True to its name, the International Player Roll Company catered to the musical interests of the many ethnic communities in the eastern states.  Probably their largest output was on the "Italianstyle" label, with hundreds of Italian folk songs as well as operatic numbers.   In the popular music area they issued thousands of different titles.

The International rolls were rather cheaply made, on extremely poor paper which today is rapidly breaking down.  They apparently started business around 1923-4, and continued as late as 1933.   The arrangements from circa 1923 to 1929 are usually not very well done, although there are exceptions to this.   International rolls from the early 1930s have much better musical arrangements, done with a lot of flair and creativity.   The artist was very rarely credited on International rolls, although I've seen several.

Pennant was a subsidiary label of  International.  As far as I can remember, the arrangements on Pennant are pretty much equivalent to those of  International.  I believe the International rolls listed at one dollar each and the Pennant equivalents probably at fifty or sixty cents.   The Pennant label is really scarce; I've only seen a handful of them.

As far as I know, there was no link between International and Pianostyle Roll Co. (both companies were in Brooklyn).  Everything is different about the products of the two companies: die punch size, musical arrangements, box graphics, spool ends, tabs, stencilled lyrics.  On International rolls, the artist was very rarely credited, although I've seen several.

Frank Himpsl
Thu, 2 Dec 1999 20:17:39 EST
 

Pennant  The tiny line at the bottom says "Inter Roll Co. USA"

Melotone