Paul Gamino's Parlor Rollers

Back      Home    My World Records   Results     Cover Shots     My Lofts   Articles      For Sale     Contact me     Out And About     Photo Galleries    Blast from the Past    Joining the PPRC    Joining the APRA      About Me And My Parlor Rollers       Longest Rolls Ever!!!

RR.M. "Merrill" Peters 3/21/82.  Inter Nat Parlour Tumbler Club (1982) p.4.

[Robert “Bob” Nolan was kind enough to let me see the official results of the 1949 Long Beach N.P.A Grand National].

Dear Fellow Fancier;

“First keep the Parlors going the road is tough and bad.”  Now corrections on Johnson’s (Chuck) run down on me--my first stud of whites were developed by me in the late 20’s and early 30’s.   I traded them to Mr. Foster of Philmore California for red parlors.  The reds Mr. Foster sent me were close rollers they were good birds, but I only raised them for ten years—still found out that I did not know so much about Parlors.   The next stud of whites I started in the middle 30’s – I sold them to a fellow up your way to Mr. Wick—Kansas – Where?  Went into Army and gave a lot of my whites and other colors to Mr. Vanpassdal.  Not being able to get any of my whites back.  I started again (1945-1946?) and at the National in Long Beach 19?   ? I won five out of the seven trophies offered.  This sure hurt Mr. Vanpassdal feelings.  My best bird went over 125 feet and then some. (Emphasis added)  I beat Gilbert for best Parlor all his did was 85 feet, an almond.  Not a bad bird in fact.  I am now starting over again in whites.  The fellows now breeding parlors just go in for performance I can’t see that. I like to see good birds in all colors. I do not like small birds.  If you keep mating good rollers with each other, you end up with breeding spinners, you end up wing and tail feather all broken, and they don’t look nice at all.  Keep up the good work and keep the Parlors going. 

The above was Merrill Peter in his own words:

To understand the significance of the events unfolding at the 1949 National Pigeon Association Long Beach Grand National, one has to understand at the time and even today to a lesser or greater extent the Parlor Roller is looked upon as a bird to have petty on because they look to appear as if they are suffering when performing and when over performed they show the wears and tears of friction.   In part, this is due to the fact that a Parlor Roller is considered an athlete of sorts (No pain… no gain... practice makes perfect).  When in fact the Parlor Rollers hits a peek and tapers off dramatically after several performances.   On the other hand, single and double performers had all feathers intact and appearance played a more important role in scoring points.  As a result, single and double performers were less likely to break feathers when being performed.   In addition, it was to your disadvantage to have a poor specimen in appearance due to excessive drilling.  What makes Merrill's National win all the more sweet is not only did Merrill’s self-white score the most points allowed for performance (70 points).  Merrill’s white out scored the singles, doubles, and Rollers for performance, type, and composition (30 points).  Unheard of at the time...