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Mighty Wurlitzer is star of Paramount’s Silent Movie Mondays
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
January 23, 2009 at 4:00 pm
SEATTLE, WA — Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount Theatre feature the city’s last vintage theater organ.
An octogenarian is still going strong at the Paramount Theatre, the last of Seattle’s 1920s theater organs still fulfilling its original purpose. The Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ, built in 1927 and bought by the theater for $46,500, can be heard Mondays this month as part of Silent Movie Mondays, played in accompaniment to classic 1920s silent films.
“It’s really unique — it’s the only one left in the city of Seattle in its original home,” said Tom Blackwell, outgoing president of the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society. “At one time there were 45 theaters within the Seattle city limits that had pipe organs in them. These were considered standard equipment for theaters that had silent films in the 1920s.
Read the full story in the Seattle Times.
(Thanks to A Boy and his Bike for providing the photo.)
Comments (3)
Silent Movies and The Mighty Wurlitzer,the way movies were originally intended to be enjoyed.
Sounds cool, even though I generally lean more towards the “talkies”.
Dennis James, the final appointed House Organist for Seattle’s Paramount Theatre from 1998 to 2008 who created and introduced the theatre’s popular Silent Movie Mondays series plus frequently sold out the theatre during his 11 year tenure, continues his professional silent film and other musical presentations throughout the Northwest Area during the 2009-2010 season:
2009
November 13, Blue Mouse Theatre, Tacoma, Washington
86th Anniversary screening: original opening night film THE GREEN GODDESS (1923)
2010
January 21, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in FLESH AND THE DEVIL
February 11, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Rudolph Valentino in SON OF THE SHEIK
February 14, Lynwood Theatre, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Silent film series- two screenings: Harold Lloyd in GIRL SHY
February 15, Admiral Theatre, West Seattle, Washington
Original Silent Movie Mondays site debut: William Boyd in THE YANKEE CLIPPER
March 7, City Museum, Wenatchee, Washington
Silent film program: comedy films
March 8, Town Hall, Seattle, Washington
OdeonQuartet (string quartet) with Dennis James, Glass Armonica chamber music performance
March 11, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien in SUNRISE
July 5, Lynwood Theatre, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Annual Anniversary silent film screenings:
July 6, Location tba, Seattle, Washington
American Theatre Organ Society National Convention – feature silent film event by invitation conveyed by convention chairman Tom Blackwell: title tba
For more information, visit: http://www.cas.sc.edu/film/james.htm