JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE ORGAN SOCIETY Orbir ID™e ecrronic 1yn~e1izer (?UJ lJ-~eohJre0 1piner orgon equoJ... ~e nevve1rwoy ro mo <.emu1ic fromWur i~zec Now with the Orbit III electronic synthesizer from slowly, just as the theatre organist did by opening and Wurlitzer you can create new synthesized sounds in­ closing the chamber louvers. stantly ... in performance. And with the built-in Orbit III synthesizer, this This new Wurlitzer instrument is also a theatre organ, instrument can play exciting combinations of synthe­ with a sectionalized vibrato/tremolo, toy counter, in­ sized, new sounds, along with traditional organ music. A dependent tibias on each keyboard and the penetrating built-in cassette player/recorder lets you play along with kinura voice that all combine to recreate the sounds of pre-recorded tapes for even more dimensions in sound. the twenty-ton Mighty Wurlitzers of silent screen days. But you've got to play the Orbit III to believe it. And it's a cathedral/classical organ, too, with its own in­ Stop in at your Wurlitzer dealer and see the Wurlitzer dividually voiced diapason, reed, string and flute voices. 4037 and 4373. Play the eerie, switched-on sounds New linear accent controls permit you to increase or of synthesized music. Ask for your free Orbit III decrease the volume of selected sections suddenly, or de.monstration record. Or write: _Dept. T0-472 WuRLilZER® The Wurlitzer Company, h th DeKalb, Illinois 60115. llH e "~ cove.-- photo ... The Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Virginia appears to­ day (after recent renovation) exactly as it did when it opened on December 27, 1928. The 4/17 Wurlitzer will be featured at the 17th Annual ATOS Convention. Preview begins on page 23. Journal of the American Theatre Organ Society (Photo by Ray Brubacher) Volume 14, No. 2 • April, 1972 in this issue ... ATOS National Membership is $8.00 per cal­ endar year, which includes a subscription to FEATURES THEATRE ORGAN, the official publication of the American Theatre Organ Society. Single copies: $1 .25. Make check or money order 4 How I Got Hooked!. Bernie Venus payable to ATOS, and mail to P. 0. Box 306, 7 The Ted Meyn Story . Lloyd E. Klos North Haven, Connecticut 06473. 12 Shuffle Off to Buffalo ALL MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION 13 Salute to West Penn EXCEPT ADVERTISING SHOULD BE 17 "Great Western Regional" . Hal Steiner SENT TO ATOS PUBLICATIONS P. 0. BOX 2329, LIVONIA, MICHIGAN 48150 21 Rochester Hosts Convention in 1923 . Lloyd E. Klos 23 '72 Convention Highlights ADVERTISING ADDRESS : 24 Convention Schedule ATOS Advertising 2231 North Burling Street 25 Convention Organs Chicago, Illinois 60614 26 Convention Store 35 Finding the Right Teacher ..... John Muri ATOS National Officers 39 John Seng at Radio City Music Hall . Allan Day Stillman Rice, President 39 Len Clarke Heads ATOS Advertising Lee Erwin, Vice President 40 Blackout at Clapham Junction .... Lee Haggart Mary Bowles, Secretary-Treasurer Mildred Rice, Executive Secretary Barbara Hubbard, Membership Secretary ATOS National Board of Directors DEPARTMENTS Mary Bowles Gaylord Carter Lee Erwin Allen W. Rossiter 11 Closing Chord 31 Vox Pops 40 Dinny's Colyum Allen Miller Richard Simonton 26 Hollywood Cavalcade 36 Pipe Piper 41 Chapter Notes Ron Willfong Judd Wolton 38 Chapter Chairmen 47 Classified Ads Albert T. Mason, Past President 27 For the Records 30 Nuggets from the Golden Days ATOS Honorary Members 1959-Jesse Crawford 1966-W. "Tiny" James 1960-Farny Wurlitzer 1967-Erwin A. Young, Jr. 1961-Mel Doner 1968-Richard C. Simonton 1962-Leonard MacClain 1969-Judd Walton p.--esident~s messaae ... 1963-Eddie 0unstedter 1970-Bill Lamb 1964-Reginald Foort 1971-George and Vi Thompson The Los Angeles Regional Convention was, in 1965-0an Barton my thinking, a great way to start what promises to ------ HALL OF FAME ----- be an eventful year for ATOS. The chapter is to be congratulated for three programs of dedication DON BAKER F. DONALD MILLER JESSE CRAWFORD C. SHARPE MINOR held in the beautiful San Gabriel Civic Auditorium MRS . JESSE CRAWFORD HENRY B. MURTAGH EDDIE DUNSTEDTER RAY SHELLEY and all the other enjoyable programs scheduled LEE ERWIN ARSENE SIEGAL during this convention. Their generous contribution FRED FEIBEL MILTON SLOSSER REGINALD FOORT FIRMIN SWINNEN of a true labor of love - the preservation of the ARTHUR GUTOW SIDNEY TORCH SIGMUND KRUMGOLD OLIVER WALLACE theatre organ - shall be shared by many through LEONARD MacCLAIN LEW WHITE beautiful music from the King of Instruments, "The Theatre Pipe Organ". EDITORIAL STAFF I have been requested by Al Mason, Publisher of Editor-George Thompson THEATRE ORGAN, to remind you that news­ Associate Editors - Ray Brubacher letters sent in from chapters cannot be used as chapter news in