Mechanical Music
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments
Volume 67, No. 2 March/April 2021
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Editor/Publisher
Russell Kasselman
(253) 228-1634
editor@mbsi.org
MBSI Editorial Office:
Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
editor@mbsi.org
Publications Chair
Bob Caletti
All manuscripts will be subject to editorial
review. Articles submitted for publication may
be edited or rejected at the discretion of the
Publications Committee and the Editorial
Staff. The article will not be published with
significant changes without the author’s
approval. All articles are considered to be the
author’s personal opinion. The author may be
asked to substantiate his/her statements.
Mechanical Music (ISSN 1045-795X) is published by
the Musical Box Society International, 130 Coral Court,
Pismo Beach, CA 93449 six times per year. A Directory
of Members, Museums and Dealers is published
biennially. Domestic subscription rate, $60. Periodicals
postage paid at San Luis Obispo, CA and additional
mailing offices.
Copyright 2021. The Musical Box Society International,
all rights reserved. Mechanical Music
cannot be copied, reproduced or transmitted in
whole or in part in any form whatsoever without
written consent of the Editor and the Executive
Committee.
MEMBERS: SEND ADDRESS CORRECTIONS TO:
MBSI, PO Box 10196,
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Or, make corrections on the website at www.mbsi.org.
POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO
MBSI, PO Box 10196,
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Mechanical Music
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments
Volume 67, No. 2 March/April 2021
MBSI NEWS
5 President’s Message
7 Editor’s Notes
8 Outreach Corner
49 In Memoriam
Features
15 Nickel Notes
by Matt Jaro
21 La Cracovienne, a
key-wind music box by
an unknown maker
25 The origins of the A D
Cunliffe Musical Box
Register
28 Farny Wurlitzer
addresses the American
Theatre Organ Society,
Part 2
47 The mechanics of a
child’s musical rocking
chair
MBSI has replanted 132 trees so far as
part of the Print ReLeaf program.
On the Cover
A 33/56 Konzert Drehorgel by
Christian Wittmann Orgelbau.
Read about Gordie Davidson’s
experiences cranking for crowds
and find out why he likes Christian
Wittmann’s organs so much. (Photo
by Sue Brown) Page 40.
La Cracovienne
Paul Bellamy discusses the details
of a pre-1860 key-wind music box
in his collection. Page 21.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 3
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
M
M
echanical music is a fascinating hobby! It
appeals to the artist, historian, craftsman, and
musician all at the same time. Play an automatic
musical instrument in a room full of people and all else
will stop as the machine enraptures the audience with the
sparkling melodies of yesteryear!
Mechanical music instruments are any sort of auto
matically-played machine that produces melodic sound
including discs and cylinder music boxes that pluck a steel
comb; orchestrions and organs that engage many instru
ments at once using vacuum and air pressure; player and
reproducing pianos that use variable vacuum to strike piano
wires; phonographs; and self-playing stringed, wind, and
percussion instruments of any kind.
The Musical Box Society International, chartered by the
New York State Board of Regents, is a nonprofit society
dedicated to the enjoyment, study, and preservation of
automatic musical instruments. Founded in 1949, it now
has members around the world, and supports various
educational projects.
Regional chapters and an Annual Meeting held each year
in different cities within the United States enable members
to visit collections, exchange ideas, and attend educational
workshops. Members receive six issues of the journal,
Mechanical Music, which also contains advertising space
for members who wish to buy, sell, and restore mechanical
musical instruments and related items. Members also
receive the biennial MBSI Directory of Members, Museums,
and Dealers.
The only requirements for membership are an interest in
automatic music machines and the desire to share information
about them. And you’ll take pride in knowing you
are contributing to the preservation of these marvelous
examples of bygone craftsmanship.
More Information online at www.MBSI.org, or
Call: (417) 886-8839, or
Email: jbeeman.mbsi@att.net
Copy this page, and give it to a potential new member. Spread the word about MBSI.
Last name First Name Initial
Last Name First Name Initial
Address
City State / Zip Postal Code / Country
Phone Fax E-mail
Sponsor (optional)
Membership Dues
US members (per household)……………………………………….$60
Student Membership $20
(online journal access only)
Canada…………………………………………………………………………$70
Other International………………………………………………………$75
(Add $20 for International air mail.)
Join online: www.mbsi.org/join-mbsi
Check or Money Order Payable to: MBSI Treasurer (US Funds Only)
Mail to: New Member Registration – MBSI
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4 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
By Tom Kuehn
MBSI President
As we March into spring, we leave
winter, and hopefully the worst of
the pandemic, behind us. Although
many normal activities have been
put on hold, our hobby continues in
other ways. I want to bring two recent
developments to your attention.
The first is the release of the book,
“The Reblitz-Bowers Encyclopedia
of American Coin-Operated Pianos
and Orchestrions and Related Instruments”
by Art Reblitz and Q. David
Bowers. (See Book Review, Page
12.) As many of you know, this book
has been in the works for several
years. The layout was performed by
Terry Smythe who brought a draft
of the manuscript with him when he
attended our last annual meeting in
Rockville, MD, more than 18 months
ago, to receive the MBSI Literary
Award. The draft appeared to fill
one-half of a suitcase. The list of credits
and acknowledgments covers three
pages and is a veritable who’s who in
mechanical music in America. The
authors include some new wrinkles
such as a numerical scheme for accurately
cataloging instruments. Many
obscure firms and their products are
included in a publication such as this
for the first time. I offer my congratulations
to all who played a role in this
significant new publication.
It may be of interest to note that
the heyday of the American coin
piano industry lasted only about 25
years, from around 1903 to 1928. The
“Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical
Instruments” by Q. David Bowers was
first printed in 1972, nearly 50 years
ago. That’s twice the length of time as
the duration of the original industry.
The second development is the
advent of presentations streamed live
via Zoom. One example, The Wonders
of Mechanical Music and Carousels, is
available on the first Monday of every
month. These online show and talk
sessions were initiated last summer
by the Carousel Organ Association of
America (COAA) to partially compensate
for the lack of organ rallies. Our
own East Coast Chapter is one of the
co-sponsors.
The presentations are free to anyone
who wishes to attend, but they require
advance registration. The initial focus
was on organs and carousels but has
expanded to include most other types
of mechanical musical instruments.
Some of the past presentations can be
accessed on YouTube, including one
where Arnold Chase demonstrates
some of the instruments in his collection.
Close-up and interior views are
provided that would not normally be
seen by visitors.
The speaker for February’s presentation
was none other than MBSI
Trustee Matt Jaro, who gave an informative
talk on nickelodeon music that
included audio recordings from three
of Matt’s own Seeburg machines. At
least 130 people were in attendance.
I suggest you look at the schedule
of future presentations to determine
what topics interest you and volunteer
if you would like to make a presentation
yourself.
On a more administrative note, the
next meeting of the Board of Trustees
is scheduled to be held on Mar. 20
via Zoom. MBSI officers, trustees
and preparers of the various reports
have been notified well in advance. I
promised to provide a virtual lunch to
all attendees.
The sun may be coming out from
behind the clouds, and as I look ahead,
I see what appears to be clear weather
and calm seas. Hopefully, this is not a
mirage and not too distant. I wish all
of you the best. Stay safe, be well.
★
★
★★
®
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
★
★
★★
®
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Spring eld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Spring eld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
MBSI MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
EACH ONE/REACH ONE NEW MEMBER
MBSI is always interested in increasing its membership and is pleased to offer new members a $15
discount off their rst year’s membership. You are considered a new member if you have not been a
member in the past three years. This discount is also available on our website, www.mbsi.org.
Current MBSI members who sponsor a new member will receive a $5 discount off their next year’s
MBSI membership renewal for each sponsorship. Attach a copy of the discount voucher below to a
copy of the membership application form on Page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music. Place your
name as “sponsor” on the application form.
Please make copies of these forms as needed and send the completed forms with checks to the MBSI
administrator at the address listed below.
Dues Voucher – $15
New U.S. members may join MBSI for one year at $45 (instead
of $60); Canadians $55 (instead of $70; and, other International
members at $60 (instead of $75). This certi cate must accom-
pany payment and a copy of the completed membership
application from page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music.
New Member Name(s):
Authorized by MBSI Administrator
NEW MEMBER
GIFT CERTIFICATE
New members are those who have never been members of MBSI
or those who have not been members for three years prior to
submission of this voucher.
New members are those who have never
been members of MBSI or those who have
not been members for three years prior to
submission of this certi cate.
Gift Membership Name
Sponsor
Address, City, State, ZIP
Phone Email
Please mail this form together with your check made payable to “MBSI” to the MBSI Administrator at the address listed
above. Memberships are $45 for U.S. residents, $55 for Canadian residents, and $60 for other International residents.
SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase one or more rst-year MBSI gift
memberships at $45 each U.S., $55 Canadian, or $60 other Interna-
tional and you will receive $5 off your next year’s MBSI membership
renewal for each “New Member” gift.
★
★
★★
®
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
★
★
★★
®
(INTERNATIONAL)
ORGANIZED IN 1949
DEVOTED TO ALL MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Spring eld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Spring eld, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax: (417) 886-8839
MBSI MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
EACH ONE/REACH ONE NEW MEMBER
MBSI is always interested in increasing its membership and is pleased to offer new members a $15
discount off their rst year’s membership. You are considered a new member if you have not been a
member in the past three years. This discount is also available on our website, www.mbsi.org.
Current MBSI members who sponsor a new member will receive a $5 discount off their next year’s
MBSI membership renewal for each sponsorship. Attach a copy of the discount voucher below to a
copy of the membership application form on Page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music. Place your
name as “sponsor” on the application form.
Please make copies of these forms as needed and send the completed forms with checks to the MBSI
administrator at the address listed below.
Dues Voucher – $15
New U.S. members may join MBSI for one year at $45 (instead
of $60); Canadians $55 (instead of $70; and, other International
members at $60 (instead of $75). This certi cate must accom-
pany payment and a copy of the completed membership
application from page 4 of this issue of Mechanical Music.
New Member Name(s):
Authorized by MBSI Administrator
NEW MEMBER
GIFT CERTIFICATE
New members are those who have never been members of MBSI
or those who have not been members for three years prior to
submission of this voucher.
New members are those who have never
been members of MBSI or those who have
not been members for three years prior to
submission of this certi cate.
Gift Membership Name
Sponsor
Address, City, State, ZIP
Phone Email
Please mail this form together with your check made payable to “MBSI” to the MBSI Administrator at the address listed
above. Memberships are $45 for U.S. residents, $55 for Canadian residents, and $60 for other International residents.
SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase one or more rst-year MBSI gift
memberships at $45 each U.S., $55 Canadian, or $60 other Interna-
tional and you will receive $5 off your next year’s MBSI membership
renewal for each “New Member” gift.
Editor’s Notes
By Russell Kasselman
MBSI Editor/Publisher
If there’s one good thing about
people being stuck inside because of
a pandemic, it seems to be that the
inspiration to write strikes more folks
more often than it ever has before in
my time editing this journal.
It is fantastic to see writers who
haven’t contributed to Mechanical
Music before bringing their material
to the pages of this magazine and
working with me to revise and refine
their articles to get them in the best
shape possible for presentation to you.
I thank them for their patience with
me and I’m grateful to have gotten to
know each of them a bit better.
This issue we welcome Gordie
MAILING ADDRESS
MBSI Editorial / Advertising
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
EMAIL ADDRESS
editor@mbsi.org
PHONE
(253) 228-1634
Davidson writing the cover article.
Gordie shares his love of busker
organs and his experience over 40
years playing for crowds in a wide
variety of places. Careful, though, it
might make you itch for the pre-pandemic
days when we could actually
travel with much less worry.
Aaron Muller, author of the Outreach
Corner column for this issue, is also
a first-time contributor with a great
message that should be quite encouraging
for anyone just starting out
in the hobby. Check it out and take
some time to think about how you got
started, or who/what got you inspired.
If you feel like it, write it up and send
it in. We’d all love to hear it.
Of course this journal wouldn’t
be what it is without our regular
contributors. Matt Jaro, Alison Biden,
Robin Biggins and Paul Bellamy all
bring solid articles to this issue covering
a variety of topics. I want to thank
each of them for their consistency
and willingness to take so much of
their time to research and write about
subjects that can hold our interest so
strongly.
If you have an interest in writing
something for the journal, please get
in touch. My contact information is
just above. Get in touch and we can
chat a bit about it.
Welcome new members!
December 2020 January 2021
Kelly Jameson Sari Melamed
Akron, OH Beverly Hills, CA
Gary Kinnunen Sponsor: Don Caine
Richland, WA Anne Weinkauf
Ed Neal Indianapolis, IN
Oxford, NC Sponsor: Don Caine
Christian Wittmann Orgelbau Otmar & Gabriele Seemann
Wolfsgraben, Austria Vienna, Austria
Sponsor: Gordie Davidson Adam Lenkin
Bruce Norden Bethesda, MD
Bettendorf, IA Sponsor: Ronald Lenkin
Parker Maas
Decatur, IN
Craig Lenkin
Rockville, MD
Sponsor: Ronald Lenkin
James & Robin Dryden
Moorestown, NJ
Jerry & Ann Maske
Sullivan, ME
Linda & Thomas Talcott
Willoughby Hills, OH
William Schutz
Traverse City, MI
A Lasting Legacy
Throughout its history, MBSI has fostered an interest in and preservation of
automatic musical instruments. Your gift to the Endowment Fund will
support programs that will help future generations appreciate these
achievements of man’s creative genius. Visit www.mbsi.org to learn more.
In order for anything
once alive to have
meaning, its effect
must remain alive in
eternity in some way
– Ernest Becker, Philosopher
The Musical Box Society International
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All donations to the Endowment
Fund are tax deductible.
A gift of any size is welcome.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 7
Outreach Corner Outreach Corner
Mixing play with work
By Aaron Muller
Special Exhibits Committee Member
Hello fellow members. This is
the first part of a two-part article I’ll
be writing for our new “Outreach
Corner” column. Please let me start
by sending a heartfelt thank you to
Special Exhibits Committee Chair and
MBSI Trustee Mary Ellen Myers (and
her husband Wayne) for inviting me
to join this committee. I am a strong
believer in face-to-face contact with
people when it comes to our hobby.
Live exhibits are perfect for that and
I have already been active in this
area for many years. This committee
seems like a perfect fit for me and I
look forward to making a meaningful
contribution to our members through
the work it does.
What I have to say picks up right
where Mary Ellen and Wayne’s previous
column entitled “What’s in the
Box” left off, since I believe most of
us collectors have in common the
fact that we love sharing and showing
mechanical music to those who have
never seen it before. And, let’s face it,
most of us get excited when it’s our
turn to talk about our two favorite
subjects, ourselves and our stuff.
Most collectors I’ve talked with would
agree that show and tell is probably
the most fun part of our hobby.
I’ll admit, I fit that bill perfectly! In
fact, I like to share my collection with
others so much that I brought it into
work with me. How does the old saying
go? “Love what you do and you’ll never
work a day in your life.” That saying
couldn’t ring more true for me. It was
quite easy to convince myself I was
doing the right thing since all I had to
do was whisper things to myself like,
“after all, I have to be there anyway,
so why not have some fun.” Another
of my favorite lines was, “It won’t take
Jasper Sanfilippo with Aaron Muller.
8 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
A view of the mini museum featuring Aaron Muller’s collection that he has set up in his Barrington Resale store.
up much space and people will love
it.” And then there was the idea that
“Other stores have attractions inside
of them, why can’t I have one?” It’s
not like I’m building a theme park or
Gander Mountain or anything.
You see how easy that was? A little
justification, and I was off to the
races. Now, before I get too far ahead
of myself, I think some of you might
like a bit more information so you
can answer questions like “who is this
guy?” and “where did he come from?”
Some of you may even be wondering
“why should I read any further?”
Well, please allow me to make my
introductions.
I am a small business owner and
the immediate past chair of the Lake
Michigan Chapter (2018–2019). About
10 years ago I was invited to join MBSI
by a couple of people whose names
might sound a little more familiar
to you, Jasper Sanfilippo and Marty
Persky. Jasper first introduced me to
mechanical musical instruments and
his collection in 1994. Marty, as the
curator of that collection, was (and
is), in my eyes, the man to know if
you’re trying to learn something about
mechanical music. I felt like I was
surely in the right place at the right
time when I met him. I desperately
wanted to learn and Marty (perhaps
slightly reluctantly at first) wanted
to teach. To say I feel lucky to have
gotten to know Marty would definitely
be an understatement. Without him I
don’t think I would’ve gotten half the
enjoyment I receive from this hobby.
The news hit me hard in January
2019 when it was reported Jasper
had passed away. It was a sad day
for mechanical music enthusiasts
indeed, but we soon took hope when
we learned that Jasper and his family
had ensured a legacy that will last
for generations to come through the
Sanfilippo Family Foundation. In my
mind, Jasper and his wife, Marian, set
the example of how to use automatic
and mechanical musical instruments
as the ultimate special exhibit, one that
can and will touch the lives of countless
people. When I think back about
it, I realize that it wasn’t Jasper and
Marian’s shared passion for collecting
these marvelous musical instruments
that inspired me; rather it was their
desire to bring other people along
with them so others could enjoy it too.
