Jim: I second what you have to say about theatre organist vs. classical organists arguement. There was as many bad classical organists and theater organists as well as good ones. As Ben Hall states in the his Best Remaining Seats: “It – the Mighty Wurlitzer – was, after all, capable of producing honest music of compelling emotional force when properly played and, in the hands of an expert, could work musical magic far beyond the limitations of any other instrument. Without it, the movie palace would have been soulless as an armory.” The chapter to which you refer in Hall’s book is, The Apotheosis of the Mighty Wurlitzer, page 179. Having played both classical and theater instruments, the theater organ, IMHO, is more challenging to play.
The Music Hall organ sounds great in its environment, but it depends where you sit. Since the chambers are situated fairly high on either side of the proscenium, the lower level of the third mezzanine puts the listener at approximately the same level of the organ chambers. There are places in the orchestra where the organ is terribly muffled especially since it, to my knowledge, is no longer miked, particularly the percussions and the piano.
The Hippodrome is gorgeous. My wife and I attended the opening show, The Producers. The Hipp also had an organ in it … a transplanted M.P. Moller church pipe organ, installed UNDER the stage. (Yuck!) It didn’t last very long. (Mercifully.)
Kimballs are/were real beauties. W.W. Kimball continued to build church pipe organ up until W.W. II and always built instruments of the finest quality. My organ professor in college studied on a large late Kimball in Denver (St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral) and he always told me it was not to be forgotten. Of course, the Radio City Music Hall’s Wurlitzer, built to Kimball specifications (ranks and scales) benefits from the design, so that it’s a pretty versatile organ.
So you know about the famous Kimball string pipes? (Their reeds and most flues, except Tibias, weren’t slouches either.) The largest collection of Kimball strings is not in a church or theater organ. It’s the String Division (88 ranks) in the Wanamaker Organ in Phildelphia. Standing in the middle of that organ chamber was inspiring.
What ever happened to the huge Kimball that was in the Minneapolic Civic Auditorium and in storage? It had a five-manual main classic console and a four manual theater console. I heard it’s up for sale. I think it has 110 ranks, part classical, part theater.
I think Robert Headley lives in DC. He’s been asked by local here to republish his Exitbook, but so far, won’t do it. :o( . BTW, I only have a 60-minute drive to hear and play the Dickinson Theater Organ Society’s Kimball organ, as I am a member there and do some volunteer work for them. [url]www.geocities.com/dtoskimball[/url]
Seems that they used the Grand Organ to provide live music for the New York Liberty this past summer.
Jim: I’ve heard that the Oriental is quite a gem. Its organ, a Kimball, is said to be a twin, as originally built, to the one that was here in the Stanley Theater in Baltimore. I understand that the Oriental Kimball was orginally installed in the Warner (Center) Theater. If you look at the page for Baltimore’s Stanley Theater, I posted a story about the theater and its organ.
Apparently, from his statement, Mr. Van Bibber might never been in the Stanley and should have not made the contribution above. The Stanley was very similar to Messrs. Hoffman and Henon’s Mastbaum Theater in Philadelphia was which hardly an “overdecorated railroad station.”
To quote Robert F. Headley’s book, Exit, a book about Baltimore’s movie theaters:
“The Stanley was built in 1927 for the Stanley-Crandell Company of Washington, D.C>, on the site of the old Academy of Music. Reliable sources indicate that at least two and three walls of the Academy of Music were used for the Stanley. The Stanley was designed and built by the Hoffman-Henon Company of Philadelphia at a cost of $2,500,00.00. The front of the theater was made of white marble with six columns surrounding three arched windows above the marquee. Fifty multi-colored flood light were available on top of the marquee to illuminate the facade. The main entrance was divied by a huge box office with space in it for four cashiers. The mammoth Mastbaum in Philadelphia closely resembled the Stanley as several other Hoffman-Henon theaters. The lobby was like some out of a Hapsburg palace. It was faced in imported Italian marble with a terrazo marble floor inlaid with brass. The ceiling of the lobby soared 100 about the floor. On either side of the lobby, marble stairways led up to the mezzanine and lower balcony. The luxoriously appointed mezzanine lounge extended the width of the theater and was richly furnished with ‘divans, easy chairs, decorative floor lamps and all of the accoutrements suggeseted by indifference to cost and a highly developed sense of refinement and comfort.’ [From the Baltimore News, 1927.] The huge main auditorium was executed in a Medieval Romanesque style. The main colors were buff, gray and pale blue, set off with gold and terra cotta with rich maroon tapestries and wall hangings. The main lighting feature was a huge Tiffany cut-crystal chandelier. GOld-lead decoration surrounded the chandelier and it was relamped yearly. Along the side walls, at various points, were marble pillars. Twenty-four 1,000-watt spotlights were located on the arch above the balcony. The Stanley had cosmetic and restrooms for the ladies and smoking rooms for men in the basement and on the mezzanine. On either side of the projection booth, there were orchestral rehearsal rooms. The Stanley’s stage was 50 feet wide and 38 feet high. The gridiron from which the scenery, draperies and other stage investitures hung was located 110 fett above the stage floor. Back stage, there were eough dressing rooms to accommodate 12 complete acts. The giant switchboard which controlled the stage lighting was one of the largest south of New York.”
