Fair organs are where the money is . . .

[David Pinnegar]

Hi!

I was going to post details of
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/53-keyless-Dean-fairground-pipe-organ-/140561628336?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item20ba203cb0
today . . . and see that by this evening it appears to have been sold.

With all those books of music of carols . . . . it would have been a good buy for a church in a tent to use at Christmas without an organist . . . :-)

Best wishes

David P

Well sad day for me and her in doors as we've decided to sell are beloved Dean 1990 53 keyless book playing pipe organ. The organ's name is Bristol Queen for thoughts with the interest.

While its been in our hands It's been a well publicised organ, its been all over the internet and out and about at events all over the UK, most that know me and her in doors will know this organ well and its history including all the work/restoration that's been carried out over the years on it.

　

Don't want to say a lot about it, as it's a reluctant sale.

We just need the space for new projects and organ build.

Its in good working order has had loads of work over the years mainly by myself.

If you google pipeorganphil you will find out more about me than I can type here,

There are some videos on the organ and some of the work that one has carried out on it on my youtube account I will post a link below.

Needless to say I've spent more than I'm asking for it, as I was never anticipating selling it.

It comes with all the books and that's 150 see below

Would cost about £6000 to replace.





1 Aces High
2 633 Squadron
3 Dam busters march
4 A smile will go a long way
5 Memory
6 Amazing Grace
7 Yellow Bird
8 Is This The Way To Amarillow
9 Rock Around The Clock
10 Bookie Wookie March
11 YMCA
12 Moonlight Serenade
13 Y viva Espania
14 One Day At A Time
15 When The Saints
16 Yankee Doodle Dandy
17 Al Jolson Medley
18 The Can Can
19 The Lambada
20 Sailors Hornpipe
21 I Whistle A Happy Tune
22 My Old Mans A Dustman
23 Nellie The Elephant
24 Matchstalk Men
25 Tico-Tico
26 I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
27 Love Letters In The Sand
28 Simon Says
29 Colonel Bogey March
30 Congratulations
31 Lambeth Walk
32 The Birdie Song
33 The Mill In The Black Forest
34 Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
35 Lord Of The Dance
36 Bunch Of Coconuts
37 Alexanders Rag Time Band
38 For You Rio Rita
39 Valencia
40 Berilner Luft
41 To The Attack
42 Op Een Zeemans Graf
43 Wheels' Cha Cha
44 Ma I Like Your Apple Pie
45 By The Waterfall
46 Paddlin Madelin Home
47 Radetsky March
48 Delilah
49 High Noon
50  Gay Gordons Selection
51 Can Can Polka
52 Tie A Yellow Ribbon
53 A Roving
54 There's No Business Like Show Business
55 Amporita  Roca
56 Puppet On String
57 Knightsbridge March
58 Mr Moon You've Got A Million Sweethearts
59 Anchors Away
60 Shake Rattle & Roll
61 Ma He's Making Eyes At Me
62 Under The Bridges Of Paris
63 Stop The Cavalry
64 There's Something About A Soldier
65 The Deadwood Stage
66 Match Of The Day
67 Blow The Man Down
68 Anniversary Waltz
69 Organ Plays Mozart
70 First World War
71 The Hokey Cokey
72 Black And White Rag
73 Liechtensteiner Polka
74 Skiffle Selection
75 The Coffee Song
76 Gilly Gilly
77 Cockles & Mussels
78 Amor -Amor
79 Tulips From Amsterdam
80 Sussex By The Sea
81 The Happy Wanderer
82 Mexican Hat Dance
83 The Dancing Dustman
84 Brazil
85 Don't Bring Lulu
86 The Teddy Bears Picnic
87 The Floral Dance
88 The Grandfather Clock
89 Here We Go Again
90 Those Magnificent Men
91 Beside The Seaside
92 Prinz Eitel Frederich March
93 Pretty Baby
94 Jambalaya
95 Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler
96 Hasta La Vista
97 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
98 My Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie
99 Poppa Piccolino
100 Who
101 He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
102 Happy Melody
103 Kiss Me Goodnight Sgt Major
104 Sons Of The Brave
105 Ob La Di Ob La Da
106 Dance The Night Away
107 No-Can-Do
108 Save All Your Kisses For Me
109 Que Sera Sera
110 Down On The Farm
111 My Boy Lollipop
112 Stardust
113 Lets Jump The Broomstick
114 The Nursery Samba
115 Any Dream Will Do
116 They're Wearing Em Higher In Hawaii
117 Lets Twist Again
118 Tritch Tratch Polka
119 Lynwood March
120 Painting The Clouds With Sunshine
121 Fishers Hornpipe
122 Liberty Bell
123 Genevieve
124 Laras Theme
125 Winchester Cathedral
126 God Be With You
127 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
128 As With Gladness
129 Good Christian Men Rejoice
130 The Sun As Got His Hat On
131 Beautiful Sunday
132 The Old Rugged Cross
133 You'll Never Walk Alone
134 Knock Knock Who's There
135 Happy Birthday
136 Silent Night
137 Angels From The Realms Of Glory
138 Away In A Manager
139 Good King Wenceslas
140 O Little Town Of Bethlehem
141 While Shepherd's
142 In The Bleak Mid Winter
143 Once In Royal David's City
144 The First Nowell
145 The Holly & The Ivy
146 Hark The Heralds Angel
147 See Amid The Winter Snow
148 O Come All Ye Faithful

1 Bearings & Tuning Book
2 53 Keyless Scale Book

So you get the display trailer the organ and books.

