It sports two keyboards (called manuals), 584 individual pipes organized into eight ranks, and four tuned percussion instruments as well as special effects. After the theater became a department store in 1959, the organ briefly went into storage until Ayars bought it and installed it in his New Jersey home.Īs theater organs go, this one is modest in size, its pipes fitting into a space about 15 feet wide and 13 feet deep. The Ayars organ, a Model 190 (serial number 2070), was built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York, in 1929 for the Fox Theatre. But there are plans to restore it to glory. For now, it sits in storage, its burnished white-and-gold console protected by a sheet of plastic. When Ayars died in 1992, he willed it to his friend Brantley Duddy, and Duddy contacted the Smithsonian, which gratefully accepted it for the musical instrument collection of the National Museum of American History. Ayars kept it in museum-quality condition during the 30-some years it was played in his home. The Smithsonian’s instrument is a rare, completely original Wurlitzer donated by the estate of Lowell Ayars, a New Jersey music teacher, in 1993. This one worked its wonders in the Fox Theatre in Appleton, Wisconsin. In the early 20th century, thousands of these gigantic pipe organs were installed in movie theaters throughout the United States, Canada, England and Australia to accompany silent movies. Of all the musical instruments in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection of 5,200 violins, pianos, banjos and others, the largest-it fills three rooms-represents a unique period of nearly forgotten American history.
T13:17:22-05:00 T14:13:02-05:00 T14:13:02-05:00 Adobe InDesign CS2 (4.The Smithsonian's Wurlitzer (its console above, with the Star-Spangled Banner) likely played the national anthem before movies.Įric Long/National Musuem of American History, SI DISCONTINUED)/Rect/Subj(Text Box)/Subtype/FreeText/T(jpauli)/Type/Annot>endobj343 0 obj/ProcSet>/Subtype/Form/Type/XObject>streamĮndstreamendobj344 0 objendobj345 0 objendobj346 0 objendobj347 0 objendobj348 0 objendobj349 0 objendobj350 0 objstream
0 kommentar(er)
