Welte Cottage Orchestrion, Style 2:  From 1890 to 1914, the Welte firm produced a series of Cottage and Concert Orchestrions ranging from the small Style 0 to a Style 10.  Today, only 41 Weltes are known to have survived and the largest of these is the Style 7of which only one is known.

In our collection is a Welte Style 2.  Thirteen of these instruments are known to exist. The instrument contains 146 pipes including eighteen clarinets, thirty-three metal pipes, large drum, snare drum, cymbal and triangle. The Orchestrion was formerly at Callart House in Inverness-shire, England.  The house was inherited jointly by the two younger sisters of Lady Fairfax-Lucy of Charlecote (Warwickshire).  The family name was changed to Cameron-Lucy in 1898, and in 1902, the middle sister, Constance Linda, married Major-General Sir John Secker.  The Seckers and the youngest sister, Joyce Alianore, who never married, lived at Callart until the latter’s death in 1948, after which the house and its contents were sold.  The house remained uninhabited until 2000 when the orchestrion was discovered.

It is unclear exactly when the sisters inherited the house, but extensive additions were built around 1900, including the billiards room in which the orchestrion was housed, and the 1902 marriage could well have occasioned these works and the acquisition of the orchestrion.  During the restoration, however, we have founded Welte’s signature and the date of 1883.  Other indications that it was a very early machine are the fact that it was operated by weight driven motors; later models were operated by electricity.  Welte's first roll patent was in 1883 and they were making roll operated "pneumatic orchestrions" from about that time. Thus, our Welte is among the earliest machines made by the Welte firm.

We purchased the Welte in July, 2000 and it was restored in Rudesheim, Germany by the firm of Siegfreid Wendel.  The instrument has been restored to original condition and it plays the 57 rolls that belonged to the Lucys.  Also, very carefully so as not to compromise the historical integrity of the instrument, a computer driven MIDI system has been installed so that it can play a broader range of music.  The DeCap MIDI system was installed under the supervision of Ron Schmuck of the Great Canadian Nickelodeon Company, Ltd.  Over 400 MIDI music files have been obtained from Mike Ames of the Mills Novelty Company. Tony DeCap is now modifying these files to enhance their musicality.

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The Beale Street Special:  The Beale Street Special has a very unique history.  Paul Eakins was a heating and cooling contractor in Missouri and was an early collector of mechanical music instruments from 1961 to 1966.  In 1967, he opened the Gay 90’s Village in Sikestown, MO.  The museum operated for only three years before it ran into financial difficulties.  However, these years were very active with over 50,000 people going through the museum in the first 8 months and with numerous recordings made of the instruments.

One of the instruments, located near the entrance to the museum, was the Eakins Special.  Eakins built this instrument as an “O” roll nickelodeon.  The chassis consisted of a Coinola Reproduco with piano and pipes that began its life in 1912 as a roll-playing mortuary organ.  Eakins added percussion instruments and eventually used parts from four different machines.  The instrument has 49 flute pipes, 37 quintadena metal pipes, 12 diapason pipes, piano and percussion.  It was rumored to have appeared on the TV shows, “What’s My Line?” and “I’ve Got a Secret”, although I have been unable to confirm this. In our collection, we have several record albums featuring the Eakins Special with pictures on the jacket cover.

In 1976, after Eakins died, much of his collection was sold to Disney for display in Disney World, Orlando, FL.  The orchestrion was renamed the Beale Street Special and performed for many years in Disney’s Gay 90’s exhibit.  We purchased the instrument in May of 1997 and Kirk Russell has restored it to original playing condition.  We have added a pipe chest for some upper range treble notes and a crash cymbal to bring out the full musicality of the “O” Roll.

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Steinway Duo-Art:  Player Pianos came into vogue around the turn of the century.  Originally, they played primarily ragtime music and popular songs; all were played at a constant volume.  As the technology evolved, the reproducing piano was introduced.  These pianos had the ability to employ “expression” or to play various notes at differing volume levels.  As such, they could exactly reproduce a performance.  The Aeolian Company introduced the Duo-Art in 1913 and it was incorporated into many of the fine pianos of the day such as the Steinway.  Other manufacturers such as Ampico and Welte also introduced models and there was intense competition to sign up noted performing artists and composers to play exclusively for their roll-playing systems.  Much fine music was performed and recorded by Rachmaninoff, Paderwerski and other artists of the day.  When these rolls are played, it is exactly as though the artist is sitting in our living room, playing the piano.  The rolls are interesting in that they feature a picture of the artists and a signed statement that this is his/her performance specially made for the Duo-Art.

