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Starts Wednesday: A Year in the Life of a Movie Palace
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Six Theaters and Four Organs

3/27/2019

1 Comment

 
PictureLoew's Jersey Theatre The Loew’s Jersey Theatre was the 4th of five Loew’s ‘Wonder Theatres’ to open in the New York City area. Courtesy of cinematreasures.org
Something old, something new, something borrowed...forget something blue. But old theaters like young brides need a little of each of the previous. By their very nature, movie palaces are chock full of ancient curtains, paintings, statuary, wrought-iron, fountains, original stained glass exit signs, covering amply the “old” requirement. Over time, stuff has probably been broken or  stolen or sold off, by one or another desperate operator, so when the “Committee to Save...” takes over, the new and the borrowed come into play. 

In 1976, as movie theater operators, we were fortunate to be running a palace that was largely intact. Okay, so the organ was long gone to a pizza parlor in Texas, sold off for parts by a short-sighted building owner; one lone torchere lamp with a chipped alabaster shade and broken foot was hiding in the custodian’s closet. Some hasty research revealed there had been twenty of these lamps, all sold off, with one wounded soldier remaining. We didn’t own the St. George, so never would have thought to replace nineteen lamps; but there were some broken stained-glass items, among them a “Fire Hose” door that sheltered one of the six New York City Fire Code-approved cloth hoses in our auditorium. Whether any of these actually worked and could put out a fire, nobody knew, but somehow it seemed important to replace the decorative door for the hose in the alcove, back of the orchestra. The story of what became of this item I’ll save for later. Meanwhile, here are a few case histories of theater organs, those most-borrowed (or bought or stolen) of movie palace artifacts. Like great coral reefs, theater organs have a life of their own, and are so much more than a sum of their parts.

What’s a “Wonder Morton?” Well, if you’ve heard of New York’s five Wonder Theaters, all built by Loews in the 1920’s, and each with a Morton “Wonder Organ,” you know the answer. Those theaters include: 
The Jersey City in Jersey City, The Paradise in the Bronx, The United Palace of Cultural Arts in Washington Heights (formerly Loews 175th Street), The Valencia in Queens, and The Kings in Brooklyn. 

To anyone familiar with the delicacy and varying fates of theater organs, it’s surprising to learn that any theater has its original instrument intact.  From the above list, only the United Palace has this distinction, thanks to the fact that it went directly from movie palace to church (Reverend Ike’s) in the seventies. The reverend was a wealthy guy who saw to it things stayed the way they were, or improved. Accordingly, the UPCA, now a mixed-use house that includes worship, movies, concerts and all manner of events under its gleaming dome, is in the process of restoring its original house organ, which was rendered unplayable when a lighting grid fell on it. Meanwhile...

What happened to the other four Mortons?

The Valencia in Queens is, like the United Palace, a church, but, unlike that palace, hardly wealthy. Despite the fact that The Tabernacle of Prayer for All People has kept the interior of the Valencia painted (if not the original colors), the organ which was once the theater’s glory, has had a long journey, and does not reside in its original alcove, hence the sixth theater mentioned in today’s title. Acquired by Peter Schaeble in 1965, the organ was built into an underground studio at his home in Rosedale, Long Island, where it apparently spent several decades, leaving the Schaeble family for good in 1996. At that point, it became the property of one Jasper Sanfilippo of Barrington Hills, Illinois,  but idled its pipes in storage, before finding its final home, the Balboa Theatre, in San Diego, Ca., where it currently plays on. The Valencia Morgan is definitely “something old,” and, in a way, has been “borrowed,” theater to theater.
​
The Jersey City, like so many palaces, had its hard times, saved by a vigilant group, The Friends of the Loews, beginning in 1993. Somehow or another, its Wonder Organ had already left the premises, but no problem; here’s where the borrowing comes in. The Paradise in the Bronx, a sister Wonder Theater, had originally sold off its instrument, with parts ending up in various places, some as far off as Canada. Those parts were rounded up by an enthusiast, Bob Balfour and all was donated to the Garden State Theatre Organ Society, which happily installed the instrument at the Jersey City, where it plays on to this day. That’s beyond a borrow, it’s an incarnation!  

Though I haven’t yet been to the Jersey City, Robert Endres, our friend and unofficial Projection Historian, tells me a colleague of his plays that instrument on certain weekends to rave crowds. Winter’s past, and I’m on it soon, promising a story.

The (Bronx) Paradise is at least standing and no longer ‘plexed. After some rough trade, it was restored and opened briefly as a performance center, but currently serves as the home of World Changers Church, under the aegis of a televangelist, Creslo Dollar, who works in the mold of Reverend Ike. Good news for the Paradise: the theater is occupied, so restoration efforts will be preserved, and, with luck, landmark status will protect this Eberson (Italian Baroque Garden) atmospheric. Sadly the theater has no organ, but there is some solace in knowing its original instrument is only a few hours south, in Jersey City...

