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Being a classical organist I think I can speak to the issue of why some classical organists look down their nose at the theater organist.... Firstly a theater organist does have much more ability to arrange and use the physical features of the organ to please the listener.... I believe that there is enmity of the classical organist towards the theater organist for that reason... I believe that classical organists take themselves perhaps a bit to seriously.... I agree that modern music generally is easier to play then classical pieces.... (blanket statement) .... Some classical pieces take months if not years to master.... Thou art the rock by mulet being an example... I also grew up as a theater organist and can still manage to be passable playing modern music.... I do however enjoy the classics of Bach and especially of Handel for its magnificence of composition.... My last comment is that its my hope that organists of both realms can show respect to each other. each has unique gifts.... music.... is a gift from the almighty.....
I've heard figures ofonly about 20% of the silent films produced 1910-1929 survive to the present day. I worked in the Motion Picture/Broadcasting/Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress for 24 years. Harold Lloyd lost his main film vault to a fire in the late 1930s. The Library of Congress was gifted Mary Pickford's film archives - but, she had seriously considered destroying the films (fortunately, another actress talked her out to destroying her priceless film collection. The major studios seemed little interested in preserving the pre-1929 silent films - many discovered since the 1960s had deteriorated within their cans.
Don’t you just love RU-vid. You come across something like the Wurlitzer organ randomly and one search query away you find this excellent and compact documentary. 👏
I think that at at 2:00, what they call the "regulators" are actually the devices (tremulant) that generate the varying air pressure for the tremolo effect.
I sure wished that the theater organ could make a come back again, also having sing along before the movie starts. I played the pipe organ at my church, because I was the only one who was able to play an organ. But I had never played a theater pipe organ.
Craig Valentine is the best in his field I've followed him since he won the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking. You can cut years off your TM membership with Craig.
Yea, I love the Theater Organ. We do silent movie night at my house, where we mute the TV and I play the Yamaha psr-e373, with the Organ sounds to old TV westerns, and other old movies. It's a blast. Jeff
Classical organists frequently refer to theater organists as those who play only toy instruments. They could not be farther from the truth! The skill level required of a theater organist is infinitely higher than is required of a classical organist. The ONLY instrument connected to classical organs are chimes. The theater organists control dozens of other real instruments and provide a full rhythm section with percussions that classical organists simply can not do. Generally, classical organs have more ranks, but many of them sound very much the same; whereas, theater organs employ very different sounding ranks, so the organists can play orchestral arrangements...again, something the classical organs are not capable of doing. Regarding more ranks if you have to have more, check out the Atlantic City Midmer-Losh theater pipe organ that has 455 ranks using 7 manuals plus the pedal board...all manipulated using 1,439 stop tabs and pistons. There are 30 different tremolos. The top 3 manuals contain 5 octaves each, the 4th manual has 6 octaves, and the 5th thru 7th manuals have 7 octaves each. It was invented by Senator Emerson Richards in 1929. The auditorium in which it resides is 4 city blocks, and a 13-story building could be set inside and not touch the ceiling. From 8 different chambers, the organ speaks into a room that has 5,500,000 cubic feet of space, and the room seats 41,000 people. The organ can drown out 3,500 orchestral musicians! The pipes are made from tin, lead, zinc, brass, and wood (and it required 225,000 board feet of lumber just for the wooden pipes!). The organ weighs 150 tons and took 33 fully loaded railroad cars to bring it into the city. There are 33,112 pipes with 12 additional rooms (besides the chambers) to house all of the motors, relays, and turbines. The largest blower is 1,000 horse power that moves 36,400 cubic feet of air per minute using 3.5" to 100" wind pressures. The smallest pipe is 1/16", and the largest pipe is 64' 9" that was made from an Oregon fir tree ~785 old with 3" thick walls and with a square base measuring 10" at the bottom and a square top measuring 36" across, and this pipe produces a zero distortion frequency of 8 HZ, which is one octave above an earthquake! The lowest 12-note octave on this 64' rank took 10,000 board feet of lumber to produce those pipes. The electrical wire to connect everything is 137,500 miles long, which could wrap around the equator 5.5 times! Also, theater pipe organs often times employed second touch keyboards that produce one sound when the key is pressed half-way down, and they produce another sound or percussion when it is pressed all the way down, which enables the organists to play melodies or rhythms from the same hand that is producing background accompaniment sounds.
The Mighty Wurlitzer may be grandfather of the synthesiser. But Max Crook's "Musitron" was definately the father. For the uninitiated, Max Crook and his"Musitron" are best known for the instrumental break on Del Shannon's global #1. The Musitron was Max's own invention which consisted of a English Clavoline and components from discarded audio equipment, as these components were already patented, he couldn't patent the Musitron in its own right, which left it wide open for duplication.
in the philippines, the avenue theater (1000 seats) had a wurlitzer 2/8. the metropolitian (1700 seats) has room for an organ but they never installed one. the prewar lyric theater (1500 seats), never had one. the 2/8 wurlitzer was bought by the iglesia ni cristo, is in storage since the 1950s. unfortunately, 60-70 years have done no justice to the organ. i thought the lyric had one, but it didn't. the avenue is now gone and a padi's point is on the site.
