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          Our "Ragtime Treasures" Series Of Custom 88-Note Rolls

If you hadn't already noticed, we're rather partial to ragtime

here in Valley Forge, PA.  The guy who writes all this stuff -

yours truly, Frank Himpsl, played his first rag (Maple Leaf

of course) for the first time back in 1962.  Ever since then

it's been a never-ending search for new ragtime discoveries.

Vintage compositions, new works, novelty ragtime, stride piano

and all the rest. It has since been and will always remain

a passion bordering upon insanity. 

There are many breeds of roll collectors and our collecting

interests are extremely diverse.  Often there isn't a great

deal of "cross-over" of exposure to different types of music

between groups of us.  There are many reasons for this, but

that's not the point. 

Piano roll ragtime is somewhat unique in that back in "the

old days" a person would stand a greater chance of being

exposed to a given piece of ragtime via coin-operated

pianos in public venues than by dime-store auditioning an

88-note piano roll.  Sheet music was of course the major way

in which the music was distributed, but as early as the

turn of the 20th century sheet music publishers became very

much aware of the potential of coin-operated musical

instruments to get their tunes "out there" in the public

eye - pretty much as soon as the manuscript ink was dry

on the score.  And this was the case even though

mechanical royalty payments were not made mandatory for

the roll manufacturers until 1909.

Adding to this the short-lived popularity of many of the

rags (most often for reasons having nothing to do with

their fundamental musical worth, but more effective

publicity), there were many, many wonderful ragtime

and ragtime-related compositions which only appeared

upon nickelodeon rolls, if indeed they came out on rolls

at all.

Because of the many great ragtime pieces which appeared

only on nickelodeon rolls, we want to share what we feel

are the finest of the "coin-op rags" which we've

discovered to date with the 88-Note roll collecting

community.  In some cases rags known to the 88-note

format will be included for their outstanding arrangements.

Hence the introduction here of our "Ragtime Treasures"

series of 88-Note rolls.  Virtually every format of coin

-operated music will eventually be presented in this forum,

given the collecting communities continued interest.

The "Ragtime Treasures" series will generally be issued as

3-tune rolls at a price of $35. each.

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-1. Music From Peerless Style “Cabaret” Coin-Operated Roll No. 10008 (ca. 1908)

**This Peerless format was fully known as the "Style Cabaret, RR, F & V."  The rolls were perforated 6.5 perfs/inch at 11 3/4" width.  An obscure and rather inaccessible early format which nonetheless survived through the mid-1920s.  Peerless Cabaret machines are extremely rare, as are the rolls**

1. Unknown Rag. (Possibly “Sue” or ""See"" In Title). Roll 10008, Tune #16
2. Unknown Rag. (Great One). Roll No. 10008, Tune #19
3. Unknown Rag. (Possibly ""Watermelon"" In Title). Roll No. 10008, Tune #6
 

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-2. Music From Peerless Style “Cabaret” Coin-Operated Roll No. 10008 (ca. 1908)

1. Pigeon Wing Rag.(Charles L. Johnson). Roll No. 10008, Tune #11
2. Wiggle Rag. (George Botsford).  Roll No. 10008, Tune #8
3. Mop Rag. (Helen Eaton).  Roll No. 10008, Tune #10

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-3. Music From Peerless Style “Cabaret” Coin-Operated Roll No. 10008 (ca. 1908)

1. Rubber Plant Rag. (George L. Cobb). Roll No. 10008, Tune #3
2. Frisco Rag. (Harry Armstrong).  Roll No. 10008, Tune #5
3. March Majestic. (Scott Joplin).  Roll No. 10008, Tune #15****
 ****while not a rag, this piece is included as the only known vintage roll issue of this fine and extremely rare march by Scott Joplin*****

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-4. Music From Peerless Style “D” Coin-Operated Rolls, ca. pre-1906

**This Peerless format dates back to the turn of the century, and was one of the very first coin-operated piano formats.  The rolls were issued in endless loop format, perforated 6/inch and 12" in width.  The endless roll loop was contained within a cabinet on the backside of the nickelodeon, making roll changing difficult to say the least. Few of these rolls survive, and those that have are often in very poor condition***

1. Darky In The Wood Pile. Ragtime March (Composer Unknown)(Roll No. 5039, Tune #2)
2. Back To Life. Ragtime March (Charles Hunter)***(Roll No. 5206, Tune #3)
3. He’s Nobody’s Friend, Not Even His Own. Song. (Composer Unknown)(Roll No. 5201, Tune #1)

***This is the only known roll issue of the great classic rag by the blind master of Folk Ragtime, Charles Hunter.  It was published shortly before his untimely death as a very young man.***
 

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-5. Music From Peerless Style 44-Note Coin-Operated Roll No. 6375 (expanded scale)

**This Peerless format also dates back to the turn of the century, but unlike the Peerless Style "D" it actually survived well into 1920s.  These rolls were also issued in endless loop format, perforated 6/inch and 8 1/4" in width.  Owing to the limited expanse of the format I've expanded the scale somewhat using octaves in the treble and bass as appropriate***

1. The Wish Bone. Ragtime Two-Step. (Charlotte Blake) (Roll No. 6375, Tune #1)
2. Old Crow Rag. (George Botsford). (Roll No. 6375, Tune #2
3. Leap Frog Rag. (Edwin F. Kendall). (Roll No. 6375, Tune #4)
 

Valley Forge Music Roll Company Ragtime Treasures Series No. RT-6. "Music From The Original Wurlitzer Harp Factory Master Rolls"

**The Wurlitzer Harp was a most unique albeit short-lived coin-operated musical instrument.  The rolls were manufactured for Wurlitzer by the J.W. Whitlock Company of Rising Sun, Indiana, starting in the summer of 1905 and continuing on to ca. 1914.  The Harp rolls were issued by Wurlitzer perforated 8/inch and 8 1/2" in width.  Also being of the endless loop variety, only a tiny fraction of the rolls issued have survived.  However, the master rolls from the Whitlock Company (which were much larger and perforated 6/inch at a 2/1 ratio) for the most part Did survive (amazingly).  Owing to the immense generosity of one of this country's leading music and musical instrument collectors, we were granted access to this incredible time capsule of music.  Were it not for the existence of the company recording ledger, the identity of most of these tunes would be lost to time.  We have selected for 88-note issue several of what we feel are the most important ragtime discoveries made from the master library to date. ***

1. Belles Of The Blue Grass.**** (M. Thornton)(From Harp Roll No. 11, Tune #1)
2. Unique Rag. (Robert J. O'Brien) (From Harp Roll No. 11, Tune #6)
3. The Pride Of Bucktown. (Robert S. Roberts)(From Harp Roll No. 17, Tune #6)
 ****I regard "Belles Of The Blue Grass as one of the finest pieces of Folk Ragtime I have ever heard.  To my knowledge nothing is known of the composer and I have never encountered the sheet music for this piece***
 

Send mail to fhimpsl@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2006 Valley Forge Music Roll Company
Last modified: 06/17/06