Sorry to stir up such a flurry of excitement when only trying to expose
an interest on how far back mechanical music was recorded for play on
the home phonograph.

I have been collecting music since the age of ten.  Long before I
ever got advanced to player pianos and music boxes, I gathered many
thousands of recordings on Edison cylinders, Edison Diamond Discs and
plain 78-rpm recordings of every ilk.

I have noticed on more than one occasion in the past, song titles that
were the same for totally different music!

I have looked in Obenchain's Ampico list and found the Shadow Waltz
listed as AMP 214541 (9/33), also 100835 (2) (9/33) and 100915(4) (5/34).
These dates all confirm the findings of those who responded.

I played these selections from my library and none, I repeat, _none_ of
them even slightly resemble the "Shadow Waltz" Columbia recording from
a mechanical organ that I originally wrote about.

I put this to all who have taken me to task on this topic:

Our editor Robbie tacked a comment onto Joyce Brite's letter:

 [ "Puppchen" One-Step, by Jean Gilbert, appears on Welte 3571,
 [ recorded in 1914 ...

This to me shows that "Puppchen" was in the correct date area: 1914 plus
or minus a year.

It stands to reason that the flip side of the disc would also be from
the same era, and would make no common sense that Columbia would hold
the release of "Puppchen" from 1914 to 1933!

I also must stress that by at least 1920 most, if not all recordings
were being made with the electric process.  There were absolutely _no_
acoustical recordings being made in 1933!

This _is_ definitely an acoustical recording.  I regret that I can't
put this sound on the Internet.  I do not have the skills or equipment
necessary, but I can play the recording on an acoustical phonograph and
make a tape cassette recording if any one really wants a copy.  The
surface of Columbia records was never really good that far back.

Because of the surface, original acoustical quality and the general
condition of this recording now over eighty years of age, playing it
back with an electric system is hopeless unless a laboratory quality
sound system were available.

My request is for MMD'ers to rummage through their music collections
and find the Shadow Waltz in some form, such as a music box disc, a
cob, card strip of paper roll for a table top organ, or one of the
early paper roll formats for a player piano or reed organ, in 58- or
65-note format from the 1915 era.  It is sure to be there somewhere
and I guarantee there is no connection to the 1933 version.

It is very unfortunate that on the early recordings, the composer was
not given a credit, but then the organ that the recording was made from
was also not given a credit!

Regards

Ken Vinen
Stratford, Canada

 [ There's a great possibility that the title on the disc isn't correct.
 [ Imaginative publishers and record producers often invent new titles
 [ to circumvent copyright claims.  That's why I hope that the good ears
 [ of the music collectors can help somehow, and I also wager that it's
 [ a fine tune of the era in its native land! :)   -- Robbie