Web Journal 2007 - 2008
For the thousands of us who love the soun
ds of the theatre pipe organ, Stan Kann and the St. Louis Fox were, in a phrase, as inseparable a combination as Hoover and vacuum cleaner. Stan Kann passed away Monday morning, September 29, 2008. He was enjoying his second long tenure as house organist at the Fox Theatre on its thrilling 4/36 Wurlitzer, which he played for the last time two days before his death.
He passed away at St. Louis University hospital due to complications following heart surgery.
Born in St. Louis, he began playing the organ at age four. His formal music training included piano lessons at the Soldan High School; he received a degree in classical organ from Washington University in St. Louis.
A trip to Radio City Music Hall and the chance to hear that Wurlitzer organ moved him to contact the ownership of the St. Louis Fox, and ask about the opportunity to repair the then-silent musical behemoth. He and a group of friends got the organ playing, and Stan became house organist for 22 years, a tenure that ended in 1975 when he moved to Southern California.
In addition to performing at the Fox Theatre, Kann also was music director for several local St. Louis television programs in the 1950’s, and was “discovered” by comedian Phyllis Diller. Kann’s bumbling, stumbling persona, and his collection of antique vacuum cleaners became the basis for a series of national television appearances that made him a famous comedic character.
He appeared on talk shows with Dinah Shore, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and dozens more, a part of his career that was highlighted by a record 77 appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His first appearance with Carson was to have been an eight-minute segment, which ended up running 14 hilarious minutes, leading to a regular spot on that famous chair to the right of Carson, the King of late night talk show television.
Kann returned to St. Louis in 1998 for hip surgery and decided to remain “home,” thus resurrecting his love affair with the Fox Theatre and its Wurlitzer.
“There is no doubt that everybody who knew him could tell a wonderful, and funny Stan Kann story,” said ATOS President/CEO Ken Double, “but what I will never forget about being with Stan in St. Louis was not just his celebrity status, but how everybody truly loved the man. Dinner at an outdoor café would bring literally dozens and dozens of well-wishers who just wanted to say ‘Hello’ or tell him how much they enjoyed The Fox. We could hardly eat dinner for the wonderful disruptions of his fans. He might not have been as famous as the Arch, but it was close. All of St. Louis loved Stan Kann.”
Said Mary Strauss, who along with her late husband saved The Fox Theatre, “St. Louis has lost a goodwill ambassador, and The Fox has lost its best friend.” Stan Kann was 85. There will be more on this much-loved theatre organist and his career in the January-February issue of The Journal.
(September 30, 2008) Ken Double
More information is available on the Saint Louis Chapter's web site: http://www.sltos.org
Radio City Music Hall has been home to some of the most spectacular entertainment events ever produced. From the greatest headliners - like Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Barry Manilow and others – to great events such as the Tony Awards, the now-popular ESPY Awards – and its annual Christmas Spectacular, the Music Hall provides headlining entertainment and events as part of its standard bill of fare.
Imagine that officials at Cablevision, owners of the famed theatre, are now asking themselves how did a guy nobody knows generate more publicity for a single event than any other in the history of Radio City Music Hall? And who would have ever figured that event would have been an organ concert?
CBS, CNN, Fox, the New York Times, and hundreds of newspapers, radio and television news outlets across the country now know the name Jack Moelmann, as well as some “new” pipe organ terms. Jack’s concert on the Radio City Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ drew amazing Media attention. And to that end, our former ATOS President and “Mr. Everything Else” focused a stronger national spotlight on the instrument we love than any other event in our history. Jack’s real dream was to bring the public eye to the theatre organ, and where else to do that but at the Nation’s Showplace, and on the theatre organ perhaps most heard by the average John Q. Public.
While the news story angle focused on “Military Retiree Spends Life Savings To Play Famous Organ,” the fact of the matter is, on that glorious Saturday night, August 9, in New York City, Jack did what smart performers do. He shared the stage and the console with some of the best talent in our business. Walt Strony, Lew Williams and Russell Holmes also took to the giant consoles, along with Fr. Gus Franklin, and a crowd estimated at nearly 1,000 enjoyed the big Wurlitzer in solo performance open to the public for the first time in many years.
