Organ leaves Orpheum Theatre
Last December, the Orpheum planned to have the theater’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ accompany the holiday movie “Miracle on 34th Street,” but years of deterioration finally took its toll.
“It wouldn’t play at all,” said Brett Batterson, president and CEO of Orpheum Theatre Group. “It actually died, officially, in December of 2017 after 89 years.”
Although the Orpheum’s support group had already launched a “Save the Wurlitzer” campaign last June after discovering it needed $500,000 worth of repairs, the jarring reality of the organ’s demise accelerated the process.
Nine workers began loading the dismantled 90-year-old organ onto a yellow Penske truck June 28 — the ancient cargo headed to Chicago where JL Weiler, Inc. will conduct the restoration.
The load out began about 9 a.m. in the backstage area of the Orpheum. The crew, which began work June 25, first hauled the iconic white-and-gold console and several other parts onto the truck before wrapping them in packing blankets.
“The console is the smallest part of the instrument — that’s the only thing the audience sees,” said Jeff Weiler, president of JL Weiler. “There are thousands and thousands of parts located in the organ chambers, which are on either side of the proscenium, that no one ever gets to see.”
Those other parts, including more than 900 pipes, formed a line stretching from the lobby entrance of the Orpheum to the side-door leading out to Beale Street. Some were packed away in foam-lined, rectangular and square pine boxes stacked on top of one another while others remained scattered on the floor.
“This is the restoration of one of the most iconic music instruments in this nation,” Weiler said. “It’s a big project. What we’re talking about is basically a colossal piece of musical machinery that weighs 23,000 pounds.”
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company built the 3/13 240 style Wurlitzer in North Tonawanda, New York, in 1928. Out of 2,234 similar instruments made by Wurlitzer from 1910 to 1943, the Orpheum’s is one of only 12 worldwide that remains where it was initially installed.
It was originally bought for vaudeville shows and silent movies but has recently been used for the Orpheum’s summer movie series. When the organ wasn’t in use, it remained hidden on a hydraulic lift in the orchestra pit beneath the stage.
Art Hayes, Vincent Astor, John Hiltonsmith and Tony Thomas are all notable organists who have played the Mighty Wurlitzer.
“It’s important because of what it meant to the community when it was built, it’s the voice of the theater, if you will,” Batterson said. “With our mission of maintaining and restoring the historic Orpheum Theatre, the organ is part of that.”
While the Orpheum received a lead gift from the Plough Foundation along with donations from the community in response to its campaign, more than $60,000 remains to be raised.
At every movie shown at the Orpheum this year donation buckets will be passed around to the audience. “It’s like being in church,” Batterson said. The Orpheum will also ask a few more major donors for their help.
The organ will return to Memphis in fall 2019 after the 18-month restoration is complete. JL Weiler will abide by the methods and practices for a strict, historically-informed restoration. Any additional parts will be fabricated in the company’s workshop in the South Loop district of Chicago.
“We’re basically resetting the clock to 1928 so the organ will be ready to play for another 70 years without anything apart from the routine tuning and maintenance,” Weiler said. “It’ll be a brand old organ.”