What we can learn from Jasper and
Marian is that for most of us, building
a collection might not entirely satiate
our desire to enjoy the machines and
the music because we also need other
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 9
people to enjoy it with. For me, this
could not be more true.
It was Jasper and Marian’s example
that inspired me to include an exhibit
of my collection as part of my business
and workplace. My story and
collection, like that of most members,
is a bit more modest than the Sanfilippos’,
but it doesn’t mean I’m any less
enthusiastic about it. In my short time
as a member, I’ve seen a number of
collections that are larger than mine
and many that have more flashy or
expensive pieces. I mostly focus on
introducing beginners to our hobby
using beginner level machines. If they
get involved and choose to advance
into membership in MBSI and then
start attending events, I know they
will quickly find bigger and more elaborate
collections are waiting for them
to explore.
Which brings me to another saying,
“it’s not the size of your organ, but
rather how you use it, that matters.” I
like to look at it this way, my collection
is not necessarily very valuable, but
the good times I have and the friends
I share it with are priceless. After all,
when we share mechanical music
with others what we really share with
them is happiness. We refer to the
wonderful sounds our machines make
as “the happiest music on earth” for
a reason. Something joyful happens
inside us the moment we hear these
musical marvels begin to play.
I know I keep talking about bringing
my collection to work with me, but
I bet you are wondering what’s in
my collection. Well, my collecting
career began when my grandmother
left behind a small Polyphon disc
music box. Being the youngest of
five grandchildren, and with nobody
else in the family wanting it, the box
was left to me. It was sometime in
the mid 1980s when it actually came
physically into my possession. It sat
around for another decade or so until
I met Jasper and attended a few MBSI
events. That was when I got interested
enough to take a look at my Polyphon
box and see if I could get it running.
It turned out to be an easy fix and
in 15 minutes I had my first repaired
and running vintage music box. It was
so exciting to listen to something that
A local newspaper wrote up an article about fourth-graders getting a tour of the mini
museum in Aaron Muller’s store.
no one had heard for decades. I’m
sure it was broken for 30 or 40 years,
probably more.
It wasn’t until about 2013 that I
officially joined MBSI. By then I had
collected 25 or 30 low budget Victrolas,
a couple more music boxes and,
thanks to someone with the initials
J.B. (another member of the Sanfilippo
group that I will identify later), my
first Seeburg style L nickelodeon. All
of this, combined with some pretty
nice artwork and accessories, would
be the beginning of what would
eventually become the Free Mini
Museum, Educational and Historical
Center for Mechanical Musical Instruments
at Barrington Resale, or the
F.M.M.E.H.C.M.M.I. for short. It’s OK
to laugh, it’s supposed to be funny!
I started my business, Barrington
Resale, in 2001. It took me 12 years to
slowly put together my collection the
way it exists today. Many hours after
work and late nights were spent refurbishing,
reconditioning and repairing
mostly middle of the road, entry level
collector machines. Mostly I collected
what I could afford to purchase on the
side while still keeping the business
running. I ended up with various
models of phonographs, four different
types of roll-playing pianos, a few
cylinder and disc-playing music boxes
and one buildup orchestrion from
1994, called the “Maccordion.” It was
nothing any swanky auction house
would get too excited about for sure,
but it was mine and everything was
finally in working condition. When
10 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Another view of Aaron Muller’s mini museum classroom where he seeks to expose people to mechanical music for the first time.
I decided to display it, I realized my
only problem was, I had never done an
exhibit setup before. Everything was
basically just in a pile in the back of
my shop and that wouldn’t do.
Along came a couple people whose
names you might have heard before:
Jerry Biasella (the guy who sold me
my first real Nickelodeon), and Greg
Leifel. Jerry works at Sanfilippo’s
with Marty and Greg is the executive
director of the Sanfilippo Family
Foundation. I could not have been
blessed with a better group of guys to
help do the initial setup with me. It’s
been eight years now since I opened
my free mini museum. Hundreds
of people have been introduced to
mechanical music instruments who
may have never heard about them
if not for my shop and its “Special
Exhibit.”
Next month I’ll take a closer look at
how to spread the word about special
exhibits using the internet, advertising,
social media, word of mouth, events,
groups and roadside attractions like
the “Fisher Nut Company Calliope
Truck.”
Stay tuned.
A Lake Michigan Chapter meeting held in the Barrington Resale store showed other MBSI members how they might share their
own collections with others.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 11
Book Review Book Review
The Reblitz–Bowers Encyclopedia of American Coin-OperatedPianos and Orchestrions and Related Instruments
Reviewed by Glenn Thomas
Mechanical Music readers have
a literary treat available to them. I
recently received my copy of “The
Reblitz–Bowers Encyclopedia of
American Coin-Operated Pianos and
Orchestrions and Related Instruments.”
My immediate surprise in the
book’s unboxing revealed a gorgeous,
glossy cover picturing a Seeburg H on a
900+ page count weighing about seven
pounds. Flipping quickly through the
pages, I noticed an attractive two-column
layout in large type, profusely
illustrated. Most of the images are in
black and white, but there are many
color plates, especially for the larger,
more attractive instruments. Rather
than a random statistical soup, I
found the book organized into 63
alphabetical chapters, each title with
a specific brand or company for easy
reference. That’s followed in the front
by a separate alphabetical, expanded
easy-finding list that further dissects
this into trade names and manufacturers.
The book’s end features a
35-page index that has the expected
microscopic list one would expect of
a good index.
Art Reblitz and David Bowers
worked 10 years writing and compiling
the book. It is completely new
and not an update of any previous
volume. Yet, comparisons of the
similarly titled 1972 “Encyclopedia of
Automatic Musical Instrument” by Q.
David Bowers are inescapable. The
earlier Bowers book was written in a
different day and style, with different
technology, and a different set of
information. The type face was much
smaller and the layout quite different.
I’ve had that book since its inception,
and it has been an indispensable
reference.
The new Reblitz–
Bowers Encyclopedia
is not an update of
the former, but a
completely new
volume. It’s been
nearly 50 years from
the original Encyclopedia,
and the
authors have gathered
a whole new
set of information,
data, and images. The
focus is now on types
of instruments in the
title with a logical,
easy-to-read story.
I felt like being in a
room listening to the
authors telling a story,
showing images. My
questions seemed to
be anticipated in the
narrative.
I found each
chapter, covering a
separate company
with its founding
history, instruments,
music, marketing,
and demise to be a story and novel
within itself. It’s a great reference and
can be used that way, but I was most
taken by reading over 60 separate
illustrated chapters. I’ve been in this
hobby over 50 years, have every book,
and been active every possible way,
but I am learning more than I could
possibly have imagined by going
through the chapters.
The production quality is stellar.
Think of this also as a “coffee table”
book, proud to be a centerpiece of any
table in your front room. You will want
to refer to it, but read it like story, and
share with others. I highly recommend
this book as one of the finest reference/
stories of mechanical music.
About the Reviewer and How to Obtain the
Book: Glenn Thomas is a member of MBSI and
the editor of The AMICA Bulletin published by
the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’
Association, which also published this book.
To buy a copy for $100, go to www.amica.org
and look for the link on that page with complete
payment instructions. For questions and more
information, contact the book sales manager,
Michael Walter; email: mikew_14086@yahoo.
com; 65 Running Brook Drive; Lancaster, NY
14086-3314; Phone 716-656-9583.
12 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Ragtime
at the
Morris
Museum
By Jere Ryder
The Morris Museum in Morristown,
NJ, recently unveiled a new exhibit
called “Those Beautiful Rags,” which
is a tribute to ragtime music and Tin
Pan Alley.
The display opened Jan. 30 and will
run through Oct. 10. American ragtime,
a precursor of early jazz, is a musical
style that enjoyed immense popularity
in the late 1800s through World War I.
Above: A view into the exhibit.
At right: One of the original sheet music
covers displayed as part of the exhibit.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 13
The term ragtime was coined for its
“ragged,” syncopated rhythms that
arose from African-American musical
traditions.
The emergence of ragtime occurred
at the height of the industrial revolution
when the expanding middle class
could afford new inventions for home
and business entertainment. A wide
range of musical boxes, player pianos,
nickelodeons, and early phonographs
provided families and customers with
access to the newest, most popular
music of the day.
This Morris Museum exhibition
features rare ragtime sheet music
cover art from the world-renowned
Guinness Collection and highlights
a variety of mechanical musical
instruments, including the Seeburg
L coin piano, the Regina Hexaphone,
an Olympia disc musical box by F.G.
Otto, an original Style A Wurlitzer
Automatic Harp, a 201/2-inch Regina
Corona Sublima auto-changer and
more. Interactive listening stations
feature examples of early “ragged”
and syncopated arrangements
performed by these and other period
music machines. These instruments,
audio kiosks and provocative period
illustrations on sheet music covers
encourage visitors to come away with
a deeper appreciation of the art and
the music of this uniquely American
product.
One particularly notable item
in the exhibit is a recent donation
to the Morris Museum, an Aeolian
Technola Player, circa 1915–1920.
This instrument was gifted to the
museum by MBSI member Ruth
Reininghaus-Smith. Ruth and her late
husband, Al, received this machine in
a bequest upon the passing of Murtogh
D. Guinness. Ruth and Al were longtime
friends of Murtogh, collectors
themselves and neighbors in New
York, NY. Ruth and Al helped facilitate
MBSI open houses at Murtogh’s home.
The Technola was lovingly restored
for Guinness by Alan Lightcap.
Founded in 1913, the Morris Museum
is an award-winning, multifaceted arts
and cultural institution serving the
public through its exhibitions and
performances. As New Jersey’s only
Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, it is
also the first museum in the state to be
accredited by the American Alliance
Another piece of sheet music cover art on display at the Morris Museum now
through Oct. 10, 2020.
of Museums. It has been designated a
Major Arts Institution and has received
the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts’ Citation of Excellence, among
other awards. The Morris Museum
is a Blue Star Museum, offering free
admission to active duty military
personnel and their families, from
Memorial Day to Labor Day.
14 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Nickel Notes
By Matthew Jaro
A Music Trade Press Reader’s History of the Welte-Mignon
Part One
Several months ago, I wrote a column
about the history of the Ampico piano
system and then the history of the
Duo-Art system. Now we come to the
last of the three major reproducing
piano systems, the Welte-Mignon.
Welte is the oldest and probably the
most venerable of all the companies in
the mechanical music field. Welte was
also the first to develop a reproducing
mechanism. I have primarily used the
trade press newspapers as a source
for this history. I don’t think much of
what I have discovered is anything
that was previously unknown, but
the information is rather obscure and
difficult to find, so I hope you simply
find my story presented in a way that
is both interesting and accurate.
One difficulty with using the trade
press as a historical source is that
these publications derived revenue
from advertisements paid for by
the very companies on which they
reported. Consequently, many articles
are “puff pieces,” sometimes portraying
the most corrupt manipulators
of finance as wonderful, upstanding
citizens. With some work, however,
the truth can be extracted.
There is a comprehensive book
written about the Welte-Mignon, “The
Welte-Mignon: Its Music and Musicians”
by Charles Davis Smith and
Richard James Howe (Vestal Press,
for AMICA, 1994), which received
excellent reviews and covered almost
all aspects of the company and the
machines it produced. It took six years
to create the book, but, unfortunately
for all of us, it is now long out of print.
Early History
I started my information gathering
with a Wikipedia article about Welte.
From 1832 until 1932, the firm
produced mechanical musical instruments
of the highest quality. The firm’s
founder, Michael Welte (1807-1880),
and his company were prominent
in the technical development and
construction of orchestrions from
1850, until the early 20th century.
In 1872, the firm moved from the
remote Black Forest town of Vöhrenbach
to a newly developed business
complex beneath the main railway
station in Freiburg, Germany. They
created an epoch-making development
when they substituted the
playing gear of their instruments
from fragile wood pinned cylinders
to perforated paper rolls. In 1883,
Emil Welte (1841-1923), the eldest
son of Michael, who had emigrated to
the United States in 1865, patented
the paper roll method (U.S. Patent
287,599), the model of the later piano
roll. In 1889, the technique was
further perfected, and again protected
through patents. Later, Welte built
only instruments using the new
technique, which was also licensed
to other companies. With branches in
New York and Moscow, and representatives
throughout the world, Welte
became very well known.
The firm was already famous for its
inventions in the field of the reproduction
of music when Welte introduced
the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano
in 1904. “It automatically replayed
the tempo, phrasing, dynamics and
pedaling of a particular performance,
and not just the notes of the music, as
was the case with other player pianos
of the time.” In September, 1904, the
Mignon was demonstrated in the
Leipzig Trade Fair. In March, 1905 it
became better known when showcased
“at the showrooms of Hugo Popper,
a manufacturer of roll-operated
orchestrions”. By 1906, the Mignon
was also exported to the United
States, installed to pianos by the
firms Feurich and Steinway & Sons.
As a result of this invention by Edwin
Welte (1876-1958) and his brother-inlaw
Karl Bockisch (1874-1952), one
could now record and reproduce the
music played by a pianist as true to
life as was technologically possible at
the time.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 15
The July 1882 issue of the Music
Trade Review (MTR) has this notice:
The ad below, appearing in 1890 in
the Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau
(or ZI) introduces paper rolls (instead
of pinned cylinders) to Welte’s pneumatic
instruments.
The early pinned-cylinder machines
required changing a heavy cylinder
to hear new music. The expense of
the cylinders also meant that people
were stuck with the same music for a
long time. The advent of the paper roll
meant new music could be duplicated
easily and inexpensively. Thus, a large
library of music could be amassed by
a Welte orchestrion owner.
Since one of the main topics of
Nickel Notes has been coin-operated
instruments, I was really intrigued to
run into the little notice shown at the
top of the next column, from a 1905
issue of MTR. The Englehardt Piano
Company made the first coin-operated
piano in 1898 and the Encore Banjo
dating from the late 1890s is probably
the first automatic coin-operated
instrument. You can see that Welte
was not far behind:
The Welte-Mignon
The June 23, 1906, issue of MTR
has a full-page article describing the
Mignon system complete with testimonials
from the likes of Paderewski,
Saint-Saens and Richard Strauss. (See
Page 13.) The testimonials are truly
from some of the greatest names in
music. Notice that the player has no
keyboard. The article also indicates
that a complete recording system had
been developed.
Below is a Welte advertisement
from 1906.
Notice that the system is now
referred to as the Welte Artistic Player
Piano. Also the address of their studios
is certainly not Park Avenue — a fault
which will be remedied later. The
fact that the Welte achieved so much
artistic recognition as early as 1906
was an amazing feat — considering
that the Ampico and Duo-Art systems
were many years away.
The Vorsetzer
In Germany, 1907, the ad above
appeared and promoted the Vorsetzer
— a device that is placed in front of
the keyboard of a conventional piano
that plays the piano like fingers would
do. This enabled a person to have a
reproducing piano without modifying
the piano. It’s interesting to note that
neither MTR nor the Presto newspaper
have any occurrences of the word
“vorsetzer.” Much serious music has
been reproduced using the Vorsetzer
on a modern piano. Notably, there
were a number of radio programs,
entitled “Keyboard Immortals Play
Again in Stereo,” presented by Joseph
Tushinsky, President of Sony Super-
scope in the 1960-70s.
The Vorsetzer is shown above as it
would look in front of a piano. (The
picture is from the Wiki Creative
Commons.) The Vorsetzer was heavily
advertised in Germany, but not in the
U.S.
Continued Success for Welte
In January 1907, MTR reports that
orders for Welte-Mignon pianos far
surpass their ability to manufacture
them.
16 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 17
This was probably not just a “puff”
piece, because there were a number of
articles with a similar story.
Keyboard Reproducing Pianos
Remember that none of these
Mignon pianos had a keyboard,
but in March 1908 Welte made an
announcement.
They added a keyboard so the piano
could be played manually. They also
announced a new grand piano. These
were available earlier in Germany (see
the 1907 advertisement, above for
Steinway-Welte).
Steinway Rumor
In 1908 a rumor circulated that Steinway
would put Welte mechanisms in
their pianos. This was emphatically
denied by Steinway. We know that
the next year (1909), Steinway would
enter into an agreement with Aeolian.
The agreement stated that Aeolian
would have the exclusive right to
incorporate their Pianola mechanisms
in Steinway instruments. Steinway
agreed not to enter the player-piano
market and Aeolian agreed not to
exploit straight pianos (particularly
the Weber). Another stipulation was
that Aeolian would buy and pay for a
minimum of 600 new Steinway pianos
per year for the installation of the
Pianola. So, Steinway was not lying.
They did not build pianos with player
mechanisms.
Obviously, there was no animosity
between Welte and Steinway, since
Welte commissioned Steinway to
make cases for them and Steinway
participated in Welte demonstrations.
You can see from this newspaper
clipping, the enormous influence of
Steinway. It also speaks to why the
agreement of Steinway and Duo-Art
was of paramount importance. Obviously,
Steinway and Welte met to
discuss the cases and an informant
must have told an MTR reporter that
Steinway was planning to incorporate
Welte mechanisms into its pianos.
Incorporation in the United States
In March 1912 the incorporation of
“M. Welte and Sons” in the U.S. was
announced.
This venture
would have $1
million in capital
for the purpose
of constructing
a factory. The
new company
would combine
the New York
branch of M.
Welte and Sohne
of Freiburg,
Germany, and the Welte Artistic Play-
er-Piano Company (both concerns
being owned by the same people).
