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JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE ORGAN SOCIETY JULY | AUGUST 2020 www.atos.org The Right Man, in the Right Place, at the Right Time BY DOUG BEACHAM Allen Organ Company (All photos courtesy of the author publicity photo, circa 1998 except as noted) 16 THEATRE ORGAN In every generation a person comes along who has the right talent, the right personality and is in the right place to make a difference in his world. God gave Dwight Beacham the first two gifts and the Allen Organ Company gave him the opportunity to use what God gave him to create the sound that was always in his head. Dwight Beacham was a theatre organist who literally performed all over the United States and in several foreign countries, was a church organist from the age of 14, a music teacher, a choral director, and a groundbreaking organ designer, in a career that spanned over sixty years. The difference he made in the organ world is remarkable. Dwight was born in Glendale, California, May 14, 1946. His early years were spent in northeast Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. His family went to church every Sunday, just like most kids growing up in the ’50s, he played games with the neighborhood kids in the backyard and the family took annual vacation trips to Colorado chasing Narrow Gauge trains...his father loved those trains! As fate would have it, one year in the early ’50s Dwight’s father Wasn’t he cute? used his Christmas bonus to buy a Hi-Fi system. Remarkably, the system came with two George Wright LPs. Dwight said, “After I heard those, I decided that all I ever wanted to do was play like that, on an instrument like that. When I found out that the instrument could be installed in a home, I wanted one. I was thrilled at the sound and the musicianship.” He had found his passion! His mother insisted he take piano lessons before he got an organ. Even though he really didn’t want to play the piano, she said “When you have had two years of lessons, we’ll get you an organ.” A few months later he stormed upstairs from the basement and told his mother he didn’t want to practice anymore. All she had to say was, “Do you want an organ?” “I did a U-turn and went back downstairs to practice.” Dwight remembers, “Growing up in L.A., I went to every George Wright concert at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena. I saw more silent movies than sound because Gaylord Carter did a silent movie series at the York Theatre on Figueroa in Highland Park, and I heard gospel music from my Dad’s favorite organist, Lorin Whitney. It was a great place to be.” “After two years of piano lessons and true to her word, we went over to the Gould Music Company in Pasadena and bought a Conn Organ. I played that instrument with minimal instruction for a couple of years until the family moved to Van Nuys in the summer of 1960. We traded the spinet Conn for a console Kinsman organ with settable combination piston which could change registers.” It was time for organ lessons and that’s when his teacher, Del Castillo, came into his life. As Dwight tells it, the first time Del and Dwight met was interesting. Del said, “OK, play something for me.” He did, and then they had a lesson. At the end, he thumbed through a music book he had and found Embraceable You. “I knew how to play High School JULY | AUGUST 2020 17 Above: The family in Eagle Rock, circa 1960 1969 in Paso Robles, California. They had moved their 2-manual, 8-rank and added a three-manual console Below: Dwight on his first pipe organ—a Robert Morton, circa 1964 18 THEATRE ORGAN the chords and the melody.” Then Del said, “Okay, but you know the composer had ideas on how the left hand should go. You need to look at those.” He then continued, “I want you to play the same song with an arrangement next week.” Dwight asked, “What’s that?” He responded to that, “It has to have an introduction, play it through twice, and an ending. The two times have to differ from each other.” “I don’t know how to do that,” said Dwight. Del came back, “You’ll learn.” At this point Del said something Dwight has never forgotten. “I will give you two critiques. One is musical, which you cannot argue with. It has to be according to the music. You do all of that right. If I were to change combinations on something, I had to time it so it didn’t delay the piece at all.” The other point was Del’s opinion. Dwight could either agree with it or do it his way, but it was sage advice: “You know silence is part of the music. It’s like a pause in a speech to give emphasis. You don’t always have to be playing. Sound does not always have to be coming out. There need to be breaks.” In the early ’60s Dwight purchased his first pipe organ, a Robert Morton. He stored it in the family garage, waiting for a place to install it, while he continued taking lessons from Del Castillo on the Kinsman. Even though Dwight now had a pipe organ, Del told his young student he wanted to continue lessons on the Kinsman because something always went wrong with a pipe organ. Del had learned years ago as a theatre organist that if organ broke, the theatre manager would ask him to fix it. If he fixed it, the manager would never call the repair man. He would be expected to repair it. So, he fixed nothing again! When the family moved back to Eagle Rock the Morton was sold, and Dwight bought his heart’s desire: a small eight rank Wurlitzer pipe organ he found in a local church. His father and he put the pipes in their one-car garage and there was a small side room for the console. There was also a backyard pool right next to garage so, “I could work on the organ and go jump in the pool. It was a great place to work, practice and cool off.” Dwight smiled. After graduating high school, Dwight enrolled at Glendale Community College where he found a wonderful music department. He studied music theory and continued his organ lessons with Del. From 1968 Wiltern concert program More importantly, he met the love of his life. It was love at first same time, he was studying piano and organ at Chapman under sight. He told his mother, “I really like this girl.” With his mother’s Norm Thompson, a fine pianist, and an incredible theatre organist. encouragement and finding out where she parked, he finally dated After graduating from Chapman in 1967 and six months of study that fellow musician who became his wife. Gini and Dwight have to become a teacher, the now-married Beachams moved to Paso been together ever since. Robles where Dwight taught for a couple of years and their daughter Dwight and Gini eventually transferred to Chapman College in Holly was born. Besides teaching music, he led the band, choir, and Orange, California where Gini played violin in the orchestra and taught history. they both sang in choir. William (Bill) Hall led the widely respected He finally left teaching because he found he was not cut out for it choral department. Dwight has often said, “Bill Hall taught me most and the pay was so low they kept going further and further in debt. of what I know about choral directing.” That would hold him in good Dwight and Gini moved back to Los Angeles where he worked stead during his short career as a high school teacher and later as a for Maas-Rowe Carillons for a short time. Then fortune shined on church choir and music director. Dwight. In 1971 he was hired by the Gould Music Company in While a student at Chapman, he met local theatre owner, Norm Pasadena, the same company where his family had purchased their Goodin. They became friends and Dwight eventually made a deal Conn Organ. with Norm that allowed him to practice on his theatre organ any At the time Gould carried both Conn and Allen electronic organs. time he wanted, so long as he played the Friday and Saturday night Dwight confessed that, “I really had my nose up in the air about intermissions. It was a great opportunity and fun for a young college electronic organs. I wouldn’t soil my fingers with one of them.” Two student who loved theatre organs. years before he went to work for Gould he was looking for a home “It was a two-manual, eight-rank Wicks theatre organ that organ and after looking at what was available, even his wife Gini had sounded far better than it should have, because of the work Ron said, “If that’s what electronic organs sound like, I’m not interested Mitchell had done, but it was a joy to play. I practiced there more in one.” This came from an accomplished violinist and singer. than I ever have anywhere, only because it was available to me But, interestingly enough, he discovered that Norm Thompson, anytime I needed it, and I was all alone!” Dwight recalls. At the his teacher at Chapman, played a large custom Allen organ for a JULY | AUGUST 2020 19 Article in the local newspaper of the day church at Leisure World in Laguna Beach, and he liked it.

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