Hi from Dave Bowers.  I just returned from a week-long trip without

Internet access -- it's amazing how necessary it has become!



Concerning the Welte item [091112 MMDigest], I'll check out the

Internet info.  Meanwhile, here are a few paragraphs from the Welte

section (dozens of pages totally on their orchestrions) from the new

project by Art Reblitz and me.



Dave Bowers



 - - -



  Orchestrions Popular in the West



In 1905 at the Welte showroom at 49 West 30th Street demand for

orchestrions continued apace.  All of these were large instruments

actuated by switches or push buttons.  In the meantime, coin-operated

instruments were becoming very popular in America, especially relating

to pianos, but also to Wurlitzer PianOrchestras.  By means of a coin

slot or a coin box connected from a location elsewhere in a room, an

instrument could actually pay for itself via receipts.  A visitor to the

Welte premises in New York City reported in July: "It was suggested at

their warerooms that such a thing as a coin operated orchestrion was

among the possibilities of the near future, but that nothing had as yet

been definitely decided upon."[1]  On August 19, 1905, The Music Trade

Review noted that Carl M. Welte, who was to leave the next week for an

extended trip to the West Coast, had said, "Our orchestrion business

has shown a marked increase during the past year, and we have been

looking into the matter of building them so that they can be operated

by coin."  The Review continued:



  Among the instruments on exhibition are several with the new style

  Juegend [Art Nouveau] case, which has proved such a success abroad.

  They recently sold a large one in this design to a Pittsburg iron

  manufacturer to go into a new home he is building.  Mr. Welte is

  now showing a small orchestrion with a piano accompaniment which has

  a coin-operating attachment.



Several others arrived in November.



  The first coin operated orchestrions, made by M. Welte & Söhne, of

  Germany, have been set up during the past week at their New York

  warerooms at 49 West 30th street, New York.  Like all of their

  orchestrions, these instruments approach as near an imitation of an

  orchestra as it is possible for any mechanical instrument to be.  They

  think they will supply a want that has long been felt, and have had

  them so constructed and voiced as to meet the requirements of halls of

  moderate size.  Mr. Welte will have a supply of these, instruments

  constructed as soon as possible to put on the general market.[2]



Meanwhile, the mining towns of the West continued to be a prime area

for orchestrion sales.  The Eilers Music Company of San Francisco,

operated by Hy Eilers, held the agency for such instruments.  In autumn

1905 he sold a $3,000 orchestrion to the Concert Hall in Goldfield,

Nevada, and a $5,000 instrument to the Mizpah Hotel in nearby Tonopah.

Both of these towns were in their glory days, and a generation later

would nearly fade away as the gold mines petered out.  A large

orchestrion installed in the Palace Hotel in Reno met an unfortunate

end when the building burned on February 19, 1906.[3]



Another Eilers sale was reported in this news item:



  Stockton, California, March 10, 1906.  The Eilers Music Company has

  stocked and have recently installed in the Palm Café at 225 K Street

  for Messrs. Burns & Walker a large automatic orchestrion imported

  direct from Germany.  The instrument represents a full orchestra and its

  marvelous rendering of music is a great source of entertainment to the

  crowds who have been in attendance from early morn until late at night.

  This is the first of this style of an instrument to be heard in

  Sacramento, and the manufacturers, M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg, Germany,

  have attained a worldwide reputation for producing such wonderful

  instruments, and have been perfecting the automatic pipe organ in all

  its stages for the past 75 years.[4]



{{Illustration: Welte 0700 Cliff House}}



Welte orchestrion in the dining room of the Cliff House, San Francisco.

In the early 20th century this was a popular destination for many if

not most tourists visiting the area.



The aforementioned Cliff House in San Francisco was a magnet for

tourists, and a ride in a carriage out to this elegant seaside spot was

a favorite pastime.  In the dining room, music was provided by a Welte

orchestrion said to have cost $20,000 -- perhaps an exaggeration, but

certainly a fine instrument.  Elsewhere, two nickel-operated Wurlitzer

Tonophones reaped a harvest of coins.  In the summer of 1907 the

building was closed, as the new lessee, John Tait, was having it

remodeled.  Unfortunately, on the afternoon of September 7, the Cliff

House caught fire.  The sea breeze was strong, fanning the flames into

an inferno.  When a fire company arrived, the best they could do was to

save the Sutro Baths facility next door to the right.  Within hours the

Cliff House and its contents were ashes.  Fortunately, in July the Welte

had been disassembled by the management and shipped off on loan to the

Casino in Santa Cruz, California.



Other orchestrion news in The Music Trade Review in 1907:



  Emil Welte left Tuesday for a week's business trip to Chicago and

  Pittsburgh and is expected to close several deals.  Mr. Welte also

  closed a contract during the past week for a millionaire customer in

  the West, and the same is to be installed in his private residence the

  later part of September.  Mr. Welte was given instructions to supply

  one of the best instruments that could be built after plans and

  specifications submitted; in fact, was given full power to select 150

  rolls of music for the instruments, the price of which will be between

  $12,000 and $15,000.  The case will be of San Domingo mahogany inlaid

  with brass lines; in fact, will be one of the most magnificent recently

  turned out by this well known concern.  E.E. Forbes, of Birmingham,

  Ala., recently placed an order with M. Welte & Sons for several

  medium-sized orchestrions which will be installed in parks and private

  residences as soon as the firm delivers same. (May 18, 1907)



  A handsome Welte Orchestrion was recently installed in the States

  restaurant, one of Chicago's leading dining places frequented at the

  luncheon hour by many men prominent in the piano business of the city,

  and was enthusiastically received.  W.H. Wade, of Lyon & Healy, had

  charge of the dedication of the instrument.



  Since Lyon & Healy installed the Welte orchestrion in the States

  Restaurant, the fame of the instrument has spread rapidly among the

  proprietors of other cafes, with the result that they are anxious to

  inspect the instrument.A number of leads have been obtained.

  (August 10 and 24, 1907)



  At the Reno, Nevada, branch of Eilers Music Co., Mr. Winter noted he

  recently installed a large Welte orchestrion in the Hotel Casey in

  Goldfield. In San Francisco, Eilers is conducting an auto-melody

  show at the large hall formerly occupied by the Hotel Severn, which

  is being used as a general display room for Welte and other automatic

  musical instruments.  A magnificent Welte orchestrion, intended for

  a skating rink or other large hall, is kept going most of the time.

  It is equal in range to a band of 50 pieces and is said to be the

  largest instrument of the kind on the Coast. (October 12, 1907)