JOHNGART When the writer was 17, he was THEATRE ties) does not identify the organist. given an Excelsior accordion as a ORGANIST but described him thusly: "Our or­ Christmas present. Accompanying ganist. while only a youngster. has the "abdominal Steinway" was a • been complimented very highly by catalogue showing all the models. the Wurlitzer Co .. the makers of our plus a page of illustrated endorse­ RADIO organ. which by the way. is the ments including one of John Gart of ORGANIST finest organ made. They have offered New York. The years passed until him a huge sum to join their forces November 1972 when we were talk­ • as a demonstrator, but our contract ing with Dr. C.A.J. Parmentier. and with him prevents him from accept­ when he mentioned theatre organist TV ORGANIST ing - now." John Gart. the name was instantly In 1925, Mr. Gart began playing recalled as a top-flight accordionist. • in Loew's theatres as a full-time However. Mr. Gart was also an organist. The first was the 1800-seat excellent theatre organist, pianist VAUDEVILLE Loew's Sheridan on Sheridan Square and conductor, and we prevailed CONDUCTOR and 14th Street. Second was the upon him to supply us with informa­ 2600-seat Loew's 83rd St. in Man­ tion which could be incorporated • hattan. In 1927, he began a very into a feature biography for THE­ successful three-year run in the ATRE ORGAN. Thanks. Dr. Par­ ACCORDIONIST 3600-seat Metropolitan in Brooklyn mentier. for providing Mr. Gart's which had a 3-manual Moller. He Florida address. • then had a stint at the Capitol The­ John Gart was born in Poland in atre's Estey. 1905. "I started studying music COMPOSER By this time. Loew's was construct­ when I was six. I was partly inter­ ing its sumptuous movie palaces in­ ested in it and partly made to be • cluding five "Wonder Theatres" in interested in it! My father was an the New York metropolitan area. On opera singer. When attending con­ COMMERCIAL January 12. 1929, John Gart opened certs. the conductor would lift me JINGLE Loew's Valencia Theatre in Jamaica, onto the podium. put a baton in my WRITER Long Island. It had one of the "Won­ hand. and I'd wave it in time with der Mortons." a 4/23 organ. "How I the music. This gave me some feeling • loved it!" he says . about rhythm, etc." The inaugural program included Studying the violin for eight RETIREE the overture "Slavonic Rhapsody" months didn't inspire him to great by the Valencia Symphony Orchestra heights. However. he discovered the with Don Albert conducting; MGM piano, and at the age of seven, he by Lloyd E. Klos News Events and Fox Movietone was accepted at the Imperial Con­ News; Organ solo "The Voice of the servatory of Music in Moscow where organist and pianist with an orches­ Organ" with John Gart "at the con­ he studied piano and theory with tra which played for silent movies in sole of the mighty Robert Morton Boris Levinson and counterpoint the Coliseum Theatre in Bay Ridge. organ;" a stage presentation "My under Reinhold Gliere. At the age of Brooklyn. Since all the members of Mantilla"; 16 Chester Hale Girls. twelve, he toured Europe. accom­ the orchestra were Italian, and I un­ backed by Walt Roesner's Valencia panying a concert violinist and an derstood very little English anyway. Stage Band; the feature movie opera singer. the orchestra leader addressed us all White Shadows in the South Seas In 1922. he imigrated to the in Italian. I was unaware of this and with Monte Blue and Raquel Torres; United States and studied organ with thought it was mostly English! I and the Recessional with John Gart Dr. Clarence Dickinson at the Brick couldn't fathom why my American at the organ. You really got your Presbyterian Church on New York's friends couldn't understand me!" money's worth in those days! Fifth Avenue, and with theatre or­ After a year. he became the reg­ "The Robert Morton organ. as I ganist Herbert Sisson, who had ular organist at a Wurlitzer in the remember. had the most wonderful played the Strand, Rialto and Rivoli Park Theatre at Fifth Avenue and sound. In fact. I liked it better than in New York. All of Mr. Gart's the­ 44th Street. The September 29, 1924 a Wurlitzer then. It approximated atre experience would be in the issue of the Park Theatre Times. a very closely the sound of orchestral metropolitan New York area. pamphlet handed out to patrons, (a instruments in a very sonorous and "My first job was in 1923 as relief feature of theatre-going in the twen- pleasing fashion. 