AMICAsk859kb3586/06-06.pdfDick was born and raised in Lexing.ton, Nebraska. His initial interes.t in the piano was inspired .by two aunts who used to accompany silent movies~ His study

TH E

AMICANE WS BULLETIN OF THE AUTO MATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CO L L ECTORS OF AMERIC A

June, 1969

JUNE MEETING AND AUCTION IN SAN FRANCISCO

Vol. 6, No.6

The June meeting will bs at 8,00 Friday night, June 27th, at the impressive Victorianmansion of Dlck Reutlinger, 824 Grove Street, San Francisco. DIRECTIONS FROM NORTHBAY I from Nineteenth Avenue, turn right onto Cabrillo, and turn left after a halfblock, onto Fulton. From Fulton, turn right onto Fillmore, go one block to Grove,and turn left. DIRECTIONS FROM EAST BAY OR PENINSULAI take the Fell Street Exitfrom the freeway, turn right onto Fillmore. After two blocks, turn right onto Grove.PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, 121 Hayes bus - get off at Fillmore & Hayes, walk one blockNorth. 122 Fillmore - Northbound, get off at Fillmore & Grove; Southbound, get offat Fillmore & Hayes, walk one block North. .

Dick was born and raised in Lexing.ton, Nebraska. His initial interes.t in the pianowas inspired .by two aunts who used to accompany silent movies~ His study of classicalmusic began at age 6. At about 11, he turned on to jazz and ragtime . His firstexperience with mechanical pianos came at age 14 when he hocked an electric train sethis parents had given him and bought an Autopiano player for $50. His parents weresomewhat appalled when they discovered it ensconced in their lakeside cabin, butthey eventually warmed to the idea after Dick .put it in working order. Incidentally,that was the first and last instrument that Dick ever renovated, although by no meansthe last he ever acquired.

H1S keyboard training got a boost in the directi.on of his primary must.cal interestwhen the player rolls contributed to his ragtime training • ..He also did accordionsolos in semi -professional shows around Nebraska. After studying Pre..med, thenMusic and Business Administration at the University of Nebraska, Dick moved toSan Francisco 13 years ago and completed his education at City College .

Dick still works for the same firm that hired him when he first arrived in the City ­Arthur Anderson, a national firm of accountants & auditors - al though his present jobofProduc.tion SuperVisor has. grown conslderablyfrom risponsibllities accUlllulated asthe firm grew.. H. compiles .r o ugh dra f t s into finished reports, supervising thetyping and providing the necessary graphics, drawing upon (you should forgive the pun)his experience with freechand artwork.

After only siX months In San Francisco, Dick discovered the J~B CompanY on CaliforniaStreet, and started his collection of musical instruments, which at one time includeda Fischer. pedal player and a Vocalian reed organ with two manuals and full pedalboard .The first reproducer he ever saw was a 19335' Stroud Duo-Art in the Acoma MusicStore. After changing .hands twice, it eventually became his in 1962, and is stillplaced .In . .his elaborately furnished bedroom, where it is frequently played . Meanwhile,in 1958 he. had bought the 1928 5' 6" Knabe Ampico 'A' which is in his l1vingroom baywindow c.. Both o.f .the s e were bought from J-B . In 1960 Dick bought his 1915 WurlitzerTheatre Orchestra from Tom Grattelo, and in 1964 the 1925 Fotoplayer from Doug Hickling.Completing his collection is the little plastic Rolmonica (player harmonica) with flverolls which friends gave him last Christmas.

Al though the last-named. !.lye instruments arestUl in his poasession, I t:hink he canbe talked o.ut of .t h e rare late DUO-Art, as he seems to be coveting another, .l a t erDuo-Art. These late models ..are .q.u1t.e popular wi.th ..re.pairmen, as the note tubing i 1'.

carried arola\d the action by junction bloc1tsat either .end (facilitating removal),while earlier models have tubing going directly through the action . Also, allcontrols are 1n the 8poolbox; none at the base of the keyboard.

lUNE MEETING (Cont ~d) 2

family,It wasoff

Di ck's theatrical activities are well-known to AMICAns, as they sometimes cause himto miss meetings . The show must go on, & like that . It all began 12 years agowhen he was to unders t udy Leonard Jared (of J -B) as pianist for a Sausalito LittleTheatre production . He ended up dancing onstage, and his twinkle toes haven'tstopped yet. He also s ings, but when ' asked about this he wllLadmit after somereflection that his voic~ i s I o ud , if not good - sort of a basso Ethel Merman .Among the 'man y product ions in Sausalito there were ·t wo original musicals, one of .whi ch Di ck co c aut.hor ed .t , After that theatre went dark" many o.f ,thegroup transferredto the Terr a Linda Little".Theatre in Marin County. Now Di.ck Is talking abo ut;producing more of rhet r- shows in his own capacious home, whtch ·w111make themaccessible .t o more of us ' in the club .

