Comments from dukenukesem

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dukenukesem
dukenukesem commented about Capitol Theatre on Oct 10, 2004 at 6:42 pm

The Capitol Theatre was the venue that had a theatre organ and not the adjacent Michigan Theatre, which has never had any organ installed. The organ, a 1928 W.W. Kimball Opus KPO 7020, 2-manual, 8-rank job with an enormous amount of “add-ons” (as much as many 4-manual organs) was raised via a scissors lift. The organ fell into disrepair due to a flood and lack of maintenance and was removed and parted out in the mid-1970’s. The toy counter is now located on the 3-manual Barton organ located at the Grand Ledge Opera House, for example. I now own the console and other parts and am in the process of restoring it. It should be noted that the console alone weighs in the neighborhood of 1800 pounds! The operator of the Capitol Theatre was the Butterfield chain……there is some splotching of “Butterfield green” paint on the mahogany finished console.