Wurlitzer organ demonstration
The New Lyric Wintergarden Theatre, Sydney, In the interim, Union opened luxury theatres in Sydney andīrisbane, both of which contained Wurlitzer organs. It was some years before Union commenced theĬonstruction of such large theatres. Theatres, Sydney, 1921 ] in the mainland capital cities. Union Theatres had, the previous year, announced plans to build "Million Dollar Theatres, capacityģ000-4000, cost £200,000 each" [ Ten Years of Progress in the Motion Picture Industry of Australia, Union Two months earlier, Wm Hoggen, Paramount's Australian General Manager, had revealed that theĬapitol Theatre, Melbourne, was under construction, "its internal appointments have beenĭesigned on a scale of lavishness hitherto unattempted in Australia". an Hope-Jones instrument, said to equal the best yet installed inĪustralia" was announced to the trade in August, 1922. Grander things were, however, afoot, and the installation at the De Luxe Theatre, Melbourne, of "aĬleverly constructed Orchestrelle. The Style 135, two-manual,įour rank, Wurlitzer, at the Majestic Theatre, Melbourne, was next, in 1919.Īuditorium, Majestic, Melbourne display pipesĪ detail enlargement showing the piano console, angled at the left of the pit Thunderous tones make an impression in the playing up of the action of the screen impossible to an
The following year in the Strand Theatre, Hobart, of which the local newspaper reported: "its This had a piano console, as did the slightly larger Wurlitzer installed
Later that year, a two-manual, four rank, Style 1 Wurlitzer "Unit Orchestra" was installed in the Wurlitzer's Australian agent, Mr W A Crowle, "Toftmonks", Elizabeth Bay, NSW. (Opus 129) which was installed as a demonstration organ in the ballroom of the home of It was the first Wurlitzer unit organ to beĮxported outside the continent of North America, and was a two-manual, seven rank, instrument Theatre-style unit organ reached Australia in 1917. In the field of larger (unit) organs, Wurlitzer reigned supreme, unchallenged until 1928. There were no further Australian breakthroughs into the market. Them), and enlarged the Wurlitzer photoplayer at the Grand Theatre, Adelaide. Dodd & SonsĪdvertised photoplayers (but none is recorded as having been built by One was at Moss' Pictures,īallina, in northern New South Wales, the otherĪt the Wonderview Theatre, Victor Harbour, South Australia, in January,ġ924. of Sydney, which was advertised in 1921-22. Gulbransen Duo-Concerto Pipe Organ Orchestra Player PianoĬombined, a grandiose name for a small pit organ imported by E F These instruments were manufactured by builders suchĪs Wurlitzer, Robert Morton (The American Fotoplayer Company),Ĭremona, Seeburg and possibly others. The vast majority of the organs installed in Australian theatre in the veryĮarly days were of the photoplayer type, almost exclusively importedįrom America. Thank you Joe for arranging this post of Emil Cords demonstrating the Milwaukee, WI Riverview Skating Rink Wurlitzer pipe organ in 1956.Encyclopaedia of Australian Theatre Organs - History Part 2 It sounds like an orchestral English Horn, and NOT a Post Horn. Genre Theater Organ Comment by Joe Peterzak Terry specializes in voicing high pressure Theatre Organ stops such as the Post Horn, Serpent, and Bugle Battalia. Thanks to Terry Klevin (pipe organ voicer) for correcting and clarifying the information here. This post is dedicated to John, and his historic work documenting TO's of the Chicagoland area in the 50's & 60's. Chicago has provided the Facebook Chicago TO Room with some amazing photographs of TO's being removed from their ORIGINAL locations in the Chicago Suburban area. This recording is yet another GEM from John Shanahan's personal archives. Normal Wurlitzer pressure is 10-inches H2O. The pressure used in this organ is 20-inches of H20. so they can be clearly heard and skated to by the patrons. Wurlitzer made a few of these special high pressure organs for roller rinks. That's because this is a recording of a special "high pressure" Wurlitzer.
Note that the tone of these pipes are a little different than heard in a normal Wurlitzer pipe organ. This posting demonstrates clearly how each stop or rank sounds by itself when played alone. Here is a demonstration of the sound of a Wurlitzer Theatre organ's different ranks of pipes.