Hardly an overdecorated railroad station. The Stanley’s earliest years were not good, but eventually, contrary to Mr. Van Bibber’s commentary, the theater did catch on with the theater being operated by Stanley-Warner. Interestingly, the Stanley was the scene of the world premiere of Tarzan the Ape Man on March 11, 1932. Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O'Sullivan and C. Aubrey Smith were in attendance.
Stanley-Warner sold the theater to local owner, Morris Mechanic in 1958 and he changed the name of the theater to Stanton in 1959. From then on, the theater was used for legit shows and movies. After the last show of Oliver on April 17, 1965, the theater was closed and demolition followed shortly thereafter. Mr. Mechanic built a new legit theater (a modern monstrosity) with his name on it and had the Stanley torn down for no competition.
The was a brief period of happiness in the 1960’s for the theater. Another treasure the Stanley had was its 3-manual, 28 rank, W. W. Kimball organ with a piano. It was restored in time for the local premiere of the movie, The Music Man. The Kimball was larger than most theater organs throughout the country as well. At the theater’s end, the organ was first sold to the group that restored her, but Mr. Mechanic, the wheeler-dealer he was, reneged on the agreement and sold the organ to a west-coast organ broker, who in turn offered to re-sell the organ back to the local group … at a handsome profit. The local organ group ensured that the organ broker never got to hear the organ before his arrival in Baltimore by simply disconnecting all of the ground wires from the DC current generator to the organ chambers (2). The organ eventually was sold for parts and a few pieces were left to go down with the theater, including the blower, which remains under the parking lot.
The console lives on. The Dickinson Theater Organ Society is restoring it to be a duplicate console to its Kimball organ from Philadelphia’s Boyd Theater.
I have recording of the Stanley Kimball organ, with Leonard Maclain at the console. The recording is non-descript, but it shows off the Kimball quite well. I personally knew most of the men who tried desperately to save the Stanley’s theater and organ. It was truly a loss to Baltimore. Had the “Save Our Landmarks” movement started before the Stanley was torn down, perhaps it would have become a showplace like the newly-restored Hippodrome Theater has become.
To add to Warren’s comments, the Tower’s WurliTzer was a three-manual, 15 rank, style 260, opus 1901, installed on 6/29/1928. As far from what I’ve gathered from theatre organ enthusists around the area, the organ had been vandalized (stolen pipe organ) and most of it is now gone. WurliTzer Style 260, with lots of bells and whistles, was a common model for larger houses.
There is one treasure from the Boyd/SamEric theater that is quite well and alive. The theater’s W.W. Kimball (opus 7050) pipe organ made its final concert on Washington’s Birthday 1969 with Philadelphia organist, Larry Ferrari, at the console. It was the last time an operable theater pipe organ played in Philadelphia. (The next to the last was the Tower theater in Upper Darby.)
After the farewell concert, the organ was removed and became the property of the Dickinson Theatre Organ Society. The Society offers a regular concert schedule on the organ, which is over three times its original size. The link to DTOS is: [url]www.geocities.com/dtoskimball.[/url] There is plenty of information about the organ, some pictures of the Boyd theater and lots of pictures of the interior of the organ at DTOS.
Yes!!! That’s an excellent idea. There’s no reason why Cablevision ought not consider screening it in Summer 2005. It seems to me there were filmings during the summers in the 80’s at the Music Hall.
