Oregon daily emerald., April 07, 1972, Page 9, Image 9

Piano-roll expert J. Lawrence Cook, 72, in the position he knows best:
at the console turning sheet music into piano rolls. Photo by Tom
Maguire, Newsday
Player pianos
stage comeback
in living rooms
It probably has little or nothing to do with the
divorce rate, juvenile delinquency or other even
more significant social phenomena. But a long-gone
living-room scene may be making a comeback.
According to some collectors of trivia, the ex
pression “the family that plays together, stays
together,” dates back to the Golden Age of player
pianos, just after World War I.
Then there were friendly gatherings around the
player piano in the living-room, with everyone
watching the keys automatically clatter out a ricky
tick version of “The Man of the Flying Trapeze"
and singing the lyrics printed on the perforated
paper roll. Well, folks, the same thing is happening
today, but with Burt Bacharach favorites, top-10
heavy rock hits and offerings from “Hair,” to name
a few.
Player pianos appear to be enjoying a popularity
exceeded only in the boom years around 1919, when
more of the instruments were manufactured than
ordinary pianos, say industry officials. That year,
53 per cent of the total output of pianos consisted of
players, which gave forth complete arrangements
of popular hit tunes of the day when you fitted a roll
of the perforated paper into brackets that turned
when you pumped foot pedals.
Perhaps the resurgence of the instrument’s
popularity was explained by a market researcher
for one of the player piano companies. “Improved
radios and phonographs,” he said, “with their
passive and isolated listening habits, destroyed the
incentive for self-expression and the personal touch
that is so rewarding in a player piano.” He added
that “maybe it’s the cold electronic age that’s
creating a yen for participation in people.”
The revitalized interest in player pianos has
caused a demand for the production of player rolls.
There are few experts who are familiar with the
craft of adapting music to the master roll, from
which production copies are made.
One of thesQ artists is J. Lawrence Cook. For the
past 52 years, Cook has been one of the country’s
leading piano-roll masters. Now 72, Cook spends
each day in a tiny room on west 57th Street in
Manhattan, working at a unique device he helped
perfect almost a half-century ago.
The handmade master-roll cutter, an upright
piano with a double keyboard, is attached to an
octopus-like labyrinth of pneumatic tubes. Cook
takes modem hits, show tunes and other musical
scores and plays them in piano-roll style on the
master console. The machine simultaneously per
forates a master roll in a coded series of punched
slots
The production rolls, identical to the master, are
what go into the player piano. Player pianos func
tion on the principal of a bellows pumping air
through the perforated rolls, which in turn activate
the piano mechanism.
Cook talks with pride about his ability to play in
the style of Fats Waller (also known for his piano
roll arrangements), Jelly Roll Morton and other
greats of another era. “It’s a lost art from the past,’’
explained Cook recently, as he transcribed a
popular Broadway show tune onto his machine. “I
find it just as exciting today for instance, to cut
songs like "By The Time I Get to Phoenix’ and
‘Harper Valley PTA,' as I did many years ago on
something like, say, ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band.’
Remember that one?”
There are available dozens of new catalogs, many
of them printed in an early 20th century style,
listing the hundreds of newly produced piano rolls.
Every conceivable type of music is represented,
including rock, jazz, religious and ethnic. One of
Cook's specialties is piano rolls in the styles of
Liberace and Roger Williams.
There are also to be had a spate of books giving
the history and technical details of player pianos as
well as many recordings of piano-roll music for
those who can’t yet afford to buy a new model.
There are many clubs too, made up to collectors of
vintage player pianos. These issue newsletters and
swap buying and selling information
One company official estimates there are
thousands of antique instruments still hiding in
attics and bams, “just waiting for someone to snap
them up.” He said they often bring anywhere from
1,000 dollars up, if in restorable condition. The new
player pianos generally are equipped with foot
pedals for manual operation and electric drive “if
you want to dance while you listen.” And all models,
naturally are usable as conventional pianos.
The Los Angeles Times
Washington Post News Service
THE WEEK
Tales From the Crypt
Brought to the screen by today's most successful
producers of horror films, Max J. Rosenberg and
Milton Subotsky, the Amicus Production is presented
by Cinerama Releasing. In each of the chilling tales,
Richardson portrays the crypt-keeper who provides
the characters with terrifying glimpses of what is in
store for them ... or have the events already hap
pened? Throughout their journey behind the vault of
horror, they learn that "death lives." It is a
Metromedia Producers Corp. presentation.
Tales From The Crypt was adapted from the
startling horror stories "Tales From the Crypt" and
"The Vault of Horror" originally published by William
M. Gaines, publisher of the world famous Mad
Magazine. The screenplay was written by Milton
Subotsky. For Subotsky and Rosenberg, this tale of
horror and suspense represents their 27th production.
Their list of previous successes include "The House
That Dripped Blood," "The Skull," and "Dr. Terror's
House of Horrors."
One of Europe s foremost creators ot norror mms,
Freddie Francis has directed Tales From the Crypt,
and Charles Fries, Metromedia's executive Vice
President in charge of production was executive
producer for the film.
Filmed in England, Tales From the Crypt used
some of London's most eerie old mansions for location
shots. In addition, the famed Highgate Cemetery was
used for the first sequences, but only after much red
tape was untangled. Because Karl Marx is buried
there, the London officials were naturally ap
prehensive about the invasion of camera crews and
the curious visitors. But the cemetery had the perfect
look about it, and Director Freddie Francis finally
prevailed upon the directors to approve the request.
Tales From the Crypt is the seventh film on which
Freddie Francis has worked with Subotsky and
Rosenberg, and the fifth he has done with Peter
Cushing ... a reunion of the most successful teams in
horror films today.
GEORGE C.SCOTT
“THE HOSPITAL”
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