Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Organ Console???

This is topic Organ Console??? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 01-26-2005, 09:50 AM:

Don Furr--

If that is a console you're sitting at in your member picture how about a "little more info"; I am a pipe organ "Nut"!!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-27-2005, 12:44 AM:

Hey, how bout this one.....???

And a compact set of 64 footers to go along with it......

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 01-27-2005, 05:02 AM:

64'ers? That's got to be the Atlantic City Convention Hall organ. The only other with a full length 64' is the organ at the Sydney Town Hall.

As far as consoles & oomph goes, even if it didn't have a 64' rank, I'll give it to the Chicago Stadium Barton.

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 01-27-2005, 06:35 AM:

Hi Floyd.......
Yes, that's a 3 manual Reuter console that belongs to the pipe organ in my home. It's a 17 rank classical organ. Gotta have something to do in my retirement besides running movies [beer]

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 01-27-2005, 08:47 AM:

After all those links I think I'm going to "cream"!
You know, Don, there's nothing like the sweet sound of
pipes. May the "wind" blow forever!

Mark: I believe your photos came from The Alantic City
Convention Center site...known as the Worlds Largest Pipe
Organ. Man that is one BIG beast!

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 01-27-2005, 11:46 AM:

17 ranks at home! What sort of place do you live in?

Have a look at this page:

http://www.allypallyorgan.org.uk

This was the organ in the Great Hall at Alexandra Palace, in North london. Some of the pipes in the third picture in the 1930 pictures section look about the same size as the ones in Gordon's picture, but I'm not sure if they're real pipes, or dummies. The organ was in the second building, the first one burned down almost as soon as it opened. The organ had not worked since the Second World War, but there was talk of it being restored. In 1980 Another major fire destroyed what remained of the organ. Parts of the old organ had been removed before the fire, but I'm not sure if the new organ includes any of these.

The 'Crystal Palace' in South London also contained a large organ, but this was totally lost in the fire which destroyed the building, in 1936.

In the Fairfield Concert Hall, about 2000 seats, next to the College where I work, there's a fairly small Harrison & Harrison instrument. I'm not sure how many ranks it has; I've never been in the pipe chambers. It's seldom played. There used to be a 'Fairfield Organ Festival' for a couple of days each year, but that seems to have stopped. They hold Tuesday lunchtime concerts during some months, and one or two of those each year are now about the only time the organ is used. Carlo Curley is a regular visitor, and he has also given at least two full length evening concerts with two organs, with another organist on the Harrison, and Carlo on his Allen digital touring organ.

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 01-27-2005, 04:27 PM:

Stephen....
When David and I bought this house there was a requirment for a large finished basement and a large double garage. The organ is in the finished basement and the screening room took 1/2 the other side. We walled off the garage and put in the screening room. This is a standard 3/3 home...nothing huge. [beer]

Don

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 01-27-2005, 04:52 PM:

Nothing beats the sound of the organ at the old Chicago Stadium during a Blackhawks game. That place would rock!

Posted by Jeffrey Korns (Member # 2791) on 01-27-2005, 05:39 PM:

quote:
Nothing beats the sound of the organ at the old Chicago Stadium during a Blackhawks game. That place would rock!

Unfortunately the only thing that survived from the organ was the console and a few ranks, much of it went up in flames while it was in storage (arson). The console is owned by Phil Maloof in Las Vegas (along with several other instruments) combined into one mega instrument. The new center's "organ" can't compete- it's an electronic with all of its speakers in a closet and the entire thing run through the house audio.

Oh,
I believe the Sioux City Orpheum just got its' organ back from the municipal hall.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-27-2005, 07:35 PM:

Man I went to countless Blackhawks games at the old Stadium!! I never did go to the new one just out of respect for the old place which I really enjoyed going to. The old Stadium had an atmosphere all of its own and talked a language all its own just when you walked around inside it. What a great place it was! From what I've seen on TV the new place seems to be so sterile and I really have zero interest in it. IMHO..when the old Chicago Stadium came down Chicago then had no Stadium at all.

Mark
Chicago Stadium Barton Organ

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 01-28-2005, 08:38 AM:

Another pipe freak here.

Just now found that the Chicago Stadium organ is gone. I found a recording about 3 weeks ago of Al Melgard playing. Incredible! I'm so sorry that this organ met such an untimely end.

