Hi Rob,
I'm glad to help get George W. Thomas' music back into circulation, and it is heartwarming to see the considerable interest that these scores have generated within the Pianophilia membership. The project which you did on his "Fish Tail Dance" defines a scholarly approach to ragtime and jazz, really setting a standard for this area of music. This important part of our musical culture deserves the careful attention to notational detail which you have provided in your work.
I have no record of "That Rat Proof Rag" existing in sheet music or 88-note player roll format. Usually it seems that George W. Thomas was very fastidious about copyrighting his work, but there was no copyright deposit on TRPR. Offhand I can think of only one other instance where he did not file; a song entitled "Be Careful Mr. Strange Man" which was also issued on Wurlitzer (like TRPR). However, the existing nickleodeon rolls are evidence that he wrote the tunes down at some point, so there is hope that these tunes were published in sheet music form. There is also a chance that a Kimball 88-note roll was issued of these, but the only surviving Kimball roll catalogs that I ever found (1916 and 1922) did not list them. For the record, the manuscript of "That Rat Proof Rag" also made it to the J.P. Seeburg Piano Company (also in Chicago), as it was issued on their rolls in style "A" and "G" format, issued under the label of the Automatic Music Roll Company:
Coin-Op rolls of "That Rat Proof Rag" known to have been issued:
Auto A-394-2 issued April, 1918
Auto A-476-2 issued April, 1918
Auto G-317-2 issued April, 1918
WURL 973-2 issued March, 1918 (a 5-tune roll)
WURL 20289-7 issued April, 1918 (a 10-tune roll)
WURL Pianino 553-6 issued July, 1918 (a 6-tune roll)
WURL Pianino 5088-12 issued August, 1918 (a 12-tune roll)
Of the rolls listed above, only WURL 20289 has surfaced to date. Wurlizter 5- and 10-tune rolls had identical arrangements, whereas the Pianino rolls were specially done to fit a 44-note keyboard. The Seeburg (Automatic) arrangements would have been completely different from Wurlitzer.
Thank you also for "Spinosity Rag," especially for the typeset manuscript.
All Best,
Frank
Thomas, George W - It's Hard To Find A Loving Man That's True (1915, publ).pdf
Thomas, George W - I've Got A Man Of My Own (1923, publ).pdf
Thomas, George W - I've Got A Pal Of My Own (1922, ms).pdf
Thomas, George W - I've Stopped, My Man (1924, ms).pdf
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I never dreamed that you had copied all these, and, I am so honored to have inspired you to track them down. They were safely packed away, but, until a few days ago, their exact whereabouts were unknown. (The last time we moved long distance, we put all our miscellaneous boxes--ones that didn't obviously belong in a particular room like the kitchen, for example--into one room and called it "the sea of boxes." That sea seemed endless!)