Hello all,  I apologize for my long absence in posts in this forum.
I have tried to stick to my rule of not posting something unless
I think it matters or will help somebody, etc. etc.

I'm sure some of you may remember Mr. Randolph Herr's posting in
February 24, 2009, MMDigest about Mr. Lemuel Fowler, the outstanding blues
composer and pianist and piano roll artist.  Mr. Herr had a copy of the
original photo QRS used in a piano roll advert, together with other
promotional apparently photos used by QRS.  Here's a link to the article:

  http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200902/2009.02.24.01.html 

Mr. Herr mentions that he could not identify a person in one of photos,
but presumably he was a QRS artist.  The corresponding MMD web page,
with the actual photos, shows this "unidentified" pianist in the very
last photo:  http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/MMMedia/QRS/Artists/index.html 

As you can see, Robbie had tentatively guessed the identity of the
artist as "Roy Bargy", to the point of giving Bargy's name as the image
filename!  As a huge fan of Bargy's music, and possessor of copies of
several different photos of Bargy, I knew right away that this was not
him.  In fact, it couldn't possibly be him, not only due to looks, but
because Bargy was never a QRS artist!

As far as I can determine, Roy Bargy made rolls exclusively for
only three companies: Imperial, Aeolian, and Ampico.  His early rolls,
including many of his rag rolls, were made for Imperial _prior_ to
their buy-out by QRS.  By the time QRS bought Imperial in 1922 (keeping
most of the Imperial artists on that label's staff for a few more
years), Bargy had already left to become director and Victor recording
artist with the Benson Orchestra of Chicago in 1921.  I invite Bargy
scholar and Imperial rollographer Dr. Robert Pinsker to correct me on
this.

(After his stint with the Benson band, Bargy made some rolls for
Aeolian for their Mel-O-Dee label, including a few more rag rolls.
Later in the 20's, while with Paul Whiteman, Bargy made a few rolls for
Ampico, including some performances noted in the company ledgers which
were apparently never released.)

But who's picture was it?  The man in the photo looked familiar,
but until about half an hour ago, I couldn't put a name to the face.
Now I can.  I just happened to take a look at a 1921 QRS ArtEcho
"reproducing" piano roll catalog that I had downloaded months ago from
Mr. Terry Smythe's web site, here:

  http://members.shaw.ca/paud122/Catalogs.htm 
  http://mmd.foxtail.com/Smythe/Artecho_1921_Catalog.pdf 

While virtually "thumbing" through the catalog, as I like to do to look
at the roll listings and artist bios and photos, I came upon the _exact_
photo that has been previously unidentified.  It is Howard Brockway!
(The photo and biography of Mr. Brockway is on page 36 of the ArtEcho
catalog if you want to look for yourself).  Here's his Wikipedia entry:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Brockway 

It turns out that Mr. Brockway made some rolls for QRS's Apollo ArtEcho
series in addition to his prolific work for Ampico (which included
releases under some noms-de-piano as well).

This does beg the question: Are Brockway's Art-Echo "performances"
merely licensed re-coded versions of his previously-released Ampico
"performances", and/or is the reverse true?  Or are these really
different rolls without relationship to each other?  I understand that
the Art Echo used a similar expression system to the Ampico.

Robbie and Jody, I trust you can now properly identify the photo on the
web page, and that you will kindly please change its filename to reflect
the true identity of its subject, thanks!

Sincerely,
Andrew Barrett
Costa Mesa, California

 [ I shall correct the photo caption immediately!  ;-)
 [ -- Robbie