In response to Bob Perry's question about the Percy Wenrich rolls,
to my knowledge there were two of them recorded in 1919 for Imperial
in Chicago, both being duets with Charley Straight:

  Imperial No. 9792  "How Are You Goin' To Wet Your Whistle?"
  Imperial No. 9782  "By The Camp Fire"

The first tune is a one-step and the second a fox-trot.  Both are
Wenrich compositions.

Unfortunately, the Wenrich rolls certainly wouldn't stand out in the
crowd.  Neither roll is particularly distinguished in any way; i.e.,
there are no characteristics in the playing that would differentiate
these rolls from any of the many dozens of other four-hand rolls which
Imperial issued.  Typical duet couplings were Charley Straight/Roy
Bargy, Straight/ Burt Franklin, and Straight/W.H. (William Hartman,
an Imperial staff arranger).

The Imperial duet arrangements typically tended towards a generic sound
with a heavy marimba melody line, probably intended for "sing-along"
rather than to convey the feeling of a live, pianistically stylized
performance.  There are examples where an instrumental interlude
section is included, but these are far and few between.

It's impossible to know at this point whether Wenrich had anything to
do with the playing or arranging of these rolls.  Personally I think
it is more likely that Imperial made an agreement with Wenrich for
permission to use his name on their rolls of these two numbers.  Both
of the tunes were very popular and Wenrich was certainly a prolific and
well-known songwriter, so his name as artist on the label might have
been considered a selling point.

In any event, as Bob points out these rolls certainly are of historic
value considering Wenrich's stature as a songwriter, but musically they
are more curiosities rather than examples of how the man might have
played the piano.  To my knowledge, Wenrich never recorded either piano
or vocals on cylinders or disks.

All best,
Frank Himpsl - Valley Forge Music Roll Co.
http://www.valleyforgemusicroll.com/