It was indeed a pleasure meeting with Lee Roan this past Saturday at
his home in Temple City CA.  Lee had graciously consented to turn some
of my ragtime A-rolls into MIDI files.

Well, it seems things were going fine, when I suggested we break out a
"mystery" original A-roll out of my trunk which I had picked-up a year
ago with a batch of other original rolls.  As I hadn't played it yet
due to the fact that my piano has been apart for three years, we didn't
know what to expect.  It had no leader, and, as we later discovered,
it had no roll stamp at the end of the roll, or any stamps whatsoever.

We had expected to be rewarded with a Mexican roll, or a March roll,
which is usually the case.  Once I played an "unknown" roll and was
surprised to be hearing a rare rag roll (which Dave Ramey is currently
recutting for all you rag fans out there), and once I even discovered
a rare blues roll this way!

What we proceeded to unveil was a very nice A-roll consisting of nice
fox trots from the "G-671" era; I say this because tune #4 on the roll
is "Why Did I kiss That Girl?", which also happens to be tune #6 on
G-671 "Ballroom Favorites", a very nice era for Clark/Automatic rolls.

I have also identified tune #10 in this mystery roll as the Jolson hit
"Never Again".  Lee has made positive identification of tune #2 as
"Don't Mind the Rain".

Tune #1 has a spooky opening to a tune I've never heard, but it sounds
like something J. Russell Robinson would have played for QRS.  #3 is
some sort of "Midnight Waltz" with the clock chimes theme while #5
sounds like the stylings of Pete Wendling to me.  #6 has a "Blue Danube
Blues" feel to the intro and then changes direction.  I'd swear tune
#7 is "Lovey Dove", but it is unmistakably Victor Arden or Arden and
Ohman.  #8 is a waltz while #9 is a blues with Wendling overtones.

So, all of you roll experts, let's have some fun playing "Name that
Tune, Artist and Roll Manufacturer"!  I know that, with all that
collective brain power out there in cyberspace, this poor unknown
A-roll will have a moniker before the week's up!

A quick question:  I know that Clark did the arranging for Automatic,
but did they use a different stencil 'typeface' for the tune numbers
for each brand (solid vs. open numbers)?  Since there are no typical
Clark stampings anywhere on this roll, it leads me to believe it's an
Automatic.

Thanks for your help!

Mark Forer

 [ A new web page with the MIDI files is at
 [    http://mmd.foxtail.com/Sounds/
 [ You can hear the songs with a web browser and sound card, or you
 [ can download the files with the web browser using right-click or
 [ shift-left-click.  The MIDI file sizes are from 17 kb to 35 kb.
 [ I wonder if these songs came from QRS or Imperial 88-note rolls?
 [ -- Robbie