They decided to build a factory in
Poughkeepsie, NY. In December 1912
the factory was ready (fast work!).
Shareholders were mostly family
members, including Barney Dreyfuss,
Edwin’s brother-in-law.
You can see from the picture of the
new Welte factory (Page 15) that it was
a considerable undertaking. I remember
reading somewhere that the land
was donated by the city of Poughkeepsie,
but I can’t find the reference, so
make of that what you will. Anyway,
there must have been zero red tape in
order to construct such a massive site
in only nine months:
1914 The War Begins
On Sept. 5, 1914, a postcard was
received from Edwin Welte after war
was declared in Germany. Remember,
that the United States did not enter
into World War I until September 1917:
Dear Mr. Collver:-We will have war
and I will be called probably to-day to
serve. Please stick to our American
business, to which I have associated
the best years of my life. Kindest
regards to you, your wife and daughter,
and to all the employees of our
American branch. Hurrah !
– Edwin Welte
The Auto-Pneumatic Agreement
This appeared in the Sept. 28, 1916,
Edwin Welte in
1912
18 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
The Welte & Sons factory in Poughkeepsie, NY, that was finished in December 1912.
issue of Presto:
This agreement was a little surprising
to me. I wonder if Edwin Welte
knew about it beforehand. It gave the
Auto-Pneumatic Company the right
to manufacture Welte mechanisms
themselves. Was this giving away the
store? Was business slow and was
the Welte Company in urgent need of
revenue or was the demand so great
as to necessitate alternative avenues
of manufacture? I hope they got a
good royalty. The pianos made under
this agreement were known as “Welte
licensee pianos.”
The Auto Pneumatic Action
Company
The Auto Pneumatic Action
Company was incorporated in June
1909. The following is an interesting
sequence of events, important to both
the Ampico and Welte reproducing
pianos:
Charles Kohler is named president
of the Auto Pneumatic Action
Company. He was a partner in the
Kohler and Campbell Piano Company
and eventually became sole owner
when Campbell died. Kohler also
controlled the Autopiano Co.
George W. Gittins was named as
secretary of the corporation. This
name is very important later on — so
remember it (just think of “Kittens”).
The Auto Pneumatic Action
Company made two grades of action,
these were called the Standard and
the De Luxe.
On Jul. 16, 1910, the Auto Pneumatic
Action Company announced that
William J. Keeley would be president
(taking over from Charles Kohler),
and that the Auto Pneumatic Action
Company would no longer make two
grades of piano actions
There is also a full page ad in the
MTR stating the same thing. So, Auto
Pneumatic is discontinuing the Standard
Action and keeping only the De
Luxe.
On Jul. 21, 1910, the very next issue
of the MTR, this was published:
Notice the choice of name for the
new company. It can’t be a coincidence
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 19
that Auto terminates their Standard
line, replaces their president, and
the very next week there is a new
company named Standard.
The address of the Autopiano
Company is: 12th Avenue between
51st and 52nd Street.
The address of the Auto Pneumatic
Action Company is: 619-629 West 50th
Street.
The address of the Standard Pneumatic
Action Company is: 638-652
West 52nd Street.
These three companies are all in
a contiguous two block area of New
York City (off of 12th Avenue), part of
the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
Both Standard and Auto Pneumatic
actions were manufactured under the
same patents and were of the double
valve type, according to a posting by
Jeffrey R. Wood in Mechanical Music
Digest (MMD) on Jan. 17, 2010.
In my opinion, Charles Kohler did a
very good job of hiding the fact that
both Auto and Standard were owned
by him. None of the officers are in
common and the trade press makes no
mention of ownership of the Standard
Pneumatic Action Company.
In 1913, Charles Kohler died. George
W. Gittins then became president of
Kohler and Campbell.
Why Is This Important?
In 1916 the Auto Pneumatic Action
Company would produce the Welte
(licensee) actions as a result of the
agreement. Remember that Auto
Pneumatic is owned by Kohler and
Campbell. This would be fine except
for the fact that a Kohler-controlled
company also produced the Ampico
actions. George Foster, the president
of the American Piano Company, did
not like this arrangement, and there
fore switched to Amphion in 1917.
Arthur Reblitz, in his book “Golden
Age of Mechanical Music” in a list of
manufacturers, states:
Kohler & Campbell (Kohler Industries;
Kohler & Campbell Industries).
New York City, 1896-c. 1930. An
industrial giant, which controlled
Autopiano and other piano companies,
the Auto Pneumatic Action Co.
(founded circa 1900; incorporated
1909), the Standard Pneumatic
Action Co. (c. 1910), and the Republic
Player Roll Corporation and DeLuxe
Reproducing Roll Corporation
(1918). The Auto Pneumatic Action
Co. supplied Ampico reproducing
piano mechanisms to the American
Piano Company, 1912-1917, and to
M. Welte & Sons for “Red Welte” (12
7/8″ T-100) reproducing pianos made
in the United States, circa 19101918.
Auto Pneumatic also made
mechanisms for the Auto Deluxe
Welte-Mignon (using 11¼” 9 per inch
rolls) sold in over 100 piano brands.
In 1917 the Standard Pneumatic
Action Co. employed 600 people and
manufactured about 800 player
actions per week. Production ceased
about 1930. After World War II,
Kohler Industries made hand-played
pianos, eventually moving to Granite
Falls, NC. Piano production ceased
circa 1980s. In 1917, Welte incorporated
the Welte-Mignon Music Roll
Company in order to manufacture
music rolls.
Other people have noticed that the
Auto Pneumatic Action Company
and the Standard Pneumatic Action
Company had the same ownership.
Specifically, Automatic Musical
Instrument Collectors’ Association
(AMICA) member Doug Hickling
contributed many articles about the
history of reproducing pianos for the
AMICA Bulletin. You can read these
on the AMICA website.
I think I may be the first person to
notice that the Standard line of piano
actions was discontinued by the Auto
Pneumatic Action Company and a
new company was formed to produce
that action the following week. This
took many hours of searching through
the MTR and Presto.
The U.S. Declares War
on Germany
In September 1917, the U.S. entered
the war against Germany. I was
wondering when this fact would enter
into Welte’s business affairs. Well, in
the Jun. 29, 1918 MTR, it did — and
Gittins will figure in it.
To see the exciting conclusion to this
serial, you will have to wait for the next
edition of Mechanical Music.
Email Matt Jaro at mjaro@verizon.
net if you would like any information
about style “A”, “G”, “4X”, “H” or “O” rolls.
Also, comments and suggestions for this
column will be appreciated.
Reprinted with permission of the
author and The Automatic Musical
Instrument Collectors’ Association
(AMICA). Originally printed in the
July-August 2015 issue of The AMICA
Bulletin.
WE WANT YOUR STORY!
Every mechanical musical instrument has a tale to tell. Share the history of people
who owned your instrument before you, or the story of its restoration, or just what
makes it an interesting piece. Send stories via email to editor@mbsi.org or
mail your story to Iron Dog Media, 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA 93449
20 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
La Cracovienne
Plus Meet me by Moonlight and more
Fig. 1, showing the music box of unknown origin with original stain (wine, perhaps?) on the lid.
By Paul Bellamy
The musical programme of a music
box can often be overlooked or
misunderstood, but sometimes there
is a wealth of historical information
behind what may appear to be an
innocuous programme or piece of
music.
I acquired one of my earlier musical
boxes for two major reasons, one
being an unusual tune sheet, which,
at the time, had not been recorded by
the late HAV Bulleid. The other was
because it was by an unknown maker.
There were, of course, other minor
reasons such as the good musical
arrangements played on a finely-cut,
114-toothed comb plus the fact that it
was a key-wind movement and therefore
would have been made pre-1860.
After 1860 most movements were
ratchet-operated lever-wind movements.
Bulleid called the pre-1860
years the golden age of the musical
box. To coin a pun, there did seem to
be a key change in music box direction
around the time of the early 1860s.
Figure 1 shows the case in its
unrestored condition. Whilst in my
possession, it will stay that way
because it has honestly earned its
slightly stained lid. No doubt a glass
of wine stood upon it as the owner
and family listened to it play. The lid’s
inlay is very simple, in plain white
wood displaying leaves and flowers
surrounding a horn, trumpet and triangle,
a nice subject for a musical box.
A sign of quality is the triple
boxwood stringing to the lid, although
it surmounted what was becoming
common at the time, a cheaper
decorated case with scumble finish,
simulating the mahogany veneer of
the lid. That in itself was surprising
because Figure 2 (Page 22) shows
the substantial structure of the case
which, unlike many made of fruit
wood, seemed to be a solid hardwood
throughout, possibly mahogany. I am
certain the scumble is original and
therefore decided not to investigate
the real wood underneath.
The three controls, tune change,
start and instant stop, are covered by
a fold-down end-flap held closed by a
hook and peg, just visible at the left
hand fixed inner panel. A pin, barely
visible, holds the flap in place when
the lid is closed. The movement had
no comb markings, and the only other
marks were the serial number, 6829,
stamped at the top left side of the
smooth brass bedplate and repeated
on the tune sheet, visible in Figure 3
(Page 22).
The tune sheet was in almost perfect
condition and worthy of close inspection.
Its floral border is entwined
with numerous images of children
apparently at play, but closer inspection
reveals they were industriously at
work! The top cartouche has the image
of a hammer and compass. On either
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 21
Fig. 2, showing the solid construction of the box and key-wind mechanism.
side are children with measuring
instruments. At the bottom left corner
are two children forging iron and
in the opposite corner two children
looking through a telescope. Nearby
is a gigantic water wheel powering
machinery. All quite extraordinary!
The script is beautifully written by
quill pen and possibly home-made
ink, no doubt dried by a scatter of fine
sand.
The tune sheet is nothing like the
patterns found in Geneva, Switzerland,
but more like the images found
on later musical boxes in Saint Croix,
Switzerland. Mermod, Cuendet,
L’Épée and other music box makers
used similar images of children at play
but usually with musical instruments,
not telescopes and hammers. Also,
the Mermod, Cuendet and L’Épée
music boxes are usually dated in the
late 1800s, not pre-1860. With so little
information to go on, finding a maker
is almost impossible. My nearest guess
Fig. 3, a closeup of the tune sheet, shows the children hard at work.
would be Paillard and, if correct, The tune entitled “The Cracoviwould
fit the Bulleid date line for 1854. enne” refers to a person performing a
22 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Fig. 4, showing choreographer Joseph
Mazilier in top hat and frock coat.
popular Polish dance of the era called
the Krakowiat. It was a popular
two-step folk dance that originated in
an area near Krakow, Poland, at the
end of the 1700s. The city still retains
its pretty medieval architecture and
was once the former capital of Poland.
The dance was performed at a rapid
pace consisting of square, diagonal
and star-shaped patterns interspersed
at the corners and ends with fast
circular movements.
A French dancer, Joseph Mazilier
(1801–1868), choreographed the
dance in 1839 for a Grand Opera called
“La Gypsy,” which was composed by
N. C. Bocsha. It premiered in 1839 at
the Paris Opera. Figure 4 shows him
dressed in top hat and frock coat
looking directly at the camera. The
dancer at the Paris Opera was Fanny
Elssler (1810–1884). Figure 5A shows
Fanny Elssler on the cover of sheet
music. For some unexplained reason
she wore a costume comprising a
military jacket for her dance routine.
Not always though, as seen in Figure
5B (Page 24) you can see her in a more
traditional dress dancing the same
part.
Tune four, “La Ghitani,” meaning
The Gypsy, was from the same opera.
Fig. 5A, showing Paris Opera dancer Fanny Elssler on the cover of sheet music for
“La Gypsy,” which was composed by N.C. Bocsha and premiered in 1839.
Tunes two and three were not. Tune
two, “My beautiful Rhine,” was a
popular ballad called “Die Weiner”
from an operatic drama called “Spirit
of the Rhine,” written in 1840 for an
opera. Figure 6 (Page 24) is the cover
of a piece of sheet music featuring the
singer Mrs. Honey.
Surprisingly, tune three is the non-
operatic exception. Called “Meet
me by Moonlight,” it was a romantic
ballad written and composed in 1812
by Joseph Augustine Wade. He was
born in Dublin, Ireland, and became a
surgeon before moving to London in
1821. Music was, however, the passion
that led him to become a conductor
at London’s King’s Theatre. He wrote
an oratorio called “The Prophecy,” a
comic opera called “The Two Houses
of Grenada,” as well as popular songs
of the day such as “I’ve Wandered in
Dreams” and “A Woodland Life.” His
most famous song was “Meet me by
Moonlight.” The lyrics are presented
below:
Meet me by moonlight alone
And then, I will tell you a tale
Must be told by the moonlight
alone
In the grove at the end of the vale.
You must propose to come for I
said
I would shew the night flowers
their Queen.
Nay turn not away thy sweet head
’Tis the lovli-est ever was seen.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 23
Fig. 5B, showing dancer Fanny Elssler in more traditional cos-Fig. 6, showing sheet music for the singer Mrs. Honey.
tume dancing in “La Gypsy.”
[REFRAIN]
Oh! meet me by moonlight alone,
Meet me by moonlight alone.
Daylight may do for the gay,
The thoughtless, the heartless, the
free
But there’s something about the
moon’s sky,
That is sweeter to you and to me,
Oh! remember be sure to be there
For tho’ dearly a moonlight I prize
I care not for all in the air
If I want the sweet light of your
eyes
[REFRAIN]
So meet me by moonlight alone,
Meet me by moonlight alone.
I expect the reader of this lovely
old song, written in the early 1800s by
our romantic Irishman, has read the
first verse and not given it a second
thought. And what nonsense. Night
flowers? Who would expect to see
beautiful flowers at night? And why
would the lady he adored be more
beautiful, their queen?
The answer lies in the language of
flowers. In far off times, courtship and
other social interactions were often
expressed by means of flowers. It has
been a form of silent communication
for many cultures for hundreds of
years. It is called fluorography. The
word flirtatious comes from the origins
of the word for flower. The romantic
Irishman knew how to express this
in the words of his song. But what
flowers could possibly bloom in the
moonlight?
There are many that only bloom in
the light of the moon. And that fact
made sense to the courting couples of
long ago. Like their daytime cousins,
they radiated colour and scent in
response to moonlight. Moths and
other insects responded to their scent
and color, a symbiotic relationship
that pollinated the flowers and fed the
insects.
The owner of my musical box must
have been a passionate opera lover
of his or her day. To know something
about the music that was popular at
the time adds pleasure to what might
otherwise be regarded as quite an
ordinary musical box of the period.
Oh, I almost forgot. I never did find
out who actually made my music
box, but before I go, I feel that this
story would not be complete without
a picture of one of the many moonlighting
flowers, which you can see in
Figure 7.
Fig. 7, a flower blooming in moonlight.
24 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Origins of the A D Cunliffe
Musical Box Register
Formerly known as the International Cylinder Box Register
By Alison Biden
It is thought that Arthur Cunliffe
first conceived the idea for a register
of cylinder boxes sometime during
the 1960s. It was very much his own
initiative, and he was the first person
(and probably still the only one) to
tackle this enormous project. It was
not, however, the first register he had
undertaken to compile. Inspired by an
interest in motorcycles, over the years
he had created a register of vintage
motorcycles, which he eventually
passed to the British vehicle licencing
authority for its own use.
According to Arthur, his register of
cylinder music boxes was launched
in 1975, but issues of The Music Box
contain mentions of the idea as early Arthur Cunliffe demonstrates how the register works to an interested guest.
as 1973. That is when he appealed to
members of the Musical Box Society
of Great Britain (MBSGB) to send
in data on cylinder boxes already in
their possession. A registration form
inserted in one of the MBSGB’s journals
that year sought basic descriptive
data — length, height, width, tunes
listed on the tune sheet and maker —
from every cylinder music box owner
who was willing to participate in the
census.
Arthur’s first motive was to gather
as much information as possible on
existing music boxes so that he could
try to estimate how many boxes had
originally been made. This was a
topic of serious interest, as founding
MBSGB member and author John E
T Clark believed many were sent to
continental Europe during the 1914–18
war to comfort recuperating injured Originally, records for the register were collected on 3-by-5 note cards.
troops. Afterwards there seemed to
be little consideration paid as to how pattern would emerge from serial recovered stolen property, although
they were disposed of. numbers, tune titles, and other marks. details of the rightful owner were
Arthur’s next desire was to try and Finally, he believed that a register never (and are still not) recorded or
date boxes accurately, believing a would assist police in identifying retained.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 25
Initially the response to his appeal
was slow, but he was able to extrapolate
valuable information even from
the earliest replies to his request for
information. Spring 1976 saw the
publication of his first “Register News”
column in The Music Box. Although it
started as only an occasional feature,
it eventually developed into a regular
column. Information sent in from
owners and other parties was for many
years recorded manually on index
cards. Eventually these, and their
accompanying photographs, became
numerous enough to warrant Arthur
himself constructing wooden storage
boxes. The cards were arranged in
alphabetical order of maker (where
known).
Later, with the wider use of computers,
he began the laborious task of
entering all the accumulated data,
as well as fresh information, into a
rudimentary database. He used a
programme called MASTERFILE
PC, which ran in DOS, and over the
years became obsolete. In 1994, in a
private letter, he wrote, “The Register
changes almost every day and I
am finding it very time consuming
indeed to keep up with the project.”
