Hello MMD readers,  Back when Danilo Konvalinka and I had a subsidiary
'music box' store in Dallas TX (at the European Crossroads), a friend
(forcibly) took me to the Highland Park Cinema, where this cult musical
movie was running -- and probably still is, even today!  Upon the first
viewing, in those early Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) days, I sensed
that a Pianola could handle the music, since it was, in my opinion,
"Mae West crossed with Gilbert & Sullivan", if one analyzed the melodies.

I started perforating in Maine during 1977 and had the seven-roll set
completed in 1979, which is when the long-playing vinyl LP album came
out.  Since the political tides were changing, I chose to issue it
under "LDH Records" instead of our "Musical Wonder House Recordings"
label, used in those days for LPs and audio cassettes.  (All the audio
cassettes at that time were made at our museum, where I duplicated
multiple copies from 15 ips open reel tapes, in 'real time' speed,
for the maximum fidelity.)

The rolls were performed on select guided tours, and especially at
our evening concerts at the museum, even as the multi-roll set was
in progress.  I worked from several LPs, including the soundtrack one,
the stage show score, and a host of candid tape recordings made at the
Highland Park theatre, in order to get the audience's reactions, which
gradually became part of the whole movie experience.  Also, I had a
bootleg VHS copy of the British version of this movie, featuring some
different music (such as "Superheroes") and an alternative finale.

The rolls combined the songs from the stage show and the filmed
versions of Richard O'Brien's bizarre collage of old horror movies,
wrapped in a topsy-turvy production combining the talents of many
people, including Tim Curry in the lead, of course.

I had visions of making a Word Roll set, called "Horrorgraphic"
(a parody of Aeolian's old "Audiographic" series in 88-Note and
Duo-Art editions), using the Play-Rite word belt stencils plus a
series of rubber stamps for illustrations, such as I put on many
Artcraft releases, today, such as the "Moxie One-Step" arrangements
or Jack Rummel's "Portrait of a Silver Lady".  However, when leaving
the museum in 1986 and making my roll business a 'full-time' activity,
these projected rolls never came to be published.  Moreover, the
Reagan-Bush era was not the time to launch something like 'Rocky
Horror' in the Pianola field, for the "joke was over", in my opinion,
due to the political backlash which followed.

Meanwhile, my seven multi-tune RHPS rolls had a life of their own,
and continued to be played on occasion at concerts, often for a seated
audience used to classical music.  Most recently, the rolls gained
thundering applause at my 9th (of 10) Pianola concert in Searsport
Shores, Maine.  Use SEARCH for "Rocky Horror" at this URL,
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/issue10.htm for the 8-25-2001
performance, and you'll see a write-up on "THE FLOOR SHOW" roll,
featuring "Rose Tint My World"; "Don't Dream It, Be It" And "I'm
A Wild And Untamed Thing".

These were arranged for my own use at The Musical Wonder House,
originally, so they "pushed" the Player-Piano actions to the limit,
especially with large chord versions of "The Time Warp" and rubato
phrasing from the film soundtrack, as in "I'm Going Home".  For the
general public, I would have had to remaster some of the arrangements
for use on players that were not up to the standards of the Steinway(s)
in the museum and which are now around the corner in my roll studio.

People have told me that the used LPs, in mint condition (and with the
4-page Listener's Guide, inside), have sold for 250 dollars upwards,
and I believe them, since my foreign cast albums brought good prices
just ten years ago when I was clearing out some needed space.  The last
of these to be sold, a decade ago, was "El Show de Terror de Rocky",
the Mexican cast album.

Most modern RHPS fans miss the secondary and tertiary in-jokes, which
attracted university people and movie fans in my age group, for the
most part.  (Remember, I'm from the same era as the composer, who
played Riff-Raff in the film and original stage shows!)  There were
references in the score to the Army's infiltration into the college
arena as well as musical jokes, inherent in the score.  For example,
"Down At The Frankentstein Place" has a "flow, morphia, flow" line
(in the treble) which is an adaptation of "Asleep In The Deep"
(featuring a bass solo line).

RHPS was more than just outrageous costumes back in the 'seventies,
and for those who sensed the origin of the lyrics and melodic parodies
the opus was addictive for many people, including myself, in those
post-Vietnam War days.  In order to approach the musical, one had
to expect the 'reverse' of everything, just as in many Gilbert and
Sullivan operettas: bad was good, good was bad, perversion was normal,
and so on.  As I said, this was reinforced many times in the
instrumental melodic line, for those who picked up the musical
innuendoes!

It's not surprising to me that RHPS is gaining in popularity in some
spheres today.  We currently have a "war" which is really an "invasion"
(if you stick to the actual terminology), and many government programs
called "tax relief" are really "welfare" for corporate businesses.
Yes, the upside down world of Dr. Frank N. Furteer is here again, but
in another form, for a different era.

As with many 'happenings' and political movements, the original spirit
of RHPS can't be captured today with theatrical viewings, in my
opinion.  The same grass roots euphoria surrounding the Harry Potter
books (and first movie) will be locked in our own time as well, I
should imagine.

Anyway, a lot of thought and time went into this unusual player piano
version of the cult musical.  It was not a "direct transcription", as
one reviewer (with low musical knowledge, I suspect) said when panning
the album.  I cut it for the Pianola, and it was what the vice
president of ABC Television wrote at the time, "Something which turned
that instrument into a 'super-piano,'" due to the scope of the chords
and the wide range of dynamics.

No hammer rail lifts were used during the entire recording sessions,
for our 1912 pedal O Steinway doesn't have that feature -- just the
graduated action chokes for bass and treble.  Classical radio stations
often play this album on Hallowe'en, when they've exhausted the
possibilities of "Danse Macabre" and "A Night On Bald Mountain",
so my out-of-print LP is definitely in good company, these days.

Unknown to most people, there was a second copy of these 7 medley
rolls, created for museum performances and the vinyl album.  One half
of the music resides in Mass. and the second side of the album is in
Ontario, today.  These were gifts to friends, shortly after the LP was
released.

Hope the above sheds some light in this strange Leabarjan perforating
project and/or recorded performance, dating from over two decades ago.

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/

P.S.:  I just checked the eBay announcement of the CD.  It turns out
to be a "bootleg" Compact Disc, for Danilo and I (at The Musical Wonder
House) never issued anything but LPs, custom-duplicated by Recorded
Publications Laboratory in Camden, NJ, (now out of business) and audio
Cr02 cassettes which I made in quantities at the museum.  The RHPS
recordings were advertised and published in the late 1970s through the
mid 1980s.

We never franchised a CD of this music recording.  Being 'registered'
with eBay, and having an illustrated URL there,
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/artcraft@wiscasset.net
I wrote eBay today asking for a clarification of their "bootleg"
recordings policies.  When writing the MMD posting above earlier today
I was under the impression that this was my old LP (now selling for
hundreds of dollars, in many cases, used) and not a CD rip-off, which
was never authorized.

Regards, Douglas Henderson

 [ At http://www.rockymusic.org/vinyl/steinway-pianola.html is a hint
 [ that the CD was made for an eager customer because the vinyl LPs
 [ are no longer available.  This appears to be the same rip-off as
 [ recutting a music roll because no more original copies can be
 [ located.  -- Robbie