Last Chance For The Wanamaker Organ! 

Just to make a correction, as of today 3/3/2024, there are 3 people who work at the store two days a week to make sure the organ keeps playing. Uncertain how long that will last but as of now the basic repairs are still being carried out and routine check are still happening.

The good news is that the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is slowly coming back on line with 93% of the Ballroom organ operational and 60% of the main hall organ operational.

Pipe organs are one of mankind's greatest inventions. Toccata my Fugue baby!

I hope you will do an interview with the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ to find out more about the state of their organization and how non-Philadelphians can help keep this great landmark playing! (I wasn’t even aware that Macy’s had replaced Wannamaker’s)! BTW: I really enjoy your Philly-flavored videos. I’d like to encourage you to do more!

I was at the organ in December 2023 to hear it and it was one of the best concerts there we have ever heard! The organist played a great selection of traditional Christmas music and it was done in the most amazing way!

Hopefully, some kind, generous folks will keep this landmark alive.

My introduction to the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ was in the late 1960s when I was about 13 years old. My organ teacher gave me an LP of Virgil Fox playing the Wanamaker. What a glorious sound! I still have that record. I listened to Fox's interpretation of _Come Sweet Death_ dozens of times and made it the basis of my own performance. Alas, I've only been to Philadelphia once and didn't have time to visit Wanamaker's. Post Scriptum: I just discovered that Fox's performance of _Come Sweet Death_ on the Wanamaker is on RU-vid. I'm going to go listen to it now. Join me.

I've lived in St Louis all my life. I'm also a 1904 Worlds Fair historian. The core of that organ came from that fair and I love pipe organs, so it's something I'm very interested in. Your videos have been very interesting. I how the word gets out and people step up to help support the organ. Thank you.

There’s some incorrect information here, but overall, currently there are still a few people maintaining and tuning the organ. What has paused is the restoration of the instrument, not maintenance. And there are even still some small restoration projects still happening as well. It is a 120+ year old instrument that has not stopped playing during 98% of that time. It will be okay. Regardless, go hear it! :)

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, A city that seems to have gone out of its way to demolish its historical landmarks, so I do sympathize. The Landmark status is a big help. We can all hope the new tenants (whoever they may be) will go to the effort to maintain and at least occasionally present the organ once again.

That building and the organ are national treasures… they should not be in any way dependent on a shop like Macys. It is tragic that those Wanamaker experts have been dispersed, horrible.

I love that your thumbnail has you eating its exceptionally based energy.

The city should take over the space and let people like you in who have some knowledge of the inner workings. Truly your work on the mechanical writing instrument was inspiring. If the leaders of Philadelphia could at least get the property accessible I'm sure a team of volunteers could help in many ways.

Whenever folks are visiting Philly, I recommend that they look for the "Philly Soft Pretzel Factory" kiosks. They are about the last ones that make legit Philly Soft Pretzels. And to try one with a good dab of brown deli mustard. The ones sold in convenance stores are these industrial foam injected things, and they are truly awful. And the "Auntie Anne's" are made by some outfit from out of town, and they are more like a pastry than a pretzel dough.

It’s nice to see you come back to the Wanamaker organ! But that’s really sad news.

We visited during our US tour last May and had a full tour of the interior. It's taken years to get it to its current state and it would be such a shame for all that work to be wasted.

If that happens it would be a tragedy. Let us as human beings not end up losing all that's wonderful because it's old and doesn't involve microprocessors.

It is always hard to let go the things you used to know as their loss makes it clear you are mortal.

I see it is on Market Street. My grandfather was a butcher on Market Street. His father was a cabinet maker in Philly and was photographed after an iteration of base for Liberty Bell was completed.

It is tragic, what is happening to the Wanamaker organ. I'd imagine that if it is to survive at all, it would need to find some sort of arts benefactor, and of course those are in direly short supply. Someone would need to look at the overall maintenance costs, and come up with a compromise between the frequency in which it is played, and the cost of the corresponding maintenance.

Scott Kipp's Instagram mentioned his being laid off a few months ago and I was like, WTF!? Glad (but sad) to get the rest of the story.

Would be super sad to see it fall into disrepair. My favorite video of yours was showing us the organ. Please try and document as much as you cam about the situation

Thank you very much for the update and please keep them coming as you get updates. A visit there has been on my list for a while but it looks like I need to move that up on the priority list.

I spoke with a friend of mine that is very much involved in the Wanamaker and the Midmer Losh. I don’t worry about the future of the Wanamaker. And the things that have transpired have likely been for the better. I do not seeing Macy’s going anywhere as Wanamaker is a strong anchor for Macy’s.

