-Vol-ty.com rf
Gnaw-Vol-ty@sbcglobal.net
Steinway 6’1” Duo-Art Pianola for sale. This instrument was
rebuilt in the early 1970’s. with new hammers,
new strings, new covers on the keyboard. The
Pianola action was rebuilt by a man named
Mr. Valerio at that time as well. The instrument currently is in environmentally controlled storage in Danbury, Conn. Contact :
John Buscemi, at 1 781 581 9030. or rf
belfryhistoric@verizon.net
Wanted
I will pay $50.00 each for the following Stoddard-Ampico rolls
by Andre Kmita, in good, clean condition:
4059e - Girl From utah Waltzes
3927D - hesitation Waltz
29901C - Illusion Waltz
David Wallis, 547 Marengo Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130,
(708) 366-3103 or theow547@att.net
rf6-11
Wanted: book music for 89-key Gavioli G4 scale, 92-key Decap,
52-key Limonaire, and 52-key Gasparini. Also rolls for 43-keyless Bruder. Also seek popular Aeolian Grand rolls. Send titles
and condition to Bill edgerton, 203-857-0240 or rf
Wedgerton@aol.com
Wanted: American Photoplayer, Steinway Duo-Art upright
player piano, ragtime and jazz piano roll collections including
original 1900-1940s rolls plus modern and re-cuts such as John
Farrell’s JAM and Jazzmaster rolls, Jazz Classics, Hollywood,
etc. Disklavier disks. Also buying brass model trains – all
sizes/gauges. Contact: Marc Sachnoff 425 298-4385 or rf
marc@exclusivewireless.com
358
359
PLEASE VISIT THESE SUPPLIERS oF RoLLS
Brian Stahl: Piano Ticklers Music Rolls
P.O. Box 220, Elizabethville, PA 17023
email: stahl10@comcast.net
www.pianoticklers.com
Phone: (717) 599-1369
Joyce Brite: Player Piano and
Mechanical Music Exchange
http://www.mmdigest.com/Exchange/
http://www.mmdigest.com/Exchange/rollpage.htm
email: antiquedogs@yahoo.com
Rob Deland: Blues Tone Rolls
www.bluesrolls.com
email: robdeland@bluesrolls.com
Phone: (847) 548-6416
Dick Hack: Hack Mechanical Music
2051 Chesapeake Road, Annapolis, MD 21409
email: rhack1@verizon.net
(410) 279-5859 Cell Days
(410) 757-2164 Home Evenings
Bob & Ginny Billings: Sierra Music Rolls
14010 Rim Rock Drive, Reno, NV 89521
email: perforator@sbcglobal.net
Phone: (775) 853-4659
Leedy Brothers Music Rolls
4660 Hagar Shore Road, Coloma, MI 49038
www.leedyrolls.com
Phone: (269) 468-5986 - Fax: (269) 468-0019
Larry Norman: Rollertunes
www.home.earthlink.net/~rollertunes
email: rollertunes@earthlink.net
Phone: (540) 721-7188
Don Teach: Shreveport Music Co.
1815 E. 70th Street, Shreveport, LA 71105
email: donteach@shreveportmusic.com
Phone: (318) 798-6000 - Fax: (318) 797-4572
Robin Pratt: Artists' Choice Music Rolls
email: pianola@aol.com
Phone: (419) 626-1903
516 Pierce Street, Sandusky, OH 44870-4725
Steve Bentley, SB-"o" Rolls series.
Play-Rite Music Rolls
1536 N. Palm St.,
Turlock. CA 95380. U.S.A.
Phone. (209) 632-5784.
Fax. 209) 667-8241.
email: rollmax@live.ca
QRS Music Technologies, Inc.
1026 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213
Phone: 1-800-247-6557 - Fax: 1-716-885-7510
www.qrsmusic.com
Magic Melodies
360 Lawless Road, Jamestown, KY 42629
Phone: (270) 343-2061
David Saul: Precision Music Rolls
1043 Eastside Road, El Cajon, CA 92020-1414
email: davesaul@pacbell.net
360
Frank L. Himpsl:
Valley Forge Music Roll Company
604 Linnet Road, Audubon, PA 19403
(484)-250-7046 roll shop
(610)-291-1841 my cell
http://www.valleyforgemusicroll.com
Kukral Collection:
Welte-Mignon and 88-Note Rolls
216 Madison Blvd., Terre Haute, IN 47803
Phone: (812) 238-9656
email: Kukral@rose-hulman.edu
Julian Dyer
5 Richmond Rise, Wokingham RG41 3XH,
United Kingdom
www.pianorolls.co.uk
email: enquiries@pianorolls.co.uk
John Motto-Ros
“Nickelodeon Rolls”
“A” “G” “o” Rolls & Boxes
110 Allen Ranch Road, Sutter Creek, CA 95685
209-267-9252
www.johnnysmusicrolls.com
e-mail: mottoros@sbcglobal.net
Keystone Music Rolls
P.O. Box 650, Bethlehem, PA 18016
Gnaw-Vol-ty Rolls
Stephen Kent Goodman
www.gnaw-vol-ty.com
E-mail: Gnaw-Vol-ty@sbcglobal.net
Fax: 866-828-2165
D.C. Ramey Piano Company, LLC.
17768 Woodview Drive
Marysville OH 43040
708-602-3961
www.dcramey.com
email: dcramey@dcramey.com
The magnificent
Salisbury Cathedral
Kew Gardens
Our banquet
aboard the SS
Great Britain.
Near are
Dorothy Olds,
and Bob & Judy
Caletti
Ken Hodge and Pat Moore admiring the restored machinery
at the Kew Bridge Pumping Engine Museum
Timothy
Stean conducting his
unique
audio-visual
presentation
during the
Pumper
Contest
One of
many
restored
antique
cars on
display at
the Great
Dorset
Steam
Fair
Shirley and
Frank Nix
caught
admiring one
of many
fairground
organs at the
Great Dorset
Steam Fair
An astonishing lineup of beautifully restored farm equipment
at the Great Dorset Steam Fair

AMICA Bulletin - Stacks are the Stanford

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