Presciently he continued, “One day,
I feel the Register will be the largest
single source of information on cylinder
boxes. The photographic record
to go with it is already between three
and four hundred and I have prints of
items I have never ever seen before.
These seem to have come mainly from
America.”
Arthur was the first to admit that, like
many of us, he struggled in later years
with technology, preferring to stick
with outmoded computer programmes
which he had mastered rather than
keep updating to newer ones. In 2011
his register was transferred into a
Microsoft Access database, but only
after Arthur had tried several different
other ideas. It was Arthur’s policy to
keep strict control over the data, only
allowing the addition of entries made
by himself, in order to preserve its
integrity. He was also sensitive that
having spent more than 40 years and
an estimated several thousand pounds
of his own money on the project, it
should not be available for general
Some of the many, many boxes Arthur filled during his years as the official registrar
of the A D Cunliffe Musical Box Register.
or unauthorised exploitation. As a
consequence, he took it upon himself
to continually answer individual bona
fide requests for information about
cylinder boxes.
Some years before his death, Arthur
made it known that he was passing
ownership of the register to the
MBSGB, with a request that it should
bear his name, and that he should
continue in the role of registrar until
such time as he could no longer fulfill
the duties. In order that the work
should continue after he was gone,
he chose his own successor, David
Worrall, MBE, who has been ghosting
Arthur for several years, and who
now takes over officially in the role of
registrar.
Subject to confirmation, the number
of boxes registered by Arthur before
his death is estimated to be around
12,800 with another several dozen still
waiting to be entered.
Writing as Editor of The Music
Box in 1973, Arthur J W G Ord-Hume
said, “Arthur Cunliffe has assigned
to himself a vast task and one which
can never be complete … it can only
be to every Member’s interest to try
to help in the collection of these data
… the fruits of Mr Cunliffe’s work are
26 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
likely to benefit us all.” Meanwhile,
many collectors, owners, authors and
researchers have already benefited
significantly from the register as a
resource.
As an example of the benefit of
the register, Arthur Cunliffe wrote in
January 1996, “I am pleased to say I
have proved beyond all doubt which
Lecoultre boxes were the product of
the Lecoultre Brechet liaison thanks
to the computer! By entering in all the
L.B. information on combs and then
putting the boxes in serial number
order, they all turned up in the middle
of the Lecoultre listing. These boxes
corresponded accurately with the
dates Brechet started and left the
Lecoultre’s.”
Arthur’s dedication to the topic
should be an inspiration to us all.
The new registrar may be contacted
by emailing registrar@mbsgb.org.uk,
and a copy of the registration form, in
PDF and Microsoft Word format can
be found on the MBSGB’s website,
mbsgb.org.uk.
Two sections of the original register in open boxes illustrate the organized and detailed mind of the man who created it.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 27
Farny Wurlitzer Speaks to the
American Theatre Organ Society
Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted by
permission of The American Theatre Organ Society
(ATOS). It was originally printed in two parts, in the
March/April 2012 and May/June 2012 issues of Theatre
Organ, the journal of ATOS. We will also print it in two
parts. Part 2 begins below.
This article came to the attention of MBSI through the
efforts of Gary Rasmussen and Bill Griess who received
rough copies of the speech from various sources in their
respective orbits. Gary and Bill offered these rough copies
to MBSI and other organizations which led to the collaboration
with ATOS via their president, Dave Calendine,
and journal editor, Mike Bryant. Enjoy!
A note from Mike Bryant
Through an oversight on our part at ATOS, we neglected
to give credit where credit is due when we gave MBSI
permission to reprint. The text was originally transcribed
from an audio recording of Farny’s address to ATOS, and
the recording quality was not what one would expect
today. The late Don Thompson, a theatre organist probably
known to many MBSI members, spent a great deal of time
transcribing the recording and enlisting several additional
people to confirm that he properly “interpreted” many
things which were not readily intelligible.
This is not to minimize the contribution of Don Feely,
who edited Don Thompson’s transcription to give it more
logical structure, a major task in itself. Farny’s speech
was not a rigidly-structured presentation; topics jumped
around, came and went, then sometimes returned. We
felt that the published piece would benefit from a bit of
organization.
Farny Wurlitzer in his office. — Mike Bryant, Editor, Theatre Organ
ATOS Editor’s Notes [part of the
original printing in 2012] In this,
the conclusion of Farny Wurlitzer’s
1964 speech to the American Theatre
Organ Enthusiasts, he recounts the
success of the Liberty Theatre in
Seattle, memories of Sid Grauman
and Adolph Zukor, and why he
never attended the opening of a new
Wurlitzer in a theatre.
We continue as Mr. Wurlitzer
describes the year 1914—by all
accounts a turning point in the
history of the Wurlitzer company.
Rudolph Wurlitzer, the patriarch
of the family, died on January
14, Robert Hope-Jones committed
suicide on September 13, and the
Seattle Liberty Theatre opened on
October 27.
Rudolph Wurlitzer actively led the
company, serving as Chairman of
the Board until his death. He took
frequent business trips to his old
homeland and also strove to maintain
that connection for his sons
(Howard, Rudolph Jr., and Farny),
all of whom were born in America.
Rudolph saw to it that all of them
learned to speak German. Farny, the
youngest son, graduated from the
Technical Institute of Cincinnati
in 1891 and spent time in Europe,
acquiring technical expertise by
working for enterprises in Switzerland
(Paillard Company), Germany
(Phillips), and France (Pellisson).
Howard Wurlitzer succeeded his
father as president of the company,
remaining in Cincinnati. Farny
oversaw all the manufacturing at the
North Tonawanda plant. His speech
shows an extensive understanding of
all plant activities—not to mention
an excellent memory. Most of these
28 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Wurlitzer promotional material describes the Seattle Liberty
Theatre.
An interior view of the Liberty Theatre.
Lines outside the Liberty Theatre were a regular occurrence.
events happened 40–50 years earlier.
Upon Howard’s death in 1928,
Rudolph Jr. became president of the
company. Farny took over as president
in 1932 and became Chairman
of the Board in 1942. He remained
on the board until his death in 1972.
In 1960, the company opened a
subsidiary, Deutsche Wurlitzer, in
Hüllhorst, Germany. That company
still manufactures jukeboxes. In the
mid 1980s the American company
was purchased by Baldwin Piano
and Organ. They continued to make
pianos carrying the Wurlitzer name.
In 2001, Baldwin was purchased
by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
Five years later they also purchased
Deutsche Wurlitzer, and Gibson now
controls the Wurlitzer brand.
The Seattle Liberty Theatre
The first outstanding organ; it isn’t
by any means the first organ we built
in a theatre; that was the one that we
sold to the Liberty Theatre in Seattle.
We shipped that in late 1914. That was
a tremendous success. The theatre
was built especially as a motion
picture theatre. They had no provision
for an orchestra—they depended
entirely on our organ for music and
the theatre was quite original. You
see, up to that time nearly all other
theatres were remodeled theatres.
And they had one feature that at that
time was unusual, was a ramp to go up
to the balcony instead of having stairs.
Well, the theatre was such a tremendous
success at the start—I’m not
exaggerating in telling you this—that
for three weeks the Seattle police had
to take care of the crowds that stood
for three blocks waiting their turn to
get into the Liberty Theatre.
Well that, of course, was a great
help to us, the success of that theatre,
and the business grew especially on
the Pacific coast. I recall that there
was a theatre, so I was told, in San
Francisco—it was way out on Market
Street, not downtown—that it closed
23 times. Maybe they exaggerated
when they told me. We put an organ
in there and it was a success. It
wasn’t a large one. And at that time
Sid Grauman, who had a theatre in
San Francisco on Market Street, he
became interested in our organs, and
a little later on he arranged to install
an organ in his new theatre in Los
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 29
Adolph Zukor,
president of
Paramount
Pictures from
1912 to 1936
Angeles, called the Million Dollar
Theatre, on Broadway. And that was a
very successful installation.
Sid Grauman and Adolph Zukor
To my mind Sid Grauman was
perhaps the greatest moving-picture
showman that we have ever had. He
was a most unusual character. I could
tell you stories by the hour of many
things he did that were very unusual.
He was very absent-minded but he
was very gifted. When he put on a
show at the Million Dollar Theatre
he had his usherettes
– not men
ushers, usherettes
– in the costume
that suited the
picture. If it was
Oriental they
had an Oriental
costume. If it was
something else,
why, they wore
that costume.
The shows were
usually on for
more than one
week. They were
usually on for
six weeks or so.
And he was very
enthusiastic about
our organ, and
he did so much
to sell the idea
of our organ to
other moving-pic-
Barney Balaban, ture people. For
one of the instance, Balaban
founders of the
and Katz. Sam
Balaban and Katz
Katz came out
theatre chain. He
there to Los Ange-
was president
les; Sid Grauman
of Paramount
made it a special
Pictures from
chore for him to
1936 to 1964.
sell Sam Katz. The
same thing with
Mr. Zukor who was the father of the
Paramount organization. And when
Mr. Zukor came out he gave him a
special demonstration after the show
was over, and our representative out
there, who was also a director of our
company, Buzz Lyons, met Mr. Zukor
and started to talk to him about organs
for all their theatres, because they had
Grauman’s Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, California.
many throughout the United States.
Mr. Zukor said “I’m too busy to talk
to you now, but I’m leaving tomorrow
evening on the train for San Francisco.
I have a drawing room and if you’ll be
on that train we’ll talk about it.”
So it was arranged that the board of
directors of the Wurlitzer Company,
[and] the board of directors of the
Paramount organization were to meet
and discuss the buying of Wurlitzer
organs for all of their theatres. Well,
three of us went down. I went down;
Mr. Lyons was there from the coast
and Mr. Ryan, who was also a member
of the board, was present. But we
didn’t meet with their board. We met
with Mr. Connick who was running the
Paramount organization for the banks
because they had gotten involved
30 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Douglas Fairbanks (seated at the organ) and Sid Grauman at
A large movie-going crowd outside the Million Dollar Theatre. the Wurlitzer in the Million Dollar Theatre.
An interior view of the Million Dollar Theatre.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 31
John Philip Sousa’s band performs at the Denver Auditorium in 1921. The audito
rium could seat 12,000.
financially. Mr. Connick knew a good
deal about church organs. His thought
was “How many stops did we have in
this model; how many in that?” and we
changed the subject always because
that was one thing that we didn’t want
to discuss because, with the Hope-
Jones system—the Unit system—we
didn’t use as many stops as church
organs did. But we got the results.
Well, I can make the story short: Mr.
Connick said “It appears as if none of
us know too much about the organs!”
But we did get the orders, and we did
install Wurlitzer organs in all the Paramount
Theatres, and the same way
with Balaban and Katz in Chicago.
And as you know, Mr. Balaban is
today President of the Paramount
organization. And we had the business
of practically all the chains—the Keith
circuit, and Loew’s—really all of them.
Our organs cost more than those
of any other make, and there was a
reason for it. The materials and the
design were expensive and the workmanship
that went into them. We used
only the very finest grade of sugar pine
first and second, and a solid mahogany
or solid cherry because they didn’t
chip when you bored into them. And
of course, Hope-Jones had laid the
foundation for this quality which we
believed in and followed.
Denver City Auditorium
In 1918 we installed the organ in
the Denver City Auditorium. That was
the largest organ that we ever built. I
remember being out there when we
were trying to get the contract, and
Madame Schumann-Heink sang in the
auditorium. Well, she was returning
to Chicago the next day, but at noon
there was a meeting at the Rotary
Club and I met Schumann-Heink. She
had a big sign across her chest saying
“Baby Ernestine” so when I met her
in a sleeping car that night (in those
days it took much longer to go to
Chicago than it does nowadays—the
trains are faster), why, I said “Good
evening Ernestine!” She just stepped
back quite shocked. She said “I don’t
remember your first name!”
I told her who I was and she knew
our family in Cincinnati. She had
sung there many times, and she had
a drawing room. She also had her
accompanist, a woman who was with
her in another compartment. Well, the
next morning when I got up earlier
The Denver Auditorium presented daily
organ recitals by organist Clarence
Reynolds.
Internationally renowned opera star
Ernestine Schumann-Heink.
than she did, when her drawing room
was being made up I said “Don’t you
want to sit in my seat here?” I only had
a berth. And so she joined me. Well
she spent the whole morning and she
told me the history of her life. It was
most interesting. She was a wonderful
woman. She told me about each of her
husbands. There were four of them!
32 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Margaret Wilson (daughter of President Woodrow Wilson) singing at the Denver Auditorium Organ Dedication in March 1918.
What their characteristics were, and
about her present husband that she
had. And she had a large number of
children. And this was in February
1917. It was just at the time when Von
Bernstorff had been given his walking
papers by Washington because I think
the Lusitania had been torpedoed. And
we were about to break off relations
with Germany, and she said to me
“You know, my heart bleeds, because
I have sons that are in the German
army. I have sons that are in the American
army” she said, “they’ll be fighting
each other.” She, at that time, had a
home in San Diego, California. And
so I met the one son that was with her
in Denver, and she was a very warmhearted
individual. When she got on
the stage, why, the audience was just
with her. They knew that they were
part of her, and she had that ability.
She was idolized in Denver.
She was very much loved in Denver,
and a very good friend of the mayor.
And the mayor was the one who would
decide the question of the organ. Well,
we got the order for the organ, and
we had a lot of problems. The organ
had 50-inch wind pressure, and to
get 50 inches of wind pressure the
wind is heated an awful lot through
the blower and the friction, and we
couldn’t keep the organ in tune. The
temperature up in the organ chambers
was 120 degrees, and Louis Lockwood,
who was Superintendent of the plant
spent, I believe, almost a year out
there. We had the blower companies
come out to help us—they couldn’t do
anything. He finally solved the problem
in a very simple way. There was
an immense volume of air, of course,
blown through these blowers. He took
a garden hose, turned the water on,
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 33
Jesse Crawford at the 4/36 Wurlitzer in the New York Albert Hay Mallotte at the Metropolitan Theatre, Los Angeles,
Paramount Theatre.
and put it in the blower. That cooled
the air immediately. The evaporation
of the water brought the temperature
down and we had no trouble after that.
But, there were many things like
that that we’d run into. We had many
problems with architects. They didn’t
realize the necessity of giving us the
right location for our organs, so that
the tone could come out.
All they thought of was the design
of the theatre and the beauty of it,
and we’d have to put up quite a fight,
and we’d appeal to the buyer and say
“Now do you want to buy an organ
from us and pay that much money, and
then get only 25 or 50 percent results?
That’s what’s going to happen if you
don’t let us have proper openings to
the tone that comes out of the chambers.”
Well we fortunately won out in,
I think, almost all the cases.
Early Organists
One of our early problems was
California.
finding men to play our organs. You
see, church organists didn’t know
how to play a theatre organ and follow
the music, you see, in the early days.
The films were silent and they had to
depend on the music to interpret the
picture. So we tried to train people
to play our organs, and gradually, of
course, the famous names developed,
that really did interpret what could
be done with the Wurlitzer organ as
well as the other makes of organs. (I
don’t wish to slight the competition!)
Names that I know most of you know.
Jesse Crawford is, I think, the best
known of all of them. He played here
in Buffalo for Mike Shea at Shea’s
Buffalo Theatre. Albert Hay Mallotte
had played for Mike Shea at Shea’s
Hippodrome. He’s the composer of
“The Lord’s Prayer.” And there were
many others. Henry Murtagh was the
man that opened the Liberty Theatre
in Seattle. He was followed by a very
brilliant man, Ollie G. Wallace.
Organist Oliver Wallace in a publicity
shot from the 1920s.
And I might tell you a little more
going back, of some of the failures. We
put an organ in the New Pitt Theatre
in Pittsburgh where there was a
regular stage show. Unfortunately the
34 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Ohio River got higher than it should
and entered the theatre and the organ
was drowned! So that ended rather
unfortunately, but that was one of the
many experiences that we had, and
disappointments.
Roosevelt Memorial Park
Perhaps the most powerful organ
that we ever built was for the Roosevelt
Memorial Park Cemetery, and
they wanted the organ powerful
enough so that it could be heard for a
mile or two as the funeral procession
approached the park. And that, also,
was built on 50-inch wind pressure on
several of the stops. And that organ
was played by rolls as well as having a
console so it could be played by hand.
I do want to mention something about
the roll attachment. We made two
different rolls. One had 160 holes in
the tracker bar cross-wise; the other
one had 105, and we were building
organs for homes, most of them with
the smaller roll. This larger one has
never been duplicated. With 160 holes
cross-wise we operated 340 different
things, either keys or stops. Now the
way we did that was that, for 10 of the
holes there were 10 vertically as well
as cross-wise. One was a firing hole,
and depending upon which one of
these holes was passing over the bar
of the hundred (you see there are 10
times 10) why that would fire back on
any number of them.
And in that way we were able to
play this organ as a two manual organ
or a three manual organ at times. And
we had an organ in the studio. That
was not the whole thing. We had a
perforating machine so that when
the organists, and Jesse Crawford for
instance recorded for us, played, one
minute after he’d finished playing, we
could play the roll back for him and
let him hear what he had done. And in
those days there wasn’t the tape that
we have today for an organist to hear
himself play. And nearly every one of
them that came here to record for us,
and we had many prominent organists
come, they were all quite astonished
to hear themselves play because the
organist doesn’t hear himself when
he’s at the console—he’s busy playing.