10 THEATRE ORGAN APRIL- MAY. 1977 "My wife, Mims, reminded me of Your Sunny Side Up' was sung for pened, but when they realized how a very interesting incident which oc­ closing as a film of planes in action much better they were received by cured while I was playing at the was flashed onto the screen. This was the audience, they'd ask me to do it Valencia in 1930. In those days, we a thoroughly enjoyable solo." again and again! used song slides on the screen. and In 1932, Mr. Gart played the 2868- "It was customary for the per­ occasionally I used a vocalist offstage seat Loew's Gates Theatre in Brook­ formers while in the middle of their who would sing a popular hit. lyn. He was a vaudeville conductor. act to ask the leader for an instru­ "One day. I got the idea of having led his own group "The Rhythm ment and make believe that the y a singer perform from the pipe Boys." and performed organ solos. didn't know how to hold it. then chamber. directly behind the shut­ "I remember being a very serious break out with great sounds. But ters. (Shades of a C. Sharpe Minor individual. and was very concerned when I handed a performer a violin presentation!) The vocalist. Sunny with my work at first. However. when without strings. or a trumpet without O'Brien. used a megaphone as P.A. I became a vaudeville leader. all hell a mouthpiece. the audience loved it!" systems hadn't come to the fore. The broke loose! I used to play all k.jnds By this time, the use of organs in effect was very successful. and I of pranks on the performers. such as theatres was steadily decreasing. received many good comments on it. breaking them up while they were and the consoles were being lowered One came from a lady who stopped singing. I'd wear a crazy wig. funny into the pits forever. Fortunately for me on the street. saying that she rec­ mustache or cross-eyed glasses! some organists, they were able to ognized me, and that she loved the Their first impulse was not to notice, continue in the infant medium of organ solos; in fact, she thought it but they soon wound up in convul­ radio. Some stations had pipe organs was wonderful to hear the organ sive laughter. and the audience loved in their studios which was a blessing. make sounds like a human voice it! Others had the newly developed with words!" "Sometimes, I'd play their number Hammond (after 1935) which was In 1931. he was selected to open several tones higher or lower and mobile, enabling the instrument to three big Loew's presentation houses they'd lose themselves and blush! At be shunted from one studio to the - Pitkin. Paradise and Kings. The first, they didn't know what hap- other. silents had gone. of course. He also served as organist and musical con­ John Gart at Loew 's Metropolitan console in 1927. Moller had already adapted its church org ans for theatre ductor at Loew·s 46th St. Theatre use by adding romant ic stops and traps . in Brooklvn. An item from the inaugural pro­ gram of Loew's Pitkin Theatre says: "John Gart. who will preside over the new $100.000 (sic) Morton organ, a prized feature at Loew's Pitkin The­ atre. is well known as organist of leading deluxe theatres. The console. mounted on a revolving and dis­ appearing elevator, is one of the finest instruments of its kind." In the days of the Wonder Theatres. the organist played a spotlight solo, and after the entire program, a re­ cessional. The Motion Picture Herald, dated November 21, 1931, gives us an idea of the type of organ presentations given after the demise of the silents: "John Gart at Brooklyn's 46th St. Theatre, presented an up-to-the­ minute and pleasingly entertaining organ solo entitled 'Flying High.' Opening with a special lyric to '99 out of a Hundred,' as airplane ef­ fects were heard. the 'trip to the moon' started. At this time. the song sung by the audience was 'Makin' Faces at the Man In the Moon.' For the 'visit to Mars,' 'Stardust' was played and sung. A timely lyric about 'Lindy' was then sung to the tune of 'Japanese Sandman,' with special lyrics about the Graf Zeppelin to the tune ·Augustine' following. 'Keep APRIL - MAY. 1977 group played anything from swing to rhumbas and made several transcrip­ tions for Musak. A vocalist who got her start with this aggregation was Dinah Shore. John also appeared in 1939 on the NBC program Tas(v Yeast Jesters. He played an Excelsior piano accor­ dion, Peg LaCentra sang, and there was a string bass and a guitar.