Scott
Smith - Lansing, Michigan
The story begins
back in the late 1920s, just as the heyday of the silent motion picture
was ending. Despite the clumsiness of the Vitaphone system, which
utilized 33.3 r.p.m. records synchronized with film motion, Al Jolson's
1927 release The Jazz Singer was
symbolic of an era that ended abruptly.
Within
the few years following the film's release, movie theaters across the
country were quickly becoming wired for sound. Obviously no longer a
fad, theaters quickly fired their orchestras, and dramatically reduced
their stage crews as the mighty pipe organs that had enhanced the moods
depicted on the screen were suddenly found to be superfluous. Numerous
theaters stopped making payments on their already working organs, and
the same crews that had spent years installing these instruments were
suddenly being told to repossess them. Those that remained playing did
so only for intermissions or special occasions.
Most of the 7,000
instruments built to accompany silent films eventually became the
unwilling victims of an unhappy fate. Many of the unlucky ones went
down with the theaters themselves, as they too, became the victims of
changing times, changing tastes, or changing neighborhoods. Some organs
were stripped of their metal during the emergency recycling efforts of
World War II to support domestic weapons production. Others were merely
thrown out with the trash, as the space they occupied was deemed more
valuable than the instruments themselves. Many of those that survived
into more modern times were picked clean of their more valuable parts,
while the remainder were left to an uncertain, but usually unpleasant
fate. A large number were simply forgotten in their lofts, and were
sadly ruined over time by unknown, unrepaired roof leaks.
The lucky ones survived with varying degrees of success. During the
Great Depression, many churches were only too happy to accept donation
of these low-mileage pipe organs for their own type of use, despite the
fundamental incongruity of a theatrically voiced cinema organ in a
church. One can only imagine that it was justified as a symbol of a
triumph of good over evil, but whatever the reason, many organs from
that era did survive and remain playing today in churches across the
land.
A notable group of organs was lucky enough to merely slumber peacefully
within the walls of the theaters that survived, awaiting removal to an
appreciative new home, or, in the rarest, but best of all cases, a
second life exactly where their first had taken place, after a
well-deserved rest.
Posing amidst the growing rubble from demolition of New York City's
famed Roxy Theater, actress Gloria Swanson wistfully remembers happier
times.
A rarely documented chapter of
this unique type of instrument is that of the radio broadcast organ.
While not great in number, their impact cannot be dismissed when one
considers the many thousands, often millions of people who, in an era
when radio was king, could be listening to any given broadcast. Bill
Bunch, of Balcom & Vaughn Organ Builders, is shown here at the
CBS Radio Studio organ. In the 1920s and early '30s, virtually every
major radio station in the country made use of a studio pipe organ for
radio dramas, dramatic readings, or the solo performance.
That
is, until Laurens Hammond introduced his Model A electric organ in
1935. It created all sorts of new sonic possibilities, was virtually
maintenance-free, and best of all for tiny radio stations, could be
made portable and moved from studio to studio or easily into storage.
Once again, sad news for the pipe organs which, more often than not,
suffered a similar fate as their siblings in movie theaters. However,
there was a small, but significant group of these pipe organs that
ironically provided music for, of all things, the film studios, who
used them primarily for scoring and recording purposes. Up until very
recently, these film studio organs were often used as background music
for films, even sometimes with an orchestra. That era has sadly ended.
Synthesizers and pianos are the accompaniment instruments of choice for
film makers these days, with occasional use of a real symphony
orchestra in major films.
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company was an American company started
in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1853 by German immigrant and business man
Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company originally imported stringed, woodwind,
and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States.
Wurlitzer's initial success was due largely to sales of
musical instruments to the U.S. military. In
1880 the company began manufacturing pianos. Eventually the company
relocated to a larger plant site in North Tonawanda, New York, near
Buffalo, and started making fairground and band organs,
orchestrions, and nickelodeons. Wurlitzer introduced their
first theater pipe organ in 1910.
