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Revealed After a Century: the Model 46 Ruth of 1912

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Revealed After a Century: the Model 46 Ruth of 1912 Carousel Organ , Issue No. 50—January, 2012 Revealed after a Century: The Model 46 Ruth of 1912 Fred Dahlinger © 2012 Introduction That observation came very close to the reality of the situation. There were actually two such instruments, and each was some- he late Dan Slack constantly sought mechanical musical what “unique.” instrument buying and selling opportunities. His work as Subsequent to the acquisition, examination of details and Ta salesman of Cessna propeller aircraft and later Chris- further analysis, including accessing European literature on the Craft luxury boats took him cross-country, giving him exposure topic, the make and specific model number of this interesting from coast to coast and border to border. He examined many machine have been confirmed. It is the first of two Model 46 machines, passing on most, buying some, re-selling the majori- Ruths fabricated in Waldkirch, Germany. Constructed and sold ty and holding a few. in 1912, awareness of the existence of the organ has been out- After one 1980s side the knowl- trip to California dur- edge of contem- ing which he’d porary organ bought a prized enthusiasts Model 38 Ruth chas- everywhere, sis, he reported spot- including both ting another intrigu- North America ing instrument. and Europe. Based on the knowl- The purpose edge he’d gained of this mono- from examining the graph is to fill the construction hall- void about Ruth’s marks of his unusual Model 46 Waldkirch-built organ and to re-count Dan was sure it was a how the identity Ruth, but he couldn’t of the 1912 figure out exactly instrument was what model. It baf- revealed after a fled him. Even the century of obscu- name on the facade, rity. Within the Emerincus , made no narrative, we will sense ( Figure 1 ). provide a context Following his for it in the Ruth Figure 1. An ugly duckling organ with the enigmatic name Emerincus on the façade proved to untimely passing in line and have a very elusive history and concealed an origin that would not be revealed for several 1987, the organ decades. Waldkirch pro- joined the ranks of Author’s collection duction. It’s also many forgotten tales an opportunity to 1 told by Dan. bring forward some insights on Waldkirch-built organs suited to The confusion around the mystery instrument continued for locations other than the fairground. over two decades. It passed through two collections and into the possession of Alan Erb. Moved to Carson City, Nevada, it Waldkirch Organs for Dance Halls was out of sight for many years, forgotten by most enthusiasts. Across time numerous experts and authorities examined the The European fairground organ market reached saturation organ. Despite their good efforts, nothing came of the inspec- toward the end of the first decade of the 20th century. When tions and discussions. It retained its status as an enigma. Gavioli & Cie. in Paris, the flagship of the French trade, col- The continuing lack of an accurate identification was per- lapsed, it was the most significant testimony to the changing petuated by the combination of three factors: the absence of circumstances faced by instrument builders. The heyday of the documentation about certain European organs in the literature; big French fair organ was played out in the few years remain- a published scale labeled incorrectly and encumbered with ing before the continent was changed forever by World War I. errors; and the residual effects of not one, but two after-market Marenghi’s successor Gaudin, along with Verbeeck in Belgium, modifications of the instrument. During the course of our dis- assembled a few large chassis machines. Over in Germany, cussions Alan told me “it’s probably a one-of-a-kind organ.” smaller, powerful fairground machines first introduced about 25 Carousel Organ , Issue No. 50—January, 2012 1908 had brought an end to the fabrication of all but a handful The fair organ builders in Waldkirch, Germany, encoun- of large fairground organs after the first world conflict. tered limited dance organ sales opportunities. It was difficult to Late in the first decade of the 20th century the future was adapt their fairground organs, with powerful reeds and bass, brighter in the dance hall organ business. The heritage of these into interior space service. They were inherently well-suited to devices dated back nearly as early as the fair organ trade, but outdoor applications, where their great volume overcame the has received less attention from researchers until recently. Post- noise of the crowds and ride machinery. Their heavy duty 1900 terpsichorean palaces were enlivened by numerous book books were also much more expensive than simpler paper rolls, organs: the 65, 84 and 94-key Gaviolis (introduced between cardboard cartridges and other systems in orchestrion use. Only c1902 and c1907); 59, 