I have a couple of Pearl White rolls. They are wonderful. One that
immediately comes to mind is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-pWzhdkYP8
I have no idea how old she was, but figuring she was probably in her
70s in the 1970s, she had to have been in her 20s when she recorded
these rolls.
Supertone did an unknowing and wonderful job of preserving some of
the Chicago area theatre organists via the piano roll: Pearl White,
Irma Glen (who was a smoking hot pianist), Eddy Hanson and no doubt
others.
On Dennis Scott's YouTube posting about Pearl White at Shea's Buffalo
Theatre, he wrote: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOtOK1ld2EY ]
"Pearl White was one of America's best-loved theatre organists. She
was a child prodigy and probably the youngest organist playing for
silent movies in Chicago theatres during the 1920s. She also was making
piano rolls in 1925, about the time she turned 15. This performance was
recorded at Shea's Buffalo in 1964, during the American Theatre Organ
Enthusiasts (now Society) national convention. The crowd went wild
for her "double stuff" a rhythm pattern she came up with while cutting
piano rolls. October 26, 2010 would have been her 100th birthday.
Happy Century, Pearl!"
Tom DeLay
Salinas, California
[ The party comes alive when Pearl White "Finds" the Piano:
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6Xb1CGiJc&feature=youtu.be&t=80
[ -- Robbie
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