I'm pretty sure the Wanamaker organ has been featured on the BBC's "The Organist Entertains" radio programme in the 1970s. It certainly sounded good back then and featured several times. Sadly, age and venerability mean very little in the modern world. I remember the hue and cry when a much lesser organ was "uncovered" during the demolition of a Methodist church in Bridlington. Work came to a halt once the media got a hold of the story, so now the organ was left standing in the open, exposed to the elements until it fell apart. It was nonetheless still a notable organ with history behind it. Let's hope the Wanamaker doesn't suffer a similar ignominious end.

Amazon & other on-line retailers are the death knell of the high street. Look at the square footage of an Amazon warehouse multiply that by say 5 for the racking and there you have a very very basic ball park of the amount of consumer space they have under one roof. Of course not paying the high costs for the high street.

Inner cities are dying a fast death. Along with are many many treasures. I don’t know where this all leads to. Such a shame.

I had the chance to play on the Wanamaker organ hour radio program when I was a teenager and it was an amazing experience. Yes it definitely is a job of daily maintenance keeping it going, and a huge cost, but one that is totally worth it IMHO! Very curious as to what is going to happen...

Nothing specific about this organ but it raises the whole concept of historical preservation and it's value to society. One could make the argument that we should set limits of age or cost because if we keep everything we create as a historical object, eventually all resources will be used to keep our hoard until we're a historically hidebound society. The opposite end of the spectrum is some equally dystopian setting where no objects are preserved, only records of them. We all know people of later generations who've never seen a non-mobile telephone, an LP, 8-track tape, etc. not to mention an archive of old films. I won't make any of those arguments. I only mention the two extreme ends of the range because your video reminded me of it and I'd had many other prompts in similar regard recently.

did not realise just how big that organ is. its huge

I took a tour of the organ last Summer, after watching your tour videos and being mesmerized by just how enormous and spectacular the organ is! It's a shame that the staff have been fired, and that the organ won't be maintained as well as it has been, for the foreseeable future. Let us know if you ever have updates from your friends about the organ!

I'll say it again, as I did when this video was launched on your Patreon: INFURIATING!

Wow. That's really sad. At least we'll have the Midmer-Losh in Atlantic City once it's fully restored. I wonder if they can somehow help? I'm pretty sure the Wanamaker shop has helped them in the past.

I suggest they convert the bldg. into an organists’ retirement condo. Seriously. They could pay cheap monthly fees and the repair crews would be living there already.

If it can't be maintained to play every day, the least that should happen is to play it during the holidays as it's been traditional for many years.

Fran, if that's only PART of the pretzel, It must've been gigantic, like the size of HUBCAPS!

It’s a shame that the organ maintenance team were laid off, I’m glad I got to hear the organ in 2019 during our trip to Philly, unfortunately the staff organist was off that day so I didn’t get to hear it in its full glory, but the substitute organist let me into the booth when he was finished playing so I could check out the console; it was amazing to see it up close.

wish I had gone to hear it last time I was in Philly 😢

From a friend who helps maintain the 300+ ranks at 1st Congregational Los Angeles, it is definitely an full time job to maintain a pipe organ. He played the Wanamaker for the first time as a child, as well as visits with Virgil Fox in later life. Wasn't the head of the "Friends of the Wanamaker" using it at one time as his own personal piggy bank?

Wow, that is a tragedy. Has everyone lost their moral conscience. This is a monumental treasure.

Sad to hear that. The place should then become a municipal property and be repurposed for community/culture uses. It's a matter of common good and public interest.

And Fran, with over 28,000 pipes, the Wanamaker organ is the largest, fully functioning organ in the world! Only the organ at the Atlantic City Convention center is larger. Over 33,000 pipes BUT! it is in disrepair. Last I heard, only 50% was functional and maintained by volunteers.

They never should have let Federated and May Company merge. Macy's nationally has been a dumpster fire.

You are glad to get soft pretzels for a dollar. I'm old. I will always think of them as costing a nickel. No one had any conception of them costing anything else. I was on a school field trip, Betsy Ross, Liberty Bell kind of thing in the early 1960's and the teacher got off the bus and accosted a pretzel wretch who charged a dime, assuming he was cheating children. As far as the Wanamaker organ goes, I was privileged to get the inside tour about fifteen years ago with your friend Kip. Considering the trivialities that attract many dollars on crowd funding sites, if money was the only issue, there are millions of Philadelphians with fond memories of those concerts, especially around Christmas. The organ shop was a pretty big operation. They had room to store a spare Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ for parts for the "other" organ in the building.

