PATRONS : Dr Robert Boughen OBE and David Gray Jan-Feb 2020

TOSAQ DIRECTORY COMING UP:

President: Lance Hutchinson (07) 3355 0979 a/h DDaavviidd BBaaiilleeyy CCoonncceerrtt [email protected] Sunday 23 February at 2 pm Vice-President: Kelvin Grove State College Theatre Kevin Collins 3351 2322 [email protected]

Treasurer: Kevin Purchase 3359 6016 [email protected]

Executive Secretary: Brett Kavanagh 0412-879 678 [email protected]

Tibia Editor: Mike Gillies (07) 3279 3930 [email protected]

Committee Members: Come along to our first major concert event for David Bailey 2020. And who better to start off the new year Debbie Fitzsummons Robert Weismantel than our very own David Bailey! David will be John Rattray pulling out all stops (very apt on this occasion!) Murray Ries to present a full concert program of music on the Tim Larritt Christie cinema pipe organ plus two Laurel &

Christie Maintenance: Hardy silent films we have not seen before. All Rick Whatson 0451-409 343 in air-conditioned comfort and it includes [email protected] afternoon tea. Bring your family and friends!

Postal Address (all correspondence): See inside for more details. 51 Princess St, Mitchelton QLD 4053

TOSA QUEENSLAND was established on Club Day with Organ Access 26 Feb 1964 Sunday 1 March 2020 Bookings are essential for extended practice Unless otherwise noted, our daytime sessions from c. 10 am to 3 pm. Sessions meetings are held from 2 pm at Kelvin generally last an hour, but depending on Grove State College Theatre, corner of numbers, can be longer. Contact the Secretary Tank Street & Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Brett Kavanagh to nominate a time. Ph. 0412- Grove 4059 — ALL WELCOME! 879 678. www.tosaq.com.au

Practice Nights Monday 9, 23 & 30 March 2020 Held at Kelvin Grove State College Theatre from

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily 7.30pm. Come along and have a play—all that of the TOSAQ committee, its membership welcome! Enjoy a cuppa with fellow players. or the Society’s policy. Listening/playing guests welcome.

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Well, Happy New Year to you all! I also hope performance. Please support your Society everybody had a safe and joyful Christmas and David and come and enjoy some great and didn’t set your new year resolutions to music. high. During the break, our resident pipe organ specialist Richard Larrett (photo) Later in the year we will see Justin Stahl from travelled up from to spend a week USA and John Giacchi, so keep an eye out for working on our Christie under the watchful dates and times. eyes of his brother Tim and Rick Whatson. The main focus was the reed pipe ranks, with Lance a lot of cleaning and resetting of shallots etc. Lance Hutchinson Thanks to all that helped. President Our first concert for the year is our very own TOSAQ David Bailey. He will be providing a full program of music including a silent movie.

David has travelled around and New Zealand receiving accolades for his performances on organ and silent movie interpretations. As most people wouldn’t realise, there are very few original scores to accompany the movies—hence David has to compose a quite a lot of music to aid his

See silent film maestro David Bailey at the Christie on 23 February at 2pm.

TOSAQ has a new email address: [email protected] — please update your address book. Brett Kavanagh – TOSA Q Secretary, ph. 0412-879 678.

Cover photo: From another era… How did the theatre organ evolve? Find out more in this edition of Tibia.

2020 CALENDAR

Note: Events subject to change.

Always check the web page for updates or changes — www.tosaq.com.au

January July Monday 27th Practice night Sunday 5th International Artist – Justin Stahl (USA) February Monday 13th Practice night Sunday 2nd Member access to Christie – Monday 27th Practice night Bookings essential Monday 3rd Practice night August Sunday 23rd Australian Artist – David Bailey Monday 10th Practice night Monday 24th Practice night March Monday 31st Practice night Sunday 1st Member access to Christie – Bookings essential September Monday 9th Practice night Sunday 6th Member access to Christie – Monday 23rd Practice night Bookings essential Monday 30th Practice night Monday 14th Practice Night Sunday 27th Australian Artist – John Giacchi April Sunday 5th Australian Artists – Legends Variety October Concert Monday 5th Practice night Monday 13th Practice Night Monday 12th Practice night Monday 27th Practice night Monday 26th Practice night