70, 80-key and larger Marenghis rarely did something ship from a Waldkirch factory that resem- (brought out between 1903 and c1908); and the 67-key bled a continental dance hall organ. The proliferation of high Limonaire (first one in 1906). By 1914 Charles Marenghi quality orchestrions made in their country by reached 105-keys and his successor, Gaudin, achieved 114-keys Bacigalupo/Asmus, Blessing, Dienst, Frati, Hupfeld, Imhof & in the 1920s. Beyond simply having different ranks across the Mukle, Lösche, Philipps, Poppers, Weber, Weisser, Welte and organ’s pitch range, all had numerous registers to provide con- others in Berlin, the Black Forest, Frankfurt and Leipzig filled 2 siderable tonal variation for the presentation of popular music. those needs at home and elsewhere in Europe and North Some late 19th century Waldkirch cylinder organs were America. Ruth marketed what were termed “Salon Organs” outfitted with mechanical or hybrid registers as utilized in brass and “Large Organ Works for Carousel, Panorama and Dance horn orchestrions, but they were not common. Parisian makers Hall Proprietors,” while Gebrüder Bruder listed “Concert were outfitting their instruments with automatic registers by Organs” for “Museums, Panoramas, Dance Halls and Streets.” 1900, a development witnessed in Paris by the Germans. They All were cylinder-operated. A few examples of these survive 5 took their cue from those keyed machines and moved in anoth- today. er direction. Ruth and Gebrüder Bruder pre- sumably initiated their designing of keyless- style book instruments with multiple pneumatic registers sometime 1900-1902, perhaps even earlier, but the sale of organs incorporating them didn’t materialize until 1903. Pneumatic registers are in Gebrüder Bruder’s Model 104, 80-keyless shop number #4774, dated by the maker on the façade in 3 1903. Ruth’s first Model 38 was issued about June 1903 to Ignatz Lambertz and presumably incorporat- ed a register for an alter- nate flute voice, but it had no glockenspiel 4 until later. The French efforts inspired Belgian firms Figure 2. One of the most unusual looking Waldkirch shipments was this circa 1910 Gebrüder Bruder destined for to make similar Holland. It had swell shutters and a mechanical stringed instrument above the case, as found on French and Belgian machines, with inven- dance organs, and Gebr. Bruder’s own 106 keyless Elite Orchestra “Apollo.” Stefan Fleck collection tive effort leading them into their own entirely new tonal and visual developments. The Belgian builders, A decision not to participate in the dance organ market including Louis Hooghuys and especially Theofiel Mortier, appears to have been the overt choice of Wilhelm Bruder Sons, dominated the Belgian halls with instrument designs that later despite 1880s representation in the field. We’ve seen no docu- incorporated as many as 101-keys. Other firms also participat- mentation to suggest they made a 20th century effort to garner ed in the burgeoning pre-war market. dance hall instrument orders. The Waldkirch plant of Gavioli, 26 Continued on page 30 . Carousel Organ , Issue No. 50—January, 2012 . continued from page 26 operated by Limonaire starting in 1908, also seems to have been attempted market penetration with their new 78-keyless Model a non-participant. The Parisian operations were closer to the 46. It was rationally decided that the machine would be com- principal dance hall organ market, but it’s surely possible that parable in size to others, like the 65-keyless Bruder Apollo and one or more 57, 65 or 87-key organs shipped out of Waldkirch earlier Parisian instruments. In a path akin to that taken by the served in a large hall. nearby Gebrüder Bruder, Ruth utilized their second most popu- A serious movement to penetrate the dance hall market was lar fairground scale, the Model 35, and enlarged it to create the first undertaken in Waldkirch by Gebrüder Bruder, the largest Model 46, yielding a design to serve a similar purpose to the builder in the community with the greatest number of exports. most successful Bruder EOA. The action started without direct awareness of the outcome in The basic 65-keyless Model 35 Ruth scale was retained 1908, when they introduced their 52-keyless Model 107. It intact. To facilitate additional register capability, the opera- went on to become the most successful of all Waldkirch organs, tional platform was expanded to 78-keyless, a number definite- selling more broadly and in greater numbers than any other ly not chosen at random. It was the same size as their existing design, and remaining competitive until the end of the business Model 36 Ruth design. Thus, the new Model 46 utilized card- nearly three decades later. board of the same width as the larger Model 36. The fact that As was then the Bruder 107 had becoming com- been enlarged by mon in the instru- thirteen spaces into ment trade, the 65 Apollo was Gebrüder Bruder merely a coinci- introduced a line dence.
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