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Topic: How many theatres used organs?
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William Hooper
Member
Posts: 82
From: Mobile, AL
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted July 27, 2005 10:51 PM
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Does anyone know how many theatres used organs during the 1920's?
By the mid & late 1920s, almost all the theatres had organs. Pianos were considered too small & associated with old-fashioned nickelodeons, so even the small houses had at least a 2/4 put in. New builds by then all had organs or photoplayers (small player organ/piano hybrids of different types), & the smaller ones had organs only (no orchestra). The big houses which had orchestras had organs when built, because for early shows, union requirements, etc., the organ was used.
I think there are some good estimations in Junchen's _Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ_, but my copy is being borrowed now. The problem is that even though records remain from Wurlitzer, Moller, Wicks, & some other TO builders, there were MANY other builders that went out of business as talkies came in, & their records were lost.
There's a search engine to locate organs' & theatres' original installations at
http://barton.theatreorgans.com/s.htm
It acknowledges incompleteness, but since it was 1st put up, much more information has been added to its database by folks sending in info about original installations.
quote:
How many houses still have organs?
The ATOS has a list of existing, functional theatre organs at
http://www.atos.org/atos5/OrganLocator.html
Not all are used regularly, or have even been used for years, for different reasons. Also the list omits some organ installations which still exist, but are in considerable disrepair (vandalized; damaged by roof leaks, subcontractors, theatre personnel; left for years & having little prospect of becoming 'organs' again).
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