Our piano was built in 1920 and we acquired it in August 1998.  In 2000 we have added a Power Roll system so that we can play MIDI files from our laptop on the Steinway.  A garage operation in California builds the Power Roll and only a few have been delivered to customers.  Spencer Chase in California has scanned some of our rolls as well as those of other collectors.

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The Violano-Virtuoso:  From 1900-1930, the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago marketed a wide variety of automatic musical instruments.  Though primarily a manufacturer of gambling machines, the Mills Novelty Company found early that music had great appeal and virtually every catalogue of the Mills line contained automatic musical instruments of one type or another.  Today, Mills is remembered mainly for the Violano-Virtuoso, an ingenious automatically-played violin with piano accompaniment that was one of the most popular coin operated instruments ever made in America.

In 1904, a young inventor, Henry Sandell joined the Mills firm and developed an automatic violin-playing machine known as the Automatic Virtuosa.   The machine contained a real violin that was “bowed” by four rosined celluloid discs which revolved and played the strings.  “Fingering” was provided by a bank of electromagnetically controlled mechanical “fingers” that stopped each string at predetermined intervals called for by the holes in a roll.  For several years it was sold to arcades hotels and cafes but it achieved only modest success.

In the spring of 1908, an Automatic Virtuosa was shipped to England and was exhibited at the Waring Department store in London.  To give it more appeal, the Virtuosa was played in accompaniment with a human pianist who sat nearby and played a piano at the appropriate time.  It created a sensation and made a circuit around Britain.  It played to packed houses and was given extensive coverage in the newspapers.  Eventually, King Edward VII asked that the Virtuosa be brought to Windsor Castle for a performance.

All this publicity in England piqued the interest of the US Patent Office that was busy preparing an exhibit for the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition to be held in Seattle, Washington.  At this time, Mills was incorporating an automatic piano into the Virtuosa.  Mr. H. C. Armstrong, at the Patent Office, was authorized to select from among the millions of registered patents such ones as in his judgment represented the most meritorious ideas of the last decade.  He took an interest in what was then labeled the Violano-Virtuoso and when he compiled his final list, the eight greatest of the decade included the Violano, steam turbine power distribution, light generation and distribution, the calorimeter which was the foundation of color photography, the telegraph and the International Harvesting machine for modern farming.

The Violano in our collection was built in 1921 and was initially installed in a café in Chicago.  Eventually, it was purchased by a German collector and then passed hands to another German.  It lay in a state of disrepair in a wet basement for many years.  We purchased the instrument in December of 1998 and it was restored by our local piano technician, Kirk Russell, and noted Violano expert, Terry Haughawout from Ohio.  The piano was rebuilt with a new pin block, strings, hammers, etc. in early 1999.  In October 2000, a MIDI system was installed so that computer files, in addition to rolls, could play the instrument.  Further restoration is planned for 2002.

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The Banjo-Orchestra:  Another fascinating instrument, from the 1910-1920 era, was the Banjorchestra.  This instrument, produced by the Engelhardt Piano Company, consisted of an automatic banjo supported by tambourine, triangle, bass and kettledrums and castanets, accompanied by an automatic piano.  Paper roll technology is used to operate the instrument.  It is fascinating to watch the metal fingers on the banjo pluck the strings.  Very few instruments were produced and no complete instruments are known to have survived today.  The remnants of two Banjorchestras have been found but no original rolls are known to exist.  The D. C. Ramey Piano Company of Chicago has made only 23 recreations based on this historical instrument and we are fortunate to have one in our collection.  The instrument was purchased in the fall of 2000.  Dave Ramey and his son, Dave, Jr., are among the icons of mechanical music collectors and are known for their fine craftsmanship.  We have eight music rolls orchestrated by Art Reblitz, another industry icon.  The arrangements are based on original music rolls made for the stand-alone automatic banjo, adaptations of other orchestrion rolls, 78 RPM records of jazz bands and original arrangements. For additional history on these instruments, click here.

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