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 01-29-2005, 09:42 AM:

When they would play the National Anthem at the old stadium it would litterally bring tears to your eyes. You couldn't even hear Wayne Messmer singing because the place would be going nuts. I've been to a couple of games at the new stadium and even though I love the Blackhawks it's just not the same. At least we still have Wrigley.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-13-2005, 03:30 AM:

..and me at my church console.

...sitting att an ALLEN AP-16 console.

Plus, some other instruments of interest:

A concert at the Cincy train station. A recent installed 1929 Skinner 4/85 symphonic organ. There is a CD of this organ available.

Interesting organ in Spain. How would you like to have those "Chamade" pipes, protruding from the montre, which are above the organist, being that close to you?

1956 Aeolian-Skinner and pipes layout at the "Auditorium" of the Community of Christ church, in Independence, Mo.

The Schoenstein 5/125+ in the Conference Center in SLC, UTAH

the famous 1862 Cavaille-Coll "le Grande Orgue" 5/140 at St. Sulpice in Paris.

..thx-Monte

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 02-13-2005, 08:21 AM:

Monte--

VERY interesting!

Got [Smile]

any more?

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-13-2005, 08:42 AM:

If I was to aquire a pipe organ for my house, I'd have to move out just to get the organ inside!

Locally, when urban renewal took over back in the early 1980's in downtown Asheville, the last of the movie palaces in Asheville bit the dust. It was the Imperial. As they started destruction, they found a pipe organ--complete-- behind several update remodelings-- that was removed complete. It is a Wickes organ, and is installed in a small church in the area today. It has a beautiful console.

There's nothing left like this in Asheville anymore.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-13-2005, 08:44 AM:

Monte,

Thanks for the heads-up on the Cincinnati Train Station (Museum Center) organ. That is a beautiful rotunda and an organ would have an incredible sound in there. They have done a very good job of maintaining this wonderful facillity, adding museums and an Omnimax theatre. I'll look into going down and checking this instrument out some time.

Information on the instrument

quote:
The grand E. M. Skinner Concert Pipe Organ is located in the Rotunda of Cincinnati Museum Center near the OMNIMAX Theater. The Rotunda has a reverberation time of approximately five seconds and has been described by Cincinnati Enquirer classical music critic Janelle Gelfand as "an ideal environment for organ."

The main organ was located through the Organ Historical Society and rescued from a church in Philadelphia. Members of the Crosley family and the Franciscan Health Care System provided the E.M. Skinner organ from the former Powel Crosley Jr. residence. Both E. M. Skinner organs were built in 1929, the year the Cincinnati Union Terminal began construction.

The organ is separated into "Divisions," with certain sets of pipes located in each and played mainly from one of the four keyboards or the pedal board. The divisions are hidden behind facades resembling ticket counters toward the back of the Rotunda. Solo, Great and Pedal divisions are located immediately to the left of the concourse, and Choir and Swell divisions immediately to the right. The yet-to-be-completed Antiphonal division will be located near the entrance to the Cincinnati History Museum. With the Antiphonal division, the organ will have over 4,000 pipes.

Cincinnati Museum Center plans to use the organ for periodic concerts and, eventually, for daily use as part of educational programs.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-13-2005, 08:48 AM:

quote: Floyd Justin Newton
Got any more?

Here is a list of theatre and other organs located around the country. Lots of photos and such......
Lots-O-Theatre Organs

Enjoy!

Mark

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 02-13-2005, 02:21 PM:

Mark--

W-O-W!!

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-13-2005, 05:27 PM:

They got some fine looking equipment over on that-there site.

I'll be at that site alot. Thanks Mark! [thumbsup]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-13-2005, 05:47 PM:

Mark's link is quite interesting as well - GREAT!

Heard of "pipedreams" on NPR radio?

Program is usally on Sundays on your campus radio station- if the campus radio station is an NPR affiliate.

check out this link..and turn your speakers up..

There is quite a excellent collection of organs around the world - both classical, and theatre organs in this site. With complete Realtime radio broadcasts that one can listen to through their computer.

www.pipedreams.org

..other organ related sites

www.ohscatalog.com

www.acchos.org - One has to check out the availiable CD from this site.

www.wanamakerorgan.com/index1.html

www.agohq.org

http://www.schnitger.nl/ .. on this site, one has to check out the available CD.

-Monte

[ 02-13-2005, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: Monte L Fullmer ]

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-14-2005, 02:04 AM:

Monte forgot http://www.arndtorgansupply.com/

Also http://www.atos.org/ , which manages to score hits on the "What is the worst thing about website designs?" list right off the bat with an unrelated "Click Here" on the front page, no real info on the front page, etc.

