Last Wednesday, we were invited to eat out at the Organ Stop Pizza with some friends, Wendy and Barry. However, I was not feeling well and we asked for a raincheck - for this Wednesday. We met them at their resort at 2:00, toured it and were on our way. Now, I wondered why we were going so early but it soon became obvious as we hit the parking lot - it was almost full. This place is so popular that, if you want a table before your pizza comes, you’d better get there early. But this is just a pizza joint, why is the parking lot close to full at 4:30? Those of you who have been to Phoenix know - it’s the organ. Organ? Organ? Sure ‘nuf’, one of the largest Wurlitzer organs in the world.
OK, let’s go back a bit. What is a Wurlitzer Organ? During the early days of movies, before they had talkies, they used to have orchestras in the pits, accompanying movies. But this is pretty pricey so, during the Depression, the Wurlitzer Organ was developed to simulate all the instruments in an orchestra but with just one person playing it. Thus, just one salary to pay instead of those for a whole orchestra. This organ was not designed to sound like a church organ but to sound like a whole orchestra.
The Pizza Stop Wurlitzer Organ was built for the Denver Theater in 1927 and used regularly until the early 30’s when it fell into disuse with the advent of talking pictures. Organ Stop purchased the organ in the early 1970’s, began the mammoth project of restoring it to its original glory and installed it into their restaurant in 1975.
But they were not done there, they immediately began to add to it, with a new console, new pipes, and all sorts of other sounds - like the 18 10’ trumpets in the rear of the restaurant - which can be heard throughout the building. Now, the organ has 4 rows of keys and 4 rows of buttons circling the organist to accomplish the many sounds required. Their brochure says that the organ has ’78 ranks, 17 tuned percussions and innumerable traps and effects and is the largest Wurlitzer in the world.’ There are a total of 6,000 pipes and the ceilings are 43’ high to provide acoustics.
So what in the world are ranks, stops and traps? I sure didn’t know, I just knew that they had to do with organs. Actually, the ranks refer to the number of pipes which are lined up - like ranks of soldiers. The more ranks, the more pipes and the larger the number of sounds the organ can produce. The stops are what control the ranks. If a stop is ‘on’ air will be admitted to that rank of pipes and it will play (wouldn’t you think that is a ‘stop’ is ‘on’ then that rank would NOT play because it is ‘stopped?’ Shows you what I know. Nope, I repeat, when the stop is ‘on’ that rank WILL play.
In organs there can be a stop for: stringed instruments, trumpets, flutes, reed instruments like oboes, duck sounds, marimbas, horns, etc. Thus when the organist plays a key and the trumpet stop is on, the key will sound like a trumpet. Or, if the key is pressed and the marimba stop is on, the key will sound like a marimba. Those yellow, white and red keys above are the stops. Now, probably most of you might already know all this, but I did not and am writing it here so I can remember it. I’m hoping my high school friend, Carroll, who has worked with organs all his life, doesn’t read this, he’ll probably wonder where I’ve been all my life. He can disassemble and reassemble organs which he has done for some of the organs he is the curator for which need to be shipped back to the builder for repairs.
We arrived at 4:30, Barry ordered their pizza while Wendy went to look for a good seat. Gary and I then ordered, got 4 plates, 4 forks, 4 glasses of water, napkins and headed up to the table that Wendy had picked. We had a great seat and could look down on the action on the main floor. Since the organ is elevated above the main floor, sitting on the second floor has its advantages. Between 1/2-hr shows, you can’t see anything of the organ. But, when the show starts, it slowly rises out of the pit on an 8,000 lb rotating hydraulic elevator, the spotlights shine on it and the organist begins.
I’m sure you’ve guessed that there are not many who can play this organ and the Organ Stop has 3 of the world’s best. There is a small box on the stage for requests and he also plays Happy Birthday and announces all the birthdays in attendance. He plays popular songs, big band songs, musical soundtracks, classical - he even played Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody all the way through.
We were especially intrigued by the ceiling fans which were on a pulley system. There were 3 rows of 3 and each 3 in the row were attached to the same pulley. We knew the organ was old and a wonder, we hadn't expected the fans to be intriguing also.
Gary and I ate enough of our pizza to leave some room for a small dish of ice cream which they also serve there. We stayed for quite a while enjoying the music, the show and all the families who were there. As more and more piled into the restaurant, our four seats were getting scoped out. When we finally got up to leave, there was a mad rush for them. Luckily we didn't get mown down by the little old lady with the swinging handbag.
Outside we checked out the 4 turbine blowers operating the bellows pumping air through the organ. One of the turbines is behind Barry in red in the picture. They are small but they are powerful.
No comments:
Post a Comment