Theatre Organ - Background

Background

Many organ builders supplied instruments to theatres. The Rudolph Wurlitzer company, to whom Robert Hope-Jones licensed his name and patents, was the most prolific and well-known manufacturer (2,234 were built), and the phrase Mighty Wurlitzer was the hallmark of quality.

Many of the innovations which furthered the evolution of theatre organ design simply allowed it to do its job better. Although not all of these ideas originated with Robert Hope-Jones, he was the first to successfully employ and combine many of these innovations within a single organ aesthetic. Some of these important developments are: electro-pneumatic action, which allows the console to be physically detached from the pipe chambers, connected only by a cable; unification, the process whereby pipe ranks are extended and tuned in sympathy with other ranks, and allowing any rank of pipes to be played from any manual or the pedals; imitative stops, where pipe ranks are more imitative of their symphonic counterparts; and development of pipes able to speak successfully on higher wind pressures.

After some major disagreements with the Wurlitzer management, Robert Hope-Jones took his own life in 1914—but not before profoundly influencing the development of the theatre organ. The Wurlitzer company continued to flourish, becoming the largest manufacturer of theatre pipe organs in the world. Indeed, while there were many other builders of these instruments, the name "Wurlitzer" became generically synonymous with the theatre organ.

Other manufacturers included Page, Marr & Colton, Compton, Möller, Robert-Morton (the "Wonder Morton"), Conacher, Hilsdon, Kimball, Barton, Hillgreen-Lane, Kilgen, E. M. Skinner, Austin, Christie, and Hill Norman & Beard. These last two were both brand names for the same company, which specialized at the time in standardized extension organs with electro-pneumatic action, ideal for the theatre and then promoted as convenient and cost-effective for churches. In general, the Christie brand was used for theatre organs, which came with contemporary-styled consoles, while the firm's own name Hill Norman & Beard appeared on similar and sometimes identical pipes and actions supplied to customers seen as less frivolous, controlled by a traditional drawknob-stop console. Their standardized pipe, relay and blower packages were called unit organs, and for theatre use were augmented with percussion and other additional effects. The Moller firm specialized in unit organs for church use, many of which remain in service in small churches to this day.

Compton cinema organs, built by the John Compton Organ Company of Acton, were the most prevalent of theatre organs in the UK; 261 were installed in cinemas and theatres in the British Isles. Comptons made many fine church and concert organs as well. Their cinema organs employed state of the art technology and engineering and many are still in existence today. One of the most notable is the large 5-manual example at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square in central London.

Several organ builders were also known for their specialities. Wurlitzer was well known for its reeds and special effects; Kimball was an innovator in string tones; Barton constructed lush tibias for their organs; Möller was famous for its foundation ranks. And although not an organ manufacturer, the J. C. Deagan Company built many of the chromatic percussions (xylophone, chrysoglott -Wurlitzer's name for a celesta, glockenspiel, etc.) that are found in most theatre organs.