It was certainly an historic and monumental occasion, and friends not only played, they came from all over the country and beyond. It was also a very musical and entertaining evening. Veterans, Walt Strony, Lew Williams, and Russell Holmes handled the Music Hall Wurlitzer's idiosyncrasies and dead notes with an extreme degree of professionalism, and also gave us a decent romp through the instrument's resources, at least the ones it still has to offer.
The evening belonged to Jack Moelmann, and he offered no pretense. He was simply himself, there to have a good time, realize a dream, and share it with lots of friends, 'some of whom (he) liked better than others, but all of whom (he) had known since the day (he) met them.' When things didn't go exactly as planned or perhaps desired, Jack poked fun at himself, and the audience loved the informality. The people clearly wanted to be there and enjoyed every minute. And a plethora of minutes there were. The program lasted over 2-1/2 hours, plus an ample intermission with time to refresh, buy a beverage, or Jack's wares, cassettes, wire recordings, and tee shirts, or just socialize with the ‘who's who?’ and enjoy the art deco surroundings.
While duets were promised with two organists at the consoles, for the most part, one or the other sat there doing nothing, the duets being the passing of the baton from 51st St to 50th St on one piece or another in a medley. Granted, playing duets a full city block apart is tricky, and may have required cell phones with long distance (or International) calls to coordinate matters. I almost expected an appearance of Russell Holmes mid-stage, at grand piano, for the finale, but that probably was yet another $90,000, as would have been a 5-minute appearance of the Rockettes kicking to canned music.
Many of us had "choice seats" right up front and center, only feet away from the stage lip. I have no idea why the people who run these venues think the best seats for an organ concert are those right at the edge of the stage, but they do. It would even have been too close if the Rockettes had performed. (Next time, Jack.) I was right between the chambers, the percussion chamber overhead, and it was the Music Hall Organ on "headphones" perhaps with a few steroids thrown in.
Much has been said about the organ over the past years. It was still full of dead notes, causing obvious gaps in some of the music, especially when the organist was trying to solo a voice (or cluster of voices, such as full Tibias, or Tubas.) Many times, the Solo 4' Tibia, or mutations simply dropped out of the melody. Most people probably didn't notice. The Sonorous Tuba Mirabilis (and its Profunda partner) often dropped out on the same note on both ranks, leaving the organist with a hole in the melody. Russell simply jumped octaves to find a note that existed. Lew and Walter seemed luckier in avoiding the gaps. What got by the best were the traditional full organ combinations we are so used to hearing at the Music Hall, with and without 2' Tibias, Strings, Glockenspiel, and Xylophone. The latter two seemed to have fewer dead notes than some of the pipe ranks.
Jack proclaimed that the organ has lots of red stops and that the tabs were very pretty. Try as I might, I never heard most of the traditionally expected reeds, Trumpets, Post Horn, and the subtleties of Clarinets, Saxophones, Oboes and Kinuras. Jack's signature "Rubber Duckie" had no quackers.
The Bishops have done much to quiet the organ, with extraneous wind noise nearly gone. Tuning was tolerable, and tremulants seemed to work in the traditional Music Hall fashion. Lew William's "Toccata, Symphony V" (Widor) came through with extremely "French" tuning at times. I would guess that there were fewer dead notes than last year, but for this listener, it was still like a ride on a street full of potholes.
The massed strings and voxes were as luscious as I can remember ever hearing them, and there were some moments in Walt's, Lew's, and Russell's medleys where soft combinations were showcased and were as delicious and sweet as Junior's desserts. For the first time in years, the organ is again amplified. I have mixed reactions to that. It certainly isn't subtle, especially the Xylophone and Glockenspiel mirabilis, nearly as loud as the rest of what is playable at this point. I was unable to detect sound from the other chambers as coming from speakers, the effect might have been different further back in the house. It was difficult to guess how much direct sound was hampered by the two suspended large screen TV displays right in front of the lower proscenium chamber openings. The TV screens were cleverly decorated with ruffled curtains, but the array of five huge speaker clusters was nothing sort of ugly, a blight on Roxy’s sunburst. I can see the need for amplification when playing to a full house of exiting and entering patrons, but during a concert, I would rather hear the organ au naturale.
