Lyceum Theatre
23 E. Market Street,
Red Hook,
NY
12571
23 E. Market Street,
Red Hook,
NY
12571
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Besides this one, I am aware of the following other existing examples of these two related Wurlitzer photoplayer models today
(Note, I might have counted the same single extant instrument more than once in at least one instance, due to not yet knowing the exact history)
(Further note: I have not included other extant Wurlitzer photoplayer styles/models in this list, such as styles D Duplex, F, G, G-L, O, YO, K, and YK, since it would get a bit long and off-topic for this post on the page for this theatre):
U formerly owned by collector, historian and researcher Q. David Bowers, when he lived in Vestal NY. Shown in his collection in his book “Put Another Nickel In” published in 1965. Later sold, but I don’t know where it went and who were the subsequent and current owners.
U Early history / original location unknown to me. formerly in the Pate Museum of Transportation in Cresson (Fort Worth), Texas (at least, was on display there in the 1970s/1980s). The museum closed and was auctioned off in 2010, but I am not sure if the photoplayer was still there at that late date. It may have been sold to another owner / collector some time before this.
YU Musee Baud, (Baud brothers Museum) L'Auberson, Switzerland. I do not know the earlier history of this photoplayer, except according to a c. 2007 blog post (“les2decoppet”), it originally was used in a theatre in the USA, (I don’t know which one or where) and was later sold to the museum and exported to Switzerland.
As part of the restoration of the instrument, the two 88-note roll frames were modified with new tracker bars for Philipps PM rolls (aka Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra rolls), so that it can play almost the entire instrument automatically for museum display / demonstration purposes. There are several videos of this photoplayer in action on the YouTube channel “les2decoppet”: https://www.youtube.com/@les2decoppet/videos
YU Early history / original location unknown to me. formerly in the late Denis McMenamy collection in Oregon. Upon his passing, this instrument was sold (I think via the late Tim Trager) and I think this is the same model YU now installed and in use in the Glenwood Springs Vaudeville Revue theatre in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is used for accompanying their stage shows, etc. It is one of the very few photoplayers in the USA which is currently installed in a theatre and serving its original purpose. I believe there are also several videos of this instrument on YouTube, and it is also mentioned on their website.
YU
Early history / original location unknown to me.
Private collection, Port Huron, Michigan.
YU Early history / original location unknown to me. center piano unit only (side cabinets missing; BUT the piano unit is fully restored) was offered for sale on Craigslist in Washington State (Seattle area?) about 10 years ago. I don’t know where it is now.
unsure whether U or YU (I don’t have a picture of it) Early history / original location unknown to me. Daughters of the Pioneers Museum, either Utah or Wyoming. (Likely, the Daughters of Utah Pioneers / DUP Museum in Salt Lake City). This instrument is reportedly located in their basement as a display piece, and they have no plans to restore it to working order, as per a (now deceased) collector who visited and inspected it years ago.
The style U from the Lyceum in Red Hook was rediscovered in the 1970s, when some college friends of player piano restorer Larry Broadmoore, told him about a ‘player piano with two big speakers next to it’ that they saw in the theatre. Larry wasted no time getting over there to the theatre to inspect this instrument, and made a deal to buy it. (Of course the instrument has no “speakers”, what his friends saw are the side cabinets with grilles with cloth in the front, which contain actual organ pipes, percussion, and sound effects)
Several friends helped him move the piano and side cabinets to his parents' house, where the instrument ‘lived’ for the next several years, until Larry moved away. At that time he sold the instrument to collector Allan Stafford of Pennsylvania. [the above info was told to me directly by Larry, who is still active as a player piano restorer in Southern California].
While owned by Allan Stafford, Band organ and orchestrion enthusiast Bill Black came by to visit, and recorded the instrument (I think in the 1980s), and has put out a commercial cassette / CD recording of the restored instrument playing, as “Allan Stafford’s Wurlitzer Style U photoplayer”, on his private “Carrousel Music” record label.
Here is that recording: (cassette version): http://music.carouselstores.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=79 (CD version): http://music.carouselstores.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=80
I am not positive, but think Mr. Stafford later sold the instrument to the owner of the American Treasure Tour museum in Oaks, Pennsylvania, where it is currently on display (along with several other photoplayers, and a huge number of coin pianos, orchestrions, and band organs, as well as many other items).
Here is a photo of this exact instrument, taken in 2009 by Dale Dohler during a visit to the Treasure Tour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dtdohler/albums/72157622361818962/with/3917305840
The Lyceum Theatre in Red Hook, New York originally had music supplied by a Wurlitzer style U photoplayer.
(I don’t know the serial # of this photoplayer yet to help determine the age, but the first style U was built in 1915, and the last one in 1927).
This model uses Concert PianOrchestra orchestrion music rolls (having two roll frames, so music can play from one, while the other roll is being rewound, fast-forwarded, or changed, to cue up the music for the next scene), and has:
piano, large divided (bass and treble) 56-note rank of violin and cello pipes; large divided (bass and treble) 56-note rank of flute pipes; glockenspiel (I think 30 notes) bass drum w/tympani beaters snare drum cymbal crash cymbal triangle castanets tambourine and several sound effects, including bird whistle, horses' hooves, train/boat whistle, door bell, auto horn, and fire gong.
Wurlitzer also made a variation of this model called the “YU”, using regular 88-note piano rolls (meaning the roll only plays the notes; all registration/expression and percussion needs to be manually controlled/played by the operator, instead of the roll automatically turning off and on the pipes and bells, adding expression, and playing the drums etc as the other model does from the special rolls).
Both of these models were fairly popular as Wurlitzer photoplayers go, with 171 model U’s built from 1915-1927, and 40 model YU’s built from 1916-1924.
This photoplayer was probably no longer used, and forgotten, when sound movies came in.
While sadly a large number of photoplayers were destroyed in the 1930s-1960s, some were rediscovered and saved by collectors and enthusiasts in the 1960s-2000s.
Address is 23 E Market St. in Red Hook.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nessachan/sets/72157634180491496 Here are the pictures of the interior of the theatre.
I was there last week, and the Annex antique shop is moving out. The people working there didn’t know what will happen to the theatre building. It is pretty much still intact inside. Even the screen is still there, balcony and everything. I took lots of pictures, I’ll post them soon.
I remember seeing films at the Lyceum back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when I worked at a nearby camp during the summer. I also went to similar theaters- The Starr in Rhinebeck, a few miles to the south of Red Hook and the Plains in Pine Plains, probably about 15 miles to the east of Red Hook on the other side of the Taconic Parkway. At that time all of these were quiet little towns.
I haven’t been in the region in many years but I understand that they have become virtual suburbs of NYC.
Yes, the addition currently is a theater. The original autitorium is a bit peculiar- it is a converted 19th C. church. If you look up at the ceiling you see draperies than cover what ever ornaments or trusses were up there, as well as improving the acoustics. Never was a fancy theater but the building has a certain quirky charm.
Is the addition open as a theatre?
Located in the sleepy town of Red Hook, the original Lyceum Theatre is now called the Lyceum Annex. The original auditorium space is now an antique store. There’s an addition to the building in which the current auditorium resides. Just outside of town is also the Lyceum 6-screen theatre.