Now that1t Is 'a bo ut to become the Eltinge Theatre 'We s t , perh~ps we should ' s ay afew words ' a bo ut 't he fabulous' Grove Street mansion . It was bUilt in 1886 by abourbonch:stiller :,Patit Bruhn " It was ac.quired in the '90's by the~,al1agher

. one of whom ~erved as Acting Mayo!' during the infamous RuefiSchtili'ti scandal .bought . \ n ;.t 9 52 by the Antioch Baptist Church, whose mint sterintended tearingthe f r'ont and comb m Irig the basement and first floor into an auditor tum, theaesthetlc stucco f~ade ·o f vhich would extend to the sidewalk and be entirelyoutlined Inneon . For some inexplicable reason the neighbors objected to thisco mmun ity i mpr ov emen t pro j ect-, and managed to prevent It • .Antioch went elseWhere,and LiZ, Heller' •. member of a W.ells . Fargo banking family and patron of Western Additionr e s t.or a t t or. • , acq ui r ed the . property . When she SUbsequently moved East, Dick boughtthe place to accommodate his burgeoning collection of V1ctoriana and automatedmusical Jn s t r umen t s . It was a happy fate for 824 Grove, although I'm a trifledIsappo inted that Dick hasn't had the flair to outline it with neon, with p~rhaps

the t n s p Lr e t t on a l messege , ;'AMP~CO SAVES". '. '

Remember . It: is at th is meeting that the mall auction w111 be conducted. Let's hopet t ::omes otf , aucces sful Ly , The instructions were to mail the bids to the Secretary,marked "AMICA AUCTION" . They have been arriving almost anywhere else, t.Ilmarked.In c Ldenr.a Lt y , tfAss~ciates' Representatives" are needed. If you are willing tovo l un t e er 'f or t h l s duty, 'r emember to mark your bid lists before the meeting, asRepr e sen tat rves cannot bid from ' the floor ' in their own behalf. It's a goodldea tomark ' vour lists anyway, " to remind you of your determined limit ; ;' AI~o, every 'winningbidder, Whether 'absentee orpres~ntee (PRESENTEE?), must file his bid list wi 'th theEditor' so the r o l t sccsrr be' dispersed after they arrive . '

CHURCH COMMITS SACRILEGE

Some of cur members hflV~ . been upset by the news that the Sar.~ltoga fede'rated Church- has a~ed a ' fine 7' Steinway DuocArtand stripped 1t of its reproducing mechaniSm.

Apparently the 'minister had been advised 'o f the complete instrUment's value, and anoffet: was ' eV,en made to eXchang.e . ~ t for a comparabte non~reprodlJCer, b'ut , he fel,t Itwas important ~he chUrch kept THAT p'ian'o, and WITHOUT the ' mechln ism . (w~lch they ~ldallow someone 'to salvage, however) • . It is thought the church might b~ induced ,t orelinqUish the instrument for the right price - whatever that h '.Asked how " .AoM.I pC .k, should beat Bve up to Article 11, Sectiona 4 6c 5 of iti bylaws, . 'o urPreSident . facetiously suggested we might picket the' eh\,lrch ~ As-our locals are not

- , known for even non ...vlo1ent action, perhapl .'we can only aspire to boycott,Chr·\stlanity.-..........-:- .. .

.:l .

3

HOST WITH THE MOST (PIANOS ON HAND) ENTERTAINS IN BURLINGAME

The May meeting was hosted on the 23rd by Larry Mangus in the shop he shares withBill Roese in Burlingame o We wish to thank them both for making these premisesavailable to A.M.I.C oA . It's seldom we get the opportunity to hear such a varietyof instruments in peak working order. As testimony to Larry's competence inrestoration, I remained in the front part of the shop during two performances ofwhat I assumed to be his 1933 Chickering Ampico 'B', only to discover later thatit had been the live performance of guest artist Laura Nicolaisen on the 9' concertgrand Steinert~ I regret to report that I have been in other rooms while anill=maintained reproducer was rambling on in uninspired and inhuman fashion, andimmediately became aware when talented fingers took over . I think both Larry andhis guest pianist deserve credit for the fact that I could not distinguish betweenthe live and recorded performances . The 1927 upright Steinway Duo~Art and the 1928Chickering Ampico 'A' also performed impeccablyo I was interested to learn that thelatter's stunning 'Chinoise' art case was not produced by the Chickering factory,but was a very expensive custom decorating job commissioned by the previous ownerfor the piano's original standard case.