Remembering NYATOS Sunday morning musicales, especially those with John Seng, Lyn Larsen, and Tom Hazleton, it is difficult to make comparisons between sounds over a period of decades. Those solo organists had no advantage of a working (settable) combination action and multiple memory levels. I certainly do remember some rare soft moments back then, with solos on the Bassett Horn (Clarinet) and other choice goodies that just happen to be standard Wurlitzer ranks with fancy Kimball names. Certainly, in the past, the organ had a pronounced rush of wind noise, and it was obvious when the amplification was turned on just prior to the show. Yet I do not recall enjoying the organ quite as much as I did that August 2008 night, in spite of the missing notes. If the technicians keep fixing what doesn't work, the results should be rewarding.
It was Jack Moelmann's evening, a feather in TOSI's cap, and a great publicity event for theatre organ in general. ATOS was prominently mentioned at least three times, as well, all good for promoting theatre organ in general. Jack was marveling to me about the wide range of publicity that had "caught on," and news cameras were in evidence, both outside, and during the first half of the performance, especially when the Colonel was at the console. We can look back in our history and know of some special events. Those George Wright midnight concerts at the Fox, the premier of the new home for Jesse Crawford’s Paramount Wurlitzer in Wichita, Tom Hazelton proving the Chicago Stadium Barton was a great pipe organ, and on and on. But none of that ever generated a 3-1/2 minute segment on the CBS Evening News, or several column inches in The New York Times.
Jack Moelmann most certainly proved you are never too old to dream, and to have those dreams come true. Seemingly the entire world was reminded of that by media attention we in pipe organ land can only dream about! It was a great event, indeed.
Thanks, Jack, you made it happen. Thanks to all in TOSI who participated and helped pull it off. Thanks especially to Nelson Page, who finally caught the attention of the Associated Press with the “spends life savings” angle.
Now, where do we get $200,000 for the encore with the Rockettes?
(August 31, 2008) Allen Miller
The show started in March 2007 on Valle Radio, Albox, Spain as a half-hour per week 'addition' to a 2-hour program of vintage music, Those Dancing Years, and was then called Pipes and Paella. It was strictly local in character and although it had, naturally, a fairly small listener base, it was well-liked by the radio station manager. Some of these shows are online.
In May 2008, the program was extended to one hour, re-badged Hot Pipes! and became International in scope to serve the theatre organ community as a whole. I'm happy to say that listener figures have leapt up since the new format launched on May 28th of this year. There's new CD reviews (when I can get the discs!), concert and event information, archive recordings from my collection and more.
If you'd like to listen to Hot Pipes!, it's available both for casual listening and downloading, and as a podcast, from www.musicnostalgia.com - and I also play requests and dedications, so do please contact me on the e-mail address on my website.
(August 27, 2008) Steve Ashley, Producer and Host
Rick and Clayton Parks (Salem Elsinore Theatre) were contacted
by
the Whiteside Theatre Foundation in Corvallis, Oregon to organize the
removal of the near mint condition WurliTzer style F that resided in
the Gill Coliseum on the OSU campus. OCATOS members Rob Kingdom and
Mike Bryant, and CROC member Bob MacNeur spent five days last week
removing and packing the instrument for storage. There were many WTF
people on hand as well, and that made this very difficult and somewhat
dangerous task a piece of cake. The WTF people are well organized and
very enthusiastic about the entire Whiteside project and will be
successful with this endeavor.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times ran an above the fold article on the
project and it can found at this link:
http://www.gazettetimes.com:80/articles/2008/06/19/news/top_story/4aaa01_pipes.txt
More information on the Whiteside Theatre Foundation and the beautiful
Whiteside theatre can be found here: http://whitesidetheatre.org/
(July 4, 2008) Jerry Hertel - Secretary, Oregon Chapter ATOS
Garden State Theatre Organ Society is pleased to announce a weekend premiere celebration of the Wonder Morton in Loew's Jersey Theatre. More information about the three day event and registration form.
(June 9, 2008) Paul Jacyk
From Phil Stimmel,
"Greetings-
It's been awhile since I've
sent out a message regarding the updates to the Estey Organ
website. However, there are numerous additions of stop lists
and
other pages which have been added in the intervening months. I still
have a backload (which seems to keep increasing) of materials which
should be on the site, and I'll do my best to add what seems to be
appropriate.
Most exciting at this time is that the Estey
Foundation, Inc. will be sponsoring, in conjunction with the Organ
Historical Society, and Estey Pipe Organ Symposium in Brattleboro, VT,
September 20, 2008. Events of the day will include a tour of extant
organs here in Brattleboro, slide shows and recordings of interesting
organs, and a panel discussion by some of those most knowledgeable
about Estey pipe organs. We are also most privileged to be able to
present to recognized authorities in the organ field: Mr.
