Here is the email I sent Peter Phillips in Australia after I read his
request for a Rybner photo.  In my email, I mention the giant Ampico
poster; do any readers of MMD have any information about this poster?
The next email will have Peter's answer to me.

Randolph Herr

 - - -

Dear Peter: I want to tell you story about one of the most amazing
coincidences I have ever experienced.  Two of my very favorite piano
roll artists are Dr. Cornelius Rybner and Herbert Clair, who played
popular music.  I could never find any photos of them until one day
about 5 years ago when I visited my friend who is an Ampico fan.

It seems that back in the 1970's or 80's another fan reprinted a giant
advertisement that was probably meant to hang in Ampico showrooms.
My friend's poster, which is something like three feet by four feet
(and probably is the same size as the original), contains hundreds of
photos of pianists who made rolls for the Ampico.

Well, finding a photo of either Rybner or Clair would have gotten me
excited, and finding both was just great.  I took close up photos of
the two guys, and have never even heard about any other photos since
that time, nor have I even looked at them.

Last night, I got an email from my friend Peter Mintun who has been
researching Ampico artists, and he said that he has never been able to
find out anything about Herbert Clair, and would love a photo.  Well,
I went through my thousands of pictures and after a great deal of
searching, I finally found the picture of Clair, which naturally is
right next to the Rybner.  Shortly after that, I decide to look at my
email and there you are asking for a picture of Rybner!  I suppose that
if there were no surprises in life, well, wouldn't that be surprising?

Let me say that I feel that Rybner is unquestionably a rival to Franz
Liszt, and sometimes I like Rybner's arrangement better.  This is true in
Isolde's Liebestod.  The Magic Fire Music makes the Brassin arrangement
sound like a kazoo.  I also have the Ampico roll of selections from Die
Meistersinger, but those are all the Rybner rolls I have.  What other
rolls did he make, and do you have them?