I totally agree with you. You might be interested in seeing a similar demonstration of another Wurlitzer organ which was built in 1929 and based in London, England since 1931:- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-44lNk9pVCmg.html&lc=UgzBf1kclyaD0u7am4d4AaABAg.9C932ktas_f9CAQ_xQJZZR
The newest Wurlitzer (from the factory) still in its original home and still playing is at Blackpool Opera House, Opus 2229. It was installed in 1939 and its specification was designed by Horace Finch.
What a wonderful treat, Thank You for sharing. I can't wrap my head around the person who invented the concept, Wurlitzer expounded upon the initial concept, but I'm dumbfounded by the level of understanding that it took to open the door to new inventions...now that is an engineering genius.
Us, too! It is an increasingly rare skill. Many organs like this now have modern, computer-controlled mechanisms instead of human organists. THAT's how difficult it is!
Ha! We're blushing over here, Julian. Thanks for the comment and glad to know we incrementally improved your appreciation for theater organs and the musicians that play them.
Wurlitzer invented the theatre organ to replace the orchestras that accompanied early silent films. It was very expensive to pay a whole orchestra to accompany every film. Theatre operators found that they could put on more film sessions if they only had to pay one musician to accompany each film. A Wurlitzer theatre organ could also emulate all of the “sound effects” for a silent film that an orchestra could make, i.e., train whistles, door knocks, horses hooves, church bells, etc. After the introduction of sound, theatre organs were redeployed to play a pre-film program of popular music into the 1930s and 1940s. These organs fell out of favour (as did single screen theatres) in the 1950s with the advent of television, drive-ins and bowling alleys. Long film programs gradually fell out of fashion, as did theatre organs. By this time, a lot of the organs were approaching 40 and in need of expensive repair. Many were uninstalled and sold to private collectors and relocated vast distances from their original locations in private homes and local halls. Many of the single screen, large and valuable land footprint theatres were either sold for redevelopment or cut into multiplexes. Theatre organ societies sprung up in the 70s and 80s to recreate the “mighty Wurlitzer” era.
That's pretty cool, reminds me of a local theater where I grew up, it's still in business and they still have their Mighty Wurlitzer. they're always using it for pre-and post show music
If I understand organs back in the day had that kinda “roll” paper, as did pianos, kind of like the original MIDI. Not sure if silent film organs had such, instead of the organist having to practice for weeks and play in time with the long movies. Wouldn’t surprise me if they did though. As said, if it can be done cheaper, it will. Thanks for explaining the history of theatre organs.
@@ecoRfan Theater organs in their peak era did NOT have player rolls like pianos...period. I have seen a few installed in homes where the owner modified the organ to be played with rolls because the owner did not play keyboard instruments. In these modern days with theater organs connected through computer systems, the computer captures EVERY movement that the organist performs such as electrically storing every key pressed, every piston pressed, and every change from swell volume. For organist live concerts, the CD recording is generally made after everyone leaves, and then the computer file replays the organ, which eliminates all of the coughing and other noises that happen during a live concert.
Wurlitzer didn't invent the theatre organ. It was a British man, Robert Hope-Jones, which is why the early Wurlitzer organs are labelled as Hope Jones unit orchestras.
There are two pre-Opus 1000 Wurlitzers here in Butte County, California. Within the past week, a raging fire destroyed Paradise, and threatened to flatten Magalia and Oroville as well. The winds have not blown for a while, so fire crews managed to prevent spreading into These two other towns. In Magalia, there is a private residence that houses a four manual twenty six rank Wurlitzer, added onto over the years since its removal from the Rivoli Theatre in Pendleton, Oregon. Its Opus number is 435. In Oroville, there is a medium sized movie palace placed in the historic downtown area. State Theatre has been its name since 1928. The original Wurlitzer, a single chamber instrument, was removed long ago. Recently, within the past twenty years, a three manual seventeen rank Wurlitzer was planned to be installed in this theater. I joined the project about halfway through, when the solo chamber became the focus of installation. This was mid 2018-before the fire. I have assisted the organist and organ builder, Dave Moreno, and the Piano Tuner David Dewey, in the installation. The Opus number for this instrument is 716, and the organ’s console is from Wurlitzer Opus 846. The fire has, so far, left these two instruments untouched and undamaged. I hope that they will not receive any smoke damage from the air, and I hope that the one in Magalia remains in healthy condition, even as I speak, it is in an uncontrolled indoor climate. The area has received a long evacuation period, and cut of power until the power distribution company fixes all of the downed wires. I live five miles from this organ, and my home is likely in the same condition as that which houses the organ. Both houses, I am almost certain, are untouched.
Is there a higher resolution version of this? We saw it at the October 28 showing of "Phantom of the Opera" but it is a bit difficult to see some of the details. Great job of editing.
Hi Chip. Glad you enjoyed our short about the Wurlitzer (and a silent movie fir for Halloween)! You can watch a higher resolution version on our Vimeo channel at vimeo.com/92048545
Very good explanations of everything but I think the synthesiser comparison goes a bit too far. Electronic organ would be better. The difference lies in a proper synthesiser has very few 'modules', often only one, but the 'module' is not fixed to a particular voice and needs setting up by the player. Equivalent to a pipe organ having one rank, with that rank turning into diapason pipes, flutes, even a xylophone or anything, at the players manipulation. Electronic organ, with a choice of factory preformed voices that are player selected, is a simpler and better simile.