Jonathan Ambrosino will give a key-note presentation on, "The Estey
Legacy: Haskell and Beyond", and Dr. John Weaver will present a
festival recital on the Estey organ, Opus 300, at the First Baptist
Church.
Details are currently being posted at http://www.esteyorgan.com/Symposium.htm,
and will be updated over the coming weeks.
Perhaps
more than any other builder, Estey placed organs across the breadth and
width of the United States, as well as abroad. Many of these
instruments went to small churches and are still giving faithful
service after 70-100 years. Unfortunately, may of the larger
instruments have been lost to changes in tastes. However,
this
event will give us an opportunity to learn of and celebrate the unique
contributions that this company made to the American organ world.
Fall in Vermont is a wonderful time of year, and I encourage you to
come and visit us."
(May 11, 2008) Phil Stimmel
The Estey Organ Virtual Museum
www.esteyorgan.com
After almost half a century of searching for a home, a 17 rank Wurlitzer theatre organ finds its way to a cave in a former shoe factory among two-headed snakes where it is seen and heard by thousands of people daily. Got all that ??? !!!
The organ owned by the St. Louis Theatre Organ Society (SLTOS) was recently featured in a KETC Public Television "Living St. Louis" video. Click here to view the excellent organ video.
The City Museum in St. Louis, MO, where the organ has played since late 2007, is hard to describe in a just few words. The museum's website calls it an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." Here is a video of the museum.
Congratulations to SLTOS and City Museum for getting this organ playing in such a unique and highly visible location where so many people can enjoy it daily both visually and sonically. |
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(May 5, 2008) Thanks to Jim Ryan, SLTOS President, for information for this article.
Photos Courtesy KETC-TV and CITY MUSEUM
A rare Hook & Hastings theatre organ is at risk of vanishing after the announcement of church closing.
"Yesterday,
the closing of St. Casimir's was announced. In November, 1898 the
Lithuanian families of Brockton established St. Rocco's Church and in
1900 built their first church on Webster Street. In 1914, the basement
of a new St. Rocco's was built. The present St. Casimir's was built in
1952. and the Hook and Hastings installed under Pastor, Reverend Felix
Norbut.
Hook
and Hastings #2460 was built for Gordon's Olympia
Theater in Brockton in two chambers flanking the proscenium arch. Its
illustrious career during the silent movies ended with the "talkies"
and it fell silent for 25 years suffering water damage from the leaky
roof and falling into complete disrepair. Father Norbut bought the
organ in 1954 and the Frazee Organ Company installed it in the highly
resonant St. Casimir's Church with a new console and rebuilt wind
chests. The restoration of the 27 ranks and 1495 pipes cost $15,000.
George Faxon dedicated the organ in recital October 17, 1955. Richard
Pelland rebuilt the organ in 1992 and Robert Love played the
rededication recital.
Pelland writes: An organ of some historic interest, and in good
condition is available. Dick
Pelland is the contact person - if interested, email him
directly for details.
mail@pellandorgan.com
St. Casimir, Brockton, MA is closing.
Hook & Hastings opus 2460, the last surviving H&H
theater organ will probably be lost.
Organ is, tonally, completely original missing only its tuned
percussions.
25 ranks ,7 strings, 7 flutes, 7 reeds, diapason, cornet; played by Ray
Cornils 2005 OHS convention, recorded by me.
Rebuilt 1990 by Pelland, Peterson action and switching, plays
perfectly. This will be a serious loss."
Our
chapter visited St. Casimir's for our organ tour in 2005 and I played
the recital. I loved the IV rank eight foot celeste tuned string
mixture and the bold reeds. Originally built to sound in the heavily
curtained environment of a movie theater, the organ easily dominates
the resonant St. Casimir's Church. We held our Member Recital there in
the fall of 2005 and everything from Moulin Rouge to Louis Vierne came
out perfectly.
And we urge anyone who has the resources and the
will to adopt this fantastic organ to take advantage of its sudden
availability. It still has the life and potential to enrich many more
lives with its unique sounds. This Lithuanian Parish has been a great
steward of Hook and Hastings #2461. This organ deserves a continued
stewardship."