The big Skinner is nice, but for the person of truly singular taste, there is the Magnus Chord Organ

Bruce, you could get a 5 rank Wicks in the house with no problem. The console would take up as much room as a desk, & the chests would fit behind the sofa. If you've got to have it under expression, I believe Wicks still has blueprints for the case originally available for the 4-6 rank organs. I believe that they fit in 8 foot ceilings (might have to miter some pipes, though).

Those Wicks DE TO's just hang on! You keep bumping into them at churches that have acquired them somehow after they were removed from the theatres.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-14-2005, 02:10 AM:

quote: William Hooper
The big Skinner is nice, but for the person of truly singular taste, there is the Magnus Chord Organ

Brother (LOL) ! See these things many-a-times in thrift stores... Yet, interesting for a reed organ-like a bunch of harmonicas inside.

Sorry, not into Theatre Organs, just into the classical, symphonic organs.

Okey, now we need to find a Mellotron, or Chamberlain somewhere.

-Monte

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-14-2005, 06:15 AM:

OMG Monte, look what's on eBay!
It's a Hammond Rhythm II ! It'll go right under the bottom manual of your Allen, just a couple of screws!

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-14-2005, 06:55 AM:

William, I have 10 foot ceilings! Woo Hoo!!!

This Wickes is the only organ from this company that I have ever seen. I was told by the church that all they did as they assembled it was replace lots of leather strips, and lots of wire. There were no bad chest magnets, etc, and the blower required new bearings. Not bad for a 30+ year delay between playings! All the years that the console was walled-up under the stage... someone thought to throw a tarp over it before it was closed up. Also, the electric power was still connected to everything at the theatre.

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 02-14-2005, 11:29 AM:

Bruce,
The Wicks Organ company is one of the few remaining profitable pipe organ companies left in this country. There are a "ton" of Wicks installed from coast to coast. The huge organ in Moorehouse college (Atlanta) is the largest Wick (at that time) the company had built. I'm thinking it's four manuals and about 85 ranks. Three of my 17 ranks here in the house came from a 1928 Wicks organ. BTW, Wicks Organs is owned by Wicks Aircraft Company [Razz]

Don

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 02-14-2005, 01:32 PM:

Some Briitish organ builders:

Rushworth and Dreaper

Henry Willls & Sons

Harrison & Harrison Ltd.

No doubt there are others, but these are three that I know of. The sites do have some pictures.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-14-2005, 01:35 PM:

quote:
look what's on eBay!
It's a Hammond Rhythm II ! It'll go right under the bottom manual of your Allen, just a couple of screws!

THX ! It went on my watch list. Interesting device and interesting proce as well. - Monte

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-15-2005, 01:36 AM:

I was just clowning when I suggested the Rhythm II to you, Monte; it seemed like mismatched A&R. Not a bad match for Aaron, but I think his has a rhythm doodad in it. The Rhythm II's were pretty much sold as add-on units for Hammonds, although they could be added to any organ (or even standalone, they just needed an amp & speaker); I associate them immediately with lounge organists from the 70s ceaselessly playing instrumental versions of "Besame Mucho" & "Music To Watch Girls By" ("Ohhhh the boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go byyyyy....")

But if you got a plan with the Rhythm II & the Allen, let 'er rip!

quote: Bruce McGee

This Wickes is the only organ from this company that I have ever seen.

The theatreorgans.com page has a searchable list of orginal installations by location, manufacturer, etc.
http://barton.theatreorgans.com/s.htm
But oddly, Wicks is not one of the manufacturers on the drop down list! Huh, I can't get a listing for any theatre that had a Wicks TO originally installed, & I'm sure that the database was begun from the listing in Junchen's books. The database monster must have eaten the Wicks'es. There were many, MANY Wicks TO's installed in the 20s! Still, it's a cool, fast way to pull up info about the TO originally installed in a particular theatre.

quote: Don Furr
The Wicks Organ company is one of the few remaining profitable pipe organ companies left in this country

And they're nice guys & easy to deal with for technical information going back 80 years, or current parts:
http://organ.wicks.com/

quote: Stephen Furley
Some Briitish organ builders:

Don't forget Compton & Christie, domestic cinema organ builders. I've got to hand it to the UK & influence of Compton & Christies that their consoles always were about 500x more theatrical than US TO consoles, illuminated surrounds or not! Wurlitzers which got over there had to be made presentable & competitive by adding "jelly mold" illuminated surrounds locally. Plus, the UK TO's tended to higher unification faster than US builders (even Wurlitzer was slow on all the Tibia mutations). And Compton's cool devices like the Melotone (an electronic voice in an EP TO) & the Compton Cube (a super cool device using a sort of variable-area resonator for producing several notes from the 32' octave in a manageable space & economically.