May November Sunday 3rd Member access to Christie – Sunday 1st International Artist – To be Bookings essential announced Monday 11th Practice night Monday 9th Practice night Monday 25th Practice night Monday 23rd Practice night

June December Monday 1st Practice Night Sunday 6th Annual General Meeting and Club Sunday 7th Member access to Christie – Day Bookings essential Monday 15th Practice Night Monday 29th Practice night

Club Days – As per recent years past, we have maintained hall bookings for the first Sunday of the Month during 2020, should any additional opportunities, member-driven events come up or Note: Dates in red highlight are events with paid entry. All for extended personal practice sessions. KGSC events commence at 2 pm unless otherwise stated. Practice nights commence at 7.30 pm in the KGSC theatre. Bookings are essential for extended practice sessions.

TOSAQ presents David Bailey Sunday 23 FEBRUARY 2pm Christie Cinema Pipe Organ Kelvin Grove State College Theatre Book Now at: http://www.tosaq.com.au/events/david-bailey-2020/

Arguably Australia’s greatest silent film cinema organ accompanist, Queenslander David Bailey has also gained high praise in Australia and New Zealand as an eminent theatre organ recitalist.

David has a style which is influenced by inter-war composers and performers, such a Sidney Torch, Paul Whiteman and the great jazz and blues singers. George Wright’s recordings also guided David with orchestral registrations and phrasing—and Bailey’s style is adventurous with a traditional foundation. Your will hear momentary takes of the great theatre organists of the golden era but with the flair and lustre of the Bailey sound! The Christie and David are well acquainted, so expect some great music from those pipes…

David Bailey has honed his silent film presentations with most of the music scores written by him. (Very few films came with a score provided). This art is complex and involves providing music temperament to match the emotion of a particular silent film setting. David has mastered this art and it is a wonder to see the music and images interwoven “live”.

Besides the two Laurel and Hardy short films (“Putting Pants on Phillip” and “That’s My Wife”), David Bailey will perform music selections from Rodgers and Hart, “The King and I”, and the 4Bs—Bacharach, Beatles, Beach Boys and Bangles.

We are sure you will enjoy this fascinating application of cinema organ in silent film accompaniment and its exemplary use as a solo musical instrument—all in the expert hands of David Bailey.

Early Bird discount tickets are available now. TOSA members can secure individual tickets for $22.00 when they are booked and paid for by Sunday 16 February. After this date, tickets for TOSA members will be $27.00. All tickets include a complimentary drink (wine and fruit punch) on arrival and a scrumptious afternoon tea at interval.

Tickets can be secured in the following ways:

1. Online at http://www.tosaq.com.au/events/david-bailey-2020/

2. Post a cheque / Money Order to the TOSAQ Secretary – 51 Princess Street, Mitchelton, Qld. 4053. Be sure to include a short note with your name and how many tickets you want.

3. Contact Brett on 0412-879 678 to process a Credit Card / Debit Card payment over the phone. Early Bird tickets must be paid for in full by Sunday 16 February 2020—tickets cannot be held without payment.

Tickets: General public: $32 (Early Bird $27) TOSA members: $27 (Early Bird $22) Tertiary Students: $12 (Full Time, ID Required) School Students: $5 (Primary & Secondary) Chrildren u/5: Free

Venue address: corner of Tank Street & Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove 4059 NEWS MYSTERY PHOTO Membership renewals for 2020 are now due. Last edition’s mystery Please see the TOSAQ membership form attached. photo showed the 4/26 Your timely attention to this is appreciated. Wurlitzer console in the former Brooklyn  Paramount Theatre, part of the University of Long Island USA. Organist maestro Hector Olivera is back in town. He will This edition’s mystery photo shows a big Wurlitzer be playing the mighty Willis in (5 manuals!) installed in a once famous American Brisbane City Hall at noon o 24 theatre. Where was this and where is it now? March. Hector is also playing digital Allens in several churches (Brisbane, Gold Coast and NSW) for All Organs. See: https://allorgans.com.au/organ-news/