The Wurlitzer Company, with its imposing office tower rising above the
main entrance, dominated the theater organ scene, selling a total of
some 2,300 organs during the period between 1914 and 1942, representing
nearly 40% of the overall market. A recent photo of the tower
is on the left.
During the peak of their production in 1926, an average of one pipe
organ per day was produced, a truly remarkable achievement in
productivity. The purpose of the "unit orchestras" as they were called,
was to emulate orchestral instruments, percussions and traps
of a real theater orchestra.
Philosophically,
this concept differed greatly from that of the traditional church
organ, which depends on a
group of ensemble-based voices that can best
be described as tones and balances developed over the centuries through
trial and error. Their job is to accompany choirs, congregational
singing and occasional solos. Consequently few voices are shared
between organs. In terms of their ability to accompany a silent movie,
the scope of the traditional church organ would be extremely limited.
It was in March 1929 that Wurlitzer built and shipped their Opus 2035
to the Famous Players-Lasky Studio on the lot of Paramount Pictures in
Hollywood. The three-manual, nineteen-rank instrument was installed on
the scoring sound stage by the revered James H. Nuttall, who was also
responsible for its design and tonal regulation. Unfortunately, it saw
only intermittent use before being carefully removed, crated, and
placed into storage in 1931. It
remained there for eleven years.
In 1942, during WWII, the Wurlitzer was sold to
San
Francisco radio station KGO where it was
installed in their new radio studio by San
Francisco organ man Charlie
Hershman.
Many prominent organists
performed on the instrument during its stay in
the Bay Area, including the legendary George Wright, shown here while
serving as staff organist at KGO, now KNBC.
It is believed that the Solo String
pipes were substituted during this period, but it is unclear whether it
was the work of George Wright during his tenure, or Nuttall when the
organ was
installed.
After years of service, the instrument fell into disuse and
was removed in 1952 to make room for a new television studio. It was at
this time that Richard Simonton acquired this organ.
Richard C. "Dick" Simonton (right) is perhaps most
well-known and remembered for fostering the creation of the American
Association of Theater Organ Enthusiasts in 1955, now the American
Theater Organ Society (ATOS). He had been bitten by the theater organ
bug in his youth, while growing up in the Seattle area.
While still quite young, his interest led to employment with Balcom
& Vaughn, a well-known regional organ builder, and his intense
curiosity in pipe organs eventually led him to the field of
electronics.
Although Simonton had the distinction of purchasing what
is acknowledged to be the last Kimball pipe organ to leave the factory
in 1945, it was a church-style instrument, and he still yearned for the
sound he loved most, the sound of the theater pipe
organ. Dick is pictured here holding the 16' C pipe from the rare four
rank "Wurlitzer Vox Chorus" (below), one of only four known to survive,
installed originally in Seattle's Coliseum Theater.
Simonton
started to research what it would take to install a successful theater
instrument in a private residence, and had a new house designed and
built to hold one. The process of design and construction of the organ
began in 1953, and it was at this time that Wurlitzer Opus 2035, the
KNBC instrument, was acquired. Almost immediately, additions to the
organ began, coming primarily from Opus 1732, a 3-manual, 8-rank
Wurlitzer (3/8) that had been installed at Treasure Island, San
Francisco, for the Pacific Exposition of 1939-40.
There were other additions that came most notably from two other
Wurlitzers, Opus 170 in the Coliseum Theater in Seattle, and Opus 186
in the Million-Dollar Theater in Los Angeles. Still further additions
to the organ included outstanding examples of pipework by other
builders, including Hope-Jones, Marr & Colton, Robert-Morton
and E.M. Skinner. Simonton was fortunate that he was able to acquire
additional voices for the instrument when he did, at a time when such
pipework was still readily available, and at reasonable prices. It
would be very difficult to do this again today.
Once
again, this charmed instrument attracted the organ luminaries. Two
famous organists collaborated on the design of the instrument. Gordon
Kibbee chose the pipe voices that would be in the organ and drew up the
original Specification.
However, Kibbee's stop list was too extensive
to physically fit on the console, Simonton called in the celebrated
Jesse Crawford to fine-tune the Specification
that was ultimately used.
