Popular Entertainment

This snare drum was made by Walberg & Auge in Worcester, Massachusetts, around 1903-1910. It has a stained wood shell and skin heads. The hoops are made of wood and have 14 sets of metal hooks for rope which is laced through leather ears, used to tighten the hoops. The drum has a metal screw device to activate the gut snares.

WALBERG & AUGE
W AND A
WORCESTER, MASS. USA

This drum was used by William T. Armstrong (1879-1965), orchestra leader and musician in vaudeville and silent film theaters. Armstrong grew up in South River, New Jersey and began playing drums at the age of 14. He continued his musical career through the mid-1910s, after which, Armstrong began work in banking and finance. This artifact is part of a collection of drums, sound effect instruments, and other percussion instruments used by Armstrong.

This music roll was made by Aeolian Organ and Music Company, in New York, New York, around 1895-1900. It is Roll #702, playable in a Celestina or Mandolina model roller organ. This roll sold for 90 cents. The tune list for this roll is as follows:

Watch on the Rhine
Deutschland über alles
Das Zerbrochene Ringlein
Die Drei Reiter
Die Gute Kamerad
Der Tannenbaum

This button is from the Dixieland Jazz Festival in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in 1991. This round button has a light green background and black printing covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

RAMADA LONDON BRIDGE RESORT
4th
Annual
DIXIELAND
JAZZ FESTIVAL
1991
LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ

The Dixieland Jazz Festival is an annual event held in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, home of the reconstructed “New” London Bridge built in the 1830s. The bridge was purchased by Missouri entrepreneur Robert P. McCullough from the City of London in 1968, and installed in Lake Havasu City, a city he founded.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

This roller organ roll was made by an undetermined maker in the United States, abour 1885. It is roll #81 - "We Shall Meet Beyond the River." This roll is playable in 20-note roller organs.

This roller organ roll features U. S. Patent #333390, dated July 14, 1885, by Henry B. Morris for a barrel for mechanical musical instruments.

Diana Ross. side 1: Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To) [mono]; side 2: Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To) [stereo] (Motown M1377F)
45 rpm. Accessioned with original printed sleeve. Pressed on gold colored vinyl.

This song was featured in the 1975 Motown Productions and Paramount Pictures film Mahogany, directed by Berry Gordy and starred Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Jean-Pierre Aumont, and Anthony Perkins.

This music box disc was made by Lloyd G. Kelley, successor to the Regina Music Box Company, in Hanover, Massachusetts, 1950s. It is Regina Disc #1444 – Zampa - Overture, by Ferdinand Hérold,. This disc is playable in a Regina Disc Music Box that can accommodate a 15-1/2” diameter disc.

This disc features the following patents:

U. S. Patent #417649, dated December 17, 1889, by Oskar Paul Lochmann for a music plate for mechanical instruments.

U. S. Patent #500374, dated June 27, 1893, by Gustav A. Brachhausen and Paul Riessner for a note-plate for music boxes.