- Richard Hill
Partial list of ranks
| Open Diapason Melodia Concert Flute Violon Cello Quintadena Major Flute Fifteenth Trumpet |
Clarinet Musette Gedeckt Viola Viol d'Orchestre Flauto Transverso Violino |
3 rank Dolce Cornet Mixture Orch Oboe Cor Anglais Vox Humana 4 ranks Strings (2 as celeste) Chimes |
(May 5, 2008) Portions used by permission from newsletter editor Richard Hill, AGO Old Colony Organist Southeastern Massachusetts Chapter
From our organ friends in AGO...
"The American Guild of Organists (AGO) announces 2008-09 as the International Year of the Organ. The Guild hopes to have participants from all over the world celebrating the organ and its literature. Events will include organ recitals, concerts in which the organ is featured with musical ensembles, organ conferences, organ crawls in which people look at the inner workings of the pipe organ, and so on. The Year will begin with the AGO National Convention, held in Minneapolis June 22-26, 2008, and will conclude with the AGO regional conventions in summer 2009.
The AGO has designated Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 as the Organ Spectacular Day. Each of the 300 chapters of the Guild has been invited to participate by having an organ event that day. Other venues from around the world will also be participating. Combined, these events will create "the world's largest organ concert." For this concert, the AGO held an international composition competition for a piece for organ and C instrument. Bernard Sanders of Germany won the competition with his "Ornament of Grace," which will be published by Concordia in late May. David Vogels, an AGO National Council member, commissioned Stephen Paulus to write an organ work for this occasion. It is available at www.stephenpaulus.com. The AGO hopes that both of these works will be performed on Oct. 19 recitals and concerts.
Participants (AGO chapters, concert hall managers, church and university organists, other individuals) are invited to list their events on the AGO website, www.agohq.org. The AGO has hired the Phelps Group, a public relations firm, to help with national publicity of these events. For more information and for logos which can be used for the International Year of the Organ and for Organ Spectacular events, please see the AGO website. For more information or to ask questions, please contact os@agohq.org."
(May 5, 2008) Margaret Evans
This radio broadcast recorded at Fred Hermes' Basement Bijou appeared on the 3/15/08 "Morning Show" on WGTD 91.1 FM in Kenosha, WI. Featured are Fred Hermes and Dean Rosko and Fred's 5 manual Wurlitzer from the Michigan Theatre in Detroit, MI. Organ music and lots of interesting history.
(March 31, 2008) Paul Jacyk
Western Reserve Theatre Organ Society (WRTOS) has been presenting movies online featuring chapter members working on their new 4/28 Wurlitzer. More movies at the "Progress Report" link. Thrilling progress so far and a large dedicated team is shown in the frequent reports. Also shown is an easy and effective way for local chapters to take advantage of "the power of the internet" to the share organ work with members, the public, and potential project financial donors. Plans are already underway for the 2009 ATOS convention in Cleveland. Check out the super organs and theatres on the WRTOS website.
(March 31, 2008) Paul Jacyk
Jack Rhine reports "The following link is to a page on the San Francisco Bay Area Radio Museum website. (Click Here) It contains a broadcast of a concert played on the 4/36 Wurlitzer in the former San Francisco Paramount (Granada) Theater. The artists are Tom Hazleton and Larry Vannucci. The concert was on May 30, 1964, not too long before the removal of the organ and demolition of the theater. There are some interesting parts of this broadcast, like a microphone inside the relay room and the blower room. The concert ends with both artists playing a four handed version of the Star Spangled Banner. The concert was recorded off the air and is of reasonably high quality. Information page and the concert itself are copyrighted material and can only be heard on the website."
(March 21, 2008) Jack Rhine
Dr. Edward J. Mullins, former ATOS Director of Chapter Relations, passed away at his home in San Francisco, Saturday, October 13th. He was 74 years old. Dr. Mullins was a founding member, past President, and current Secretary-Treasurer of the Jesse Crawford Chapter; and a member of NORCAL Chapter. Dr. Mullins was licensed to practice Chiropractic and Acupuncture in several different states. He studied the latter in China.
Ed was also a periodic writer for Theatre Organ Journal as well as the late Tom B'hend's "The Console."
Practicing first in Chicago, he later established offices in Cody, Wyoming and Billings, Montana. After traveling to San Francisco, twenty years ago, he decided to establish a practice in the city. He closed his practice in Cody. He met and became a close friend of the late silent film accompanist Bob Vaughn, in San Francisco. For twenty years he flew back and forth between his offices in Billings and San Francisco.