And I know one of them, perhaps
Organist Henry B. Murtagh shows the inner workings of the Brooklyn Paramount
Wurlitzer to his sister Jessie. (Brooklyn Magazine; November 1928).
The Roosevelt Memorial Park console (Photo courtesy of Mike Friese).
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 35
more than one did it, he said “Give me
that roll.” He just tore it up. I wouldn’t
do it again. He wasn’t happy with what
he had done.
One of my great regrets is that we
didn’t keep all this, but the depression
came along and we sold the organs,
and the recording organs, and all the
equipment that we had and didn’t
keep it. I wish I had it today. It was
a question of our survival during the
depression.
Radio City Music Hall
As many of you know, we installed
an organ in Radio City Music Hall
and that is the largest theatre organ
that we built. And it’s used today in
all of their shows. Radio City, when
they purchased that organ from us,
purchased not only one but four organs
from us. One for the Music Hall, a large
four-manual organ upstairs above the
theatre for the organist to practice on
so that they could practice what they
were going to play in the show. And
then they had an organ in the Rainbow
Room which was the restaurant on the
top floor of Radio City. Then they built
a theatre just across the street from
the Music Hall on Fiftieth Street and
they installed an organ in there. That
one, however, has been discontinued,
so it’s no longer there. I am happy that
Radio City continues to use the organ.
When talking pictures came along
we realized that the days of the theatre
organ were approaching an end. Our
businesses continued in other parts of
the world. We did quite a business in
England, in Australia, in fact in most
of the countries of the world. Some
in Germany, a few in France, one in
Spain, one in India, in Japan. I believe
that is still in use. It’s in one of the
large department stores there. Business,
however, dwindled. The Radio
City Music Hall was one of the last
organs that we built in this country
for a theatre, but we kept on shipping
abroad. Then the war started in ’39
and that was the end of the export
business. Even though there were
talking pictures, they continued to use
the organs in England. In this country
they didn’t to any great extent.
I imagine that many of you may
wonder why we didn’t continue in the
One of several freight cars used to transport the 4/17 Wurlitzer to Roosevelt
Memorial Park in Gardena, California.
Radio City Music Hall in New York City; 4/58 with twin consoles.
pipe organ business. The main reason
is that our costs were so much higher
than those of church organ builders,
that we felt we had no chance of selling
to churches. They couldn’t afford
to pay the price that we had to charge.
Furthermore, we had the antagonism
of 99-plus percent of the church
organists of the United States. They
didn’t like the unit system; they didn’t
like the theatre organs. Many of them,
I think, have been converted since
then, but I am sure that there are a lot
of them that still feel the same way.
And those were the reasons that we
didn’t carry on with the business. To
36 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Women running cables and wiring relays at the Wurlitzer Many employees of the Hope-Jones factory in Elmira went
factory. on to develop the Unit Orchestra at the Wurlitzer Company.
These included James Nuttall, Gus Noterman, JJ Caruthers,
Fred Smith, Earl Beach and David Marr.
New Theatre Openings
In building organs for theatres, it
was always a problem to have that
organ there for the day of the opening,
and that was sometimes difficult. I
recall one instance where our men
worked for 35 hours without sleep in
order to get that organ finished and
packed and expressed. We had to
send it by express so it would be there
The Wurlitzer factory in the 1960s.
my mind it was a wonderful business.
I mean it was fascinating. We had a
marvelous crew of men. They were
devoted artisans and they put their
hearts and souls into the work.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 37
for opening day. And those openings
were always a trying time, because we
installed the organ when they were
still doing plastering work and all the
kinds of other work, and dust and dirt,
and, you know, that’s one thing that
doesn’t agree with an organ, is dirt.
It causes ciphers. And a cipher, of
course, is terrible when the audience
is there. To hear that pipe squealing
that shouldn’t squeal. And so, I always
avoided openings. I didn’t go!
Factory Craftsman
I feel that it may be of interest to you
to have me read a list of the people
that came from Elmira in May 1910.
There was Fred Smith, Dave Marr,
James Nuttall, Joe Carruthers, Harry
Carruthers, John Colton, Earle Beach,
Gus Garrickson, Jack Hirst who was in
charge of the metal pipe department.
James Nuttall, I forgot to say, was the
head voicer. John Badger, Charles
Russell, Carl Johnson, Gus Noterman
and his son Gus. And then a Mrs. John
Linhares who came up from Elmira to
teach our women and girls how to do
this intricate work on the Hope-Jones
organs, because we ran all our own
cables, and every organ that was built,
the cables were different, so we had
long tables that we’d run these cables
on, and form them out in advance,
and of course, our drawing office had
to lay everything out on paper before
it was built, and that was an intricate
part of the work, and very important.
Then there were many men who
came a little later on that weren’t here
originally, and I do want to mention
the names of some of them. There was
W. Meakin Jones, no relative of Robert
Hope-Jones, but he had been associated
with Hope-Jones in England. He
came over in 1912. Louis S. Lockwood
took over as superintendent when
some of the other men left because
a number of these men melted away
from us between the time that we
moved them up here and the time
when Hope-Jones died. So Lockwood
was responsible for a great deal of the
success of our later work, and he was
responsible along with Howard Maver
for developing the roll system and this
marvelous tracker bar.
I forgot to mention this tracker
Organist Eddie Dunstedter.
bar. You see, with paper you had the
problem that it shrinks and expands
according to the humidity. This
tracker bar had two cuts in it. And
there were two small leaves on the
side of the tracker bar. If the paper
expanded those leaves were pushed
out and electrically the tracker bar
would open up. It couldn’t open very
much of course, because otherwise
your music wouldn’t track. It opened
up just enough so that it would not
cause any trouble. And then if the
paper shrank again, why, the bar
would come back to the correct size,
with just a tiny fraction of an inch that
opened up, each one of these slots.
Howard Maver helped to develop that
and I regard his work very highly.
There was Manley Cockcroft who
was with us. Fred Wood, Walter Berry,
David Arthur who was one of our
voicers. Tom Ruggles succeeded with
being the chief voicer, and I always
felt very indebted to him for what he
did for us because he carried on the
Hope-Jones type of voicing and, the
most important factor, he trained the
young men to follow—something that
the original voicers didn’t want to do.
They didn’t want to teach anybody.
They wanted to keep it a secret art,
and the business was expanding too
much. We had to have more voicers.
There was Bob Shreeve: he succeeded
to management of the metal pipe
department after Jack Hirst left us.
Louis Markowitz was with us. Elmer
Godfrey for many years was in charge
of our drawing office. And I’m very
Organist Clarence Reynolds, organist
at the Ocean Grove Auditorium and the
Denver Auditorium (Photo courtesy of
the Historical Society of Ocean Grove).
grateful to all of those people who
helped us and who did such a marvelous
job in building the Wurlitzer
organs.
Notable Organists
I am also very grateful to all the many
organists who made it possible for the
Wurlitzer organ to achieve fame, and
they did a wonderful job. You know
Jesse Crawford, his wife Helen. There
was Eddie Dunstedter. One of the
early ones was Henry Murtagh. There
was Dick Liebert who was the head
organist at Radio City Music Hall. And
Milton Charles, Clarence Reynolds—
he was the organist at Denver and had
been the organist at Ocean Grove. And
there was C. Sharp Minor, who was a
38 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
great showman but a poor musician.
But he really did show off the organ
and people liked it. Carl Pullman here
in Buffalo, and Tom Grierson from
Rochester who played here in Buffalo
and is one of our very good friends. I
am grateful to all of them, and please
don’t feel offended if I didn’t mention
the name of all of them that helped us
so much.
I want to thank, especially, the
Wurlitzer “widows” because I know it
took a lot of patience and help from
the wives of the members when they
purchased an organ and installed
it. And without the support of their
wives it couldn’t have been accomplished.
Many of them helped with the
actual work and all of them showed
patience. And this applies not only to
Wurlitzer widows but to the wives of
all members, whatever make of organ
they may have. And my appreciation
to all of you for your patience and your
loyalty. And of course, my very great
appreciation goes to all of you who
have purchased theatre organs. Naturally
I appreciate most of all purchase
of the Wurlitzer organs from theatres,
so that these are preserved because
otherwise their lives would have been
very short, and the present generation
would have forgotten them.
I can’t close without thanking Ben
Hall for the marvelous book that he
wrote, “The Best Remaining Seats”
and the study that he made of the early
history of the motion picture industry.
I think that was very important to
preserve for future generations.
Thank you.
Listen to Mr. Wurlitzer’s actual speech
online at atos.org. Smartphone users can scan
the QR code below to be taken directly to the
website.
Seeking your stories for ….
Did you once spend time finding the perfect musical
antique to round out your collection? What was it? How The Hunt did you find it? Was it in ruins, or in perfect condition?
Was there a time you randomly ran across a unique
instrument then found a way to acquire it and restore it
so that you might display it and tell the story to all who
visit your home?
Answer these questions and you will have the perfect
story for “The Hunt” column in Mechanical Music.
Every mechanical music instrument has a story
behind it and the readers of Mechanical Music love to Email your story to editor Russell Kasselman at
read them all. editor@mbsi.org or mail a copy to:
Editing help is available if you have a story, but
you are not sure how to organize it or present it. The MBSI Editorial Offices
important thing is to get it down and pass it on for the 130 Coral Court
enjoyment of others. Pismo Beach, CA 93449
We look forward to hearing from you.
In order for anything A Lasting Legacy once alive to have
meaning, its effect
must remain alive in
eternity in some way
– Ernest Becker, Philosopher
The Musical Box Society International
Throughout its history, MBSI has fostered an interest in and preservation of is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
automatic musical instruments. Your gift to the Endowment Fund will All donations to the Endowment
support programs that will help future generations appreciate these Fund are tax deductible.
achievements of man’s creative genius. Visit www.mbsi.org to learn more. A gift of any size is welcome.
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 39
The Christian Wittmann Buskers and more
By Gordie Davidson
Set in Wolfsgraben, Austria, a suburb about 35
minutes west of Vienna, is the home and organ
workshop of 42-year-old Christian Wittmann.
Visitors passing by this suburban, two-story
dwelling might not notice it as different from
any of the others lining the same street, but
once invited behind the door, it becomes clear
why this is such a special place in the world.
The aroma of rough-sawn, kiln-dried cherry
or walnut waiting to be formed by Christian’s
expert hands makes you feel instantly welcome.
The workshop covers the entire bottom floor
of the home, serving as both his research and
design studio and production facility.
Christian, who successfully passed the rigorous
Austrian Master Organ Builder Exam in the
fall of 2009, and subsequently opened his own
workshop, is a gracious and engaging host. He
offers tours of his workshop by appointment.
I spent two days with him several years ago
watching him build a busker organ for fellow
MBSI member David Mahr. It was clear to me
that he is truly a gifted, master wood worker.
40 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Christian Wittmann with the
author’s 33/56 Konzert Drehorgel
in Wolfsgraben prior to shipping
to the U.S., circa 2017.
35
organ
ittmann.
story
from
but
clear
world.
cherry
s
welcome.
floor
and
rigor-
the
own
He
appointment.
ago
fellow
me
worker.
ittmann Orgelbauittmann Orgelbau
Christian Wittmann with the
author’s 33/56 Konzert Drehorgel
in Wolfsgraben prior to shipping
to the U.S., circa 2017.
35
organ
ittmann.
story
from
but
clear
world.
cherry
s
welcome.
floor
and
rigor-
the
own
He
appointment.
ago
fellow
me
worker.
ittmann Orgelbauittmann Orgelbau
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 41
A selection of 20er and 31er buskers by Christian Wittmann shown with cherry and walnut cases. Several have inlaid wood
purfling. Some come with roll frames, some with MIDI controllers, and some with both MIDI controllers and roll frames.
During his apprenticeship with Robert
Niemeczek, owner of Der Orgelbau
Im Wienerwald, an Austrian firm
specializing in church organs, Christian
designed and produced a first
generation, lightweight bauchorgel,
or busker organ. It was marketed as
a Wittmann and Niemeczek crank
organ; several of these buskers are
still active in the USA today.
Designing and building a
second-generation of his lightweight
busker organ under his own name
was Christian’s first task after starting
his own business. The notable axiom,
good things come in small packages,
best describes the Wittmann 20-note
busker organ. Characterized by precision
design, impeccable construction
and world-class performance, Wittmann
buskers deliver more sound
per pound than any other production
busker, in my humble opinion. Christian
has built dozens of 20er busker
organs for customers worldwide.
The 20er busker organ remains his
A look at attention to detail throughout production. Need a key frame controller for
book music? No problem, just ask.
benchmark instrument with several
wood case and scale variations
available to clients. He also builds
a superb 31er busker weighing in at
about 26 pounds. It is portable, but
better suited to a small cart over time.
Christian also builds custom carts for
his larger street organs.
The 20er weighs in at about
15 pounds. Known as a “belly
organ,” it is one of the smallest
crank organs currently available that
42 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
A young Christian Wittmann and author shown with a pair of A second-generation 20er constructed of stained cherry with
first generation 20er buskers, circa 2007. Behind is a replica inlaid purfling and custom wheel crank mechanism mounted
Wurlitzer Style 105 built from Bob Stanoszek plans. It features at the back. The leather strap makes this model easily portaa
roll frame and MIDI controller. ble and playable for hours on the street.
On the left is an organ with both 20er and 31er roll frames and a Watterott MIDI controller. It has a 36-note scale, three stops
and rotating figurines. On the right is a 31/36 organ with a 31er roll frame and Watterott MIDI controller.
plays the standard 110mm, 20-note solid cherry or walnut wood and can seven in the lower case. Thirteen pipes
roll. Its compact dimensions do not be decorated with inlaid mosaic strips are visible from the front of the organ.
limit its bellows or air capacity. It or purfling. A leather shoulder strap Figurines can be added to the organ by
has a full, stable sound that comes is also included, and the crank can be request. The organ can be ordered in
into its own when used as a street mounted on the back or on the right. It three configurations, paper-roll only,
instrument. The housing is made of features 20 Bourdon pipes, including MIDI-only, and a combination paper
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 43
An interesting and multi-functional Konzert Drehorgel. This organ features both 20er and 31er roll frames as well as a Watterott
MIDI controller. Truly, the best of all media worlds. The figurine rotates on the pedestal. Notice the matching custom cart constructed
with the same cherry wood as the organ case.
roll and MIDI.
Personally, now in my 70s, I prefer
the MIDI version as it offers the
opportunity to stroll and play dozens
of tunes without hauling multiple
suitcases of paper rolls to and from
one’s car along with perhaps a cart,
monkey and other gear. Plus, with
MIDI control, you can turn the crank
in either direction without having
to maintain a consistent tempo to
hear a great tune. My Wittmann 33/56
concert crank organ features a quad
bellows powered by dual cam arms
that outputs 110mm/4.3 inches of air
pressure, so even kids as young as
three can crank and sound great. Many
small production crank organs have
undersized bellows and consequently
fall short on air; Christian’s organs just
punch through.
As a mechanical music buff for
nearly 40 years cranking organs in
rallies and all over the greater Kansas
City, MO, area, I’ve owned my fair
share of organs. Metaphorically, I tend
to think of these organs as boats in
that you often like the one you have,
but you get out on the water and you
see another one you want. That’s what
an organ rally is like for me. I’ve owned
The author entertaining crowds with his 33/56 Konzert Drehorgel.
44 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
three Raffin organs and a 45-note Bacigalupo
replica custom built for me by
Alan Pell in the U.K. I’m on my fourth
organ purchased from Christian and,
in my opinion, the instruments he
constructs, repairs and refurbishes
in his facility represent the best in
quality design, harmonious sound and
European craftsmanship.
I first caught the street organ bug
while serving in the U.S. Army, Berlin
Brigade. I attended the biannual street
organ festivals in what as then West
Berlin in 1982 and 1984. The sound of
the music echoing down the Kurfürstendamm
was wonderful to listen to
and spurred memories of my time as
a non-music major at Michigan State
University. My college roommate
was an organ major, so I’m sure that
contributed something to my pursuit
of this hobby. I waited until I returned
to the United States to buy my first
organ, but ever since I’ve enjoyed
the hobby immensely. I once spent
Another example of the fine detail work Christian is capable of in his workshop.
a memorable summer playing every
Saturday at the historic Union Train
Station in Kansas City, MO, letting the
sound of my Raffin 20/78 crank organ
echo throughout that huge hall. It just
immediately attracted attention from
all kinds of people. I performed for
This is a chromatic 49er organ with
double melody Bourdons. The case is
made of stone pine (German “Zirbe”),
which is a typical Austrian wood grown
in the alps. It is highly aromatic, but
not the best choice for an organ used
outdoors.
15 years on the Country Club Plaza
in Kansas City and once during the
annual Plaza Art Fair. In one memorable
moment, I found myself playing
for a well-dressed man who remained
for several tunes and asked many curiosity
based questions. Afterward, the
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 45
A spectacular 42er book Konzert Drehorgel that features Bourdons, wood-flutes, pan flutes, a wooden xylophone, Helikon reed
basses, manual cymbal, bells and train whistle. Notice the beautiful mix of woods in the pipe configuration.
gentleman came up and introduced
himself as Lee Iacocca, the famous
automobile executive. He handed me
his business card and thanked me for
adding some fun to his afternoon. You
just never know who is standing in
front of you.