For a fascinating book about the concept of, the design and the building of Rockefeller Center, including Radio City Music Hall (originally known as the International Music Hall), the RKO Roxy and Samuel Lionel “Roxy” Rothapfel, get Great Fortune written by Daniel Okrent. The original idea of a theater in Rockefeller Center was indeed the new Metropolitan Opera House. The book may be purchased at Border’s, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. For theater lovers as we are, it was truly fascinating to read about Rocketfeller Center’s history.
Indeed the Fox went out with a bang. None other than the late theater organist George Wright took the Mighty WurliTzer through its paces for its last public concert. Mr. Wright also was house organist at the Fox at one time. There’s an interesting story about Wright’s improving the organ’s sound.
The sound of the organ was greatly muffled by velvet draperies hanging in front of the organ chambers. Wright tried to convince the management to remove the curtains, but to no avail. Finally he took the matter in his own hands. He and a lady friend climbed around around the theater and cut the curtains down. All that remained in front of the chambers was a lighter weight curtain.
Management was not particularly happy with what Wright and friend did and considered firing him. However cooler heads prevailed. The management was totally amazed with the “new” sound of the organ and noted that it became even more of an attraction.
By the way, at the demise of the Fox, the organ was sold in toto to a California legislator, Frank Lantermann, who installed it in his home without modification! Upon his passing, the organ was purchased by Disney, and of course, was installed in the El Capitan theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Before its installation, the organ was completely rebuilt, including a beautiful regilding of the ornate console.
For those interesting, here’s a link to the American Theatre Organ Society’s website and the San Fransisco Fox WurliTzer: View link
More Brooklyn Fox trivia. There was one item in the Brooklyn Fox that was identical to the Saint Louis, Detroit and San Francisco Fox Theaters. All of them had identical WurliTzer pipe organs, known as “Fox Specials.” There were five of these instruments built, the first was for the New York Paramount Theater. You can see the console in the picture above at the left side of the orchestra pit.
These were the five largest instruments built for a theater by WurliTzer until 1932 when WurliTzer installed the organ in Radio City Music Hall. All of the Fox Specials, to my knowledge, had one fully working main console and a second slave console that looked like the main console, but only the keyboards were operable. The only installation by WurliTzer with two independently working consoles is the Radio City Music Hall. Two organists can actually play two independent piece of music utilizing the same pipes. (Wouldn’t probably sound too well, either!) Four of the Fox Specials survive, but sadly, the Brooklyn instrument was sold for parts.
WurliTzer spared no expense on these instruments. In addition to their 36 sets (ranks) of pipes, each organ had a set of 12d tune kettle drums which look like large wash tubs. Pity that there are no recordings of the Brooklyn Fox instrument known.
Thanks for your comments. You are quite right about theater staff knowing who was at the organ at the Music Hall! At the time my friend was an Assistant Organist, Leibert, Miller and Bohr were indeed the primary organists. I have a number of recordings of all of them, and Liebert’s style, to me, was a bit “dark” sounding. Leibert did the “Supper Shows” and Bohr usually opened. (At least that’s what Ray told me.) Leibert studied the organ at the Peabody Conservatory of Music here in Baltimore. Miller, who still lives in New Jersey, holds a Master’s Degree in Music and Ray Bohr studied the organ with New York organist Harold Friedell. All were artists in their own right. They had to be … the Music Hall organ is a difficult instrument to play due to the location of the consoles in relationship to the pipes (in the ceiling).
Check this website out: [url]http://www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/RadioCity/RadioCity.html[/url]. It’s a great story of the Mightiest of all WurliTzers at the Radio City Music Hall and I know that you will enjoy it. The picture of Bohr and Leibert at the Prompt Side console (thank God the rear-view mirror and clock were removed when the consoles was totally rebuilt} is great. Let me know what you think. It gives a good argument that the RCMH organ is a Kimball-designed organ will two WurliTzer consoles, all built by WurliTzer.
Cheers!
PS: As I write this, I am already planning my family’s annual pilgrimage to see the Christmas Spectacular. Who cares if it’s been changed from the “Old Format?” At least the show does go on.
