Carousel and Monster Wurlitzer Organ

[DonaldFranklin67]

@brazilio19 This carousel was made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1926, and is #85 in a series of carousels they made. Number 30 in the series of carousels they made, was exported to Melbourne, Australia, and is in an amusement park there.

[er10b]

@DonaldFranklin67 Luna Park Melbourne is where it resides. I wonder if it was shipped with a band organ?

[brazillo19]

If folks love ride music then there are a few artists that have songs exclusively on rides. One artist in mind is a group called Rogue Music and its awsome song called The Flume.

[sobars1]

My Mom grew up in the very early part of the last century (born 1904) and she had a name for a carousel that seems to have died out. She always called it "the flying horses" while most people knew it as a carousel or merry-go-round. We kids never had a problem with it because the reason for her choice of words was obvious enough.

I love the band organ music. Thanks.

[DonaldFranklin67]

I luv carousels, but this one seems to go kinda fast. I'd sit in one of the chariots, lest the G force would knock me off one of the horses! ;-)

[brazillo19]

@DonaldFranklin67 Was this a Loof carousel? We have an old carousel that was once park of Crescent Park in RI that had a 14RPM spin. The horses were slightly angled towards the center so that the rides wouldn't fall off. This ride was built around the late 1800's and is still in operation today. To see it just google Crecsent Park carousel (Loof) and see how beautfully preserved it is, and its grand music.

[BJORT]

OMG dixie!

[Wurlitzer157]

The Organ seems to keep playing the same rolls over and over again...

[KawhackitaRag]

@Wurlitzer157 well, it has a small early-style roll frame that can only handle, I think, a single-tune roll, so I would imagine the carousel people change it fairly frequently.

As I recall, from an article written by Bill Black about his own 155 (in one of the earliest issues of the "Carousel Organ" magazine of the COAA, from about 2000), he noted that only a handful of original 155 rolls are known to exist, and they had from one to three tunes each, for a total of something like 36 tunes.

[Wurlitzer157]

@KawhackitaRag

The organ it'self is powerful and fantastic but now I see why it didn't do too well.

[Wurlitzer157]

I don't think the organ is playing here.

[jjdsmayes]

@Wurlitzer157 Hmm....this is the Burlington Monster that you hear in this video. It sounds just like this in person. It's a big sound and fun to hear.

[Hairbanger24]

When a boy turns into a man, most start to put away childs toys. Childish thoughts are put to sleep. When he steps on a caousel, KERBANG!! , he is awakened

[Thunkful2]

@Hairbanger24

You can tell the men from the boys,

By the price of their toys!

[anglerfly]

How did you get the music?

[ampicoab]

The audio was taken from a CD that was sold in the gift shop

[anglerfly]

So do you know what the second song is?

[ampicoab]

The CD gave some songs new names to match the animals on the carousel. The second tune heard is identified on the CD as, "The Sweet Giraffe Waltz". I don't know the real name.

[anglerfly]

Why did they match the animals? Who must I e-mail about the second tune? And what is the Dixie land Tittle?

[KawhackitaRag]

@anglerfly The tune title IS "I Wish't I Was in Dixie's Land", and it was allegedly composed by Dan Emmett in the 19th century (the 1850s). It is a very controversial song today. You can look it up on Wikipedia under "Dixie (song)".

[anglerfly]

2:00 is a great song

[Gannondork14]

Ah yes good ole Dixieland! Never heard on a carousel organ before though.

[anglerfly]

The carousel was made in 1905 so that it's to old to go up and down.

[Liberty9m]

WOW! What a great vid! The music was awsome, the footage of the organ's operating system (no, it's NOT Windows Vista - it works!) the animals and the artwork are excellent. And It was a treat whan it started up and you filmed the ride. Thanks for brightening my day. I was laid off a few weeks ago and this definitely made me smile.

[Inspectorjoe]

What a great carousel! I have to ride it someday.  The chariots, zebras and and giraffes are very similar to the ones on the carousel I 'grew up with'. Thomas "Pop' Long's 1903 PTC carousel operated at Easton PA's Bushkill Park from the time he brought it there in 1933, until 1989, when his wife Mabel "Mom' Long died. It supposedly has been in storage ever since. I can only hope it's still in storage and not broken up.

[SuperDarlik]

the name dixe came from the uk named after count dixe the line is now dfunc

[anglerfly]

The first song is called dixie

[Martain82]

That's great!

Does anybody know the name of the second tune?

[anglerfly]

tregneir279 wants to know

[mechmusicman]

Ten Dollar Bank notes printed from New Orleans banks were printed in French on the reverse side. DIX. I guess Dixie land was the land of the Dix bank notes. The song was from a hit blackface minsrel show, and published by Phillip Werlein in New Orleans in 1860 perhaps without permission from it's yankee writers. He refused to recognize union copyrights. HIs music store on Canal ST. is now a resaurant called Palace Cafe.

[Glennishking]

Dixie? Wow! Marvelous. Hardly ever hear that on carousels here in Upstate New York. It's a great old tune.

[PerrrfictKats]

Should of used that Version in the movie, "GONE WITH THE WIND"

[superzstuff]

Great organ and carosel, but do the animals not go up and down? I used to love to watch the cranks work as we went around.

[tregnier279]

Nope. This carousel has nothing but "Stander" horses.

The later Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousels have mixtures of standing and galloping animals or are purely gallopers.