These days, my playing is limited to
a few gigs each summer in and around
Western Michigan. Hopefully after the
pandemic, the time will come when
we can get together in groups again.
I encourage anyone who might be
interested to get out there and join in
the fun of an organ rally.
If you are in the market for an
instrument, I highly recommend
Christian Wittmann, as he will enthusiastically
entertain any organ design
criteria from clients anywhere in the
world. The photos accompanying this
article are just a small set of examples
of his unequaled, one-of-kind, marvels
of mechanical music, most of them
built in the last five years. Christian
handles all aspects of building in his
workshop, from designing, cutting,
planing, routing, turning, drilling,
sanding, assembling, gluing, voicing,
tuning, arranging, punching and more.
He is also an accomplished musician
and arranger. He can provide roll
punching services to clients along
with his arrangements.
For further interest, readers are
welcome to visit my website at www.
grindergordie.com to view and listen
to several Wittmann instruments. The
Christian Wittmann Orgelbau website
is at www.drehorgelmusik.net.
Christian is a native German speaker
who writes and speaks impeccable
English. He promptly responds to
email requests. Finally, as a one-man
workshop, the answer is yes, he has a
waiting list.
Gordie Davidson is a retired Army Foreign
Area Officer who developed his interest in
mechanical music during his tour with the
U.S. Army Berlin Brigade.
46 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
How does a musical movement
ing chair.
anism clearly
Fig. 1, above, shows the movement
mounted on the lower-right rocker arm
of the chair. Fig. 2, at left, shows how the
movement is oriented to take advantage of
the rocking motion
Fig. 3, a closeup showing the mounted
mechanism attached with two screws.
Fig. 4, showing the eight-note mechanism that is mounted under the seat.
child rocks in the chair.
Figure 5 shows the two pawls that
engage with the ratchet gear mounted
on the cylinder. You can see that if the
vertical rod is moved down, the angled
rods expand and when the vertical rod
moves up, the angled rods contract.
Now, the arrows point to pins that
are attached to the pawls, and they are
loose through a large hole in the lower
angled rods. So, as the angled rods
expand, the left hand pawl is raised
out of engagement with the ratchet
gear and the right hand pawl engages
to turn the cylinder.
When the vertical rod rises and
causes the angled rods to contract, the
right hand pawl is raised and the left
hand pawl engages to turn the cylinder.
So, the rotation of the cylinder is
almost constant and the tune is easily
recognized.
The tune, which seems fitting, is the
nursery song, “Rock-a-bye baby.” The
first verse is:
Rock–a-bye-baby, in the treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle
will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle
will fall
And down will come baby, cradle
and all.
Fig. 5, showing the pins attached to pawls that drive the cylinder.
48 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
In Memoriam In Memoriam
Arthur Dudley Cunliffe — 1927–2020
Creator of the International Cylinder Box Register
By Alison Biden
Arthur Cunliffe, born Nov. 7, 1927,
and died Dec. 5, 2020, was for several
years a British member of MBSI, as
well as a long-standing member of its
sister organisation, the Musical Box
Society of Great Britain. He lived
in an industrial area of North West
Britain shortly before the onset of the
Great Depression, the fifth child of
the Rev. William Cunliffe, a Church of
England vicar, and his wife, Eleanor.
At the start of the second World War
Arthur was responsible for tending
the family’s garden allotment and
chickens before being conscripted
into a wartime workforce called
“Bevin’s Boys.” The name came from
then Minister for Labour and National
Service, Ernest Bevin, who introduced
a scheme whereby 10 percent of
men of military conscript age were
selected by ballot and sent to work in
the country’s coal mines rather than
into the armed forces in an attempt to
increase falling coal production. Later,
Arthur joined the Royal Navy, following
in the footsteps of two of his older
brothers. After the war, he followed a
career in education, remaining in the
North West of England.
From an early age Arthur was
intrigued by machines and how they
worked. They played a big part in
his recreation. As a young man he
salvaged old motorcycles and restored
them, before putting them to the test
in trials and rallies around the country.
He also bought and restored a 1926
Morris Cowley car, which he kept for
25 years, and which is believed still to
be running.
Arthur will best be remembered for
creating and maintaining a register
of cylinder boxes, now known as the
A D Cunliffe Musical Box Register.
His interest in mechanical music was
piqued by a musical box belonging
to his maternal grandmother, which
he inherited at around the age of 10.
He joined the Musical Box Society
of Great Britain, with membership
number 435, and is recalled as being
an active member by 1970. His
contributions to the field of interest
include several articles published in
the MBSGB’s journal, The Music Box,
arranging meetings, giving presentations
and acting as the MBSGB’s
recording secretary for a number of
years. He was well-known internationally
for his research and study
of cylinder boxes, and frequently
exchanged ideas and information with
others on the subject, including the
late H A V Bulleid, known for his regular
magazine contribution, a column
called “Oddments.” After Mr Bulleid’s
passing, Arthur regularly contributed
his own column entitled “This, that
and t’other …,” to compensate.
It is thought that Arthur first
conceived the idea of compiling a
register of cylinder boxes sometime
in the 1960s, although it was not until
1973 that this project was launched
with an article and appeal for data in
The Music Box. Periodically he would
report on its progress, until “Register
News” also became a regular feature.
(See Page 25 for an article about on
the register.) The data contained in
the A D Cunliffe Musical Box Register
(which remains in active development
ARTHUR | See Page 50
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 49
In Memoriam In Memoriam
Nancy Dickey — 1937–2020
MBSI has learned that Nancy Dean
Dickey, wife of Sunbelt Chapter Chair
Ray Dickey, passed away on Jan. 11 at
the age of 83, after losing a brief battle
against COVID pneumonia.
Nancy was born in Buffalo, OK, in
1937. She lived there 10 years before
moving to Port Arthur, TX. She graduated
from Thomas Jefferson High
School in 1955 and then from the
University of North Texas in 1959.
She became a high school physical
education teacher in Houston, TX,
where she met and married Ray. They
moved to Oak Lane in Piney Point
Village, TX, in 1971 and raised their
two kids there.
Nancy is described as faithful,
care-free, and quick-witted. Her beautiful
eyes and smile would light up the
room. Her inquisitive nature and sense
of humor always made conversations
easy and allowed her to make friends
wherever she went.
She was athletic and loved playing
tennis and watching her grandsons
play through the years. Nancy loved
Jesus and was involved in Community
Bible Study beginning in 1982, making
many lifelong friends during those
years. She was also an active member
of Chapelwood United Methodist
church, where she was involved in
ministries such as the UMW Vivian
Osbourn Circle, Stephen Ministry,
Monday prayer group, and Candle-
lighters Sunday School Class.
Over the years she and Ray went on
various backpacking trips to Colorado
with Chapelwood friends, as well as
countless trips to Europe with the
Chancel Choir. She also supported
Ray’s passion for music box collec-
tion and traveled every year to the
Musical Box Society International
conventions.
ARTHUR | From Page 49
today), has been a valuable resource
for a number of scholars and authors,
and was a significant source of information
in the production of the book
“The Nicole Factor,” for which Arthur
additionally wrote a section.
Arthur joined many related organisations,
and as a consequence,
travelled up and down the country as
well as overseas along with his wife,
Noreen. Mrs. Cunliffe recalls they
enjoyed some wonderful trips, meeting
many interesting people, although
due to work commitments, Arthur
was never able to visit the USA. He
became president/chair of the MBSGB
in 2006, a post he held for seven years.
His tenure of office was exceeded by
only one other president. He presided
over the society’s 50th anniversary in
2012, and although he wished to retire
at that point, was persuaded it was
in the society’s best interest for him
to remain in office for another year.
He was recognised for his immeasurable
contribution to the field of
mechanical music, first by the MBSI
in 2009, receiving its Trustees’ Award
and then receiving an Honorary Life
Membership from the MBSGB in 2012.
(In 58 years only 11 of these have been
awarded.)
Those who knew him personally
recall a polite, kind person, with a
gentle sense of humour, interested
more in people than things. Those
aware of his achievements will
appreciate his talents, determination,
meticulous and methodical approach
to all tasks, and his lively brain.
Respectful of others and always ready
to listen, he himself had an innate
ability to command respect – sometimes
much needed during his term as
president!
After a number of years of gradually
declining health, Arthur was admitted
to hospital at the end of last November
suffering from respiratory difficulties,
and sadly passed away about a week
later. It is ironic — or possibly fitting
— that such an unassuming man
should leave such a huge legacy to
the world in the form of his research
and data compilation. What is visible
to the public generally is but the tip of
the iceberg, and it is possible that no
single person will ever fully appreciate
the extent of his contribution. Our
thoughts and condolences go to his
widow, family and friends.
MBSI has also learned that member Glenn Smith passed away in August 2020.
50 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Excellent TWO-DAY Music Machine Collections
To Be Sold At Auction …by Stanton’s Auctioneers
We are proud to announce that Stanton’s Auctioneers have
been contracted to sell the David J. Palter of Long Island,
New York, the Lelland Fletcher of San Diego, and the Royce
Waggoner of Colorado Springs, Colorado in our upcoming
Spring Music Auction.
The sale will be conducted at the Barry Expo Center, 1350 N.
M-37 Highway, Hastings, Michigan
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, APRIL 16 & 17, 2021
9:00 A.M. EACH DAY
Preview Thursday, April 15th – 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Gathered from Coast to Coast is a wonderful, rare and
quality collection of machines including a Multiphone “Lyre”
24-cylinder record coin operated phonograph; Link endless roll
piano nickelodeon, Gamble Automatic Entertainer, Excellent
music boxes including cylinders, disc music boxes including
Rookwood and other rare examples, Automatic changers,
Reginaphones, as well as phonographs, A Bettini reproducer,
a nice clock collection and an excellent group of toys. The
collections, quality, diversity and overall offering is excellent.
Plan on attending this excellent offering.
Call us for a free catalog.
Stanton’s Auctioneers,
Appraisers, & Realtors
144 S. Main, P.O. Box 146
Vermontville, MI 49096
Phone: (517) 726-0181
Fax: (517) 726-0060
E-mail: stantonsauctions@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.stantons-auctions.com
AUCTIONEERS & REALTORSSTANTON’S
Steven E. Stanton
(517) 331-8150 cellular
E-mail – stevenEstanton@gmail.com
Michael C. Bleisch
(517) 231-0868 cellular
E-mail – mcbleisch@gmail.com
Photography and video tips
When taking photos or videos at your chapter meeting or
other MBSI gathering, remember these simple tips to get
great images for the rest of the membership to enjoy.
1. If someone is looking at a musical instrument, ask them
to turn and look at you while you take the picture. It’s
always better to see someone’s face rather than the
back of their head.
2. When taking a picture of a person and a musical instrument,
ask the person to step slightly to the side of the
instrument so that you can capture their face and the
instrument at the same time. It’s great to see people
enjoying wonderful instruments, but it’s even better
when the beauty of the instrument isn’t blocked by
bodies.
3. Try to get people “in action” while they are enjoying the
music. Some of the most natural smiles and enjoyable
photos happen when people aren’t aware they are being
photographed.
4. Don’t be afraid to snap a shot with your cell phone
camera. This is a great way to capture a spontaneous
photo and most cell phone cameras take photos that are
large enough to reproduce in the magazine.
5. If you are shooting a video, turn your phone sideways
(horizontal) so that your video will better fit television
and computer screens as well as phone screens.
52 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
Historic 5 Day auction
featuring
coin-op, aDvertising,
petroliana & railroaDiana
Join us for this historic 5-day auction event featuring coin-op & gambling machines,
music machines, advertising, railroad memorabilia, automobilia & petroliana
and much more!
May 8-12, 2021
2000 N. READING ROAD | DENVER, PA 17517 | INFO@MORPHYAUCTIONS.COM | 877-968-8880 | MORPHYAUCTIONS.COM
www.dreamfactory.ch www.swissauctioncompany.com
mail: o ce@dreamfactory.ch Retonio: +41 79 5301111
The following fantastic instruments from
the Jerry Doring Collection,
Los Angeles are for sale
Please check www.swissauctioncompany.com
and go to Jerry Doring Collection for details
Hupfeld Helios Model I/II 31 C with 105 rolls
Cremona Orchestral K with 157 rolls
Bruder Elite Orchestra “Apollo Fairground Organ”
with 49 BAB and 165 Wurlitzer rolls
Mills Violano Virtuoso with 72 rolls
North Tonawanda Pianolin with 12 endless rolls & 12 damaged rolls
All original Polyphon Style 100 “Savoyard”
Steinway B Piano 6’11 with Welte Push-UP with 50 rolls
Hupfeld Universal Grand Deluxe with 70 rolls
Weber Otero with moving picture and 120 rolls
Wurlitzer Style 153 Duplex Military Band Organ with 160 rolls
Wurlitzer Style C Orchestrion with 70 rolls
64 key Vander Beken Fairground Organ
Hupfeld Helios Model I/II 31 C with 105 rolls
www.dreamfactory.ch www.swissauctioncompany.com
mail: o ce@dreamfactory.ch Retonio: +41 79 5301111
The following fantastic instruments from
the Jerry Doring Collection,
Los Angeles are for sale
Please check www.swissauctioncompany.com
and go to Jerry Doring Collection for details
Hupfeld Helios Model I/II 31 C with 105 rolls
Cremona Orchestral K with 157 rolls
Bruder Elite Orchestra “Apollo Fairground Organ”
with 49 BAB and 165 Wurlitzer rolls
Mills Violano Virtuoso with 72 rolls
North Tonawanda Pianolin with 12 endless rolls & 12 damaged rolls
All original Polyphon Style 100 “Savoyard”
Steinway B Piano 6’11 with Welte Push-UP with 50 rolls
Hupfeld Universal Grand Deluxe with 70 rolls
Weber Otero with moving picture and 120 rolls
Wurlitzer Style 153 Duplex Military Band Organ with 160 rolls
Wurlitzer Style C Orchestrion with 70 rolls
64 key Vander Beken Fairground Organ
Hupfeld Helios Model I/II 31 C with 105 rolls
STEINWAY DUO-ART REPRODUCING PIANO MODEL M
MAHOGANY 1925 6’2″ SERIAL #237742 STYLE XR
Michael Tilson Thomas with the Boston $20,000.00
Phiharmonic made a recording with this
piano of Gershwin playing Gershwin on Contact Al Alicanti (917) 939-9516 or
Columbia Records. rosesbycarole@yahoo.com
54 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
The Organette Book
ISBN 978-0-9557869-5-2
colour throughout;Additional Illustrations of Models; Additions to Lists of The Organette Book
ISBN 978-0-9557869-5-2
colour throughout;Additional Illustrations of Models; Additions to Lists of
The Musical Box Society of Great Britain announces the publication of two new books
Published in September 2018
100pp Hard Back ISO A4 format [8.27” × 11.70”; Profusely illustrated in
Supplement to
colour throughout with Additional Illustrations of Models, 89 Additional Lid
The Disc Musical Box Pictures Additions to Lists of Models, Patents, Tune Lists & Serial Numbers;
Combined Index of Images in the original book and its Supplement.
Compiled and Edited by
Kevin McElhone
Originally published in 2012 and still available The Disc Musical Box
ISBN 978-0-9557869-6-9
is a compendium of information about Disc Musical Boxes, their Makers and
their Music; profusely illustrated in colour throughout with Illustrations of
each Disk Musical Box Model, and with Catalogue Scans, Lists of Models,
Patents & Tune Lists.
************************************************************************************************************************
For all MBSGB Publications, please refer to the Musical Box Society of Great Britain website for further details including latest
availability, discounted prices and information on how to order. -www.mbsgb.org.uk
Supplement to
Compiled and Edited by
Kevin McElhone
100pp Hard Back ISO A4 format [8.27” × 11.70”; Profusely illustrated in
Patents, Tune Lists & Tuning Scales; A New Section on Trade Cards;
Combined Index of Images in the original book and its Supplement.
The Organette Book is a compendium of information about Organettes,
their Makers and their Music. Originally published in 2000 but now out of
print although second-hand copies are occasionally available in online
auctions.
56 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
(802) 728-9694 (802) 728-9694
Music Box Company, Inc.
We restore Swiss cylinder and disc music boxes.
• Cylinders are repinned if necessary and all worn
parts are rebuilt to original specifications or better.
• Combs are repaired and tuned. Nickel plated parts
are replated as needed.
Trust your prized music box to the finest quality
restoration available. We have been accused of over
restoring! Better over than under I say!
We will pick up your music box anywhere east of the
Mississippi River, and transport it to our shop in
Randolph, Vermont, where it will be stored in a
climate-controlled area until it’s finished and returned.
We have a complete machine shop where we build Porter
Music Boxes, more than 3,000 so far. We are unique in
the industry in that we are capable of manufacturing any
part needed to restore any music box.
See our website, www.PorterMusicBox.com, to read
letters of recommendation and browse a selection of the
finest disc boxes currently being manufactured anywhere
in the world. We have twin disc models, single disc
models with 121/4” or15 1/ “ discs, and table models with
beautiful cabinets created for us in Italy. Also we can
occasions.
P.O Box 424
Randolph, VT 05060
support.
Call (802) 728-9694 or
email maryP@portermusicbox.com
We’re getting our vaccine shots.
We’ve made our plans.
It’s time to make yours!