I can imagine, that the whole organ and ‘protected' structure, will succumb to environmental damage (leaks and rot), and vandalism. Then the developers 😭😡 Perhaps, the PBS would be interested in making a documentary, and perhaps an album of famous organ music (source of funds?), before the enviable happens (“Nothing lasts forever, but the earth and sky” - Kansas) Unfortunately, I can’t justify traveling from Australia. 🫤

Thanks for the heads up Fran.

The city really should attempt to step in. I hope there's something the city *could* do. I'm making my first trip this summer.

Wow, what a tragedy! I know organists themselves are also a dying breed. Sad state of affairs.

Fran have you ever done a video of the organ in Atlantic City? Thanks for the update!

The Wanamaker organ is built into a shopping center. But even many church organs in Europe have unknown fate, because by decay of Christian faith, many not so famous church buildings are put out of service, get demolished or repurposed, so pipe organs get scrapped or become unusable by lack of interest and money to preserve them.

Madness. Your videos of touring the organ music were how I found your channel, randomly popping up one day. Hopefully a way is found to re-hire those people. The institutional knowledge cannot be lost.

Proper Philly pretzel. That said, they used to be 5 for a buck. I guess those days are long gone.

Fran no se habla con la boca llena!!!!

Hi Fran - I'm a new discoverer of your channel via your video on the talking scale that traumatized me and my siblings growing up. Have you ever toured the Boardwalk Hall organ down in Atlantic City? It's a really cool experience.

Who owns the organ and who paid the organ shop? I thought the friends of the Wanamaker Organ did... I would be sad for it to stop playing.

No news coverage about this...😮

If they're getting rid of the people who maintain the organ, they're definitely closing that Macy's store. The landlord knows his income is going to disappear, that means he needs to make as much money as possible before the building becomes a dead weight.

I think one bright spot is that Longwood Gardens out in the far suburbs also has a similarly sized organ so in the worst case scenario of the wannamaker organ getting shuttered there will at least be a lifeline for maintenance or restoration should it come to that.

as a music and electromechanical machine lover this is tragic, as an architectural historian…this is devastating.

Are there any recordings of the Wanamaker? You could listen to them. 😊

Time passes. Alas.😢

Here in the Philippines we have a bamboo organ it's at a wall in a Church. Come to think of it after watching this I don't know if it still exist....ok I'll do some googling now.

That shape is an insult to every authentic Brezel. 😂

At least it's being played. The worst thing you can do to an organ is not play it.

i like Philly steack.

I guess we'll just defund everything... This is why we cant have nice things.

Ho fran thank you so much for making the aforementioned wannamaker organ video i will never forget the magic of the vid it must of been like something from a dream moving through its tubes and woody ways ;0

Awesome!

😊😊😊😊😊

Any updates on the Wannamaker Organ’s status?

No mustard on the Philly pretzel?

Didn’t Macy’s spend a ton of money having that organ restored to 100% functionality?

Mustard 🎉 AC Convention Hall has a dozy of an organ. This is shame. I remember it when I was young. Shame it can’t stay. Like AC, the organ group is all volunteers

😢

They treat the organ like a piano. Never fix or tune.

Wanamaker organ? But you hardly _know_ 'er!

Are there any recordings available of the organ playing (did the shop sell anything like this)? How large is its repertoire?

Nordstrom should take it over if Macy’s dips

Can people just do maintenance independently

Seeing you with that giant organ was magical for me Fran. There is not enough space here for me to tell you all the things I can`t do so I will end with ` good luck and best wishes to to girl.

An electric organ can't hold a candle (currently) to a real pipe organ.

Macy's Square and the Wanamaker Organ are how I discovered Fran here in RU-vid.

Pretzels will be the only survivors

when a store chain has to close 150 stores, maybe it's time to reevaluate your business model, ya'think?

Good informative video. 😊

Ship it to Look Mum No Computer.

The coy little smile biting into the pretzel, I'm gonna have to make it to Philly some day and try one!

What is the ticket price to see the organ performance? Who plays it?

Looks like it's going into hibernation or an indefinite coma. There's Nothing in the world that sounds like it. A moving experience to hear it in person. Looks like it may be moved (?) Time will tell. Great info Fran & best of wishes to you & the organ. P.S. Those pretzels are great with red pasta sauce,Provel cheese, & heated until the cheese gets browned. MMM-good stuff.

It's a shame.

Tasty Philly pretzels at the wanamaker Grand Court-- Will hope for the best because that's 111 years..

put it in your cheek....

Making us hungry again Fran 😢