During the week 13 to 17 of January, Richard Larritt travelled up from Adelaide and led the reed pipework cleaning on the Christie, assisted by Tim Larritt and Rick Whatson. Kevin Purchase also provided some assistance, and installed a heavy-duty door closer on  the artist access door in the green room. On Friday the 17th, Rob Weismantel and his grandson dropped Further to the story in the last Tibia, the State by for a few hours tidying and sweeping out the Wurlitzer was on ABC TV recently. Here’s a link to blower room. the segment:

The work on the reed pipes involved taking all pipes https://www.msn.com/en-au/video/sport/sydney- out of the chambers rank by rank. Each pipe was state-theatre-restores-organ-for-90th- opened up, the reeds and shallots cleaned and anniversary/vp- resurfaced, all other parts cleaned inside and out. AAK8h32?fbclid=IwAR2YRqbNMujWfDTawMWop While the pipes were out, each rank chest and 2O0xEPYs2P_hX2NzJpl_pQhsbSSahdYhdvnfvM surrounding areas was vacuumed by brush attachment. Top chest screws were also tightened  as many are inaccessible while pipes are in place. All pipes were then returned, tuned, checked for correct speech and regulated to provide even volume across the full rank. (See photo opposite and over page)

This type of work only needs to be done every 15 to 20 years. The results of the work are subtle and go hand in hand with previous flue regulation work to make the Christie the best it can be. The French Trumpet is speaking faster and brighter, particularly the two bottom octaves. The Tuba also speaks faster and has a fatter, fuller tone, particularly again in the lower octaves. The Orchestral Oboe has brightened and gained character. There is little noticeable change in the Clarinet and the Vox Humana. (Rick Whatson)

The recent Christie work performed by Richard Larritt and his team of helpers.

Two recent David Bailey reviews (thanks to MTO and TOSA SA) are reproduced here.

Don’t miss his upcoming performance on the Christie this February.

THE MARCH CONCERT REVIEW — photography by Maurice Austin, text by Max Raynor (MTO)

Our first MTO concert for 2019 once again featured the talented Queenslander David Bailey.

The promotional advertising for the 24th March, Dendy concert was for the 1924 Buster Keaton comedy “The Navigator”, which was screened in the second half of the event.

Larry James, the President of GDR (the community radio station formerly known as Golden Days Radio) Needs Now from 1965, the 1964 Beatles’ song Can’t introduced David, who began with the 1937 tongue-in- Buy Me Love, Pennies from Heaven from 1936 cheek anthem to tinsel-town, Hooray for Hollywood. (making good use of the Wurlitzer’s tuned As pointed out, the Brisbanite is no stranger to the percussions), the Beach Boys’ 1966 hit Wouldn’t It Be Dendy Wurlitzer, this having been the first theatre pipe Nice and, following Harry Warren’s 1933 We’re in the organ he ever played. Money, then a short reprise of Hooray for Hollywood.

David’s music for the first half was all based on twin After the 20-minute interval, Larry reintroduced David themes vital to the film industry: love and money. He to accompany Buster Keaton’s classic 1924 comedy began with an opening 20-minute medley of Cole “The Navigator”. David got laughs right from the Porter tunes. These included You Do Something to outset, with the organ providing a very amusing “roar” Me, So in Love, Just One of Those Things, Love for from the MGM Lion during the opening credits. Sale and rounded off nicely with a further reference to “showbiz” with Another Op’nin, Another Show. The storyline of course is a vehicle for Buster’s hijinks. Wealthy but foolish, Rollo Treadway, having made an Joking that “That will have knocked the moths out!” impetuous decision to marry his sweetheart on that David then introduced his next item, which was of a very day (without having previously informed her) different genre. He based this 1932 piece on a subsequently determines to go on his honeymoon recorded version done by Jim Riggs on the voyage alone when she refuses him. Of course, he Paramount, Oakland, 4/27 Wurlitzer. Our own “Eliza”, even manages to mess this up and they both end up with just three manuals and 16 ranks, was perhaps being the only passengers — and crew — of the “SS honoured to be trusted to perform the poignant music, Navigator”. which under David’s expert guidance she did admirably. Silent film music was of course always there to do more than drown out the noise of the old projectors. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime, was composed by As used in the stage melodramas from the 19th Jay Gorney, based on a Russian folk-song. The words century, it was there to add “colour” and meaning to by Edgar “Yip” Harburg reflected the anger and the performance. Even after the “talkies” were disillusionment with the American Dream of those invented, music had established its worth, and thrown onto bread-lines by the Great Depression. remained an essential element of movie-making.