Although the 'B' is not equipped with the rare 'Ampichron', it is Larry's mostfervent desire to eventually own one, and toward that end he has acquired one of itsrolls ~ a re=cut o For those unfamiliar with this device, as Tempus was fugiting andthe reproducer companies fidgeting, the Ampichron was one of their final, ratherpathetically ironic attempts to make time stand still for the industry. It was aclock bull t into the Ampico drawer, which, once set and its roll IDOmted in thespoolbox, came on automatically at 7,00 AoM. to playa section of the roll thatfeatured a short musical composition, struck the hour, and then turned off oThroughout the day until 11,00 PoM. other programmed portions of the roll playedarpeggios and other selections, and struck the hour o High noon yields the fullWestminster Chimes treatment. Larry took us through 1,00 o'clock on the roll, butsays it's especially effective with the Ampichron, when .your unsuspecting guests aresuddenly startled out of their wits by a plano which, unbidden, announces the passinghour in the middle of a conversation u It should be an effective way of letting yourshaken guests know it~s time they pUlled themselves together and went home .

During the business meeting it was agreed that Rudolph Friml and Edgar Fairchild ­both of whom have been A.M.l oC oA's guest speakers = should be appointed HonoraryMembers, with their approval. It was also agreed that others who have contributedto the valuable legacy of recorded virtuosity should also be consulted about HonoraryMembership as they're located o Apparently Adam Carroll was thus designated at onetime, but through the 'changing of the guard' and inadequate documentation, this factwas misplacedo Anyone knOWing the wherabouts of any of the reproducer recordingartists are encouraged to approach them on this subject with A.M .I , C,A' s blessing,and to cODnnmicate to the editors the names and addresses of those who accept.Honorary Membership involves no dues, nor any responsibilities beyond those therecipient wishes to extend, and entitles the holders to receive the AMICA Bulletin.Well, that may strike you as a dubious honor, but the maIn point is we're expressingadmiration and gratitude in our inadeqUate way for the wealth of music they'veerlabled us to preserve and enjoy. '

Also brought out at the meeting was the fact that Tod Carnes has copies of a list ofparts available for aUing reproducers, and that Mission Music has a supply of theQRS re-cuts of the rare 1936 roll "San Francisco". This reminds me of the story ofa Jeanette MacDonald fan who wrote to the retired film diva in the ' 50 ' s to ask ifthere was a chance that her recording of that song migh~ be reissued. MlssMacDonald graciously responded, "I sincerely hope not" 0 If Jeanette's vocal ventureinto music hall 'bel tins' was not entirely/successful, Max Kortlander' s keyboardversion was, although the market of the ~me did not enable many copies to beissued o Now's your chance, earthquake tans.

HOST WITH MOST (Cont'd) 4

Members attending were Bob & Ginny Billings, Gar Britten, Tod & Bernice Carnes,Bob & Roberta Cherney, Jim Elfers, Ed Hayden, Doug Hickling, Roger Johnson,Bill Knorp, Jim & Darlene Kohnke, Mel Luchetti, Bill Reed, Dick Reutlinger, andAlf & Marjorie Werolin. Roberta pointed out another example of shoddy reportingwhen, in the last issue, your editors named David Cherney as an attendee of theApril meeting, when in fact, it had been Daniel Cherney. Our apologies to theshuffled Cherney boyso

Guests at the May meeting were Jerry Stevenson and Dave & Lorraine Kohnke.Entering as guests but leaving as bonafide Active Members were Bob & BarbaraWhiteley, who have just recently regained possession of a magnificent ItalianRenaissance 1927 Chickering Ampico 'A' that had been in Barbara's family foryears c The Whiteleys were introduced to A.M.I.C.A . by the Billings.

- ....... -NEW MDmmS

To your copy of the Active Membership List you may add the names of the Whiteleys(see above), with the address 175 Reservoir Road, San Rafael, Calif., 94901, andtelephone (415) 454~7086.

You may also add Jack & Ruth Malman, 1833 Sebastian Drive, Burlingame, Calif.,94010, telephone (415) 697-7092. The last I heard, they were shopping for a Duo-Art.

Dick Reutlinger referred us to Nicholas Jarrett, who has a Stelnway Duo-Art and hassigned up as an Active Member . His address is 3622 Twenty-first Street, San Francisco,Calif ., 94114, and his telephone is (4l5) VA6~8296c

.With a great deal of pleasure we welcome these new members.

RECORDO AND AMPlCO MEET DUO",ART (COEXISTENCE IS POSSIBLEt)

