Pianophilia

Dear Frank,

Thanks so much for the 12 (so far!) postings of GWT pieces! Seeing these feels like hitting a musical JACKPOT!! I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for this treasure trove of nearly forgotten music. 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!)

It was so funny to see GWT writing ads in the margins of some of these manuscripts. At the bottom of page 2 of "Gert Anna Waltz" he writes: "Be sure and get a copy of our five big hits...and he includes "[That] 'Rat Proof Rag"! Even more interesting then the fact that he considered TRPR one of his better sellers (though that could be pure hype), is his claim that these numbers are available for your player piano and "talking machine"! Was TRPR recorded?!!

As for the first Thomas manuscript you posted, "Fish Tail Dance," seeing that added so much to my FTD transcription project!! The lyrics to the chorus corroborated what I'd learned about that particular dance ("You don't need no help to do the Fish Tail dance. You can do the Fish Tail by yourself.") I think I'll be ready to post the typeset version of the manuscript tomorrow, if not, then the day after. I want to add some notes to that typesetting, but for now I'll just post it with my corrections noted and Hociel's lyrics (she did make a few change to the words--some good, others probably just errors).

MOST gratefully,
Rob

Hi Everyone,

Here's the typeset version of Fish Tail Dance-song made from the manuscript that Frank so kindly provided. I included Hociel's lyrics from the June 1925 recording posted on YouTube, and an enlarged, trimmed copy of the manuscript. I'll post a midi tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy!

Best,

Rob

Hi everyone,

Here's the midi of George W. Thomas' "Fish Tail Dance" made from the manuscript. The tempo is about the same as Hersal's & Hociel's in the recording. And, like the recording, the midi only plays the first verse then the chorus twice.

Enjoy!

Rob

Hello again,

This is the second of the 4 LOC rag manuscripts I have copies of (the first was posted in the Rags Thread)). If you download the manuscript, you'll see that the first word of the title didn't copy. However, the copyright number did, so I was able to match it up with the records to find that the title was "Spinosity Rag." Underneath the missing "Spinosity" the composer wrote "pretty)." Whatever was written before that, isn't on the copy, nor in the records. It's either the opening parentheses, or, another word. That's why in the typeset copy you'll see a question mark.

The most interesting feature of this rag is that in 6 bars of the trio the composer scored 2 possibilities in the bass part. One is the standard octave-chord-octave-chord. The other is 4 staccato octaves in dotted rhythm, a staccato eighth note octave (this is in 2/4 time) and the same chord that was used in choice one. The composer instructs the performer to play "whichever [bass part that] pleases." Choice two is my favorite. BTW, since the trio is repeated, I use choice one the first time and choice 2 in the repeat

Hope you like this one,

Rob

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