Wurlitzer 165 band organ music enthusiasts have always known that
the last roll produced by Ralph Tussing's T.R.T. Manufacturing Company
was roll 6724, released in 1967.  (Formed in 1947, T.R.T. Mfg. Co.
succeeded The Allan Herschell Company who bought Wurlitzer's band organ
department in 1945.)

But something new has surfaced.  Doug Hershberger of the Herschell
Carrousel Factory Museum, North Tonawanda, New York, recently
discovered, among the museums 2,000+ large hand punched Wurlitzer
master stencils, three T.R.T. Style 165 master rolls that apparently
had been produced after the last roll was released around 1967, perhaps
destined for roll 6725 and never released, likely due to Tussing's poor
health and eventual passing.  As far as Hershberger could tell, these
masters were never used in roll production.

The Herschell Museum has a working exhibit of the only known surviving
Wurlitzer production roll perforator where Doug produces Wurlitzer band
organ rolls and Style APP orchestrion rolls from Wurlitzer masters on
Wurlitzer perforator No. 12.  These rolls mirror what Wurlitzer did up
until 1945 in quality, appearance, packaging, and music capability, the
only exception being they are perforated on white paper rather than
green paper.

Doug took these three newly-discovered masters plus the six masters
from Tussing's last roll, 6724, and created roll 6724X, a T.R.T Finale
and tribute roll, an excellent nine-tune roll containing these three
never issued tunes as numbers 7-9 added to the original six-tune roll.
The result is a "must have" roll for anyone with an instrument playing
Wurlitzer 165 music.  The first six tunes from 6724 can be seen here:

http://wurlitzer-rolls.com/index4.html#TRT 

The additional three newly discovered tunes are:

  7. Exodus
  8. Say Wonderful Things to Me
  9. Coca Cola

Most of us remember the "Exodus" theme from the 1960 movie of the same
name.  "Say Wonderful Things" is a Patti Page waltz hit from 1963.
"Coca Cola" appears to be an arrangement of an unknown march produced
on contract for the Coca Cola company and apparently never used.  The
march is a rousing piece sure to please.  Someone may recognize the
tune and provide the proper name.  In any case, these three additions
are some of Tussing's finest work with good and frequent registration
and full verse and chorus.

Of interest, even though no organs had existed for many decades that
played the additional "166" registers on the Wurlitzer 165 scale,
Tussing included these right to the end with great care.  In my
opinion, these rolls are better arranged than many of Wurlitzer's
rolls during their twilight in the 1940s.  I have previewed this roll
and provided some suggestions to Doug, which have now been included
in the production roll.  It runs about 22 minutes and is highly
recommended.  I have no interest in this other than encouraging the
production and enjoyment of good Wurlitzer band organ music and to
see this museum prosper.

The response to the Museum's Wurlitzer Band Organs and Wurlitzer Music
Roll Dept. has been so enthusiastic that a Caliola has been acquired
and a significant quantity of original Wurlitzer band organ parts from
which a display is being built.  The museum is actively searching for
a band organ from one of the other four North Tonawanda band organ
manufacturers.  A brand new enlarged and updated web site is in
progress and will be in place soon: http://www.carrouselmuseum.org/ 

Inquiries about this roll or any other rolls may be directed to Doug
Hershberger at wurmusicrolls@verizon.net.geentroep [delete ".geentroep"
to reply].

Glenn Thomas
Princeton, New Jersey
http://wurlitzer165@comcast.net/ 
http://www.nickelodeonhouse.net/