Crawford directed some of the organ's tonal regulation, but it was
Kibbee who made most of the important tonal decisions.
In
the pipe chamber, tonal matters were first attended to by former
Wurlitzer tonal finisher Ross Evans, who by then had retired and was
living in Florida. Toward the end of this process, Crawford happened by
to check progress and played it briefly. Among other concerns, both
Crawford and Kibbee felt the tremolos were not adjusted properly, so
they set about to utilize the skillful talents of noted voicer and
organ technician Henry Pope, who was not easily persuaded to do the
work. Pope, by this time, was comfortably employed full-time as a piano
and organ technician at NBC. After a period of wooing, Pope reluctantly
agreed to come in on weekends. Reportedly, there was a bit of friction
between Crawford and Pope during this process. Crawford wanted to
finish the instrument and start recording, while Pope, with the
deliberate sense of a craftsman, wanted to take his time.
Ironically, Pope performed this same task on the
recording organ belonging to the famous theater organist Buddy Cole,
who also resided in North Hollywood. The youthful Buddy Cole is
pictured here.
Gordon Kibbee remained involved with the Simonton Wurlitzer for the
entire forty-years that the instrument resided in the "Bijou Theater"
located on the lower level of the Simonton residence, and later made
other desired alterations and modifications. The completed organ was a
four-manual instrument controlling thirty-six ranks of pipes, which, in
spite of tight quarters, delivered a refined theater sound in the
environs of the Bijou.
The "Simonton Wurlitzer Grande" began speaking in 1960, and after an
extended period of refinement, Jesse Crawford began recording on it at
some point in 1962. Just weeks before he was to have come out of
retirement to play the opening concert for the first national
convention of the ATOS in 1963, Jesse Crawford suddenly died of a heart
attack. In total, Crawford recorded and released two LPs on the Bijou
Wurlitzer, "In A Monastery Garden" and "Golden Opera Favorites,"
demonstrating to all that he was still eminently capable of producing
inspiring, exciting, inventive music, right to the end. At the time of
his death, another LP was in the works featuring Crawford at the Bijou
to be titled "Roses of Picardy." The LP recording was never issued, but
presumably, the tapes lay dormant in the Decca archives.
Others who recorded the Bijou Wurlitzer over the years to follow
included Gaylord Carter and Chris Elliott. Bob Hunter
recorded one album at the Bijou for the Pipe Organ Plus
series, adding pipe organ to a 54-piece orchestra conducted by Monty
Kelly, and recorded previously in a Hollywood studio.
Hunter's album was never released in the United States, but it was
published in England on the Marble
Arch label as "Passport to Romance". Incidentally,
Hunter's real name was used, not Georges Montalba, or one of the
several other aliases which Hunter occasionally used.
For several years, Dick Simonton's Bijou was the theater organ and
silent film mecca of the Los Angeles area. The Saturday Night Group
lasted for at least 15 years during Simonton's lifetime, and casually
for 5 years before that. Saturday evening, there would be a concert or
film, or both, presented at the Simonton home, always free of charge,
and open to organ and film aficionados.
The Bijou Theater was often filled to its
capacity of 63 guests. Gordon Kibbee usually presided over
the big Wurlitzer which was well maintained by Stephen Ross.
Occasionally, other area organists would take the bench for at least
part of these semi-formal events, including Gaylord Carter, Korla
Pandit and Buddy Cole. Since Simonton and his children had connections
to the major studios, it was not unusual for a film that had not been
shown in decades to be presented at the home theater. Noted film stars
from another age, including Olivia DeHaviland and Harold Lloyd would
attend, as well as directors such as King Vidor and several technical
veterans.
In
1993, Mildred and Jack Hardman of Great Falls, Virginia, who had been
seeking an instrument for their newly constructed home studio, bought
and removed the famed organ. It would undergo a thorough restoration
and be installed in the purpose built studio carefully designed to
enhance the instrument's sound with the natural acoustical
reverberation, so essential to organ music.
