Rare 100-year-old organ still entertains at Warnors Theatre
Hidden beneath the stage of Fresno’s most historic theater, could be one of the city’s rarest musical artifacts — an original Robert Morton pipe organ that’s still in playing condition.
Originally installed at the Warnors Theatre in 1928, the organ was designed to accompany the silent films of the day. With it, a single organist could create an array of orchestral imitations, from flutes and strings to trumpets and horns, along with other sounds.
A quiet bird chirp, for example.
The Robert Morton Organ Company ranked just below Wurlitzer in its production of theater organs and had already installed several such organs in Fresno. According to an opus list on the company’s website, the Warnor’s organ was one of four installed by the company from 1915-1928.
There were also organs at
Fresno Hotel (it was later moved to Californian Hotel) and at the Kinema and Liberty/Hardy’s theaters.
The company has the Warnor’s organ listed as 4-14 (that’s four keyboard manuals and 14 set of pipes) and “extant, original, maintained and used!”
It is one of the few organs in the country hasn’t been moved or modified.
It almost also wasn’t installed at all.
By the time the Warnors opened, the “Jazz Singer” had already been released as the first “talkie” — and the end of the silent-movie era meant the end of musical accompaniment.
According to a 2010 story in The Fresno Bee, the theater tried to cancel its order for the organ, but was held to its contract and had the instrument installed on a platform at center stage, where it could be raised or lowered as needed.
While the organ doesn’t see the kind of use it once did, the theater has over the years kept an organist at the ready to play special events (like the silent film series the theater hosted in 2013). These days, the organist is Cactus Harris.
Joshua Tehee: 559-441-6479, @joshuatehee