The Mighty Wurlitzer organ at the Saint Louis Fox was not really designed by organist Jesse Crawford per se, although he had specified some ranks (sets) of pipes for the New York Paramount Theater organ, which was the first of five identical models to be known as “Fox Special” WurliTzer organs. See the article at the American Theater Organ Society’s website: www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/CrawfordSpecial/CrawfordSpecial.html It gives a fascinating story of the real Crawford Special. It’s fortunate that four of the five Fox Special WurliTzers still survive. Here are/were all the locations:
Saint Louis Fox Theatre (still original)
Detroit Fox Theatre (identical theater and still original)
New York Paramount Theatre (now at the Wichita KS Century II Convention Center, new duplicate console)
Brooklyn Fox (sold for parts)
San Francisco Fox (now totally restored at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles
The other Fox flagship theatre was the Atlanta Fox. It is graced by a 42-rank M.P. Moller organ which has been lovingly cared for by Joe Patten since 1963. It known to be in better than originally installed condition.
Saint Louis is fortunate to have Stan Kann back at the Fox. I met him a few years ago and he invited me to visit him at the Fabulous Fox. Something on my “to do” list, to be sure.
Did you know organist Raymond “Ray” F. Bohr, Jr. when you were at the Hall? A very good friend of mine was an Associate Organist there in 1955-1956 and it was through him I was honored to know Ray, whom I first met in January 1977, which was a time of trouble for the Hall. My friend and I visited Ray in 1978 and 1979 and we always treated like family. Ray would always show us some interesting part of the theater and standing on the platform at the top the fly tower over the Great Stage is something I will never forget, along with watching the movie from the orchestra elevator, lowered at the bottom of the pit. Of course, the organ was the special attraction.
Ray was the last full-time house organist (John DeTroy was part-time) at the Music Hall under the “old” format until 1979. The management there basically dismissed him. My friend and I kept in touch with Ray until his untimely passing in 1986. Ray knew the Mighty WurliTzer inside and out as he was also a trained organ technician, although he did not service the Music Hall organ. (He would always say, “Not my job!”) Ray was from Nyack, NY.
Fortunately, the Music Hall organ is under the expert care of the same family since its installation in 1932. She’s very lucky not to find the fate of other treasures, such as the Roxy’s organ.
The ice shows at the Roxy in the 50’s sealed the fate of the Kimball organ. The organ had 34 sets (ranks) of pipes, 31 of them were installed under the stage (Roxy’s idea) and 3 of them over the proscenium arch. After Roxy’s departure for Radio City Music Hall, the organ fell silents and the three consoles (main/brass/woodwind) were put into storage. There was a proposal made before this by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago to move the pipes under the stage, but nothing came of it. The pit was extended, so the openings to the organ chamber were sealed. Years later, the organ was resurrected with the main console (5 keyboards) being hoisted up to a small performer’s balcony on the left side of the theater. The pipes were amplified into the house sound system. Although it probably sounded pretty bad, there was at least organ music at the Roxy. The Roxy Kimball, as installed, was never something special, except for the three consoles in the orchestra pit. It suffered from being partially blocked by the pit. The organs at THE N.Y. Paramount and Radio City Music Hall were far better. It wasn’t Kimball’s fault … it was Roxy’s. Kimball built a quality product.
The purchase of the Kimball instrument was influenced by Roxy himself. He liked their product over other builders, such as WurliTzer. The Roxy had two other organs in the building, one in the Rotunda (Lobby) and one in the broadcasting studio. Sadly, these two instruments, along with the massive Deagan tower chimes, went down with the building. Only the 5-manual console from the main auditorium and some choice Kimball pipework were saved. The surviving Roxy console is privately owned and is in Las Vegas.
While on the subject of the venerable W.W. Kimball Company, when Roxy moved to RCMH, he asked the Kimball Company to bid on the Rockefeller Center project and its FOUR organs. The Music Hall, RKO Roxy (Center), the Rainbow Room and the Music Hall’s broadcast studio. Kimball was not able to build the instruments in the end due to the depression and the Rudolph WurliTzer Manufacturing Company of North Tonawanda, NY, completed the contract. The Music Hall organ, very much influenced by the Atlantic City Convention Hall’s Ballroom Kimball organ), retained the Kimball specification (so it’s really a Kimball organ with two identical WurliTzer consoles). The Center’s organ was a scaled-down version with the same sized console, done in a nature cherry finish. (It lives on in California beautifully restored.) The Rainbow Room organ was a WurliTzer stock residence model organ and the RCMH Broadcasting organ was a custom specification.
I guess we are fortunate as listeners that the Music Hall organ (and both consoles) received an expert restoration when the Hall was restored in 1999. Yes … I am a theatre organ afficinado. I will try to find a picture of the Center console in its present glory.