Didn G t I teU you the Bl111ngs were shoWing aU the symptoJIIS of a chronic ca.e ofthe acquisitives? Didn't I tell you? Now they have added a 1917 Weber Duo-Artgrand, measuring 6 feet. The motor and pump are in a separate cabinet, which theBillings have assigned to bunk in the garage with the Volkswagen (Which is probablya Welte~Mi~ stLck~shlft model). With the piano they acquired 54 Duo~Art rolls,including Cortot, Hofmann & Paderewski performances and pops of '26",'27 vintage pand an inlaid roll cabinet. Considering the bargain price, it is natural that thepiano and mechanism need work, but the action is extremely even and the mechanismwl1l stUl play standard rolls. What time Bob doean't spend working on it la spen.tknocking out walls and rearranging furn! ture to accommodate the Recordo baby grand,the Ampico upright and the DuouArt grand. Fortunately, the apace problem is not yet80 serious that the Billings have had to evict their amall .son, their large dog, ortheir stuffed gooney bird, but I envision all three huddling in a corner as themechanical monsters are rolled in. Their only salvation is that Bob doesn't comeacross .a reproducing pipe organ ("Alright u you, you and you. oun").Bob says there is a collector in Wisconsin who has been compiling a list of Recordoperformance., which number aro\.l1d 1800. He also reports that anyone actingfaat canacquire a 5' Brambach Auto DeLuxe (alias Recordo) for a good price (asking $650).Contact either the BUUngs or your editor. for the San Francisco owner·~ s na. andaddr.... Like the Artrlo grand., the Auto»eLuxe us.s rods rather than folding tube.to triggu .the Iteysp md everythlng but the PLIDp and motor h .ln the drawer, but ttl~

expr.ssion .yst.m 1. R.cordoQI, with spl~t hammer rail and five intensities . TheInstrument do.s play, but has leaks. '

.. ,. ,. .. -

5

THE BULLETIN'S PROS AND CONS

Feb. 161 "Congratulations on your consistently flne newsletters ..... the last wasespecially entertaining. You've rocketed from the glance-at..and-throw-out classof man to the read-carefully-and-throw-out-wi th-a-smile categoryl"

.. Nancy Feinstein

(Hopefully we'll eventually achieve enjoy.&.keep status•• Ed.>

Feb. 161 "I like your style! We very much enjoyed your February AMICA Bulletinand especially your editorial."

.. Alf Werolin

Feb. 17. "My congratulations on the Feb. AMICA Bulletin. With writing like that ..who needs outside contributions? Of course I'm a nut for satire so enjoyed all thewell-aimed barbs. Especially enjoyed your 'Editorial', Jim .. we fly on the s~me

waveolength.".. Roberta Cherney

Apr . 109 "The Bulletin is fabUlous."- Barden & Clark, Inc.

Apr 0 221 "The prospect is intriguing; the Bulletin entertaining.".. Houston L. Maples

Ap~ . 241 "Just received the Bulletin - wonderful.".. Charles Carnes

May 11 "Enjoyed the copy of your bulletin and look forward to your futureactivitie~."

- Stan Whitehurst

May 21 "I really enjoy your news letters."- Alan Pier

May 61 "First of all, I wish to congratulate you for the excellent monthly bulletinregarding AMICA. This is most interesting and is something that the members need."

- O. Fred Rydeen

May 201 "Got the bulletin today and thoroughly enjoyed the letter from Hender.sonand your comment s ; "

- William Coverdale

May 221 "CongratUlations on producing an excellent issue of the AMICA Bulletin.The last issue was outstanding and is very excellent reading . I hope that overthe years your pUblication achieves a wide circulation as quite a bit of theinformation you publish has not appeared elsewhere."

.. Hathaway & Bowers, Inc.

As much as these kind words turn one's head, a truly fair reporter should giveequal space to the opposing viewpoint. Unfortunately, this is not often communicatedto me directly. As I understand what I hear thro.ugh the sour grapevine, the complaintsare that the Bulletin is 'controversial' and injects dissension into a previouslypristine scene in which was never heard a discouraging word.

I offer no apology for the alleged. 'controversy', if this refers to my admissionsthat not ill reproducers are properly adjusted or maintained, and that not allrecordings were coded with wh.... t the hi-fi buffs consider absolute fidel1.ty to theindividual recorded performance, although I think they were. faithful zo each pianist's~ capabilities when his calibre warranted. this without compromising the listener'ssensibilities . I don't feel that ourcauae .is wellservad .by. the ostrich-he.ad.. in­the-sand . philosophy of expo\lUling obvious lkltruths to preserve an lndefans.i.ble .auraof omniperfection around reproducers. Their virtues are considerable enough tostand on their own. merits, and their fidelity is .true enough to withstand anysensible scrutiny. Any departure from th~ purists' interpretation of 'authenticity'is easily justified on the basis of serving good musicianship, in that accomplished

PROS AND CONS (Cont'd) 6

-. .' ~ .

artists' temporary lapses of technique were corrected (as they themselves wouldcorrect them in subsequent performances), and the inadequacies of lesser pianistswere sometimes mercifully (although never completely) tempered 0 These editingprivileges were considerably less than those still granted to authors, whosereputations ~ with those of their publishers and fans = are n2! dimmed by the factthey have the chance to correct and improve their original manuscript beforepublication. If any failing exists it is in the electronic recording industry,which preserves for all time the failings of a particular performance, and attemptsto reproduce wi th artificially=DlOdified frequency response curves and paper speakerssounds that were intended to be produced by felt, metal strings and carefully=designed sounding boards . If apologies are in order, let the record companiesapologize for peddling transcriptions which still sound like a miniature recitalhall trapped inside a conch shell .

