[ Ref. Cassidy Juraniec in 220109 MMDigest ]

Cassidy, Greetings from The Bronx! (Well, actually, 3+ hrs north of it,
just for the extended holidays). In answer to your quandary, the title
of the first song on the video is "Bye, Bye, Blackbird", albeit being
played on an organ that was gasping for breath at the time.

I would have hoped that when 'Big Bertha' was restored that they
would've restored it to play the 82-key B.A.B. format that was heard
on the LP that Paul Eakins produced. When B.A.B. converted the mostly
European organs, they made it a point to try their best to match
a roll format to match the organ's original 'book music' scale.

When the 82-key rolls became more and more rare -- and not to mention
the rolls Eakins had were wearing thin, literally -- Eakins changed the
roll frames to use Wurlitzer Style 165 rolls, which were more readily
available, not to mention that more recent and modern tunes were being
arranged for it.

Unfortunately when the organ was converted, it lost almost 20 notes
in the 82-key scale, meaning that many pipes would fall silent!
Wurlitzer rolls were designed to be played on 'their' organs, even
though Wurlitzer would take in other brands of organs in trade, some
of which would later be fitted with Wurlitzer roll frames and rolls
scaled commensurate to the organ's original capabilities. It was easier
to put a Wurlitzer roll [player] on a European organ than to do the
reverse.

Point in fact: a well-known music roll company transcribed B.A.B.
rolls to Wurlitzer scales. Unfortunately, most results were far from
excellent, one problem being that B.A.B. rolls feature the Trumpet as
a solo instrument. The Wurlitzer organ's Trumpets are played in tandem
to the melody pipes, but the European organ's Trumpet ranks would
consist of two to three pipes per note, while Wurlitzer Trumpet ranks
only have one pipe per rank (except maybe when a Wurlitzer 166 would
call for another Trumpet rank, but only when playing 'Forte').

A similar situation occurred at the organ in Flushing Meadow Park in
Queens, New York. The carousel is the famous 'Feltman's' Carousel that
was originally located in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The organ played the
B.A.B. 87-key scale. After I had worked on the organ at Forest Park,
also in Queens, the operators of the former 'Feltman's' Carousel, asked
if I could work on theirs. I could never find the time, as I worked
full-time for the MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority].

The next time that I heard the organ it had been fitted with Wurlitzer
roll frames and was now playing the 165 scale (this organ also losing
more than 20+ notes from the 87-key scale). The operator's told me that
they had 'loaned' the 87-key rolls and roll frames to someone who was
going to have the rolls copied, or so they were told. (This is much like
in Forest Park, where the operator's 'loaned' the original book frame
and books to someone. As far as I know, they've never been seen since.)

As for the availability of B.A.B. roll scales, I believe that re-cut
rolls are available or will be made available.

A well-meaning and moneyed person had bought the contents of the B.A.B.
factory in Brooklyn. This included tools and production equipment,
and the 'masters' for most of their roll scales. Before this person's
demise, he donated the entire collection to a university. Unfortunately
the University, for the longest time, would not allow the collection
to be accessed, especially the roll 'masters'. Eventually a deal was
brokered and the 'masters' were either sold or made available for
production purposes. Also amongst the collection, was the tools and
machinery to manufacture and pin organ barrels.

Not to knock the Wurlitzer scales, but to saddle European organs with
them is like putting a straight-jacket on them, restricting their
musical potentials.

Please don't 'Shoot the Messenger!'

Keep Healthy, Keep Safe!

Dale F. Rowe
Bronx, New York