For his next number, David moved to the 1980s with a For these silent presentations in the 21st century a song made famous by Whitney Houston, Saving All live accompaniment from a skilled artist like David is My Love for You. David joked that perhaps that’s even more important. Even with the intertitles and something the old girl (Eliza) hadn’t played before but, some helpfully labelled boxes — “GIANT FIRE for the record, David J. played it as recently as last CRACKERS” — the added dimension of music helps year’s August FODO event. David B. continued with us relate to the humour in a modern context. his two themes of love or money, taking the concert to its interval with an extended medley of music through David’s selection of accompaniment included some the decades. clever references to the names or to the lyrics of songs, as was the custom of his forebears at the The numbers included I Can’t Give You Anything But organ consoles of the 1920s. For instance, during Love from 1928, Burt Bacharach’s What the World Buster’s vain efforts to manage a lifeboat, David played Row, Row, Row. Although written for the Who Cares, How Long Has This Been Going On, Nice Ziegfeld Follies in 1912, AFL supporters might better Work If You Can Get It, Soon, Looking For A Boy, and recognise this tune as the Richmond Tigers’ club Someone to Watch Over Me. song. The first half of the show had come to an end and we In addition to the brilliant silent film accompaniment, it were taken out to interval with Theatreland. was particularly enjoyable to hear David Bailey’s broad range of delightful music presented in the first After interval we were treated to the 1926 silent film, half of the afternoon. This event was well-attended “For Heaven’s Sake”, with David providing the musical with around 140 patrons, and it was obviously much accompaniment. enjoyed by every one of them. For Heaven's Sake is a comedy silent film directed by Sam Taylor and starring Harold Lloyd. Commercially,  it was one of Lloyd's most successful films and the 12th highest-grossing film of the silent era, pulling in $2,600,000.

David did a fantastic job, playing solidly for the duration of the film, which was 58 minutes long. Quite a few laughs were had and the audience was overawed with the whole experience.

Two of the comments received about the afternoon were:

“If I was to never come to another concert at the Capri, I wouldn’t mind as I have witnessed a concert where I knew every song being played and I thought all the music was extremely well orchestrated and performed. I am a very happy man!” (Brian Pearson, TOSA member)

“I was very impressed with David’s playing. I thoroughly enjoyed the Silent Film and I thought David was very clever the way he was able to mould the music in with the film. It took me back to the Old Days”. TOSA SA Review by Margaret Hay (Jess Stapledon, 101 years of age) On Sunday, October 20 we were thoroughly entertained by David Bailey at the console of the Capri organ in Adelaide. DAVID BAILEY will perform on the David started off with Hooray for Hollywood and From This Moment On. CHRISTIE cinema pipe organ

Next up was These Foolish Things, using some lovely luscious sounds of the Theatre organ.

David then played a well-blended selection from Rodgers and Hart, including:

The Lady Is a Tramp, A Small Hotel, I Could Write A Book, Spring Is Here, Falling In Love with Love, This Can’t Be Love, All the Things You Are, Puttin’ On the Sunday 23 February at 2 pm Ritz, and finally Nina. In Kelvin Grove State College This bracket was followed by Stormy Weather, written by Harold Arlen. Theatre*

Utilising the glock, chrystoglot and the brush cymbal, *Air conditioned. Afternoon tea included. David then played a selection of Gershwin music: The Theatre Organ and Silent Films