Flying so frequently, he soon accumulated passenger miles (complementary tickets) from the airlines. This allowed him to travel extensively to hear theatre organs in Hawaii, England and Australia, establishing lasting friendships with the late Father Gerard Kerr in England, and with Bruce Ardley and others in Australia. He was also a home organist.
His closest surviving relatives are an elder sister and brother-in-law and a cousin in the Chicago area.
ATOS sends its condolences to the family members of Ed Mullins, with the knowledge that our organization was made better by the service and dedication of this wonderful man who worked hard to bring the joys of the theatre organ to so many. He will be missed, and may he rest in peace.
(Oct. 15, 2007) Rudy Frey, Ken Double, Tom DeLay
Veteran Theater organist Lorin Whitney passed away Wednesday,
Aug.
29, 2007. He was 92. Lorin owned Whitney Recording Studios in Glendale,
CA. where he housed a large Robert Morton Theater organ. He recorded
many Sacred music albums on the Robert Morton as well as accompanied
many singers with the organ. He has lived in Orange County, CA for the
past several years. His memorial service is Friday. Sept. 7, 2007 at
1:00.PM at St. Andrews Presbyterian church is Newport Beach, CA. His
son, Gene and wife Arlene are on staff at Presbyterian Church of the
Master, Mission Viejo. CA.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests gifts be made to Far East
Broadcasting Company in the honor of Lorin J. Whitney.
More
about Lorin Whitney
Sources:
Gene Roberson, Organist-Director of Worship, Pres. Ch.of the Master
- email
Chris Elliott - email
Alan Johnson - email
David Dana-Bashian - email
Orange
County Register
One of our goals, is to pass on the tradition of the Theatre Organ to future generations through programs specifically designed for young people. Enter professional theatre and classical organist, organ teacher, and retired high school band director John Baratta. John is a Garden State Theatre Organ Society member (GSTOS), a New York Theatre Organ Society member (NYTOS), and an Ameican Guild of Organists member (AGO) living in Sussex County, N.J. He plays the Wurlitzer at the Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, NY, and is also a church musician. Since retiring from school teaching John has become a man on a mission. He hopes to expose as many school children to the grandeur of the King of Instruments as possible. “We all know that interest in organ is dying”, says John. “It’s because nobody is exposing our young people to the instrument we love”. John has recently set a plan in motion to help change all that.
Anticipating this type of mission, John Vanderlee, a NYTOS board member whose wife is also in public school music education, proposed purchasing an electronic “traveling organ”. With security, insurance, parental permission, and funding issues, it’s very difficult and expensive to take school students on field trips to visit a real pipe organ in a theatre. The concept is “If you can’t bring the audience to the instrument, bring the instrument to the audience”.
A used Allen 3 manual theatre organ (which also features classical sounds) was located and purchased. John Vanderlee became the “equipment guy” for the project, renting a trailer to move the organ from storage, and setting up the instrument at each location. Funding for the trial programs (moving expenses, etc) has been provided by the AGO.
While John Vanderlee was readying the equipment, John Baratta was honing his plan. He felt that the best result would come from a program focused at music students in the public schools. “They are the ones who already have exhibited an interest in music”, says John, “and they are most likely to respond favorably.” He also felt that his proposed program should be formatted as part of the regular music classroom day, not as special assembly.
John drew up his “lesson plans” and put together a cohesive ˝ hour live program which exposes the novice to how pipe organs work and what a digital version sounds like playing theatre and classical music. Students get to handle real pipes and understand a diagram of the parts of a pipe organ. They hear alternating styles of playing by John, back and forth between theatre and classical. Each song is specifically chosen to demonstrate a concept and to appeal to the youngsters. They learn about stops, pistons, pedalboards, and “those funny shoes I wear”. They hear about how percussions and effects are added to the mix. They get to understand why theatre organs were invented as unit orchestras for silent movies, and, if time permits, a few kids get to play in front of the class.
But John Baratta’s concept goes beyond just exposure. He wants to develop young organists out of this effort. Any interested student is invited to come back at the end of the day and try out the Allen. He also provides lists of qualified organ teachers in the area (mostly from AGO).