As to the dissension, it is only an honest, above~board modification of the sort ofthing that thrived furtively in the club before . Traditionalists who relish that

. more piquant form of dissension (Which I prefer to call petty back-biting) mayrest secure in the knOWledge that it is being kept alive today by a very dedicatedminority of the Actively Apathetic, who spread their seeds of old=style discord viatelephone and personal vists. This, at least, recommends their approach 3 theirshaky opinions do not go on record where a significant number of people have a chanceto refute them. What they spread may not be Truth, but it is at least fiction thatis immune to accountability . My own strongly=expressed opinions may not be anycloser to Truth . but they~ subject to scrutiny, and have yet to be effectivelyrefuted o Traditionalists may also comfort themselves with the knOWledge that aftermy term of office has elapsed, the Bulletin may very well revert to announcing thenext meeting, saying a few non =controversial words about the last meeting, andno more o

The Active Members may recall that in the January Bulletin I asked for contributionsfor pUblication . Until the Associates joined and started sharing their knOWledgewith us ~ nothing was forthcoming = even when specific 'experts' were directlysolicited. One would think that those who are unwilling to contribute would havethe grace to endure in silence what I must scrape together to fill the void .

~ Jim Elfers

OUR MAN IN OHIO REPORTS

For awhile there, I was the only collector in captivity to have a reproducer with atransposing device~ but now Bill Coverdale of Waynesville, Ohio, has acquired histhird Duo=Art, which is an art case Weber (c . 1924) with transposing device. If I~ to be one~upped, I em just as glad it was by a fellow AMICAble type o Meanwhile,Bill will have to dispose of his Haines Bros . baby grand Ampico to make room . Thiswill leave the ratio at 4 Ampicos to 3 Duo~Arts.

Bill reports the new Duo=Art has both action shift (una corda) and hammer rail lift,although he doesn't indicate which is functional at what time a His other Weber alsohad both, and both had been tubed f.or automatic use, but were disconnected " LarryGivens recommended that the 11ft be tubed to operate from the roll and the shifttubed to the SOFt setting of the dynamic lever, so at this setting you get overalldiminished volume and still achieve more softness when the roll activates the 1itt.On my own piano, both f\l'lctions are tubed to the 11ft, which renders the rolls'soft pedal Goding ineffective when the .SOFt dynamic setting is used 0 I understandlater Duo~Arts. use the action shift exclusively, and I've also heard that theconsiderable pre.asure required to operate it frequently produces a rather· distr6 ::; dr,ggroan . I personally disapprove of the action shift for !nY kind of use, as itproduces a generally thinner tone and c~uaes ua.even wear on the hammers whiledlminl shtn, the treble and mid ..range nOtes by .only 1./3, ,JllQs t o.f ... the...baa. by 1/2,and the remainder not at allo I think it's asking too much of any pianist tor emembez just whet 'e these divisions 11e, and to adjust his touch accordingly as his

OUR HAN IN OHIO (Cont'd) 7

fingers slither across the keyboard. Obviously none do, and it makes one wonderabout the 'absolute fidelity' to the artist's touch some people demand ofreproducers, when the una corda pedal used in most live performances is itselfproducing tones untrue to the fingers' intentions .

When I wrote to 8ill of a problem I was .having with different pressure in bass andtreble, he responded with the following words of wisdoms "The Ampico 8 concept ofhaving the stacks bass & treble bled at all times through 2 different bleed systemsand then cutting one off (8 la Duo~Art crash box) when the . #6 intensities come onis really better since an excess of suction is produced by the pump at all timesand knocked down in the stack itself to the stack requirements. It is very easy totest all this by drilling an \l\dersize hole in the main supply tubes and forcing. a1/8 nipple into the hose permanently. You can use this for a vacuum test ,o.utletand seat it with A -piece of masking tape when you are through testing. You thusset up test points similar to the test block on the Ampico 8 and they are permanentlyavailable for adjusting ." - .. ,. ... -

OUR MAN IN AUSTRALIA REPORTS

We received a letter from Chet Carr in Australia, reporting some. exciting prospects.He plans to be at the JUDe meeting to discuss them with us, and to show some pictures,inclUding some views of the "Model C Duo-Amp t co" mentioned in his last letter. Forthe other prospects, I'll quote from Chet's letter:

"There is local interest in becoming the first branch activity affiliated wi th AMICA,and they are even mentioning calling it AMICA but the last A of course being Australia."

"While I don't think we should be overoptimistic, I do believe it is possible . to worksomething out with Mastertoucho It really comes down to economics. If we canguarantee him enough sales to make it worth his time, he will cooperate. At one timehe had planned on making some reproducer rolls, but the other party who was supposedto be involved left to do other things, and the project was dropped.

