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Author Topic: Wurlitzer Organs William Phillips Expert Film Handler Posts: 117 From: Cardigan, Wales, UK Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-06-2005 01:19 PM                        Just woundering if anyone out there have a wurlitzer or other theatre organ in their cinema and if they still use them.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-06-2005 01:40 PM                     William, search posts by me in Film Yak, one about always carrying a camera.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 07-06-2005 11:59 PM                     We still have at the Byrd Theatre, Richmond, Va. Wurlitzer number 1948, installed in August 1928. 4 manuals, 17 ranks. An original installation, never been out of the building. It has been in continuous use except during WWII when all the organists were in the military since Dec. 24 1928. It is still played every Saturday night and at other times on request. At present the console is in dire need of rebuild but the chests and relay are in pretty good cond. There are photos of the organ on our web site www.byrdtheatre.com If anybody is going to be in the area and would like to see the organ and or play it or see the theatre e-mail me. The Byrd is open 365 nights a year playing mainstream film with an occasional festival. [ 07-07-2005, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: Bill Enos ]  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-07-2005 01:45 AM                        The American Theatre Organ Society has a list of extant theatre organs in the US (you should say cinema organs, or Reginald Foort will come back & smite you!) Some are in theaters running current fare (like the Byrd or the Galaxy in NJ); many are in venues which run occasional 'classic' films like the Ohio & the Fox in St. Louis. Top of the props & greatest cred goes to the 1926 Tampa Theatre in Tampa FL which now runs a sort of 'art' program -- but occasionally they'll run a silent & it will be accompanied on the theatre's original & maintained Wurlitzer by Rosa Rio, an incredible & ball-of-fun silent film accompanist who played the organ for silents in first run (!) at the big houses in NY, New Orleans, etc., moved later to accompanying dramas, mysteries, soaps, etc. on the organ on network radio when talkies came in, & then retired to Tampa FL.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-07-2005 02:31 AM                        The only theatre pipe organ I know of in Britain which is in working order and played for the public regularly is at the Paramount Cinema at Penistone, South Yorkshire (near Sheffield). That one's a Compton rather than a Wurlitzer, though.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 07-07-2005 09:09 AM                     Dont forget the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The Moller organ there is original and will easily rattle the walls. I love hearing it played!  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-07-2005 06:31 PM                     The Mighty Moeller at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus has been playing before and at intermission for the summer film series. The silent feature this year was METROPOLIS. Clark Wilson has been the organist for the series for the past few years, and he is among the best I've ever heard at film accompaniment. Any place that wants to show a silent feature with an outstanding organist, you would be well advised to seek out Clark. I know the Harold Lloyd family is very particular about his films, since they only let Gaylord Carter play them. It would be nice if they would let Clark play a couple, especially SAFETY LAST.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 07-07-2005 08:47 PM                     We're proud to house a Mighty Wurlitzer here at The Golden State Theatre in Monterey. Golden State Theatre's Mighty Wurlitzer In addition to many pre-show organ concerts performed by (semi-)local and extraordinary organists (Warren Lubich, Tom Hazleton, Dennis James & Jim Riggs to name a few) we present The General on September 3rd and Phantom Of The Opera on October 29.  |  IP: Logged John McConnel Expert Film Handler Posts: 118 From: Okmulgee, OK USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-08-2005 04:14 PM                        A minor correction...the pipe organ in the Ohio at Columbus is a Robert-Morton, rather than Moller. It's a large instrument, with 26 or so ranks of pipes, and a 4-manual console.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-08-2005 05:09 PM                     Is the organ at the Odeon Leicester Sq still used? I was always impressed with sound of the Comptons and the degree of unification they employed  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-09-2005 09:50 AM                     Thank you for the correction, Mr. McConnel. You are correct...the brain just slipped a gear on that one. It has been very well maintained. Clark Wilson is not only an organist, but an expert organ technician, and the instrument sounds better and better over time. Clark has been using more of the percussion instruments this year.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 07-09-2005 02:49 PM                     IMHO the Robert Morton theatre pipe organ was a marvelous insrument for the theatre certainly better than a Kimball or a Moeller. As for now, The Stanford Theatre; Palo Alto, Ca[1924] has been completely restored with furnishings of the period except for the booth which is modern in every respect except it has arc lamps[Strong 135s for superior screen illumination. The Wurlitzer pipe organ was completely restored, and I mean no expense spared and it is played regularly and is impossible to describe the way it sounds. Only because of my advanced age and remembering the way a theatre organ sounded it brought tears to my eyes when I heard it I think this whole project was under the direction of Mr Robert Packard of the HP Foundation.  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-10-2005 01:55 AM                        I think Ed Stout restored/installed the organ at the Stanford (& the one at the Castro, & the straight organ at the Palace of Honor). There are some truly excellent organ techs out there these days, but Ed Stout is just off the scale.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-10-2005 02:00 AM                  quote: Bill Enos ...the Byrd Theatre... Bill, thanks for posting the link to that fantastic house! You are truly lucky to be involved with that majestic lady! What a beautiful place and yous have some great pics...including the tech ones! Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-10-2005 05:08 AM                        quote: Gordon McLeod Is the organ at the Odeon Leicester Sq still used? As far as I'm aware it's kept in working order and is played occasionally (e.g. at the Royal film show each November), but is not used at all during normal shows for the public. Another one in the US not mentioned so far is The Heights Theater, in Columbia Heights, St. Paul, MN. It's a lovely single-screen neigbourhood independent, where the screening night for last year's Association of Moving Image Archivists was held. It's a full-scale organ in what is quite a small theatre, so its sound really fills the place. We were told that it's played before the main evening shows every Friday and Saturday.  |  IP: Logged

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