The three years prior to the purchase of the Bijou Wurlitzer had been
fraught with frustration for the Hardmans. Unable to find a suitable
instrument, Jack began to think that he would have to assemble an organ
from orphaned parts. To this end, he had already acquired an original
Wurlitzer four-manual console from Jasper Sanfilippo of Barrington
Hills, Illinois, which had controlled the first organ installed in the
music room of Jasper's home. This console had originally seen use in
the Riviera Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, controlling Wurlitzer Opus
1571. It had been restored several years prior by pizza mogul Bill
Brown of Phoenix, Arizona, for his "Organ Stop Pizza" restaurant in
Tucson.
Four
manual consoles are rare and special. Of the roughly 2300 organs
Wurlitzer built, only about 93 theater organs were equipped with four
manual consoles. The first was for Opus 63, in 1915, for the Isis
Theater in Denver, and the last three were shipped as a package to
Rockefeller Center in New York City in 1932; one for Opus 2178, the
Centre Theater, and for their last and largest, the famous twin
consoles at the famous Radio City Music Hall, Opus 2179, controlling
fifty-eight
ranks, which are still regularly played for the public today.
Under
the
direction of Ohio organ expert Clark Wilson, the former Simonton
Wurlitzer Grande underwent a total restoration in Great Falls, VA,
following the slightly revised Specification
and Console Stop List devised by concert theater organist
Simon Gledhill, London. The
instrument has since
taken on its new life as the Hardman Studio Wurlitzer. The organ as
installed has been altered with the addition of a few new voices and
careful substitution of others. Among them was a Tuba Mirabilis, and a
Viol
d'Orchestre, along with a matching Viol Celeste from Wurlitzer Opus
2101, originally installed in Boston's Metropolitan Theater in 1930.
Vintage Wurlitzer Solo Strings were acquired from two different sources
to replace the redundant Morton Salicional pipes. While the Bijou could
not contain the lowest octave of the 16' Tibia Clausa, a set was
purchased from Charles Kegg in Ohio for use in Great Falls, where there
is ample wind and space, and a need for the powerful bass pipes. The
Quintadena Celeste was replaced by a more useful Concert Flute Celeste,
and a replacement for the missing Chrysoglott metal bar harp was
located in California.
Simonton's 15 hp high speed Spencer blower has
been replaced by a 25 hp 3 stage low speed machine needed to provide
the higher static wind pressure and volume demands of Simon Gledhill's Specification
for the instrument. As it stands, the Hardman Studio
Wurlitzer utilizes a gold leaf decorated painted four-manual console
controlling thirty-eight ranks of pipes, making it similar in size to
the famous New York Paramount and Fox Theater Wurlitzers of Brooklyn,
Detroit, St. Louis and San Francisco.
Noted theater organ experts Clark Wilson, Simon Gledhill, John Struve,
Harold Wright, Don Phipps, Brad McClincy, Ken Crome, Brant Duddy, and
Allen Miller have been involved at different times in the design,
restoration, installation and tonal finishing processes of the Hardman
Studio Wurlitzer. This final and very time consuming tonal finishing
process was accomplished by Clark Wilson Associates. It is the
metaphoric icing on the cake for any pipe organ. Each and every pipe
was carefully evaluated and adjusted where necessary to insure correct
tone quality, volume, speech, speed, and ultimately tuning.
Today, this Wurlitzer organ's
charmed life moves forward as the tradition of musical luminaries and
unique
circumstances continues in the Hardman home studio for others to
appreciate and enjoy.
A growing list of extraordinary concert organists is bringing joy and
wonder to all who experience this beautiful instrument in Great Falls,
Virginia.
What follows is a narrated pictorial review of the removal, relocation,
restoration, and installation of this Wurlitzer theater organ, with
special attention to the many people who helped us complete the
project. We particularly wish to recognize those individuals with our
sincere thanks for their help making it all happen. Yes, it
was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun!
The
Hardmans wish to thank Scott Smith of Lansing, MI, for researching and
writing this history of their Wurlitzer Organ
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