There's a page about Comptons at
http://www.zyworld.com/IvorBuckingham/

and the Cinema Organ Society's page is at
http://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/

When one of these things came up on the lift, you know upholstery cleaning costs must have skyrocketed.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-15-2005, 04:17 AM:

quote: William Hooper
I was just clowning when I suggested the Rhythm II to you, Monte; it seemed like mismatched A&R.

Thx, I do get gullable at times, for since I'm more into classical organs, I'm quite ignorant on the theatre aspect. Yet, it would be interesting to see if this device could hook up to what you mentioned.

Update on the Mismer-Loch organ in the covention center at Atl. City: Now the organ is completely unplayable due to lack of fundage to do a massive restore on the working parts. When the CD was issued back in 1998, that is posted in the site above, only half of the organ was playable.

-Monte

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 02-15-2005, 10:47 AM:

Hey guys--

Keep 'em coming!

Can't get enough pipes!

[Smile]

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-16-2005, 02:42 AM:

quote:
Keep 'em coming!

Cool, a place for organ tech types to geek out with people who will appreciate it!

The interior of a 3-stage, 10 hp Spencer Steel Orgoblo; one fan & one deflector installed.

Earlier shot of blower disassembled, before being sandblasted & painted.

A Robert Morton "dice box" regulator (for a xylophone) being soaked in water for disassembly prior to rebuild & releathering.

No wonder your organ doesn't work; the pipes are on the floor with most of the ceiling & the tibia tremulant isn't even hooked up!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-16-2005, 04:40 AM:

Okey, Will and Floyd...here some more goodies to gander at:

The 1531 organ at St Bertrand de Cominge in France

The 1557 organ at St. Savin en Lavedan in France

The 1504 organ at Perpignan in France

The 1862 Clicquot/Cavaille-Coll of St. Sulpice in France

The 1889 Cavaille-Coll in Toulouse St. Sernin in France

-Monte

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 02-16-2005, 11:25 AM:

Monte--

Beautiful! Just beautiful. [Smile]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-16-2005, 07:45 PM:

Way cool Monte! I bet thay blow some old dust from those pipes [Eek!]

once in a while!

Mark

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-16-2005, 09:31 PM:

quote:
I bet thay blow some old dust from those pipes once in a while!

thx Marko...

These picts that I've posted of the organs in France, is just a very small inkling on what's over there in Europe. Also, these organs have been restored to full playing condition.

The "le Grande Orgue" at St. Sulpice in Paris, France, is in daily use to this day with daily masses and evening concerts. This organ has only been restored once since the rebuild by Cavaille-Coll in 1862, outside of adding a motorized blower in the mid 20's.

The Cavaille-Coll at the St. Sulpice is on the country's historical registers as the most famous organ in all of France, and almost of all of mainland Europe.

The St. Sulpice is also the largest organ that Cavaille-Coll built, even though it was a rebuild, but Aristide Cavaille-Coll added more ranks and pipes to make it the size that it is of today, which is almost 9000 pipes.

-thx Monte

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 02-17-2005, 12:36 AM:

Too bad Cavaille-Coll never built an instrument in the US. Unfortunately most of his organs have suffered the same fate as most of Ernest Skinners organs---attempts to make them tonally into something else.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-19-2005, 05:51 AM:

This group is of the Haberbeer/Schnitger organ at St.Laurenkirk in Alkmaar, in Holland.

The Schnitger organ was built in 1643, rebuilt in 1723 by Schnitger.

There are 15 stops and 1100 pipes for the Positiv division.

There are 14 stops and 1050 pipes for the Great division

There are 15 stops and 1550 pipes for the Oberwerk division

There are 13 stops and 550 pipes for the Pedaal division

-----

1- the facade pipes with the doors opened -

2- the Playtable. As with all of the early organs in Europe, there was no console, being that the pipes were directly above the keyboards due to the mechanical, or tracker action from keys to pallets, or valves for air to enter in the pipes.

3 - Contestants for competition at the playtable of the Schnitger

4 - Another contestant at the Playtable

5- Tuning up the Positiv section of the Schnitger

- Monte