Article by Thomas J. Mathiesen

Within the field of film music scholarship, it has Silent film is a performance medium. This concept become a commonplace to observe that the silent was lost with the advent of sound-on-film. With it films were never really silent: they were always passed what is now seen as the single most accompanied by at least a piano or small ensemble, necessary part of the silent film experience—the live and in the larger theatres, by an orchestra or an performance... the live element of silent film music organ. Scholarship dutifully notes that the film performance cannot be ignored. accompaniment might be performed by (1) an ensemble playing from a score compiled by the The examination of silent film music cannot take Mathiesen studio or the director and distributed with place solely through the collation of extant scores, the film; (2) an ensemble playing from a score cue sheets, and the like with film scripts and compiled by a particular theatre's music director, surviving prints, though this is certainly important. perhaps guided by a cue sheet distributed by the Because silent film music is part of a dynamic studio, perhaps not; or (3) an individual musician, performing art-quite unlike the music for sound who might refer to the studio's cue sheet or simply films, but rather like the music for opera---careful improvise a score. study must also be given to the performance tradition. While this description is true enough as far as it goes, it does suggest a kind of fixed presentation, The organ and the organist as if any given film in any given theatre would be In the 1920s, at the height of silent film making, the performed in a certain way, show after show. This, theatre organist played a dominant role in the of course, is the modern sense of commercial film accompaniment of silent films. Although some of exhibition: the audience attending a showing of the recent studies of silent film music acknowledge Gone with the Wind or Days of Thunder assumes it the theatre organ's importance, the nature of the sees exactly the same version everyone else has instrument and the special techniques of the theatre seen. The truth, however, is otherwise: films organist's art have received little attention. become damaged and sections are excised in repair; local distributors cut certain sections deemed unsuitable for a particular market; films are withdrawn and re-released, sometimes even within the first few weeks; and so on. Moreover, various cuts of a film are frequently approved by the director or the studio or both. Thus, it cannot be said that these are merely defective versions that do not reflect the film makers' intent.

The problem is even more acute for silent film because the showing of a silent film did not entail just running a strip of film through a projector; it was, in a real sense, a performance, involving numerous variables ranging from the time of the show to the speed of the film itself. Thus, even in the case of "bigger" films that were closely coordinated with special scores, the actual performance of the film The theatre organ evolved from various would vary according to the interpreters. As Dennis developments in late nineteenth-century organ James, staff organist at the Ohio Theatre building, which included unification, increased wind (Columbus), observes: pressure, the invention of so-called "orchestral" ranks, combination actions, and so on. One of the leading exponents of a new type of orchestral organ was Robert Hope-Jones, but he was not so much timpani, chrysoglott, xylophone, and grand piano. interested in building organs for theatres as he was Some of these percussion instruments and most of in simply "improving" the instrument in general. It the sound effects were invoked by depressing foot was left to the Wurlitzer Company to absorb the pedals or buttons, while others---especially the Hope-Jones Organ Company in 1910 and to begin tuned percussion and rhythm instruments—were producing the characteristic theatre organ (originally controlled from the keyboard so they would respond called the Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra) that together with the organist's solo line or the was always associated in the public's mind with accompaniment pattern. Wurlitzer even when organs of a similar sort were built by Moller, Kimball, Marr & Colton, Barton, or Unification enabled each one of the ranks and some Morton—to name only the better-known builders. of the tuned percussion to be played from the console at various different pitch levels and in It would be impossible to generalize a "typical" various combinations according to the stops specification for a theatre organ built in the late selected, all by depressing a single key on, in most teens or twenties. The organs ranged in size from cases, anyone of the several manuals. The stops two manuals and six ranks to four or five manuals themselves were organized into various divisions and more than fifty ranks. Nearly all of them, and controlled by narrow stop tablets distributed in however, had at least one rank of the common rows (the number depended on the size of the voices: a tibia (a stopped wooden pipe), a vox instrument) around the so-called "horseshoe humana (a capped reed), a string (an open pipe of console". very narrow scale), a flute, some sort of principal (usually called a diapason), and an open reed (perhaps an oboe, krumet, or tuba); and all of them had tremulants to give the organ its characteristic vibrato.

