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The Mighty Wurlitzer

The Mighty Wurlitzer

Installed December 1925 at the then-stupendous cost of $72,000...a four manual twenty-eight rank pipe organ, it was one of the largest instruments the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, N.Y. had built up to that time.

This is a map of our Wurlitzer organ, showing how all the bells and whistles are laid out.

This is a map of our Wurlitzer organ, showing how all the bells and whistles are laid out.

All the Bells and Whistles!

Michael Shea loved strings and the Buffalo instrument contains seven ranks of them, quite a large number for an organ of this type. The pedal organ is one of the largest to be found anywhere with twelve ranks of its own. Among the exceptional ranks of pipes is a gorgeous-sounding sixteen foot tibia plena. The smallest pipe is no bigger than a pencil while the largest of the pedal pipes are thirty-two-feet long, huge enough for a good-sized man to sit in. Virtually every instrument is a symphony orchestra is represented in this organ and when full organ is played it sounds very much like a complete orchestra. The massive instrument is located in six large chambers ,three of each side of the theater. It contains a complete set of percussion stops, commonly known as the "toy counter". Included in this section is a large xylophone, marimba, harp, chimes, cymbal, kettle, snare and bass drums, orchestra bells plus the usual array of sounds that were initially used to accompany silent films - auto horn, boat whistle, Chinese gong, bird whistle, etc. Sitting in the lower box on the right hand side of the stage is a large grand piano which is played from the organ console.

The original voicing of the organ was done personally by Joseph Carruthers and James Nuttall, the Company's two major voices. Carruthers was the best diaphone man in the business while Nuttall was a top reed voicer. Both men were proteges of Robert Hope-Jones himself. Rarely did these two men leave the factory to go out into the field and voice the various organs themselves. Their assistants usually performed this task. The fact that Carruthers and Nuttall did the voicing themselves is one reason why this organ sounds so great; the other reason is that the instrument and the room seem to be perfectly matched.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo Courier