"Mastertouch has a complete operation. They can make recordings directly onto aroll from someone at the keyboard. They have a number of Acme machines, and can runproduction quantitieso He has rights to the old QRS rolls in Australia, and has beenissuing older. stuff as well asup~to~da,te materiaL Thej/recogni ze the problems inmaking rolls that sound good, and know just how much 'editing' and 'assists' thereare in most of the popular rolls that were issued, even under reproducing Labe Ls ; "

"One of the ideas involves AMICA . If it is possible to make good masters ofreproducing rolls, AMICA might logically become the marketing outlet . This wouldcut out some of the middle-man profit, and assure collectors of well~made rolls atreasonable prices. If AMICA could also distribute 88~note rolls, the same thingmight be arranged for the Mastertouch catalog.

"Would you give some thought to the possibility of getting AMICA involved in such ascheme, and the overhead that would be involved in mailing lists, invoicing, etc.that would be involved in trying to do a semi =commercial venture with the non~profit

'loose association' of AMICA? (It may be that it would be necessary to actuallyform a non-pro t t t corpor-at Ion s )"

I don't know how that grabs the rest of you out there in reproducerland, but I findit a very exciting prospect indeed, and close to realization of Article II, Section 6."To .en courage the .production and distribution ofcoples af or.iginal rolls forreproducing pianos, player pianos, player. and reproducing pipe organs and all ottl~'"

roll~playing instruments, and to endorse any effort; towards the resumption ofmanufacture of original rolls of these typ6so" I hope some of our AMICAb'le- .attorneys will look into the .,problems and possibilities o

8

WELCOME, EDGAR FAIRCHILD (AND THAT WHOLE CROWD)

~lJl" list of Honorary Members has suddenly gotten very heavy with the impressivedJditions of Sascha Baronoff, Corrine de Bert, Herbert Cooke, Enrico Lavarro,H ~nrl LeFevre, Harry Shipman and Milton Suskind o Perhaps it would be simpler tolist them all as Edgar Fairchild, which has been their legal name these last 40years, although they were born as Milton Suskind (a rough translation of 'Suskind'yields 'Fairchild'). Actually, Mro Fairchild shared the name 'de Bert' withJ o Milton Delcamp and Adam Carroll (and possibly others), and the name 'Shipman'with Carroll, but the others were solely his own. They were used to lend'authenticity' when recording Russian, Italian, French, etc o compositions, andto prevent the monthly bulletins from being overloaded with anyone pianist.The names Fairchild, Cooke and Shipman were used for popular music, while Missde Bert restricted her fictitious self to salon music of a certain type o As theWerolins o guests of October 14, 1966 and the readers of the January 1967 AMICABulletin (expertly written by Bill Knorp) will recall, Mro Fairchild Is remarkablyadept at performing both classical and popular musIc, and was Editor-ln··chief ofAmpico 6s Recording Department from 1917 to 1925.

I called to offer him the Honorary Membership, which seemed to please him very much.At first he thought he wasn't qualified, as he doesn't own a reproducer, nor any ofthe many fine rolls he recorded and edited for Ampico o He and his wife both regretthe absence of an Ampico in their home, but when they've ventured out to price them,have found them "a nickel short of a million dollars".

Mr. Fairchild agrees that the phenomenon of the reproducing piano must be documentedWhile me.,ry will stIll yield Information, and he was most gracious and cooperativeabout giving me a wealth of valuable ma~erial for the proposed recording, coding andreQcoding article. This project has been slow getting off the ground, but with thehelp of some Associate Members and such obliging Honoraries as Mr. Fairchild, itwill eventually emerge as a real contribution to the lore .

The Fairchilds' address is 4338 Deerpark Court, Westlake Village, Ca1if o, 91360,and the telephone number Is (213) 889~9810o

WELCOME, JULIUS CHALOFF

Too late to give many details, we have just received a letter from Julius Lo Chaloff,Ampico recording artist, which reads in parts "I shall be very happy indeed tobecome an Honorary Member of the AoM ol oCoA . and regret that I do not reside in yourpart of the cOWltry so thAt I could attend your interesting meetings o However, Ishall look forward to reading the AMICA Bull.etino" We. are ..indebted to AssociateNelson Barden for giving us Mr . Chalotf's addres.s so we co.uld do ourselves the honorof adding him to our list of prominent Honoraries o Write Chaloff in care ofThe Chaloff School of Music, 91 Newbury St ., Boston, Mass o, 02116 0

My 0 Chaloff continuess "It may be of interest to you to know that Mr. JosephTV~hinsky, President of Sony Corporation, has scheduled an entire Chaloff program ofAMPICO recordings~ including a personal interview, on eKeyboard Immortals eo Accordingto 8 phone conversationwlth Mro Tushinsky, this broadcast should take place withinthe next two or three weeks." When Tushinsky was searching for some rather rarerecordings to fill out the Chaloff program, Larry Mangus, Gordon Oaser and DougHickling kindly consented to lend some of their copies to the proJect (although,quite understandably, none would consider selling them), but by the time I got wordhac"- ro the treasure hi.Jllcers v other copies had been fOUhd o

