Dear group, I read with interest the post of the Arden and Ohman
Vitaphone short on YouTube.  I had known of the existence of this
short for several years, but I didn't see it until I was alerted to
its presence on YouTube a few months ago.  I am glad the MMDers have
found it since it is a great thing to see.

Here are a bunch of videos on YouTube (mostly early film shorts by
Vitaphone and similar companies) of roll artists playing the piano.
I think you might really get a kick out of these, some of them are
quite rare!

1923 - Rythmodik and Aeolian artist Eubie Blake is seen here with his
vaudeville partner, Noble Sissle, delivering a fantastic medley of
songs for Lee De Forest's brand-new sound-on-film experimental process.
Although the beginning of the film is not in great shape, by the time
the best-preserved parts occur with "Affectionate Dan" about midway
through, you can tell that the audio quality (and picture quality) in
this restored film is remarkable and blows away some of the slightly
later sound-on-disc Vitaphone shorts!  (Just compare with the acoustic
/ non-electric disc recordings of piano music that were being made at
the same time -- they really couldn't capture a great piano sound,
whereas the piano sounds relatively full and rich, and natural, in this
contemporary clip!)  It is really too bad that Mr. De Forest's process
was not widely used or (I guess) perfected in such a way that it could
have produced thousands of film shorts between 1923 and 1927.  Oh well,
at least we have this!  Eubie Blake is in his prime here, playing
wonderfully, and Noble Sissle really delivers the goods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ean3w91Z1cc 

1927 - famed Republic and Ampico artist (and arranger and bandleader)
Frank Black accompanies the fantastic late-1920s vocal group "The
Revelers" in this great clip (Vitaphone #483, released March, 1927),
featuring the '20s tunes "Mine", "Dinah", and "No Foolin'".  I wish
I could sing as well as any one of these guys!  Mr. Black plays very
tasty and stellar accompanying piano on this, and even at fast tempos
(difficult with some of these piano textures), he is totally at ease.
Fascinating!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9gelvf0ZDk 

1930 - Imperial, Aeolian, and Ampico artist Roy Bargy is seen and
heard throughout the 1930 color film "The King of Jazz" about the Paul
Whiteman orchestra, but I shall spotlight a little segment called "the
boys in the band" which features him playing a short and sweet (and
very accurate) chorus of "Nola".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXHH9UH7j2o 

1931 - Rythmodik and Ampico artist Edgar Fairchild (Milton Suskind)
plays a red-hot version of "Kitten On the Keys", together with British
duet partner Robert Lindholm, who duets with Fairchild on both the
piano and the accordion!  If you ever doubted that these Ampico guys
could actually _play_ this well, then doubt no longer!  This is a
technically superb and fantastic performance; Mr. Fairchild approaches
the piano as though it were a mere plaything to him, and mugs at the
camera like Fats Waller!  A must-see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hTqmurbGI 

1934 - U.S. and Ampico (and Brunswick records) artist Lee Sims,
brilliantly accompanying his wife, vocalist Ilomay Bailey, on the
Harold Spina and Johnny Burke song "The Beat of My Heart", from the
1934 film "Eggs Mark the Spot".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nqtIXUhxSw 

1936 - QRS and Ampico artist Zez Confrey is seen here with baseball
legend Babe Ruth and hit songwriter Byron Gay ("The Vamp", "Sand Dunes"
etc) in the unusual short film "Home Run on the Keys".  This includes
a brief but important film clip of Mr. Confrey himself playing his
famous "Kitten On the Keys".  He plays it quite a bit differently here
than on his 1921 Brunswick and Edison records.  Musicians: you can find
the latter audio recordings on YouTube; notice where he puts the
accents!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhV72is82A 

1936 - QRS, U.S., and Aeolian artist (and well-known songwriter,
singer, and recording artist) J. Russel Robinson is seen here playing
a fantastic piano solo version of "Livery Stable Blues" in a cafe in
this 1936 "March of Time" newsreel about the revival of the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band.  Although the film clip contains some historical
inaccuracies, it is still great to see these guys in action and even t
o have this precious little footage (not even a complete chorus!) of
Mr. Robinson playing.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHZIsfJ-m8U 

(Mr. Robinson's eight solo piano audio recordings made for the
"Eagle" record label in the late 1940s have never been found or seen
by anyone I know, including major West-Coast record collectors and
ragtime historians.  If anyone finds even a single one of these
records, please email me right away,  I have a reward for anyone who
can track them down!)

1939 - Aeolian, Welte, and Ampico (and Edison and Brunswick records)
artist Ray Perkins sings, plays piano, and emcees in this 1939
Technicolor film, "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair".
Mr. Perkins can be seen and heard from 44:00 to 46:24:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMKGkO6uk2Q 

Note: There also used to be film clips of Vocalstyle artist (and well
known vocalist and songwriter) Little Jack Little playing the piano, as
well as a fantastic 1933 film of Ampico and Welte artist Ralph Rainger
(Ralph Reichenthal) playing a medley of his own song hits, ending up
with an overdubbed, split-screen piano trio with all three parts played
by him! Sadly, these clips are apparently not currently on YouTube;
they must have been taken down.

There are probably other film clips of roll artists on YouTube; I just
haven't found them yet!

Enjoy,
Andrew Barrett