A trial version of the program was launched in late May of 2007. Schools were chosen because of connections John Baratta and John Vanderlee had in the public school music education community. At each venue the program was presented to its music students every period of the school day. The first try was in Hyde Park, NY at Roosevelt High School where there is a plan to eventually install a Wurlitzer Pipe organ. The Allen was brought to the school and set up to “play in/out” the audience at their spring musical “Annie Get Your Gun”. With the organ already in place, a trial run of the program was launched. This effort was successful beyond expectations, and set a clear course for the future. Subsequent programs took place at High Point High School, Sussex County, N.J.; West Essex High School, North Caldwell, N.J.; and Kittatinny Regional High School, Newton, N.J.
At each venue John Baratta ran a marathon, as he repeated his program for all 7 periods of the school day. It is obvious that John knows how to talk to this age group and how to hit their “hot buttons”. While the reactions by the students were mixed, they listened courteously, and after each program, about 6-10 students would converge on the console to try it out and learn more.
By any measure, the trial run has been wildly successful. Over 1,000 teenage musicians have been exposed to the “King of Instruments”. At every school there have been at least half a dozen inquiries about taking organ lessons. The AGO leadership in the Poughkeepsie area was dumbfounded to find that 6 of their members had been contacted about teaching organ as a result of this program!
Not content to rest on his laurels, however, John Baratta has a plan for expansion in the 2007-2008 school year. A DVD of parts of the trial program is being prepared for presentation to school music faculties. Endorsements are being solicited from the music staff of the trial schools. A networking effort is being put in place among organists and school music professionals to spread the word. Ads are being prepared for organ publications to solicit funds to help expand the program.
The program that John Baratta is developing could really be the start of something big. An effort such as this has the potential to reach thousands more youngsters in the region than any previous efforts, and it is designed to develop new organists, not just expose youngsters to the organ. That’s why this is such an exciting new venture!
(July 6, 2007) Article: John Becica; Photos: John Vanderlee & Tom Stehle |
A "new" theatre organ premiered on June 17, 2007 with over 200 people attending the silent film "Phantom of the Opera" with Steven Ball providing the music. The responsive and aurally pleasing 2/6 Link/Bennett hybrid theatre organ was purchased, restored, and installed by active long time Toledo Area Theatre Organ Society (TATOS) member Evan Chase in the Lois M. Nelson Theatre in the Collingwood Arts Center, Toledo, OH. During its short life in Toledo the organ has already been featured in pre-shows and intermissions for two classic movie events at the theatre. Originally the Link Organ Company console was
installed in a movie theatre in Blue Earth,
MN. The chests and pipes, from the Bennett Pipe Organ
Company,
were
installed in 1928 in the Eagle Theatre, Montevideo, MN.
More
information and pictures here. |
Disney's Hollywood El Capitan Theatre is home to the famous San Francisco Fox Theatre 4/36 (now 4/37) Wurlitzer. The following pictures were supplied by former ATOS President John Ledwon who is one of the El Capitan staff organists. According to John, after just two weeks, over 60,000 people heard the organ featured for 30 minutes before every show…probably 99.9% of whom have never heard a theatre organ before. The console rises on its lift during the Pirates pre-show and the keyboards are lit with various colored lighting manual by manual in sync with the music...very effective. Simulated organ pipes from the Davy Jones "organ" are visible in both organ opera boxes (see pic #3) and they emit CO2 during the pre-show.
Click any picture for a larger version
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Photos courtesy John Ledwon 2007 More information on the El Capitan Theatre
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Visiting Hawaii and the Big Island? Plan to stop in Downtown Hilo on Wednesdays for the weekly "Mornings At The Palace Theater" featuring the Robert Morton Pipe Organ, Live Hula and Historic Films. 10:30am every Wednesday. For more information on this show call (808) 934-7010 or visit http://www.hilopalace.com
 Leilehua Yuen (holding ukulele) and Bob Alder with the Palace hula dancers. |
After the show, enjoy exploring Historic Downtown Hilo including shopping, dining and the famous Hilo Farmers Market! The four-manual Palace Theatre Robert Morton organ now has 13 ranks playing. For more information on the organ project and special events sponsored by the Hilo Theatre Organ Society visit http://htos.palacehilo.org |
Organist Dean Cook reports that the San Jose pizza palace Angelino's Restaurant closed on April 15, 2007 due to the sale of the business. The organ is to removed, and the building remodeled into a completely new restaurant.