Jim: I second what you have to say about theatre organist vs. classical organists arguement. There was as many bad classical organists and theater organists as well as good ones. As Ben Hall states in the his Best Remaining Seats: “It – the Mighty Wurlitzer – was, after all, capable of producing honest music of compelling emotional force when properly played and, in the hands of an expert, could work musical magic far beyond the limitations of any other instrument. Without it, the movie palace would have been soulless as an armory.” The chapter to which you refer in Hall’s book is, The Apotheosis of the Mighty Wurlitzer, page 179. Having played both classical and theater instruments, the theater organ, IMHO, is more challenging to play.
The Music Hall organ sounds great in its environment, but it depends where you sit. Since the chambers are situated fairly high on either side of the proscenium, the lower level of the third mezzanine puts the listener at approximately the same level of the organ chambers. There are places in the orchestra where the organ is terribly muffled especially since it, to my knowledge, is no longer miked, particularly the percussions and the piano.
Jim:
The Hippodrome is gorgeous. My wife and I attended the opening show, The Producers. The Hipp also had an organ in it … a transplanted M.P. Moller church pipe organ, installed UNDER the stage. (Yuck!) It didn’t last very long. (Mercifully.)
Kimballs are/were real beauties. W.W. Kimball continued to build church pipe organ up until W.W. II and always built instruments of the finest quality. My organ professor in college studied on a large late Kimball in Denver (St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral) and he always told me it was not to be forgotten. Of course, the Radio City Music Hall’s Wurlitzer, built to Kimball specifications (ranks and scales) benefits from the design, so that it’s a pretty versatile organ.
So you know about the famous Kimball string pipes? (Their reeds and most flues, except Tibias, weren’t slouches either.) The largest collection of Kimball strings is not in a church or theater organ. It’s the String Division (88 ranks) in the Wanamaker Organ in Phildelphia. Standing in the middle of that organ chamber was inspiring.
What ever happened to the huge Kimball that was in the Minneapolic Civic Auditorium and in storage? It had a five-manual main classic console and a four manual theater console. I heard it’s up for sale. I think it has 110 ranks, part classical, part theater.
I think Robert Headley lives in DC. He’s been asked by local here to republish his Exitbook, but so far, won’t do it. :o( . BTW, I only have a 60-minute drive to hear and play the Dickinson Theater Organ Society’s Kimball organ, as I am a member there and do some volunteer work for them. [url]www.geocities.com/dtoskimball[/url]
Seems that they used the Grand Organ to provide live music for the New York Liberty this past summer.
Jim: I’ve heard that the Oriental is quite a gem. Its organ, a Kimball, is said to be a twin, as originally built, to the one that was here in the Stanley Theater in Baltimore. I understand that the Oriental Kimball was orginally installed in the Warner (Center) Theater. If you look at the page for Baltimore’s Stanley Theater, I posted a story about the theater and its organ.
Lucky Milwaukee to have the Oriental!
Apparently, from his statement, Mr. Van Bibber might never been in the Stanley and should have not made the contribution above. The Stanley was very similar to Messrs. Hoffman and Henon’s Mastbaum Theater in Philadelphia was which hardly an “overdecorated railroad station.”
To quote Robert F. Headley’s book, Exit, a book about Baltimore’s movie theaters:
“The Stanley was built in 1927 for the Stanley-Crandell Company of Washington, D.C>, on the site of the old Academy of Music. Reliable sources indicate that at least two and three walls of the Academy of Music were used for the Stanley. The Stanley was designed and built by the Hoffman-Henon Company of Philadelphia at a cost of $2,500,00.00. The front of the theater was made of white marble with six columns surrounding three arched windows above the marquee. Fifty multi-colored flood light were available on top of the marquee to illuminate the facade. The main entrance was divied by a huge box office with space in it for four cashiers. The mammoth Mastbaum in Philadelphia closely resembled the Stanley as several other Hoffman-Henon theaters. The lobby was like some out of a Hapsburg palace. It was faced in imported Italian marble with a terrazo marble floor inlaid with brass. The ceiling of the lobby soared 100 about the floor. On either side of the lobby, marble stairways led up to the mezzanine and lower balcony. The luxoriously appointed mezzanine lounge extended the width of the theater and was richly furnished with ‘divans, easy chairs, decorative floor lamps and all of the accoutrements suggeseted by indifference to cost and a highly developed sense of refinement and comfort.’ [From the Baltimore News, 1927.] The huge main auditorium was executed in a Medieval Romanesque style. The main colors were buff, gray and pale blue, set off with gold and terra cotta with rich maroon tapestries and wall hangings. The main lighting feature was a huge Tiffany cut-crystal chandelier. GOld-lead decoration surrounded the chandelier and it was relamped yearly. Along the side walls, at various points, were marble pillars. Twenty-four 1,000-watt spotlights were located on the arch above the balcony. The Stanley had cosmetic and restrooms for the ladies and smoking rooms for men in the basement and on the mezzanine. On either side of the projection booth, there were orchestral rehearsal rooms. The Stanley’s stage was 50 feet wide and 38 feet high. The gridiron from which the scenery, draperies and other stage investitures hung was located 110 fett above the stage floor. Back stage, there were eough dressing rooms to accommodate 12 complete acts. The giant switchboard which controlled the stage lighting was one of the largest south of New York.”