Fantastic
Collection
Tours
Don’t miss an opportunity to see the Southeast’s premier
collections of mechanical music. This is a once-in-a-lifetime
chance to see and hear these marvelous instruments, live and
in person. These are each “must see” collections.
The JANCKO Collections
Joel and Pam Jancko’s “Backyard Museum” features a group
of buildings each with a magical display of Americana from
the Civil War through WWI. The Barn is where you will see
and hear a wide variety of automatic musical instruments,
including an Imhof & Mukle, Seeburg H, Wurlitzer CX, Double
Mills Violano, Cremona K, Weber Unica, Encore Banjo, Model
B Harp, Bruder band organ, Limonaire band organ, Bruder
monkey organ, American Photo Player and classic Mortier, as
well as a variety of cylinder and disc music boxes, organettes
and phonographs. Also walk through a service station, fire
station, bicycle shop, and cinema. In the Annex you will see
rare military artifacts (including a working Gatling gun) and
an authentic log cabin, general store, 1910 soda fountain,
game room and saloon. Outside, explore the fort. Listen to a
performance on the crown jewel of the collection – the OPUS
1616, a 3/23 Wurlitzer Theater Organ, installed in the newly
constructed dance hall.
The EDGERTON Collection
Bill Edgerton’s collection has it all -big and small. It includes
four fairground organs (Gavioli, Bruder, Limonaire and
Gasparini), a large Decap, an Ampico A piano with some
unusual music choices, several special cylinder and disc
boxes, barrel pianos and barrel organs, an Orpheus disc-play-
ing piano, a Piano Melodico (one of the most ornate 65-note
Amazing instruments! Workshops! The Mart!
Entertainment! Ice Cream Social!
International experts! Local “open houses”
This is going to be a
GREAT convention!
Aug. 30 Sept.
4, 2021
pianos ever made), and the 1876 Dufner Barrel orchestrion with
nine barrels that is one of only three known Dufner instruments.
Also see and hear his replica Seeburg KT Special nickelodeon,
one of about 60 he manufactured in the 1980s! Tour his work-
shop and a display of mechanical music, automata and opera
posters. You must see his framed artwork that smiles at you….
then it doesn’t!
The YAFFE Collection
Find a comfortable couch and enjoy Mark and Christel Ya§e’s
beautifully-appointed venue while listening to their large and
varied group of instruments, including the earliest known
Francois Nicole overture music box plus Falcone, Reymond
Nicole, F Nicole and Nicole grand format overture boxes.
Single overture boxes by Ducommon Girod, Mertert, and
Nicole and a Captains table interchangeable overture cylinder
box with 12 cylinders are on the menu. See rare and unique
automata – a drunk on the bench, a Cambodian dancer (one of
two known), a life size flute player, a Japanese mask seller and
an acrobat. Don’t forget the organs, an 84-key Mortier cafe,
112-key Mortier dance organ, 121-key DeCap dance organ plus
European orchestrions (Marenghi orchestrion, Welte style 3 in
custom case, Weber Otero, Weber violano, Weber Unika,
Popper Roland, Hupfeld universe with moving scene, Hupfeld
Helios 1/31, Phillips Paganini 3 Orchestrion), custom art case
pianos (Kanabe, Mason Hamlin and Chickering); the latest
known Hupfeld Phonolizt Violina; American nickelodeons
(Mills double violano in custom Gothic case, Encore original
(not repo) banjo, Wurlitzer, Violano, Seeburg J with bird pipes,
Nelson Wiggins 6x and 8x, Cremona J and G, Link with endless
roll). And much more!
Registration forms for this meeting will be
in the May/June issue of Mechanical Music.
Fort Myers, Florida
We’re getting our vaccine shots.
We’ve made our plans.
It’s time to make yours!
Fantastic
Collection
Tours
Don’t miss an opportunity to see the Southeast’s premier
collections of mechanical music. This is a once-in-a-lifetime
chance to see and hear these marvelous instruments, live and
in person. These are each “must see” collections.
The JANCKO Collections
Joel and Pam Jancko’s “Backyard Museum” features a group
of buildings each with a magical display of Americana from
the Civil War through WWI. The Barn is where you will see
and hear a wide variety of automatic musical instruments,
including an Imhof & Mukle, Seeburg H, Wurlitzer CX, Double
Mills Violano, Cremona K, Weber Unica, Encore Banjo, Model
B Harp, Bruder band organ, Limonaire band organ, Bruder
monkey organ, American Photo Player and classic Mortier, as
well as a variety of cylinder and disc music boxes, organettes
and phonographs. Also walk through a service station, fire
station, bicycle shop, and cinema. In the Annex you will see
rare military artifacts (including a working Gatling gun) and
an authentic log cabin, general store, 1910 soda fountain,
game room and saloon. Outside, explore the fort. Listen to a
performance on the crown jewel of the collection – the OPUS
1616, a 3/23 Wurlitzer Theater Organ, installed in the newly
constructed dance hall.
The EDGERTON Collection
Bill Edgerton’s collection has it all -big and small. It includes
four fairground organs (Gavioli, Bruder, Limonaire and
Gasparini), a large Decap, an Ampico A piano with some
unusual music choices, several special cylinder and disc
boxes, barrel pianos and barrel organs, an Orpheus disc-play-
ing piano, a Piano Melodico (one of the most ornate 65-note
Amazing instruments! Workshops! The Mart!
Entertainment! Ice Cream Social!
International experts! Local “open houses”
This is going to be a
GREAT convention!
Aug. 30 Sept.
4, 2021
pianos ever made), and the 1876 Dufner Barrel orchestrion with
nine barrels that is one of only three known Dufner instruments.
Also see and hear his replica Seeburg KT Special nickelodeon,
one of about 60 he manufactured in the 1980s! Tour his work-
shop and a display of mechanical music, automata and opera
posters. You must see his framed artwork that smiles at you….
then it doesn’t!
The YAFFE Collection
Find a comfortable couch and enjoy Mark and Christel Ya§e’s
beautifully-appointed venue while listening to their large and
varied group of instruments, including the earliest known
Francois Nicole overture music box plus Falcone, Reymond
Nicole, F Nicole and Nicole grand format overture boxes.
Single overture boxes by Ducommon Girod, Mertert, and
Nicole and a Captains table interchangeable overture cylinder
box with 12 cylinders are on the menu. See rare and unique
automata – a drunk on the bench, a Cambodian dancer (one of
two known), a life size flute player, a Japanese mask seller and
an acrobat. Don’t forget the organs, an 84-key Mortier cafe,
112-key Mortier dance organ, 121-key DeCap dance organ plus
European orchestrions (Marenghi orchestrion, Welte style 3 in
custom case, Weber Otero, Weber violano, Weber Unika,
Popper Roland, Hupfeld universe with moving scene, Hupfeld
Helios 1/31, Phillips Paganini 3 Orchestrion), custom art case
pianos (Kanabe, Mason Hamlin and Chickering); the latest
known Hupfeld Phonolizt Violina; American nickelodeons
(Mills double violano in custom Gothic case, Encore original
(not repo) banjo, Wurlitzer, Violano, Seeburg J with bird pipes,
Nelson Wiggins 6x and 8x, Cremona J and G, Link with endless
roll). And much more!
Registration forms for this meeting will be
in the May/June issue of Mechanical Music.
Fort Myers, Florida
Ben’s Player Piano Service
Repair and restoration of air powered mechanical music
devices of all description.
Player pianos
Reproduing pianos
Dance organs
Fairground organs
Nickelodeon pianos
Original historically
Correct techniques
And materials used
Throughout in the
Rebuilding process.
Benjamin R Gottfried
464 Dugan Road, Richfield Springs NY 13439
Bensplayerservice.com 315-858-2164
WWW.REEDERPIANOS.COM • 517-886-9447
Specializing in the Restora on and Retail of Fine Pianos
Available Reproducing Pianos:
Chickering •Marshall & Wendall •George Steck
Mason & Hamlin •Knabe •Aeolian
»QRS & AMPICO MUSIC ROLLS«
“Where Fine Pianos
Are Reborn”
Fine Art & Antique Consignments
The highest level of customer service plus private,
professional and confidential transactions.
120 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454 cottoneauctions.comAdvertise in The Mart
Have some spare parts or extra rolls taking up the space
where you should be installing your next acquisition?
Ready to trade up, but need to sell one of your current
pieces first? Get the word out to other collectors in The
Mart, an effective advertising tool at an inexpensive
price. Copy or cut out the form below and mail it in to get
started. Or, go to www.mbsi.org and place your ad online!
Name Phone
Email
Text of ad
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 59
B. A. Bremond
8 tune Organ Box with
16 ¼” x 2 5/8” cylinder.
Burl case, restored.
Beautiful balance between the organ
and combs, with mostly classical tunes.
Excellent tune arrangements!
…Over 30 Organettes, including FOUR GRAND ROLLER ORGANS, 24 note
Amorette; Clarionas, Celestinas, a 20 note Symphonia; a 16 note Musette; Gem
Home and Concert and Organetta Expressive cob organettes; Ariston, Ariosa;
Tournaphone; and many more! Some restored, some needing bellows work.
Call me!
Nancy Fratti Music Boxes
P.O. Box 400 – Canastota, NY 13032 USA
315-684-9977 — musicbox@frontiernet.net
www.nancyfrattimusicboxes.com
T hank You…from Stanton’s Auctioneers
Columbia K “Bell Tainter” cylinder
phonograph – $7,200.00
Edison Ideal cylinder phonograph $
12,650
Early Berliner
“funnel type”
horn
$3,300
As everyone is aware, 2020 was an unusual, stressful and obviously an
interesting year. Even dealing with the postponements, virus, cancellations
and other factors, we would like to thank everyone for their business and
continued support.
2020 began in the music machine world with the auction liquidating the
excellent collection of the Nick Monios Estate from Long Beach, California in
March. As the virus progressed, we found ourselves postponing the Andrew
Ellis Collection Auction in August. That collection, being one of the best
groups of music boxes, and phonographs from a private collection including
a Multiphone, Automatic Changers, Music Box Clocks, Bell & Cuff Boxes, and
so much more, is in the process of being rescheduled at this time. Continue
to watch our website for additional information on that sale.
Even with the factors that 2020 presented, Stanton’s conducted over 150
auctions of all types throughout the year with sales of estates, collections,
real estate offerings, machinery and more. We are looking forward to 2021
as another excellent year, continuing with the strong market results that we
experienced in the previous months.
Our January 14, 15, and 16 sale, just completed, saw participation by onsite
and online buyers from all over the United States, Canada, England, Ireland,
Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Australia and Qatar. The sale
generated nearly $750,000.00 in sales liquidating machines and collections
from 8 states and Canada.
Many of you know us for our onsite and estate auctions, some for our large
specialized sales of phonographs and music boxes, others have seen us
selling antique automobiles, coin operated machines, gas engines… maybe
you have attended our monthly firearm and military auctions, participated
in our petroliana, advertising and country store auctions, or possibly you
have been one of the bidders or even sellers in one of the specialized sales
Multiphone, scheduled to sell
Haydn model Eroica –
Scheduled to sell in 2021
of Art Glass, Lamps, Pottery or auctions of antique furniture. Whatever your
involvement has been, we want to thank you for working with us during this
past year, and permitting our firm to continue to grow and carry on what was
started 67 years ago, when William J. Stanton founded the business. 2021
represents Steve Stanton’s 51st year in the business. Our firm has conducted
over 8,500 individual auctions during this time and continue to market all
Regina Style
types of quality items throughout the state and around the country…
44 – 20-3/4”
traveling from Coast to Coast working with sellers.
console
If you have collections, or items, that you are interested in selling, contact us
music box
to discuss our complete service. Referrals and pickup are available.
$9,625
Edison Nickelplated Triumph in
Hawthorne & Sheble Cabinet – $19,800
One of the many music boxes
scheduled to sell this year
Victor VI phonograph with
mahogany spear tip horn – $4,600
Porcelain Victor Record
Advertising Sign – $2,400
Seeburg K Nickelodeon –
Schedule to sell in 2021
Stanton’s Auctioneers,
Appraisers, & Realtors
144 S. Main, P.O. Box 146
Vermontville, MI 49096
Phone: (517) 726-0181
Fax: (517) 726-0060
E-mail: stantonsauctions@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.stantons-auctions.com
AUCTIONEERS & REALTORSSTANTON’S
Steven E. Stanton
(517) 331-8150 cellular
E-mail – stevenEstanton@gmail.com
Michael C. Bleisch
(517) 231-0868 cellular
E-mail – mcbleisch@gmail.com
RESTORED MUSICAL BOXES Offering a
variety of antique musical boxes, discs,
orphan cylinders, reproducing piano rolls &
out of print books about mechanical music.
BILL WINEBURGH 973-927-0484 Web:
THE MART
FOR SALE
WURLITZER 190 B THEATER ORGAN with
piano attached. Many capabilities. $15,000
OBO. AMERICAN-BUILT SCOPITONES with
several extra films available. Two for $1,500
or one for $1,000, OBO. SEEBURG JUKEBOX
with records and wall box. $750 OBO. DUO
ART STROUD PIANO, restored. $750 OBO.
BUSH AND LANE grand reproducing piano.
Player action needs restoration. $500 OBO.
Deacon Chimes. $350 OBO. Several hundred
plus piano rolls, all types. One accordion
setup that ties into theatre organ or similar
device. $300 OBO. Contact JON CARPENTER
joncarol54@gmail.com
CIRCA 1990s Reuge musical movements
never used, in original packaging, pristine
condition: two 4/50 (45008 & 45079); one
3/72 (37213); and one 3/144 (314403)..
Contact DAVID CROTHERS, at dwcboxes@
me.com or 267-280-2376
MARY POLLOCK ESTATE Mechanical Music
CLASSIFIED ADS
• 47¢ per word
• ALL CAPS, italicized and bold
words: 60¢ each.
• Minimum Charge: $11 per ad.
• Limit: One ad in each category
• Format: See ads for style
• Restrictions: Ads are strictly
limited to mechanical musical
instruments and related items and
services
• MBSI member’s name must
appear in ad
• Non-members may advertise at the
rates listed plus a 10% surcharge
PLEASE NOTE:
The first two words (or more
at your choice) and the member’s
name will be printed in all caps/bold
and charged at 60¢ per word.
Mechanical Music
Mechanical Music is mailed to all
members at the beginning of every
odd month — January, March, May,
July, September and November.
MBSI Advertising Statement
It is to be hereby understood
that the placing of advertisements
by members of the Society in this
publication does not constitute nor
shall be deemed to constitute any
endorsement or approval of the business
practices of advertisers. The
Musical Box Society International
accepts no liability in connection
with any business dealings between
members and such advertisers.
It is to be further understood that
members are to rely on their own
investigation and opinion regarding
the reputation and integrity of
advertisers in conducting such business
dealings with said advertisers.
antiquemusicbox.us
THE GOLDEN AGE of AUTOMATIC MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS By ART REBLITZ.
Award-winning classic that brings historical,
musical, and technical information to life
with hundreds of large, vivid color photos.
We guarantee you’ll find it to be one of the
most interesting, inspiring, informative books
you have in your library–or your money back.
Everyone has been delighted, and some
readers have ordered several copies. Get
your copy today for $99 plus S/H. MECHANICAL
MUSIC PRESS-M, 70 Wild Ammonoosuc
Rd., Woodsville, NH 03785. (603) 747-2636.
http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com
Display Advertising Dimensions and Costs
Dimensions 1 issue 3 issues* 6 issues*
Back Cover 8.75” x 11.25” $600 $540 $510
Inside Covers 8.75” x 11.25” $450 $405 $383
Full Page 7.25” x 9.75” $290 $261 $246
Half Page 7.25” x 4.5” $160 $144 $136
Quarter Page 3.5” x 4.5” $90 $81 $77
Eighth Page 3.5” x 2.125” $50 $45 $43
Add a 10% surcharge to the prices shown above if you are not a member of MBSI.
*Display Discounts shown above are calculated as follows:
3 consecutive ads 10% Discount
6 consecutive ads 15% Discount
ALL ADS MUST BE PREPAID
We accept VISA/MC and Paypal.
ADVERTISING DEADLINES:
The 1st day of each even month: Feb., Apr., Jun, Aug., Oct. and Dec.
Display ads may be submitted camera-ready, as PDF files, or with text and
instructions. File submission guidelines available on request.
Errors attributable to Mechanical Music, and of a significant nature, will be
corrected in the following issue without charge, upon notification.
Each One
Reach One
New Member
SUBMIT ADS TO:
MBSI Ads
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
(253) 228-1634
Email: editor@mbsi.org
62 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
at Auction. Automaton: Two seated articulated
dolls porcelain heads. Manivelle movement
Polyphon Style 65a Coin-Op 15½ “ Disc
Music Box. Restored Regina Style 14 15 ½
Disc Music Box. Original Mason & Wendell
Ampico A Upright Reproducing Piano. Older
restoration Stroud Duo-Art Upright Reproducing
Piano. Older restoration Discs, Piano
Rolls, Roller Organ, Manivelles, small music
boxes, ephemera Music Boxes sell on 13 Mar
2021, Pianos sell on 17 Apr 2021. Contact
PHIL THOMPSON, Auctioneer at 937-6060588
Auctionzip #5640
MARVELS OF MECHANICAL MUSIC – MBSI
Video. Fascinating and beautifully-made
film which explains the origins of automatic
musical instruments, how they are collected
and preserved today, and their historic
importance, MBSI members and collections
are featured. $20 USD. Free shipping in the
continental U.S. Additional postage charges
apply for other locations. Purchase now at
www.mbsi.org
WANTED
COINOLA “X” or C-2. Also Regina 216 music
box with bells. Contact DON KROENLEIN, at
fbac@one-eleven.net or (217) 620-8650
WANTED
Display Advertisers
LOWREY OR HAMMOND ORGAN that plays
piano rolls or the player part, working or not.