Larger organs would have additional reed and flue ranks, as well as special brilliant ranks including the brass saxophone, brass trumpet, and posthorn. Finally, theatre organs typically included a battery of percussion instruments that could be controlled from the console. Even smaller organs would include bass drum, kettle drum, crash cymbal, cymbal, snare drum, triangle, castanets, Chinese block, tom A typical arrangement of stop tablets from left to tom, sleigh bells, doorbell, and at least one bird right would include pedal, accompaniment, great, whistle and an auto horn. Larger organs might add and solo. The stop tablets for each division would harp and marimba, chimes, glockenspiel, tuned range from lowest to highest, left to right, with the percussion tablets at the extreme right of each division's set. In addition, the sonic character of the ranks was color-coded on the stop tablets: white tablets indicated flues (or percussion); red tablets, reeds; yellow tablets, strings; and black tablets, couplers. Around the rim of the horseshoe console, little hooded lights were installed so the organist could easily see the tablets and keyboards in the darkened theatre.

The arrangement of the console enabled the organist to make rapid changes in sound by shifting from one keyboard to another, changing stops by hand, using the extensive combination action ("pistons") below each manual and above the pedal board, or using the crescendo pedal. The pistons, which could be set on an electric setter board at the play a short overture, and then descend to a level back of the console for any combination of stops, somewhat below the stage as the film began. If the activated tiny bellows behind the stop tablets, organ was installed in the centre of the pit, the turning them on or off. Some of the pistons organist could easily see the screen. It was also functioned only on a certain division of the organ, quite common for the organ to be installed on the and others were "general" pistons that could change left side of the pit, and in these cases, the lift the stops anywhere on the organ. On larger sometimes included a turntable that allowed the instruments such as the Wurlitzer at the Fox organ to rotate. As it would rise on the lift, the organ Theatre in San Francisco (now demolished), the would be turned with its back towards the left side of organist could further control the pipes and some of the house so the audience could watch the the percussion that would sound from a single key organist's performance; then, as it partially by employing "second touch" and "pizzicato touch.” descended for the film, it would rotate clockwise so In addition, all the ranks, sound effects, and the organist could see the screen. percussion, with the exception of some 16- and 32- foot pedal ranks found on larger organs, were The sound of a theatre organ, like that of any organ, normally enclosed in swell boxes, each controlled is a combination of the characteristics of the by a separate pedal, and this allowed the organist instrument itself and the acoustics of the room. considerable control over the dynamics of the sound Larger theatre organs were typically installed in without alteration of its colour. larger theatres, such as the 4-manual, 36-rank Wurlitzer installed in the 4,651-seat Fox Theatre in Theatre organs were characteristically installed in San Francisco or the 5-manual, 29-rank Kimball in chambers on the left and right sides of the the 6,214-seat Roxy Theatre in New York City (now proscenium, although some were installed in demolished). This does not mean, however, that the chambers in the sound was dome of the comparable. The theatre's ceiling Fox organ was or under the installed in stage. chambers on either Proscenium side and on top of installations, the proscenium which were arch, while the Roxy certainly the organ was installed most common, under the stage. In provided the addition, the two organist with the theatres had possibility of different shapes. creating striking The sound of the antiphonal or Fox organ—as a stereophonic result of its size, effects. Above installation, and the each stop tablet shape of its room— on many Wurlitzers was a white or black dot was subtle, blended, clear, and powerful (but never indicating whether the rank was installed in the loud), while that of the Roxy was more muffled. In chambers on the right (black dot) or the left (white their original acoustic environment, organ dot). accompaniments for the silent films (always assuming, of course, a competent performer) In the teens, it was common for the organ console underscored the visual dimension with a to be installed in a fixed position in front of the apron sophisticated, highly coloured music. In addition, if on the left side or in the centre of the orchestra pit. the organ had a proscenium or dome installation in As theatres became larger, however, the organ and an auditorium with a somewhat rounded shape (the the orchestra were placed on separate elevators. common configuration), the music would seem to fill When accompanying a film, the organist would rise the auditorium from all directions rather than from the pit to a level somewhat above the stage, appearing to come from behind the screen or any other specifically discernible position. This created the rather mysterious and impressive effect that was frequently noted as a feature of silent films in the twenties.

The overall design and mechanism of the theatre organ allowed a skilful organist to create truly remarkable orchestral-and theatrical-effects of considerable sophistication. Because all these resources were controlled by a single performer, it was possible for the music to be coordinated with the film to a degree not possible with full ensemble accompaniments. C. Roy Carter, writing in 1926, asserted that the theatre organ was capable of providing the most perfect accompaniment for motion pictures:

Its superiority over the orchestra for this means is undisputed, not only because of the Organ's greater flexibility and range of tonal expression but because under the control of an artist it can do all and much more than a large orchestra, greatly surpassing it in power and grandeur and even variety of tone.

