The name of the unknown ragtime tune heard on the Ruth style 38
fairground organ in Holland has been discovered.  The song is

 "Ragtime Jim"
 (A Jumpy Rag)
 composed by A. Fred Phillips,
 (C) 1912 Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York & Detroit

The identification was by ragtimer Tom Brier, a resident of Merced
in the central California valley.  This young man is a talented
performer and composer of ragtime piano music.  His collection of sheet
music is not large, but he performs almost all the ragtime music in his
collection.  I think that's the reason why he immediately recognized
the melody when I sang it, and why he could correlate the melody and
the title.  Tom graciously gave me a photocopy of the sheet music.

After I learned the title I asked several music collectors if they
knew of other ragtime songs composed by A. Fred Phillips.  They all
said "No."  Some said that a piano roll of the song exists.

MMDer Matthew Caulfield searched for the composer's name at the web site
of the Lester S. Levy sheet music collection and found at least three
other songs composed by A. Fred Phillips, all with slightly later
copyright dates, and each published by a different music publishing
firm.  Visit http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/advancedsearch.html

Ragtime historian Nan Bostick suggested that "Ragtime Jim" might be
a "vanity publication."  She noted that many book publishers offer
services to an author who wants to publish his own book.  Of course,
the author pays all the expenses.  Nan says that in 1910 the Jerome H.
Remick company in New York published a booklet, called "Song Writers'
Guide", which told how would-be composers could have their works
published.

In a recent article she describes a talented musician who was employed
at Remick as a staff arranger beginning in 1913, and who likely
assisted composers with their compositions.  Read Nan's article about
musician Harry P. Guy and ragtime in Detroit in the thick occasional
journal, "The Rag-Time Ephemeralist", Vol. 1 No. 2 (1999), published.
by Acme Novelty Library, Chicago IL, URL: http://myweb.wwa.com/~weese/

Stephen Kent Goodman writes about Remick:

 "Jerome H. Remick was also a leading publisher in band music
  arrangements.  It would be a natural that an automatic book or
  roll arranger, looking for material that would sound good on a
  band organ, street organ or whatever would seek any of the latest
  American Band Arrangements."

Nan Bostick agrees:

 "I can tell you that Remick had excellent European distributors.  In
  the case of many of Charles N. Daniel's tunes, European sales often
  topped U.S. sales initially, thus helping to establish the song as
  a "hit" in this country.  Thus, it doesn't surprise me to hear that
  "Ragtime Jim" ended up in Europe on a Ruth music book."

The musical arrangement of "Ragtime Jim" for the big Ruth fairground
organ is very well executed; it's a pity the noteur's name is not known.
The new CD which includes the song is "Kermisorgel 38er A. Ruth & Sohn"
(cd Clar. 53370), and it is available from the KDV store: visit
http://www.travel.to/kdv.nl   Track 14 includes "Ragtime Jim".

Read the description of the beautiful big Ruth Style 38 organ, and
download an audio file of the organ playing "Ragtime Jim", in the
article by Hans van Oost at
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Sounds/unkRuthRag.html

Thanks to all who helped search for and research "Ragtime Jim".

Robbie Rhodes
Etiwanda, CA