All good 8ply tyres comes in at about 2 ¼ tons so you will need more than a car to tow it I use a 9 ton Motor home.

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

The Bradford Organists' association hired a fairground organ for our Organ Day last year - it was a great success and aroused interest (it was located outside Bradford Cathedral), and I suspect encouraged some to come inside and see the main displays. 

Every Blessing

Tony

[David Pinnegar]

Hi!

Reading the books on offer the mind boggles about coming down the ailse to the Liberty Bell March . . . and as for Kiss me Goodnight Sgt Major . . .  ;D

For those unfamiliar with these wonderful beasts, books refer to the lengths of punched fibreboard on which the music is encoded, folded up rather than rolled as with a pianola.

Best wishes

David P

[Colin Pykett]

To my mind, as one brought up on a diet mainly of church organs, they are indeed wonderful beasts.  It is memorable to hear them in the flesh, especially well-maintained ones.  I am not sure whether recommending a particular venue is permissible on the forum, though I believe it is a charitable Trust rather than an overtly commercial venture, so hopefully this will be in order.  Several of them (well, cafe and dance organs anyhow) reside at the St Albans music museum, together with a Wurlitzer and a Rutt theatre organ (the latter very rare). 

See:

http://www.stalbansorgantheatre.org.uk/site/frame.html

Colin Pykett

(PS - added as an afterthought - I was very grateful to have been allowed to make digital sample sets of both these theatre organs a few years ago.  The Tibias on the Rutt struck me as some of the most refined I have ever heard.  Those on the Wurlitzer are, of course, gorgeous also and typical of that builder.  But the Rutt Tibias are something different, and rare simply because the organ itself is rare.  A pity that more were not built.  If you do go to a concert there, maybe ask them if you can try these stops in the interval?!)

[KB7DQH]

This one is coming up for auction...

http://www.freep.com/article/20120218/ENT04/202180393/Former-Boblo-Island-music-machine-may-draw-up-to-36-2-5-million-at-auction

In 1913, the Boblo Island Amusement Park downriver built a massive 35,000-square-foot dance pavilion, the second largest in North America. To produce music loud enough to fill the hall, one of the world's largest mechanical organs was installed on the second-floor balcony.

It was an orchestrion -- a self-playing orchestra -- that stood 16 feet tall and 14 feet wide, ran on electricity and worked like a player piano. Its 419 pipes and automated percussion section created an awe-inspiring ruckus, and its Arts and Crafts styling radiated opulence. Manufactured by the world-famous Welte company of Freiburg, Germany, the instrument cost an astounding $4,716 -- more than $105,000 in today's currency.

A century later, this unique icon of Detroit's past is going up for auction on Feb. 25 in Boca Raton, Fla., where it is expected to fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. How do you say "Holy cow!" in German?

For Detroiters, the story of the 1913 Welte Wotan Brass Band Orchestrion is likely to evoke sepia-tinged nostalgia for Boblo Island, which enchanted generation after generation of visitors for most of the 20th Century. But to follow the organ through its ups and downs during the last 100 years is to shadow American cultural history, from the dance craze at the start of the century to changing tastes in entertainment, the impact of technology and, finally, the emergence of private collectors with the means to throw millions at just about any passion.
Private collectors

Since 1996, the Welte Wotan has been part of the Milhous Collection of mechanical music instruments, antique automobiles, clocks, decorative arts, vintage ephemera like gas station pumps and signs and more. Now in their mid to late 70s, brothers Bob and Paul Milhous made a fortune in the printing business, starting Treasure Chest Advertising Co. in 1967. The company grew into a leading supplier of advertising inserts, circulars and newspaper supplements.

The collection, one of the finest of its kind, has been housed in Boca Raton. Closed to the public, the Milhous Museum has nonetheless served as the setting for hundreds of charity events and tours. The upcoming auction, held by RM Auctions in association with Sothebys, includes more than 500 lots with a total estimate of about $40 million.

"The brothers are reaching an age where they decided it would be better for them to deal with dispersing the collection than leave it to family members," said collection curator Bob Brown.