Hardly an overdecorated railroad station. The Stanley’s earliest years were not good, but eventually, contrary to Mr. Van Bibber’s commentary, the theater did catch on with the theater being operated by Stanley-Warner. Interestingly, the Stanley was the scene of the world premiere of Tarzan the Ape Man on March 11, 1932. Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O'Sullivan and C. Aubrey Smith were in attendance.
Stanley-Warner sold the theater to local owner, Morris Mechanic in 1958 and he changed the name of the theater to Stanton in 1959. From then on, the theater was used for legit shows and movies. After the last show of Oliver on April 17, 1965, the theater was closed and demolition followed shortly thereafter. Mr. Mechanic built a new legit theater (a modern monstrosity) with his name on it and had the Stanley torn down for no competition.
The was a brief period of happiness in the 1960’s for the theater. Another treasure the Stanley had was its 3-manual, 28 rank, W. W. Kimball organ with a piano. It was restored in time for the local premiere of the movie, The Music Man. The Kimball was larger than most theater organs throughout the country as well. At the theater’s end, the organ was first sold to the group that restored her, but Mr. Mechanic, the wheeler-dealer he was, reneged on the agreement and sold the organ to a west-coast organ broker, who in turn offered to re-sell the organ back to the local group … at a handsome profit. The local organ group ensured that the organ broker never got to hear the organ before his arrival in Baltimore by simply disconnecting all of the ground wires from the DC current generator to the organ chambers (2). The organ eventually was sold for parts and a few pieces were left to go down with the theater, including the blower, which remains under the parking lot.
The console lives on. The Dickinson Theater Organ Society is restoring it to be a duplicate console to its Kimball organ from Philadelphia’s Boyd Theater.
I have recording of the Stanley Kimball organ, with Leonard Maclain at the console. The recording is non-descript, but it shows off the Kimball quite well. I personally knew most of the men who tried desperately to save the Stanley’s theater and organ. It was truly a loss to Baltimore. Had the “Save Our Landmarks” movement started before the Stanley was torn down, perhaps it would have become a showplace like the newly-restored Hippodrome Theater has become.
To add to Warren’s comments, the Tower’s WurliTzer was a three-manual, 15 rank, style 260, opus 1901, installed on 6/29/1928. As far from what I’ve gathered from theatre organ enthusists around the area, the organ had been vandalized (stolen pipe organ) and most of it is now gone. WurliTzer Style 260, with lots of bells and whistles, was a common model for larger houses.
There is one treasure from the Boyd/SamEric theater that is quite well and alive. The theater’s W.W. Kimball (opus 7050) pipe organ made its final concert on Washington’s Birthday 1969 with Philadelphia organist, Larry Ferrari, at the console. It was the last time an operable theater pipe organ played in Philadelphia. (The next to the last was the Tower theater in Upper Darby.)
After the farewell concert, the organ was removed and became the property of the Dickinson Theatre Organ Society. The Society offers a regular concert schedule on the organ, which is over three times its original size. The link to DTOS is: [url]www.geocities.com/dtoskimball.[/url] There is plenty of information about the organ, some pictures of the Boyd theater and lots of pictures of the interior of the organ at DTOS.
Yes!!! That’s an excellent idea. There’s no reason why Cablevision ought not consider screening it in Summer 2005. It seems to me there were filmings during the summers in the 80’s at the Music Hall.
