European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Photos by l. Emmett Lewis or. Canary Organ above plays eight melodies. The French music Box is from the Early 1800s. Below is the musical part of the mechanism. I Bibb Bobbi him woman Contemp ates one of the Large dance organs used in dance Halls before the invention of the Jukebox. Usic Box museum plays everyone s songs by Joe Mapother Bremerhaven Bureau the music Box and Street Organ museum in downtown utrecht the Netherlands is filled with wheezing pumping machines of Wood and Metal marking three centuries of mechanical music making that ended with the invention of the gramophone. Like Many in the record buying Public of today makers of the ceiling High dance organs and tiny music boxes of yesteryear were dedicated to the proposition of making music without actually playing it themselves. In the words of the inscription at the Bottom of a Crank driven red Metal music Box made 50 years ago by the Maryland based Pla Rola corp. Of America if you can breathe you can Pla Rola a Good number of the exhibits including a Bunny Rabbit whose head pops out of a cabbage to the tune Home Sweet Home were played for the More than 130,000 visitors last year. For this reason a guided tour is almost essential to fully enjoy the museum. The Cost is included in the admission and the Tours Start hourly. Mariette Dejong is one of about two dozen guides from the University in utrecht who offer the tour in four languages including English. Stopping before a five feet High wooden Cabinet built in 1897 with a Crank sticking out one Side and a list of 10 tunes showing through the Glass front Dejong explains it could be called the first  a Large Metal disc that resembles a floppy cymbal with holes punched in it rises slowly into place after Dejong punches the selection marked the Washington Post and Rich tones Roll from the Box. Written two years after the machine was built the John Phillip Sousa classic Likely was a hit Back then although the Metal disc in the Gay 90s Jukebox is by no Means a Gold record. The popularization of the gramophone during the first half of this Century spelled the end of the Golden years of a Craft that came to prominence in the 18th Century and was popular through much of Central Europe. By the 20th Century the Art had progressed from Windup Patchwork driven machinery that rang Bells in sequence to electric powered dance Hall organs that rocked port City bars through pneumatic machinery capable of playing a snare drum and imitating the voice of a jazz Singer. A look behind the ornate plaster and Wood facades of the dance Hall music machines reveals a dizzying array of wooden Organ pipes connected to hoses. Air is forced through holes punched in heavy cardboard frames that Are folded like a collapsed accordion and mechanically fed across a pneumatic pump. The system is similar to the Way that player piano Rolls operate. Upstairs in the Church and protected in a Glass Case a Playa sax saxophone made in Chicago about 1930 stands Complete with a paper music Roll and Crank. However most of the earlier music machines were played by inserting a Metal Roll with pins placed to strike a tune by activating Bells or hitting a Metal comb three violins Are played by a circular Bow in this German contraption from 1910. Each tooth capable of a different tone. According to museum spokesman Hubert Blankenberg the tune scheme was worked out by punching holes on Flat Metal. The Metal often brass was machined into a hollow Roll and Wax or Chalk was placed inside he said. The pins were inserted last and the Roll was ready for playing. The 16th-Century gothic Church housing the museum is separated into compartments on the first floor to allow the music machines to be played without creating cacophony. The museum is near the main Cathedral in the Center of the City at Buur Kerkhof 10. It is open tuesday through saturday from 10 . Until 5 ., and on sunday from 1 to 5  Admission is 4.50 guilders about $1.65 for adults and 2.25 guilders for children 14 years of age and younger. Telephone 0031-30-312789.  music Box with chinese Bell strikers. Made in Switzerland about 1090. 70 stripes Magazine March 6,1986 March 6,1986 stripes Magazine 71