THEATRE Lloyd E. Klos Peg Nielsen ORGAN. We have no staff (paid or unpaid) to excerpt items of interest from Editor-Emeritus - W. "Stu" Green these newsletters to be printed as "Chapter Notes". Publisher-Al Mason Again it is time to nominate members for the National Board of Directors to Art Director-Don Lockwood Advertising Manager-Len Clarke serve a two year term. Send the names of your candidates to National Headquarters Circulation Manager-Vi Thompson immediately as ballots must be printed soon. Don't forget to include a picture and short resume including occupations and hobbies. THEATRE ORGAN (title registered U. S. Patent Office) is published bi-monthly by the American Our membership is over 3500 on March 1st as compared to 2800 at this same Theatre Organ Society, Inc., a non-profit organ­ time last year. We continue to grow through the efforts of all our members. ization, Stillman H. Rice, President. All rights ORGANIZE your fun at the 17th Annual Convention in the Washington , D.C. reserved. Entire contents copyrighted 1970 by ATOS, Inc ., Office of publication is P. 0 . Box Area - "IN TUNE FOR YOU IN '72". 2329, Livonia, Michigan 48150. POSTMASTER: Second Class postage paid at Livonia, Michigan. IF UNDELIVERABLE, send ATOS ~!{(~ form 3579 to ATOS Circulation Department, Box Aia~:..-ie..•~vE"P.IS I LIBRARY 1314, Salinas, California 93901. Stillman H. Rice , President THEATRE ORGAN APRIL, 1972 3 THE MAKING OF A THEATRE ORGANIST OR ... How I Got Hooked! by Bernie Venus I do not know just when it began on cold wintry Monday nights Cecil B. I lived in Montreal where we had but I remember that it was at a time DeMille presented "The Lux Radio Leo LeSieur playing the Aeolian pipe when on Sunday night the theme song, Theatre"; and in Toronto the films organ in Ogilvies Department Store "If I Could Spend one Hour with changed twice a week with two pictures every noon hour, five days a week. You," meant that Eddie Cantor was showing and often the "B" film was On the radio Kathleen Stokes played coming on the radio; on Thursday better than the headliner. A check into the CBS studio organ with "The Happy night, "Where the Blue of the Night the radio program listings would always Gang" from Toronto. S~ea's Theatre Meets the Gold of the Day," meant give you an "Organ Recital" or "Organ still had a Wurlitzer playing and in Bing Crosby and the Kraft Music Hall; Reveries''. Montreal Billy Eckstine played piano on stage at different theatres. Some­ Bernie in his solo chamber - The Venus 3/10 Wurlitzer came into prominence with the re­ times you were able to hear Norton lease of the film "My Wife Said 'THAT'S ENOUGH!' ." The flicker short was preemed at the 1968 ATOS Convention in Los Angeles and one of the memorable moments was Bernie's (Buddy) Payne, who used to play the booming, triumphal laughter when his months of installation were behind him. The film had Palace, Capitol, and Imperial Theatres one glaring fault; it failed to characterize Bernie's long-suffering wife as the spoilsport of the title. In fact she gets on very well with the monster which occupies so much of the Venus abode. in Montreal in the silent days. My brother Alfred was an avid organ fan and had quite a collection of 78's of Jesse Crawford, Dick Leibert and Eddie Dunstedter. I recall one Christmas eve when Alf pulled me on a sled three miles to pick up two 10-inch discs he had ordered for Christ­ mas. They were "Tip-Toe Through the Tulips", and "Body and Soul", and were played all through the Christmas holidays. I remember getting interested in theatre organs after hearing some of Alfs English recordings of Quentin MacLean, Sidney Torch, and Reg. Foort. This started me reading organ books and sending away for photos of theatre organists. The last thing my father said to me as I boarded the train for Halifax to embark for England at the beginning of World War II was, "While you are traveling around keep in mind that England has a lot of theatre organs THEATRE ORGAN still playing." As soon as I landed in sent me to Italy, but not before I met our base area, I hit out for the nearest my future wife, Elaine, while visiting town which turned out to be Woking, the famous Blackpool Tower Wur­ Surrey. After walking around and find­ litzer. Miss Ena Baga was playing there ing the Ritz Theatre I decided to go in while Reg. Dixon was in the Air Force and see the movie. Well I never did see and in no way was Elaine going to let it because as I walked in all hell seemed me tour the Tower Organ with Miss to break loose as the spotlight aimed Baga, without her tagging along. at the hole in the floor and out came While stationed in Brighton I spent this wonderful, beautiful looking con- each Saturday night at the Dome sole, with Harold Coombs, playing listening to Dudley Reeve play the big "English Organist's Theme Songs".