The Welte Wotan carries the highest estimate in the auction. Brown said the brothers bought the organ from a Chicago-area collector for at least $1 million, and that the estimate was based on what other large orchestrions have sold for privately and at auction. Still, there are no true comparables, because only two of this model exist, and the other has been sequestered in a private collection in California.

The market for mechanical instruments is in a transition, said Andy Struble, an associate with G.M. Buck Pipe Organs in Grand Rapids and former curator for the Music House Museum near Traverse City that specializes in musical devices. Prices were modest until the 1980s, when a handful of relentless wealthy collectors, including the Milhouses, began driving up prices. But now that first generation is starting to get out of the game.

Still, there are thousands of worldwide collectors, including museums in Europe and America, and there are enthusiast societies that publish bulletins, maintain websites and hold conventions.
Popular until late '20s

Alas, the Welte Wotan is unlikely to return to public view in Michigan. The price is too steep for the Music House Museum, and an official from the Henry Ford said the organ doesn't fit into its acquisition plans, though the museum could afford it.

"If you stood right in front of it, it would be deafening," said Clara Deck, senior conservator at the Henry Ford. "They are fascinating devices because you are seeing the music being made. It's a love of contraptions that attracts people."

Orchestrions grew out of the line of mechanical instruments dating to early 19th-Century music boxes operated by a rotating metal cylinder with pins and tuned teeth. Player pianos appeared in the 1880s, soon giving rise to coin-operated models, band organs and elaborate orchestrions that added additional effects like percussion, pipes, piano and even violins.

The Welte Wotan, the largest model the company made, included orchestral bells, bass drum, two snare drums, timpani effect, cymbal and triangle. (When it was restored in the 1990s, a separate cabinet piano was added and connected by a MIDI digital system.) The instrument played hundreds of rolls -- classical works from the symphonic and opera repertoire, fox trots, waltzes, two-steps, pop songs.

Orchestrions remained popular until the late 1920s, when the advent of electric recording and phonographs led to higher quality amplified sound reproduction and spelled the end of expensive, bulky instruments whose advantage had been volume.
Dance cops on duty

Located between Detroit and southwestern Ontario in the Detroit River, Boblo Island Amusement Park opened in 1898. Visitors took steamers to reach the park. Patrick Livingston, author of "Summer Dreams: The Story of Bob-Lo Island" (Wayne State University Press), said the nationwide dance explosion during Boblo's first decade prompted owner Walter Campbell to build a new and bigger dance hall.

He bought the Welte Wotan to supply music, though live bands also played, and instituted a 5 cents per couple per dance charge that made dancing the biggest moneymaker at the park.

In an ironic twist, Campbell held personal moral objections to dancing and stationed a dance cop on the floor.

"Turkey Trots, Bunny Hugs and Bear Dances were against the rules," said Livingston. "Two Steps, Waltzes and Society Walk were allowed. Doing the Rag would get you kicked out."

Though lore has it that the 1913 pavilion was designed by famed architect Albert Kahn, Livingston discovered documents showing it was designed by John Scott, the architect behind the Wayne County Building downtown. (The Kahn myth is so entrenched that even the RM Auctions catalog repeats it.)

Carnival rides overtook dancing as the main revenue driver in the 1920s.

Dancing took another hit with the demise of the big bands after World War II, and by the '50s, the pavilion sat unused, the Welte Wotan now in disrepair and vandalized. But in 1963, an organ enthusiast bought the rotting instrument. He sold it in 1987 to the Chicago-area Sanfilippo Collection, which began a restoration completed by the Milhouses, who bought it in 1996.

The Welte Wotan now stands on the brink of its second century. It's certainly no stocking stuffer, but if you've got a cool $1.5 million-plus burning a hole in your wallet, it's hard to think of a more unique -- or louder -- conversation piece.

Share your memories of Boblo Island in the comments section of this article and at facebook.com/detroitfreepress.

Contact Mark Stryker: 313-222-6459 or mstryker@freepress.com

Eric
KB7DQH

[MusingMuso]

For those who like to collect useless information........

The Fair Organ, working on punchcard mechanisms, owes it origins to the Jaquard Loom (patented in 1801, but actually dating from 1799), which was possibly the first example of logic control and programming. Apart from looms and fair organs, a similar idea was used in the later numeric control systems which could be used to programme such things as metal-working lathes.

However, unlike in the Netherlands, is is very rare to hear a fair organ being played on the streets, due to the 1887 (?) street performer's act, which was designed to curtail the playing of barrel organs on the streets of the capital.

Who were those responsible for this miserable piece of legislation?

None other than Charles Babbage, (of difference engine fame....the forerunner to the computer), and a certain Mr Bass, the brewer who often paid for church organs.

There is a certain irony in the fact that the fair organ mechanism leads directly to logic control and ultimately to computing, yet Charles Babbage was driven to distraction by the sound of automata outside his London residence.

I'm sure you all wanted to know this.   8)

MM