Falr'chd& "s dtl.d Chaloff's joint emergence On our. Honorary List should result in ahappy reunion for these two old friends. For some time Chaloff has been askingBarden~ "Have you found eCookle' yet'l" Now that they have each other's addr-e s seathey can renew their old friendship o

9

CHARLES COOPER

A.M.I.C.A. is extremely fortunate to have as one of its Honorary Members theprominent pianist, teacher and theorist, Charles Cooper. We visited him recentlyin his chsrming studios at 450 Grant Avenue, in the heart of Chinatown. The innercourtyard and the studio in which we were greeted show the graceful patin~ of age,and provide a timeless setting for the universal creativity generated there,reflecting the cultures of the United States, Europe and the Orient. Indeed, thisimpression of universality is no coincidence, as we shortly hope to prove.

Charles Cooper was born in San Francisco, In 1882. , His mother had been fromLouisville, Kentucky, and was quite musical - both singing and playing the piano .Hls· father, a wholesale clothing businessman, was not particularly musical. Theystarted their son's piano training when he was six, and he eventually studied withsuch masters as Oscar Weil and Herman Genz, and was told by the latter that hisplaying reminded him of Anton RUbinstein. Young Cooper was the protege ofSan Francisco banker Richard Tobin (Hibernia Bank), who was an accomplished violinist.

While in Switzerland attending Harold Bauer's master class, Cooper was heard by theWall Street broker (and founder of the Flonzaley String Quartette), Edward J .de Coppet, who was so impressed by the young man's talent that he financed four yearsof tuition under Bauer in Paris. While there he was close to the painters Matisseand Picasso, and the Oakland writer Gertrude ,Stein. He began to formulate h is theorythat there is a potential universality about all the Arts which should be more fullyinvestigated and realized.

Cooper taught piano in New York City from 1914 to 1922, and made his New York debutin 1915. Since then he has toured throughout the United States. His first Ampicorecording - his own transcription of Drigo's Reconcil iation PolkEl - was made aro end1918. It was subsequently selected as one of 'The Favorite Fifty'. Mr. Cooper sayshe was engaged to do the recording by Mr. Neuer, who was ordinarily a sharp businessman,but on this occasion he released the recording before a contract had. been s igned ­placing Cooper in a rather advantageous position. Even.tually the . contract was signed,apparently without specifying the number of recordings to be made. Cooper estimateshe made about 13 for Ampico.

He also arranged and played the demonstration roll, selecting music ,and techniquesthat would best show off the capabilities of the Ampico. He says he worked WITH theeditor on all his recordings, supervising the translation of his keyboard techniqueto the roll perforations. The recording of Der Rosenkavalier Waltzes was made on .the occasion of Richard Strauss' visit to this country as guest conduczcr., Rareamong exclusive recording artists, Mr. Cooper does not stress the superiority of theAmpico, but is enthusiastic about the reproducing capabilities of all the major brands.

Mr. Cooper also appeared"in many 'Compar1.son Concerts', and was the only artist totake them on tour, with Sigmund Spaeth. He verified (as had Mr. Fairchild) ,t hat therecordings used. in these concerts were exactly the same as those sold to the public,but for the 'pro,graunning' done to remove the section .che artist was to play live,and the coding to. make the mechanism. stop, while the artist. took over. In thiscontext, an exciting prospect is in store for A.M.I.C.A. members. Another ComparisonConcert is being planned, featuring Charles Cooper and his Ampico recordings on theKnabe in Jarod Clark's Portcullis! ' This will be an historic event of no smallorder, and one which even many of our remOte AssoClateMembers will want to attend.

Mr. Cooper served as Arti~tIeacheratthePeabody Conservatory in Baltimore from1922 to 1930. One of his pupils, Marie Lohr of North Carolina, became his secondWife, the p.cesent Mrs. Cooper. During this period he was still commuting toNew York to make Ampico recordingso

CHARLES COOPER (Cont'd) 10

... New York Trib\.l1e

In 1935 Cooper studied 'conduct ing at the Mourteum in Salzburg, Austria, underFeUx Weingartner 0 As a pianllt he has appeared in numerous reel tala in San Francfs(o(with the San Francisco Symphony), throughout the Welt Coast, and in Hawaii, underNBC management. He has also appeared frequently as a lecturero

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the Coopers opened their numerous studios to servicemen,who could come at any time of the day or night to participate In a variety ofartistic activities ... composition, writing, the dance, sculpture, etc o The servicemencould frequently 'sit in' with musicians from the San Francisco Symphony, for theproject was endorsed by the Symphony, the San Francisco Opera Company, the museums,and the Civilian War Council. The Servicemen~s Art Center was in operation for fouryears, and the Coopers are still visited by grateful veterans who remember thecreative activities that helped .them through .those difficult times o At the requestof the Librarlan g a full record of the Center was' placed on file in the Library ofCongress.

