I have been asked to say a few words about the late Martin Allen
(Marty) Roenigk for MMD, so here goes.  It is difficult to write about
a loss that many MMD readers share.

I do not know when I first met Marty and Elise Roenigk, but it was
decades ago, when they first became active in the field of automatic
musical instruments.  In time, they acquired a lovely mansion near
Hartford, Connecticut, and decorated it with Victorian furniture, music
boxes, and other items of interest.  Far from focusing on musical items
entirely, Marty and Elise had wide-ranging enthusiasm.  Leaving the East
behind, they moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the 1990s, bought
two hotels, and soon became an important part of that community.

Within the hobby of mechanical music, most readers of MMD have
a special focus:

- Some enjoy the music that a restored player piano, coin-operated
orchestrion, or organ can play, or the lovely strains of a Regina or
Mermod Frères music box.

- Others enjoy rebuilding and restoration, watching a long-silent
pneumatic instrument come to life to entertain a new generation of
listeners.

- Still others appreciate instruments for their place in history,
and no doubt there are some who simply enjoy looking at them as one
might admire a fine antique.

Of course, none of these specialties are mutually exclusive.  Nearly
everyone who rebuilds an instrument also enjoys listening to it.  Most
who buy a music box are pleased if they can find out its history.
Marty enjoyed dealing in musical items, perhaps first and foremost.

Seemingly, Marty was a born entrepreneur and trader.  Of course,
he liked the melodies of the instruments and their beauty as well.
He also enjoyed music box people and, with his wife Elise, became
Very prominent in the Musical Box Society International, serving as
president some years ago.

Marty would have been the first person to say that rebuilding an
instrument or studying its technical aspects was not his forte, nor
was he deeply immersed in the history of these devices (although he
appreciated history in general).  Knowing the value of a music box,
orchestrion, band organ, organette, or other item, enjoying the chase,
and tracking down a single music box or a whole collection furnished
the excitement.

Although Marty and Elise had their fingers in many business pies,
ranging from the former Compudyne corporation to, in Eureka Springs,
two hotels, the War Eagle Mill (grinding flour and corn the
old-fashioned way), and more, and were known for their philanthropies,
Marty would drop everything to acquire an interesting item for sale.
If a Regina music box was coming up for bid in a sale in some distant
state, Marty would be on the telephone.  Poignantly, perhaps ironically,
he passed away while on a trip with Elise through Oklahoma on Thursday
evening, June 18th, in the quest for a musical prize.

In the older days, these prizes would be arranged in their home in
Hartford, later in premises in Eureka Springs.  A deal did not have to
be big.  Stray groups of piano rolls, odds and ends in books, and other
items were offered along with instruments costing into the tens of
thousands of dollars.  Items were offered for sale in different ways,
most recently on the Internet through the Mechantiques web site,
http://www.mechantiques.com/ 

Over a period of time I have bought quite a few items from Marty and
Elise.  I have sold even more to them, if you count collections that
were offered to me, but which I invited Marty and Elise to become
partners as they had the distribution facilities.

Probably the highlight of our activities was in the 1990s when
Disney contacted me and asked me if I would like to purchase in its
entirety their collection of automatic musical instruments, primarily
coin-operated pianos and orchestrions.  Many of these had been purchased
by Walt Disney himself from A.C. Raney of Whittier, California, some of
which are shown in my 1966 book, "Put Another Nickel In".  Others were
acquired elsewhere.

These saw service in the Crystal Arcade at Disneyland in Anaheim,
California, as well as in Walt Disney World in Florida.  They were
immensely successful as coin-operated units.  In fact, they were too
successful.  Generally, they could not stand the wear and tear of
constant use, morning to night.  Extensive maintenance was required,
and there was always a technical problem of one sort or another.

Earlier I had spent some time with certain Disney officials, and also
had made an appraisal of the instruments.  The offer to buy them came
somewhat as a surprise, a very nice one.  I telephoned Marty Roenigk.
We both contributed the necessary capital, and Marty did the selling.

As a special request he asked if he could take from the group a Seeburg
Style H Solo Orchestrion.  We agreed upon a price, and before long it
was an attraction on the ground floor of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka
Springs, where it can be seen and heard today.  In another instance we
partnered in a large estate collection in Rockford, Illinois, that had
many choice items.

Marty and I often talked about business, as we both have an
entrepreneurial streak.  At one time I was an investor, rather minor,
in Compudyne.  We also did a few other things here and there.

As Marty was the antithesis of a controversial person, he had more
friends than could be easily counted.  His untimely passing came as
a shock to all who knew him.  We all reached out, and continue to do
so, to Elise, his wife and partner for many years, who shared in all
of his activities.  Elise was injured in the wreck, but was able to
undergo successful surgery to her shoulder and arm, and now is on the
way to recovery.

The greatest loss is that of Marty himself.  In another sense,
Mechantiques was perhaps unique in the United States as a place that
could be visited and music boxes, coin-operated pianos and the like
could be seen, and interesting items could be bought and sold.  While
other fine dealers advertise items for sale, most transact quietly, and
do not deal in a broad range of items.  It was Marty who kept ordering
and reordering copies of my book, "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical
Instruments," providing the information to newcomers to the hobby.

I can close my eyes and think of many things about Marty.  Those of
you who read this and knew Marty will do the same thing.  He has left
a great legacy, one for which anyone could be proud, a trail of
friends, now mourners, who will remember how he touched their lives.
And, from all of us, our best to Elise.

Dave Bowers
Wolfeboro Falls, New Hampshire, USA

Postscript:  MMDigest editor Robbie Rhodes asked me if I would create
another article for MMD, comparing certain parallels between collecting
other things, such as rare coins (which Marty also enjoyed and which
has been my primary business), with the field of automatic musical
instruments.  There are many differences, but there are also many
similarities.  I will do this for a future issue.