KETC | Living St. Louis | City Museum Organ

From KETC, LIVING ST. LOUIS Producer Patrick Murphy follows the restoration process of the St. Louis City Museum's most recent acquisition—a 1929 Wurlitzer pipe organ. The organ was originally built in 1294 for the Rivoli Theatre in New York. With the help of volunteers, the organ was transformed from an abandoned wreck to a fully functioning musical instrument, now heard throughout the halls and caves of City Museum.

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[furrypeanut1]

@Streetcar1743 I am very lucky to know Al. He's also the organ technician at the Fox Theatre, and Scottish Rite Cathedral. And he's getting me into all three of these places in a few days. You could say I'm ecstatic, enthusiastic, excited, and about to blow up out of anticipation. :D

[Streetcar1743]

@s2944 The organ was built in 1924. Many of the pipes were missing. Al stated that the origional pipes were scattered all over New York City I think,.during a coffee after one of my performances, he stated that if you are going to have something like this in a home, you have to scale down your pipes. The organ itself can be heard clear all the way up to the 10th floor of the building.

[Streetcar1743]

@furrypeanut1 Actually I did and he is a great guy! This movie also has Ken Iborg in it and I miss him. Ken was the guy who taught me the various pedaling moves that was used in theatre organ music. Al's the maintenace guy on the organ.

[furrypeanut1]

@Streetcar1743 Get ahold of Al Haker, he'll get you at the console.

[s2944]

Great to see this playing - I was on the NJTOS crew that pulled it out of the Rivoli in the early 70's. The console was a mess - all kinds of kritters made their homes in it. Since we weren't a union crew, the stage electrician had to be paid off to keep the lights on for us! No idea what happened to it after that - anyone know its history?

[googlemeister94]

These organs are such amazing things! All of today's technology was already in these old organs.

[Streetcar1743]

I am tempted to join the SLTOS (St. Louis Theater Organ Society).

[Streetcar1743]

Who is allowed to play this thing? I would at least love to see it. Someday, I would to play it.

[JoePeterzak]

Come on, you sound like the organ pipe police! It's not going to hurt anything. It's being done for TV and won't harm anything. I have a 8' oboe horn pipe in my kitchen that I blow on to demo to my friends often, and it still plays just fine. Relax

[acoustics101]

I now have a new reason to visit St. Louis!! When my son had a field trip to the City Museum several years ago there was no pipe organ there. I would love to see a colossal pipe organ built for the Edward Jones Dome within my lifetime.