For a fascinating book about the concept of, the design and the building of Rockefeller Center, including Radio City Music Hall (originally known as the International Music Hall), the RKO Roxy and Samuel Lionel “Roxy” Rothapfel, get Great Fortune written by Daniel Okrent. The original idea of a theater in Rockefeller Center was indeed the new Metropolitan Opera House. The book may be purchased at Border’s, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. For theater lovers as we are, it was truly fascinating to read about Rocketfeller Center’s history.
Indeed the Fox went out with a bang. None other than the late theater organist George Wright took the Mighty WurliTzer through its paces for its last public concert. Mr. Wright also was house organist at the Fox at one time. There’s an interesting story about Wright’s improving the organ’s sound.
The sound of the organ was greatly muffled by velvet draperies hanging in front of the organ chambers. Wright tried to convince the management to remove the curtains, but to no avail. Finally he took the matter in his own hands. He and a lady friend climbed around around the theater and cut the curtains down. All that remained in front of the chambers was a lighter weight curtain.
Management was not particularly happy with what Wright and friend did and considered firing him. However cooler heads prevailed. The management was totally amazed with the “new” sound of the organ and noted that it became even more of an attraction.
By the way, at the demise of the Fox, the organ was sold in toto to a California legislator, Frank Lantermann, who installed it in his home without modification! Upon his passing, the organ was purchased by Disney, and of course, was installed in the El Capitan theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Before its installation, the organ was completely rebuilt, including a beautiful regilding of the ornate console.
For those interesting, here’s a link to the American Theatre Organ Society’s website and the San Fransisco Fox WurliTzer: View link
More Brooklyn Fox trivia. There was one item in the Brooklyn Fox that was identical to the Saint Louis, Detroit and San Francisco Fox Theaters. All of them had identical WurliTzer pipe organs, known as “Fox Specials.” There were five of these instruments built, the first was for the New York Paramount Theater. You can see the console in the picture above at the left side of the orchestra pit.
These were the five largest instruments built for a theater by WurliTzer until 1932 when WurliTzer installed the organ in Radio City Music Hall. All of the Fox Specials, to my knowledge, had one fully working main console and a second slave console that looked like the main console, but only the keyboards were operable. The only installation by WurliTzer with two independently working consoles is the Radio City Music Hall. Two organists can actually play two independent piece of music utilizing the same pipes. (Wouldn’t probably sound too well, either!) Four of the Fox Specials survive, but sadly, the Brooklyn instrument was sold for parts.
WurliTzer spared no expense on these instruments. In addition to their 36 sets (ranks) of pipes, each organ had a set of 12d tune kettle drums which look like large wash tubs. Pity that there are no recordings of the Brooklyn Fox instrument known.
Hello SimonL,
Thanks for your comments. You are quite right about theater staff knowing who was at the organ at the Music Hall! At the time my friend was an Assistant Organist, Leibert, Miller and Bohr were indeed the primary organists. I have a number of recordings of all of them, and Liebert’s style, to me, was a bit “dark” sounding. Leibert did the “Supper Shows” and Bohr usually opened. (At least that’s what Ray told me.) Leibert studied the organ at the Peabody Conservatory of Music here in Baltimore. Miller, who still lives in New Jersey, holds a Master’s Degree in Music and Ray Bohr studied the organ with New York organist Harold Friedell. All were artists in their own right. They had to be … the Music Hall organ is a difficult instrument to play due to the location of the consoles in relationship to the pipes (in the ceiling).
Check this website out: [url]http://www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/RadioCity/RadioCity.html[/url]. It’s a great story of the Mightiest of all WurliTzers at the Radio City Music Hall and I know that you will enjoy it. The picture of Bohr and Leibert at the Prompt Side console (thank God the rear-view mirror and clock were removed when the consoles was totally rebuilt} is great. Let me know what you think. It gives a good argument that the RCMH organ is a Kimball-designed organ will two WurliTzer consoles, all built by WurliTzer.
Cheers!
PS: As I write this, I am already planning my family’s annual pilgrimage to see the Christmas Spectacular. Who cares if it’s been changed from the “Old Format?” At least the show does go on.