[bonedoctor1]

@tregnier279

It doesn't go up and down (a 'jumper'), so the PTC made it extra fast. It starts off slowly, then builds in speed up to 12 mph. Believe me, I've been on the outside row and you gotta hang on!

[lucyinthesky16]

at 25 cents i would ride it all day. and i'm 22 :D

[marie52897]

i used to live there and i miss it so much i rode on that carosel it was fun and cool

[tregnier279]

Does anyone know the name of the second song? It sounds like a waltz.

[ibold1000]

Hmm. Ive lived in Colorado all my life and never knew that was there!

[w4csc]

We're not allowed to play "Dixie" at Citadel ball games in Charleston in Dixie any more. The school is afraid of the PC thought police and upsetting the black cadets and staff.

Very sad, indeed. Every time Citadel scored a football goal, the Citadel Band used to celebrate with "Dixie", especially if the opponents were Yankees. A tradition lost....

Thank you for playing even this Dixie for us...

Charleston, SC, were the Citadel Cadets fired the first shot in the "Recent Unpleasantness".

[music22589]

I am a yankee but I love the songs Dixie & King cotton march strictly because of the beat, I really don't know the lyrics, but good tunes

[KE5RHD]

Those old carousels had up to a 10 rank organ in the middle of the structure. For all its worth those surviving instruments can be more valuable than the carousel in today's money.

[musicroll]

So glad to see these vintage carousels and band organs are being restored. This music evokes fond memories of childhood.

[AxisHome1]

Saw one of these for sale on A.C.Pilmer i think. Very cool organ.

[KingstonAgate]

love that first bit of music, follow the first few bars with yankee doodle and you have that bit from the end of The Greatest Show on Earth. Brilliant thing - animals straight out of the GSOE!!

[alterman156]

Great carousel and a great "Monster" band organ. That carousel turns pretty fast at 6 R.P.M. unless I'm mistaken. Those who remember the B&B Carousell at Coney Island would know that it too ws a fast tunring carousel. It also had jumping horses. It also had a great band organ when it played well. It is currently undergoing restoration and is expected back at Coney Island by 2010 or 2011.

[4freespeech]

And they say humanity has progressed over the past 100 years...

Maybe in some ways, but many of the simple joys are gone, except for rare instances like this fine carousel.

The camera angle gives the impression that it is moving at higher speed than actual.

We must enjoy precious moments like this while we can... the World Bank and New World Order elites are even now working to destroy

everything decent and good in the U.S. and around the world.

At least we have our memories...

[lostnyc2]

Great video!

Cant for the life of me remember the name of that first tune but I know it!! I'm thinking it's a Stephen Foster song, anyone remember?

[lostnyc2]

Wasnt too far off, it was Union Dixie!

[GAVIOLITOM]

Thanks for the video, wish i were there!!

[roslundb]

This is great!  Worth the trip!

[Rainmanxxl1967]

Organs and Galloppers - they belong together ! really nice !

[BayAreaBiker2001]

The only place within my biking range with a real carousel organ is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

[nicolaj0154]

i have never seen a craousel with live music.

i think those old carousells i have seen there are ther speskers insted of live music

like on this on there haves live music!. i love frairground organs and band organs too!.

[ufofruit]

I lived a 30 minute drive from there and I never got to see it!! I love carousel!!

[skyler6290]

How much fun! Can remember riding the wonderful old carousel at the Fair Grounds in Dallas years ago - - many times. It moved with that grand majestic pace that only these old "merry-go-rounds" can. I can recall seeing the large belts running within the center when the housing doors where open on really hot days and marveling at what it took to spin these round and of course the great band organ playing too. Everyone's a kid once again on a carousel like these.

[voxhumanapipe]

Excellent, Wonderful, takes me back 50years.

Of course, not allowed in UK. Health and

Safety would soon stop it!

[clydesight]

I love carousels and band organs, and these two are top notch! Thanks for posting the video. Do the animals go up and down?

[Anderskh]

I fell in love with these myself.

I have lots of Band Organ LPs.

But I hate going to a carousel only to find the music is coming from a Peavey speaker with a skipping CD player as the source.

[bullrider49]

This is an awesome carousel and is worth the time to stop and ride. You had better hold on though. It moves a lot faster than you think it would.

[Reesman95]

Great Video! It's funny watching all those alod people ride.

[txstar23]

I love the carousels with all the differant animals, instead of all horses.this one I plan on putting on myspace.I hope to see it in person some day.

[staunchcharacter]

My heavens, that organ is absolutely wonderful. I have yet to hear it in person, but it's the one that made me fall completely in love with band organs... thanks so much for posting this great clip.

[earthquake88]

The working display of how a Band Organ functions is really neat. I wish there was more of it in the video. Perhaps someday you might be able to supply just a video showing the display. The Wurlitzer Monster band Organ is excellent. it would be nice to add information about the organ on the MBSI web site: mbsi dot org

[Musicmany2k]

An absoulute awesome video. Great sound! Keep up the good work.

[wurly164]

It is a Wurlitzer model 155 Military band organ also called the Monster. It is very rare and was built almost 100 years ago.

[ragsoldiron]

This music machine is GREAT! It sounds like an old brass band from circa 1900! Where can I get one?

[KawhackitaRag]

Tim Trager has several for sale on his website, which can be found using Google. There is even one of this particular model, the Wurlitzer 155 (monster). I'm not sure, but I would assume the asking price is about 100 grand. Of course, the smaller band organs cost less (usually).

[jtsoundtech]

It's awesome that such a thing is still operating today, and that the public is invited to enjoy it.