(To be continued)

Brisbane Organist David Bailey

David Bailey has been immersed in this musical give almost all of the organ’s performances since its world of the 1920’s and 30’s from an early age and opening in 2006, which has included writing, personalities like Sophie Tucker, Billie Holiday, arranging, adapting and improvising scores for a Stephane Grappelli and Paul Whiteman as well as wide variety of silent films from all over the world. theatre organists Sidney Torch and George Wright are among his favourites. Last year David composed and performed scores for a number of recently rediscovered silent films After studying piano and music theory, David moved including the world premiere of the restoration of to studies in church and classical organ. Lewis Milestone’s “The Seven Sinners”.

As a teenager, David became increasingly Eighty-five years after the ‘talkies’ made it interested in the rare and vast tonal and dynamic supposedly obsolete, David hopes to show that the abilities of the cinema organ. Through performing in cinema organ is still a valid form of musical concert for many organ societies in Australia and expression by guiding new film audiences on their New Zealand, David has had the fortune to play a journeys in number of historic instruments and hone his cinematic performance skills in many settings. storytelling.

With the installation of the Wurlitzer Style 260 (Thanks to MTO Vox (formerly of Brisbane’s Regent Theatre) in the magazine for providing this bio article) “Australian Cinémathèque” in Brisbane, a new opportunity to experience films from the first age of cinema also arrived. David has been fortunate to LOCAL ORGAN CLUBS TOSA CONTACTS Don’t forget that the TOSA Gold Coast Organ Society of meets at: TOSA ACT (Canberra) Queensland (OSQ) has Maher Hall 3/8 Compton interesting events on. Matilda Street Albert Hall, Canberra BURLEIGH HEADS Contact: [email protected] Visit their web page: 4220 https://www.organsoc 3/19 Olympic Digital TOSA Gold Coast iety.com.au/ Theatre Organ Olympic VTPO. Facebook: 3rd Sunday each Club Musical Afternoon 3rd Sunday of each month https://www.facebook.c month at 2.00 pm. (except December). Contact: Bill Schumacher 07-5524 2746. om/Organ-Society-of- Secretary: Queensland-Inc-OSQ- Bill Schumacher 111198455618978/ 07-5524 2746 TOSA New South Wales Orion Theatre Wurlitzer 3/17; TOSAQ members are always welcome at OSQ and Marrickville Town Hall (TH) Wurlitzer 2/11; TOSA Gold Coast events, as part of a mutual West Ryde Anglican Church 2/8 Christie agreement. For a pleasant change, attend one or Events Contact: Geoff Brimley (02) 6351 3122. more of their events in 2020. TOSA Victoria - MTO Subscribe to TOSAQ: Kingston TH Wurlitzer 4/21; https://tosa-qld.us11.list- Malvern TH Compton 3/17; manage.com/subscribe/post Dendy Cinema Wurlitzer 3/15;

Coburg TH Christie/B & H 2/9; Regent Wurlitzer 4/36. Contact: Margaret Sutcliffe on (03) 9891 7227.

Warragul Theatre Organ Society (VIC) Wurlitzer 3/10. Meetings held first Saturday of the month. Events Contact: Di Yuill (03) 5623 3301.

TOSA Tuesdays and weekends TOSA (SA) members play the 4/29 Wurlitzer in their Capri Theatre, Goodwood Road, Goodwood (08) 8272 1177.

TOSA Western Australia 3/12 Compton. John Leckie Music Centre 25 Melvista Ave, Nedlands. Member’s days first Sunday of the month at 2pm. Contact: Rodney Raymond (08) 9310 2838.

Stirling Productions (WA) Wurlitzer 3/21 Karrinyup Community Centre, Perth, Western Australia. Interstate TOSA Members get a 50% discount to concerts. All concerts are on Sundays at 2pm. Prior bookings are essential with John Fuhrmann on (08) 9447 9837.