As recitalist, Mr. Cooper's press reviews are impressive o Following are a fewof them8

"An artist of great individuality and temperament." ... Figaro, Paris, France

"Mr 0 Cooper is an artist of \.l1usual gifts, of great charmand poetic feeling."

~ San Francisco Examiner

"Mro Cooper is a romanticist despite a certain dominant virility •• 0

playing with abundant technique, dynamic contrasts, andbi ting accent 0" ... Washington, DoC o Herald

"Mro Cooper is a rare combination of virtues ... a musician who thinksand a musician who feels o He is the type of artist Europeans know howto recognize and val ue , His playing is fine ar t ,"

"His ability goes beyond an exceptional virtuosity ointo the meaning of great musfe ,"

He reaches deeply

~ San Francisco Chronicle

"Planistic giant 0 0 0 master of the first rank.the maturity of his interpretationso"

"Not excelled by any virtuoso of the keyboard who has played here in aIqngtime 0 0 0 sweep of conception 000 power of execution 0 00 enormousJ:"esources of tone 0 00 impeccable t echn Ique ," ... San Francisco Call ...8ulletin

Asto\l'\ds musicians wi th

~ Pacific Coast Musical Review

A man with such a full past of experience and honors would be quite entitled torest on his laurelao but at 82, Mro Cooper has no intention of slowing down L In hiswords. "If the mind is activeJ the body responds". Indeed, it would be a dlsser.vlceto Music If he should rest while .he yet has so much to contribute o Mr. Cooper stillteaches, and also has a number of other projects going, includ.1ng a book, The TonalRealization of Structural Form in Music, which hss been enthusiastically acclaimedby many prominent musicians, inclUding Pablo Casals and Enrique Jorda o

The most overwhelming of Mr 0 Cooper's current projects is the Institute of MusicResearch o Baaed at his Grant Avenue studios, it has Cooper as Chairman and AuM.I.C.A.members Alf VeroUn, Fred Rydaen, Bill Knorp and Jarod Clark on .the Board of Trustees.The Advisory Board. includes an impresa1v.e l1at of muaic educators, and Pablo Ca.als~

Darius Milhaud., Joset Krips, Gerhar.d Samuel, Artur Rubinstein, and Aaron Copeland~ .Its scope is tremendoua, and I can on1,y give a hint ot it here. to in-va.tigate' thefour departments of Music, performance, .compo.sl tion , education and .mus i col ogy,embracing the cultures of' the United States, Europe and the Orient, and therelationship of MU9fc to The vIsual arts.

CHARLES COOPER (Cont'd) 11

This latter concept is especially prominent in Cooper's approach to Music . It hasdominated his life, and, punctuates his conversation. To hear him speak of Matisseftsuse of 'rubat0 8 , and the 'color' and 'texture' of music, at once 'blows the mind'and at the same time gives an idea of the tremendous goal. he has in mind . The useof musical terms applied , t o painting, , s c ul pt ure , and architecture, and their termsused in music somehow clarifies their in,terrelatlonship, while by no meansconcluding the possibilities of their corelation. One of IMR's functions is toinvestigate these possibilities and help bring them to fruition.

IMR also recognizaa the usefulness of Science in bringing about a greaterrealization of the artistic potenti,al. Toward this end Mr. Cooper has writtena tre'atise entitled The Law of Rhythm. While my non-cexl s t en t; musical educationdoes not give me the basis for fully understanding the text, I can see that itattempts to analyze and explain to the , student Cooper's canten.tlon that rubato ~

that elusive element essential to music which has been historically felt or achievedby the very few ~ can be more qulckly mastered by a ser.ies of 'formulae.' • ." Thesedeductions illustrate that meter and rhythm are NOT the same, that "Musi,c speaksthrough rhythm, and cannot be imprisoned in time". An indication of the formUlae iSI"Practice even time ,pa t t er n s in odd, time, .and, odd .t i me in even time, for rhythmresults from the fusion of odd and even" . The text specifies that this is not tobe confused with 'compound meter', or 'polyrhythm' (Which Cooper prefers to call~ con trametr i c ' ) .

Anyone who might suppose that Mr 0 Cooper's ,tr,a l n i n g and experience in classicalmusic would lead him and .h i s colleagues into founding an institution bent on thepreservation of 'tradition' would be surprised to learn that IMR .is dedIcated tothe investigation of ALL kinds of music, including atonality, the experiments inelectronic music g and a possible expansion of the 200~year-old tonal system into'microtonal' divisions of the octave.

It is with a great deal of pride that we number Mr . & Mrs . Charles Cooper among us,and we look forward to his Comparison Concert with considerable anticipation.