Which leaves us at last, under the sweeping newly restored marquee of Loews Kings, (The Kings) on Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn. Sadly, there is no working Wonder Organ left there, though its original console is on display in the lobby. The story of the organ’s travels is too lengthy for this post, but you can read all about it and more about the other New York Wonder Organs in an excellent post by the Garden State Theatre Organ Society Right now, the organ chambers at The Kings are filled with HVAC and lighting equipment. Several very new things have, for the time, replaced a very old treasure.

Afterthoughts:
1. I promised to fill you in on what became of the fire hose door from the St. George Theatre.We had ordered a stained-glass replica of the broken door from a local artisan, who ended up donating his work (we were too poor to pay for it) in hopes that, when the door was installed, we’d put a small sign on it with his name; but that never came to be. We went out of business in 1977, parting with a hostile landlord.The two stained glass doors, one original but cracked, one an exact replica, remained in the basement of our house for some time. The theater was closed and would, we were sure, be torn down. One day, while moving some paint cans around the furnace room, I accidentally tripped, and, sadly, both doors were broken. So to something old and something new, you could add something lost. 

2. Under the subject of “something lost,” how about the Albee Theatre in downtown Cincinnati, which sat on movie palace death row until 1977, the same year we left the St. George? Several things rescued from the Albee happen to survive in Columbus, just a few hours north. I have always meant to drive to Columbus and visit them, but meanwhile, here’s an excerpt from a letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer, dated November 19, 1978:

It is not surprising that a lifelong Cincinnatian should have the I’ve-been-here-before feeling when he, for the first time, steps through the heavy, ornate brass doors of Ohio’s official theater in Columbus.
It is called Ohio Theater and is located directly south and across the street from the Capitol building. The feeling of familiarity is bona fide. Those beautiful doors once graced Cincinnati’s late, lamented Albee Theater, which was zapped from Fountain Square in the name of progress. Additionally, inside near the doors are two heavy brass “ticket posts” in which ticket-takers place stubs. Those, too, came from the Albee. There is more. In the upstairs foyer are two ornate, wrought-iron benches with brilliant red velvet seats – also from Cincinnati’s historical show house.

“All of those things came here from Cincinnati after the last showing at the Albee,” explained Don Streibig, the busy and vigorous manager of the Columbus theater.


Life goes on, but theaters are eternal.

3. I had originally intended to mention chandeliers as an interesting case of theater artifacts that are borrowed or exchanged, but this post grew into one focused on theater organs.  Still, there’s always another week, and I may explore chandeliers as a subject in and of themselves...If, by some chance, you remember a favorite theater chandelier, let me know in “comments”...















1 Comment
Bruce Murdock link
5/23/2021 07:10:56 pm

Victoria,

The original Loews Wonder Morton was removed in the early 1970's when Loews quadraplexed the theatre. It was removed by the North Dallas chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS) wnd trucked to Dallas Texas, where it resided in a warehouse owned by one of their members, awaiting future installation in a local theatre of appropriate size.

Serendipity! The Santa Barbara Theatre Organ Society had been looking for an instrument to install in the 2018 seat Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara.

The Dallas chapter warehouse owner was not charging the society for the warehouse storage. They never were able to find a suitable home for the organ, and the warehouse owner died in 1986. His family wanted the Dallas organ society to pay rent for the 5000 ft^2 of warehouse it took up, or remove it, else, they would take it to the dump.

We heard about this dilemma, ad contacted them. A trip to Dallas to inspect the organ showed it was almost all there. We finally negotiated that they would donate the organ to the Santa Barbara Heritage Foundation on the proviso it be up and playing in two years; a very tall order.

SBTOS organized volunteers, who spent over 37,000 volunteer hours refurbishing and rebuilding the organ under the direction of Newton Pipe Organ Services of San Jose, CA.

We met the two year deadline, and our first concert was on 1 October 1988 with Tm Hazleton to a packed house.

The organ now is at 27 ranks. The organ specifications, rank list, and pictures can be found at SBTOS.ORG.

The organ is still in tip-top shape and is played frequency, the last time being 22 May 2021, when the theatre opened after a long Covid-19 closure.

SBTOS Vice President George Ferrand and SBTOS President Bruce Murdock spend countless hours keeping everything working on the organ. During the covid-19 theatre closure. George and Bruce spent over 650 hours bringing the organ to 100%. We got rid of all phosphor-bronze contacts (which were a continuing problem). Keyboard contacts are now silver, and stop rail switching is either photoelectric or magnetically operated reed switches. Contact problems are no more.

Roger Inkpen of NPOS recently told us the Great Theatre Pipe Organ of the Arlington is one of about five pipe organs in the world where everything works.

Bruce Murdock, President, SBTOS

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    Victoria Hallerman

    Author

    Victoria Hallerman is a poet and writer, the author of the upcoming memoir, Starts Wednesday: A Day in the Life of a Movie Palace, based on her experience as a movie palace manager of the St. George Theatre, Staten Island, 1976. As she prepares her book manuscript for publication, she shares early aspects of theater management, including the pleasures and pain of entrepreneurship. This blog is for anyone who enjoys old movie theaters, especially for those who love the palaces as they once were. And a salute to those passionate activists who continue to save and revive the old houses, including the St. George Theatre itself. This blog is updated every Wednesday, the day film always arrived to start the movie theater week.

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