These were made in the early 1980s. Contact
LES BEEBE, at (609) 654-2789.
SERVICES
REPRODUCTION POLYPHON discs; Catalogs
available for 19 5/8”, 22 1/8”, and 24
1/2”. DAVID CORKRUM 5826 Roberts Ave,
Oakland, CA 94605-1156, 510-569-3110,
www.polyphonmusic.com
SAVE $’s on REUGE & THORENS MUSIC
BOX REPAIR & RESTORATION – MBSI
MEMBERS RECEIVE WHOLESALE PRICING.
40 + Years experience servicing all makes
& models of cylinder and disc music boxes,
bird boxes, bird cages, musical watches, Anri
musical figurines, et al. All work guaranteed.
We’re the only REUGE FACTORY AUTHORIZED
Parts & Repair Service Center for all of North
America. Contact: DON CAINE -The Music
Box Repair Center Unlimited, 24703 Pennsylvania
Ave., Lomita, CA 90717-1516. Phone:
(310) 534-1557 Email: MBRCU@AOL.COM.
On the Web: www.musicboxrepaircenter.com
3………. Renaissance Antiques
51…….. Stanton Auctions
52…….. Music Box Restorations
52…….. Miller Organ Clock
53…….. Morphy Auctions
54…….. Dreamfactory
54…….. Al Alicante
55…….. Miller and Miller Auctions
56…….. MBSGB
56…….. American Treasure Tour
57…….. Porter Music Box Company
58…….. Southeast Chapter
59…….. Reeder Pianos
59…….. Cottone Auctions
59…….. Ben’s Player Piano Service
60…….. Nancy Fratti Music Boxes
61…….. Stanton Auctions
67…….. Marty Persky Music Boxes
68…….. Breker Auctions
Advertise in The Mart
Have some spare parts or extra rolls taking up the space where you should be
installing your next acquisition? Ready to trade up, but need to sell one of your
current pieces first? Get the word out to other collectors by advertising in The
Mart, an effective advertising tool at an inexpensive price.
Fill out the form below and mail to MBSI at 130 Coral Court, Pismo Beach, CA
93449. Call (253) 228-1634 with questions.
Name Phone
Text of ad
Mechanical
Music
Directory
MeMbers,
MuseuMs,
& Dealers
2020 2021
ORDER EXTRA COPIES
The 2020-2021 Directory of Members,
Museums and Dealers is only $10 for
members. (International shipping is extra)
Call MBSI Administrator Jacque Beeman at
(417) 886-8839 or send a check to:
Musical Box Society International
P.O. Box 10196
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 63
OFFICERS, TRUSTEES & COMMITTEES of the
MUSICAL BOX SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL®
OFFICERS
President
Tom Kuehn
4 Williams Woods
Mahtomedi, MN 55115
kuehn001@umn.edu
Vice President
David Corkrum
5826 Roberts Avenue
Oakland, CA 94605
musikwerke@att.net
Recording Secretary
Linda Birkitt
PO Box 541
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693
scarletpimpernel28@yahoo.com
Treasurer
Edward Kozak
3615 North Campbell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
kozak@seldenfox.com
TRUSTEES
Dave Calendine
Bob Caletti
Ed Cooley
Dave Corkrum
G.Wayne Finger
Matt Jaro
Tom Kuehn
Mary Ellen Myers
Clay Witt
MBSI FUNDS
COMMITTEES
Audit
Edward Cooley, Chair, Trustee
Dave Calendine, Trustee
Matt Jaro, Trustee
Endowment Committee
Edward Kozak, Treasurer, Chair
Edward Cooley, Trustee
Dave Calendine, Trustee
B Bronson
Wayne Wolf
Executive Committee
Tom Kuehn, Chair, President
David Corkrum, Vice President
Clay Witt, Immediate Past Pres.
G.Wayne Finger, Trustee
Mary Ellen Myers, Trustee
Finance Committee
Edward Kozak, Chair, Treasurer
Wayne Wolf, Vice Chair
David Corkrum, Vice President
Edward Cooley, Trustee
Peter Both
Marketing Committee
Bob Smith, Chair
G.Wayne Finger, Trustee
Judy Caletti
Meetings Committee
Matt Jaro, Chair, Trustee
Judy Caletti
Tom Chase
Cotton Morlock
Rich Poppe
Membership Committee
Chair, TBD
Mary Ellen Myers, Trustee,
Southeast
Linda Birkitt, Southern California
Gary Goldsmith, Snowbelt
Christine Hopwood, Golden Gate
Julie Morlock, Southeast
Rob Pollock, Mid-America
Dan Wilson, Piedmont
Gerald Yorioka, Northwest Int’l
TBD, East Coast
TBD, Great Lakes
TBD, National Capital
TBD, Sunbelt
Museum Committee
Sally Craig, Chair
Clay Witt, Immediate Past Pres.
Glenn Crater, National Capital
Ken Envall, Southern California
Julian Grace, Sunbelt
Matt Jaro, National Capital
Richard Simpson, East Coast
Museum Sub-Committees
Ohio Operations
Emery Prior
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Publications Back Issues:
Jacque Beeman
Regina Certificates:
B Bronson
MBSI Pins and Seals:
Jacque Beeman
Librarian:
Jerry Maler
Historian:
Bob Yates
Nominating Committee
Dan Wilson, Chair
Clay Witt, Immediate Past Pres.
Bob Caletti, Golden Gate, Trustee
Mary Ellen Myers, Trustee,
Southeast
Jonathan Hoyt, Golden Gate
Robin Biggins, Southern California
Aaron Muller, Lake Michigan
Publications Committee
Bob Caletti, Chair, Trustee
Steve Boehck
Dave Corkrum, Vice President
Christian Eric
Kathleen Eric
Terry Smythe
Publications
Sub-Committee
Website Committee
Rick Swaney, Chair
B Bronson
Don Henry
Knowles Little, Web Secretary
Special Exhibits Committee
Chair Mary Ellen Myers, Trustee,
Southeast
David Corkrum, Vice President,
Golden Gate
Donald Caine, Southern California
Jack Hostetler, Southeast
Knowles Little, National Capital
Judy Miller, Piedmont
Aaron Muller, Lake Michigan
Wayne Myers, Southeast
Rick Swaney, Northwest Int’l
MBSI Editorial Office:
Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
editor@mbsi.org
Members can donate to these funds at any time.
Send donations to: General Fund (unrestricted)
MBSI Administrator, Endowment Fund (promotes the purposes of MBSI, restricted)
PO Box 10196, Ralph Heintz Publications Fund (special literary projects)
Springfield, MO 65808-0196. Museum Fund (supports museum operations)
All manuscripts will be subject to editorial review. Committee and the Editorial Staff. are considered to be the author’s personal opinion.
Articles submitted for publication may be edited The article will not be published with significant The author may be asked to substantiate his/her
or rejected at the discretion of the Publications changes without the author’s approval. All articles statements.
64 MECHANICAL MUSIC March/April 2021
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Date Event Location Sponsor
Aug. 30-Sept. 4, 2021 MBSI Annual Meeting Ft. Myers, FL Southeast Chapter
When will your chapter meet next? Holding a “virtual meeting?” Let us know!
Send in your information by Apr. 1, 2021 for the May/June issue.
Don’t hold your questions until the next chapter meeting. Ask them today on our FaceBook discussion group
-the Music Box Society Forum.
Please send dates for the Calendar of Events to Russell Kasselman (editor@mbsi.org)
CONTACTS
Administrator Jacque Beeman handles back issues (if available) $6;
damaged or issues not received, address changes, MBSI Directory
listing changes, credit card charge questions, book orders, status of your
membership, membership renewal, membership application, and MBSI
Membership Brochures.
P.O. Box 10196
Springfield, MO 65808-0196
Phone/Fax (417) 886-8839
jbeeman.mbsi@att.net
CHAPTERS
East Coast
Chair: Elise Low
(203) 457-9888
Dues $5 to Roger Wiegand
281 Concord Road
Wayland, MA 01778
or pay via PayPal, send to
treasurereccmbsi@gmail.com
Golden Gate
Chair: Jonathan Hoyt
jenjenhoyt@yahoo.com
Dues $5 to Dave Corkrum
5826 Roberts Ave.
Oakland, CA 94605
Japan
Chair Pro Tem: Sachiya Sasaki
Vice Chair Pro Tem: Naoki Shibata
Lake Michigan
Chair: Aaron Muller
(847) 962-2330
Dues $5 to James Huffer
7930 N. Kildare
Skokie, Illinois 60076
Mid-America
Chair: Rob Pollock
(937) 508-4984
Dues $10 to Harold Wade
4616 Boneta Road
Medina, OH 44256
National Capital
Chair: Matthew Jaro
(301) 482-2008
Dues $5 to Florie Hirsch
8917 Wooden Bridge Road
Potomac, MD 20854
Northwest International
Chair: Rick Swaney
(425) 836-3586
Dues $7.50/person to Kathy Baer
8210 Comox Road
Blaine, WA 98230
Piedmont
Temp Chair: Dan Wilson
(919) 740-6579
musicboxmac@mac.com
Dues $10 to Dan Wilson
4804 Latimer Road
Raleigh, NC. 276099
Traveling MBSI Display
Bill Endlein
21547 NW 154th Pl.
High Springs, FL 32643-4519
Phone (386) 454-8359
sembsi@yahoo.com
Regina Certificates: Cost $5.
B Bronson
Box 154
Dundee, MI 48131
Phone (734) 529-2087
art@d-pcomm.net
Advertising for Mechanical Music
Russell Kasselman
Iron Dog Media
130 Coral Court
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Phone (253) 228-1634
editor@mbsi.org
CHAPTERS
Snowbelt
Chair: Tracy Tolzmann
(651) 674-5149
Dues $10 to Gary Goldsmith
17160 – 245th Avenue
Big Lake, MN 55309
Southeast
Chair: Jack Hostetler
(352) 633-1942
Dues $5 to Clay Witt
820 Del Rio Way Unit 203
Merritt Island, FL 32953
Museum Donations
Sally Craig,
2720 Old Orchard Road
Lancaster, PA 17601
Phone (717) 295-9188
rosebud441@juno.com
MBSI website
Rick Swaney,
4302 209th Avenue NE
Sammamish, WA 98074
Phone (425) 836-3586
r_swaney@msn.com
Web Secretary
Knowles Little
9109 Scott Dr.
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone (301) 762-6253
kglittle@verizon.net
Southern California
Chair: Robin Biggins
(310) 377-1472
Dues $10 to Diane Lloyd
1201 Edgeview Drive
Cowan Hgts, CA 92705
Sunbelt
Chair: Ray Dickey
(713) 467-0349
Dues $10 to Diane Caudill
4585 Felder Road
Washington, TX 77880
Copyright 2021 the Musical Box Society International, all rights reserved. Permission to reproduce by any means, in whole or in part, must be obtained in writing
from the MBSI Executive Committee and the Editor. Mechanical Music is published in the even months. ISSN 1045-795X
March/April 2021 MECHANICAL MUSIC 65
HALF PAGE
HORIZONTAL
7.25” x 4.5”
QUARTER
PAGE
3.5” x 4.5”
EIGHTH
PAGE
3.5” x 2.125”
Mechanical Music
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Mechanical Music
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments
Volume 63, No. 3 May/June 2017
Mechanical Music
Journal of the Musical Box Society International
Devoted to All Automatic Musical Instruments
Volume 63, No. 1 January/February 2017
DISPLAY ADVERTISING DIMENSIONS & PER ISSUE COSTS
Dimensions 1 issue 2-3 issues 4-6 issues
Back Cover 8.75” x 11.25” $600 $540 $510
Inside Covers 8.75” x 11.25” $450 $405 $383
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Quarter Page 3.5” x 4.5” $90 $81 $77
Eighth Page 3.5” x 2.125” $50 $45 $43
Non-members pay a 10% surcharge on the above rates
Display Discounts shown above are calculated as follows:
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FULL PAGE
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Mechanical Music is printed on 70 lb gloss
paper, with a 100 lb gloss cover, saddle-
stitched. Trim size is 8.25” x 10.75”.
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Box Society International six (6) times
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accepts VISA, Mastercard and online
payments via PayPal.
Contact MBSI Publisher Russell Kasselman at (253) 228-1634 or editor@mbsi.org
CLASSIFIED ADS
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Mechanical Music at its Best
Instrument Brokering & Locating / Appraisals / Inspections / Free Consultation
Mechmusic.com
11’ tall
Welte 4 Concert Violina Orchestra Hupfeld Helios II/25 Welte Brisgovia C Luxus
Schoenstein Pipes
Lösche “Angeles” Violin Pipes & Xylophone Wurlitzer CX with Bells
Jaeger Brommer
42’er Violinopan 20’er Automaton
45’er Niemuth
Bacigalupo Visit: Mechmusic.com Mills Bowfront Violano
Call Marty Persky at 847-675-6144 or Email: Marty@Mechmusic.com
for further information on these and other fine instruments.
…and many more !
For more information and large colour photographs of some more of the upcoming Highlights
please visit our website at: www.Breker.com / New Highlights and youtube.com/auctionteambreker
Fully-illustrated bilingual (Engl.-German) COLOUR Catalogue available against prepayment only:
Euro 28.– (Europe) or elsewhere Euro 37.– (approx. US$ 44.– / Overseas)
(Bank draft, cash or by Credit Card with CVV and expiry date: MasterCard/Visa/AmEx)
☛ Consignments are welcome at any time! ☛
– The Specialists in »Technical Antiques« –
P. O. Box 50 11 19, 50971 Koeln/Germany · Tel.: +49 / 2236 / 38 43 40 · Fax: +49 / 2236 / 38 43 430
Otto-Hahn-Str. 10, 50997 Koeln (Godorf)/Germany
e-mail: Auction@Breker.com · www.breker.com · Business Hours: Tue – Fri 9 am – 5 pm
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT OUR INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES:
Japan: Murakami Taizou, Tel./Fax (06) 68 45 86 28 * murakami@ops.dti.ne.jp · China: Jiang Feng, Tel. 138 620 620 75 * jiangfengde@gmail.com
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore: Alex Shih-Chieh Lin, (HK), Tel. (+852) 94 90 41 13 * alexsclin@gmail.com
England: Tel. +49 (0) 176 991 40593 * AuctionTeamBrekerUK@outlook.de · France: Pierre J. Bickart, Tel. (01) 43 33 86 71 * AuctionTeamKoln@aol.com
Russia: Maksim Suravegin, Tel. +7 903 558 02 50 * Maksim-ATB.ru@gmx.net
U.S.A.: Andrew Truman, Tel. (207) 485 8343 * AndrewAuctionTeamBreker@gmail.com · Australia & New Zealand: P. Bardenheier, (NZ), Tel./Fax (+64) (0)9 817 72 68 * dbarden@orcon.net.nz
Eckhardt’s Patent Musical Revolving
Christmas Tree Stand
with Angel Chimes, c. 1905
Estimate: 700 – 1.000 /
US$ 850 – 1,200
Symphonion
Coin-Operated
Gramophone, c. 1910
Estimate:
2.000 – 3.000 /
US$ 2,400 – 3,600
“Wilhelm Bruder Model 64”
Fairground Organ, c. 1925
Estimate: 4.000 – 6.000 /
US$ 5,200 – 7,200
“Zonophone Type C”
Gramophone, c. 1900
Estimate: 1.200 – 1.800 /
US$ 1,400 – 2,200 Phonograph “Columbia Graphophone
Type N ‘Bijou’”, 1895 onwards
Estimate: 900 – 1.200 / US$ 1,100 – 1,500
“Aeolian Vocalian”
Chinoiserie Floor
Gramophone, c. 1920
Estimate:
9.000 – 12.000 /
US$ 11,000 – 15,000
“Wurlitzer Jukebox Model
1080” (Colonial), 1947
With 24 Original Discs
Estimate: 7.000 – 10.000 /
US$ 8,400 – 12,000
“Regina Style 34”, c. 1903
Automatic Disc-Changing
Musical Box for 12 Discs.
Estimate: 22.000 – 25.000 /
US$ 25,000 – 30,000
World’s Leading Specialty Auctions
»Mechanical Music Instruments«
23/24 April 2021
Victor M Horn Gramophone,
c. 1905
Estimate: 1.500 – 2.000 /
US$ 1,800 – 2,400
Automaton Singing Bird Jardinière
by Blaise Bontems, c. 1890
Estimate: 8.000 – 12.000 /
US$ 9,500 – 14,000
Pathé Concert Model 5 Coin-
Operated Phonograph, c. 1912
Estimate: 7.000 – 9.000 /
US$ 8,500 – 11,000
Large Collection of 78 rpm records
by Caruso to Beatles, 1905 – 1963
Next closing date for entries: 5 March 2021