John Wolff's Web Museum "Broadway" Pianola Roll Catalogue

Introduction.

The table following presents a partial catalogue of 88-note pianola rolls manufactured in Melbourne, Australia by The Anglo-American Player Roll Company. Anglo-American was founded in 1921 by pianist and orchestra-leader Mr. Len Luscombe (b.1893). Following his death in 1957, the business was acquired by the Mastertouch piano roll company in Sydney. In its 36 years of operation Luscombe's company produced about 2500 titles on the Broadway label, and a smaller number of Dahlmont and Regal rolls. (Dahlmont was a house brand of The Myer Emporium, a major Melbourne department store). The illustration above shows the standard label designs for each type of roll.

Anglo-American was a fairly small operation. Most of the musical arrangements were prepared and played by Luscombe himself, with his assistant Charles Urquhart operating the perforating machinery and producing the physical rolls. Luscombe used many pseudonyms for artists on the roll labels - Dan Rawlings, Art Kaplan, Earl Lester, and Leonard Earl are all Len Luscombe. A number of rolls were also produced from American masters provided through an arrangement with the machinery suppliers, and during the 1930s these included performances by top American artists such as Max Kortlander and J. Lawrence Cook. Luscombe adapted well to the changing musical tastes from the "Roaring 20s" to the beginnings of rock-and-roll in the 1950s, and his performances are still highly regarded today.

Unfortunately, he was not so good at record-keeping. When the Broadway master library was transferred to Mastertouch in 1957 there were many gaps and inconsistencies in the records. In 1988 Mr. Bill Denham completed an extensive review of the Broadway library and produced a "Reference Catalogue" containing the numbers and titles (only) of all known rolls. Despite his considerable efforts, there are still about 200 of the consecutive numbers for which no rolls or titles have ever been located.

The table following aims to complement Bill Denham's work by presenting the full details (rather than just number and title) from the labels of existing Broadway rolls, and to make this data generally available on-line. The initial table contents have been transcribed by hand from about 500 Broadway rolls in my own collection, and from other rolls that I have encountered elsewhere. There are currently about 650 titles listed, or about one-quarter of the total Broadway production.

YOU can help to complete this table!

If you own Broadway, Regal, or Dahlmont rolls, or come across them elsewhere, please stack them together (no more than 6 at a time) and take a phone photo of the box labels. Please make sure that the photo is clear enough to read the fine print on the labels (see example), then email it to me via the Enquiry and Feedback Form. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Explanation of table columns.

Rolls are listed in numerical order. Broadway rolls were loosely divided into several numerical sequences as follows:

1000, 2000	"Popular" rolls, red labels, with words.
3000	Ballads and hymns.
4000	Long-play show selections.
5000	Medleys.
6000	Continued from 2000s.
7000	Marches - "Music Rolls", green labels, without words.
8000	Other "Music Rolls" (without words).

A blank field indicates that no information is provided on the label.
Question marks indicate that information may be present, but is hidden, damaged, or illegible.

The columns are presented exactly as on the roll labels, except for Series, Size, Pub(lished), Arr(anged), and Notes.

Resources for further information.

A short biography of Len Luscombe, written by Barclay Wright of Mastertouch, can be found on-line in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.