Wurlitzer organ bench manual#

Many of the design elements of the theatre organ simply allowed it to do its job better than anything else could. The Rudolph Wurlitzer company, to whom Robert Hope-Jones licensed his name and patents, was the most prolific and well-known manufacturer (2,234 were built), and the phrase Mighty Wurlitzer became an almost generic term for the theatre organ. Many organ builders supplied instruments to theatres. Only 25 of this model were built, and it illustrates the high level of beauty and artistic work some consoles exhibit. The console of the Crawford Special-Publix One Mighty Wurlitzer, at the Alabama Theatre. Though there are few original instruments in their original homes, hundreds of theatre pipe organs (typically rescued from defunct theaters or from venues no longer using and maintaining their organs) are installed in public venues throughout the world today, while many more exist in private residences. There were over 7,000 such organs installed in America and elsewhere from 1915 to 1933, but fewer than 40 instruments remain in their original venues.

Wurlitzer organ bench manual#

One of the largest theatre organs ever built (and certainly boasting the largest console ever built for a theatre organ) was the 6 manual 52 rank Barton installed in the massive Chicago Stadium. As the concept of the theatre organ was embraced, theatre organs began to be installed in other types of venues, such as civic auditoriums, sports arenas, private residences, and even churches.

The organ was installed in 1927 and is currently played five nights during a week before most film screenings.

Another example is the 3/13 Barton from Ann Arbor's historic Michigan Theatre. The console of this 3- manual 14- rank Wangerin-built Barton is completely covered in black felt fabric embedded with glass glitter in swirling patterns, with all edges trimmed with bands of rhinestones. One example is the so-called Rhinestone Barton, installed in 1928 in the former RKO Iowa Theatre. In organs installed in the UK, a common feature was large translucent surrounds extending from both sides of the console, with internal colored lighting. Given their prominent placement in houses of popular entertainment, theatre organ consoles were typically decorated in gaudy ways, with brightly colored stop tabs, and painted bright red and black, or solid gold, or ivory with gold trim, with built-in console lighting. Theatre organs are usually identified by the distinctive horseshoe-shaped arrangement of stop tabs (tongue-shaped switches) above and around the instrument's keyboards on their consoles. Console of the Rhinestone Barton theatre organ, installed in Theatre Cedar Rapids