"Summer Magic" and its Player Piano Promotion

Rowland Lee's question concerning whether "Flitterin'" was issued on
piano roll (17.12.15) reminded me that I had a "pressbook" from the
film "Summer Magic" stashed away somewhere.  So I dug it out.

"Pressbooks" are oversized magazines sent to theater owners by film
studios.  They are loaded with suggestions on how to promote a movie
and publicity articles intended for submission to the local press.
(One of them features a photo of the scene which includes the Melville
Clark player piano.)  It rekindles happy memories of the days back in
the 1960s when the player piano was making a true resurgence.

"Summer Magic" (1963) was the fourth of six films that Disney Studios
used to showcase their dazzling young starlet, Hayley Mills.  As the
large format of the "Summer Magic" pressbook makes it difficult to
scan, I'll just type out most of the relevant text from it here.

Three suggestions from the "Exploitation"(!) pages include:

*  Piano rolls of all the "Summer Magic" songs are being released
   by Aeolian Music Rolls, Inc.  Contact a local piano dealer to
   set up a player piano in your lobby playing the "Summer Magic"
   music.

*  There is a Buena Vista recording of the piano roll music.  This
   presents a really novel opportunity for stimulating additional
   disk jockey interest.  Also, play the record over your lobby
   loudspeaker at intervals to arouse public curiosity.

*  Aeolian piano rolls are sold at piano stores and department stores.
   Keep this in mind when you set up your co-op ad.

Page 32 of the pressbook is devoted to the player piano promotion.
The following is included there:

  Look What's Back!  Player Pianos!

  7 different makes are now on the market, currently chalking up
  more than 10% of total piano sales in the United States!

  And Look What You Can Play On Them -
  All The Songs From "Summer Magic"!!!
  with piano rolls made by
  Aeolian Music Rolls, Inc.
  retailing at about $1 each at
  3,000 Piano And Department Stores
  Throughout The Country!

  Promote with the big player piano trend -

  *  Get newspaper feature coverage.
  *  Set up cross-plug displays with piano dealers.
  *  Get extra disk jockey airplay with the special
     Buena Vista recording of all the "Summer Magic" music
     as played on a player piano.

  Aeolian Music rolls releases of "Summer Magic" songs

  No.  Song Title
  1533 Flitterin'
  1534 Summer Magic
  1535 Beautiful Beulah
  1536 The Pink of Perfection
  1537 The Ugly Bug Ball
  1538 Femininity
  1539 On the Front Porch

  For additional information and names of local Player-Piano
  and Music Roll dealers, contact:
  Aeolian Music Rolls, Inc.
  Attn: Mr. Jack Williams, Adv. & Promotion Director
  33 West 57th Street
  New York 19, N. Y.
  PLaza 1-0050

(The list of rolls is exactly consistent with that provided by Larry
Doe in MMD 17.12.17.)

I lived in Rochester, New York, at the time the movie was current.
We had two elegant music stores, within a stone's throw of the Eastman
School of Music, which both sold new-issue piano rolls.  How lucky we
were!

Some of us on MMD were lucky enough to witness first hand that wonderful
period in the 1960s when the player piano was truly appreciated for
the second time around.  In today's solitary world of smartphones and
earbuds, people have forgotten the unabashed joy of gathering communally
around the "original karaoke machines".  It breaks my heart to see
player pianos being junked again.  I applaud MMD for doing their best
to stop the carnage.

Maybe there is hope for the future.  I remember once reading how neon
lighting was about to go out of existence.  Nary a year later, it
unexpectedly resurged, and neon was everywhere!

Wouldn't it be great if a new movie came out that featured a player
piano?  Can you imagine if theaters were to set up player pianos in
their lobbies for patrons to play music from the film (as suggested
for the "Summer Magic" promotion)?  (Well, I can dream, can't I?)

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Tom Chase - from the Frozen Tundra of Minneapolis (and only 5 blocks
away from Richard Rames (see MMD 17.12.15)!)