The Mighty Wurlitzer organ at the Saint Louis Fox was not really designed by organist Jesse Crawford per se, although he had specified some ranks (sets) of pipes for the New York Paramount Theater organ, which was the first of five identical models to be known as “Fox Special” WurliTzer organs. See the article at the American Theater Organ Society’s website: www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/CrawfordSpecial/CrawfordSpecial.html It gives a fascinating story of the real Crawford Special. It’s fortunate that four of the five Fox Special WurliTzers still survive. Here are/were all the locations:
The other Fox flagship theatre was the Atlanta Fox. It is graced by a 42-rank M.P. Moller organ which has been lovingly cared for by Joe Patten since 1963. It known to be in better than originally installed condition.
Saint Louis is fortunate to have Stan Kann back at the Fox. I met him a few years ago and he invited me to visit him at the Fabulous Fox. Something on my “to do” list, to be sure.
Simon L!
Did you know organist Raymond “Ray” F. Bohr, Jr. when you were at the Hall? A very good friend of mine was an Associate Organist there in 1955-1956 and it was through him I was honored to know Ray, whom I first met in January 1977, which was a time of trouble for the Hall. My friend and I visited Ray in 1978 and 1979 and we always treated like family. Ray would always show us some interesting part of the theater and standing on the platform at the top the fly tower over the Great Stage is something I will never forget, along with watching the movie from the orchestra elevator, lowered at the bottom of the pit. Of course, the organ was the special attraction.
Ray was the last full-time house organist (John DeTroy was part-time) at the Music Hall under the “old” format until 1979. The management there basically dismissed him. My friend and I kept in touch with Ray until his untimely passing in 1986. Ray knew the Mighty WurliTzer inside and out as he was also a trained organ technician, although he did not service the Music Hall organ. (He would always say, “Not my job!”) Ray was from Nyack, NY.
Fortunately, the Music Hall organ is under the expert care of the same family since its installation in 1932. She’s very lucky not to find the fate of other treasures, such as the Roxy’s organ.
The ice shows at the Roxy in the 50’s sealed the fate of the Kimball organ. The organ had 34 sets (ranks) of pipes, 31 of them were installed under the stage (Roxy’s idea) and 3 of them over the proscenium arch. After Roxy’s departure for Radio City Music Hall, the organ fell silents and the three consoles (main/brass/woodwind) were put into storage. There was a proposal made before this by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago to move the pipes under the stage, but nothing came of it. The pit was extended, so the openings to the organ chamber were sealed. Years later, the organ was resurrected with the main console (5 keyboards) being hoisted up to a small performer’s balcony on the left side of the theater. The pipes were amplified into the house sound system. Although it probably sounded pretty bad, there was at least organ music at the Roxy. The Roxy Kimball, as installed, was never something special, except for the three consoles in the orchestra pit. It suffered from being partially blocked by the pit. The organs at THE N.Y. Paramount and Radio City Music Hall were far better. It wasn’t Kimball’s fault … it was Roxy’s. Kimball built a quality product.
The purchase of the Kimball instrument was influenced by Roxy himself. He liked their product over other builders, such as WurliTzer. The Roxy had two other organs in the building, one in the Rotunda (Lobby) and one in the broadcasting studio. Sadly, these two instruments, along with the massive Deagan tower chimes, went down with the building. Only the 5-manual console from the main auditorium and some choice Kimball pipework were saved. The surviving Roxy console is privately owned and is in Las Vegas.
While on the subject of the venerable W.W. Kimball Company, when Roxy moved to RCMH, he asked the Kimball Company to bid on the Rockefeller Center project and its FOUR organs. The Music Hall, RKO Roxy (Center), the Rainbow Room and the Music Hall’s broadcast studio. Kimball was not able to build the instruments in the end due to the depression and the Rudolph WurliTzer Manufacturing Company of North Tonawanda, NY, completed the contract. The Music Hall organ, very much influenced by the Atlantic City Convention Hall’s Ballroom Kimball organ), retained the Kimball specification (so it’s really a Kimball organ with two identical WurliTzer consoles). The Center’s organ was a scaled-down version with the same sized console, done in a nature cherry finish. (It lives on in California beautifully restored.) The Rainbow Room organ was a WurliTzer stock residence model organ and the RCMH Broadcasting organ was a custom specification.
I guess we are fortunate as listeners that the Music Hall organ (and both consoles) received an expert restoration when the Hall was restored in 1999. Yes … I am a theatre organ afficinado. I will try to find a picture of the Center console in its present glory.