Sounds of American Organs

New York - Tamara de Lempicka

Don Baker - study note

Paramount Studio, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/21)

I Love a Parade/Two Guitars/Liza  Stumbling

 

Al Carney

Carney Studio, Chicago (Howell 4/15)

Ukulele Moon (with vocal refrain)

Carney Studio, Chicago

Paul Carson

NBC Studio, Hollywood (Wurlitzer/Welte 3/18)

Dreamer of Dreams  Pizzicato  Thine Alone

Gaylord Carter  - study note

KNX Studio, Columbia Square, Hollywood (Balcom & Vaughn 3/11)

 



 

 I'll See You in My Dreams  

Broadcast 30 August, 1942: Moments at the Console

Broadcast 15 September, 1942: Selections from "The Student Prince" Part 1  Part 2

Milton Charles - study note

Tivoli Theatre, Chicago

Tivoli Theatre, Chicago (Wurlitzer 3/17)

Our Yesterdays  1924 (included for its historical interest, rather than its fidelity - an acoustic recording)

Gunn School, Chicago (Wurlitzer 2/8)

Tell Me You're Sorry (vocal by Mirth Mack) c.1930

KNX Studio, Columbia Square, Hollywood (Balcom & Vaughn 3/11)

Falling in Love with Love (with piano)

Broadcast 7 May, 1945: "Prelude to Midnight"                                                               

Broadcast 13 August, 1945: "Moments of Mid-Afternoon Music"

 

Buddy (Edwin LeMar) Cole

Unknown organ(s) - recorded 1941 as "Edwin LeMar"

Blue Lament  Disillusioned  Evening Prayer  Goodbye Summer  Heaven Only Knows

Here's a Picture of My Mother  Jericho  Let's Dream this One Out

London Bridge  Lonely Trail of Memory  Nocturne  On a Cloud

Playera  Romance  Scarf Dance  Serenade  Shadows in the Night

Tango in D  That Lonely Tune  This is Where We Came In  

Waltz  You're My Inspiration

Cole residence, North Hollywood (Robert Morton 3/9) 1948

Goodnight Sweetheart  Mood Indigo  The Night is Young  Sleepy Lagoon

 Sleepy Time Gal   Stairway to the Stars  Stars in my Eyes

        You and the Night and the Music

 

Helen Crawford

Paramount Studio, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/21)

Can't We talk it Over? (vocal - Bing Crosby)

 

 

 

Jesse Crawford - Study note

Chicago Theatre (Wurlitzer 4/24)

The World is Waiting for the Sunrise  1924

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago Theatre, 1924 - the first electrical recording of a theatre organ. Orlando Marsh is on-stage with his equipment.  Jesse Crawford is at the (original) Wurlitzer console. John Landon collection

Wurlitzer Store, Chicago (Wurlitzer 3/15)

High Hat (with xylophone)

What Are You Waiting For, Mary?

Paramount Studio, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/21)

Carolina's Calling Me 16 December 1931

Chant of the Jungle 4 December, 1929

Hawaiian Sandman

How am I to Know?

I'm Confessin'  

I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling (with dance band)

Miss You 28 August 1929                                                  Paramount Studio main and "slave"consoles

Moonlight on the River (vocal - Robert Simmons)

The Moonlight Reminds Me of You (duet with Helen Crawford) (with vocal refrain)

The Perfect Song

So Beats My Heart for You  

The Stein Song (duet with Helen Crawford)

Tiptoe Through the Tulips       

When the Organ Played at Twilight

NBC Studio, Chicago (Wurlitzer 3/12)

Opening broadcast  Part 1  Part 2  1 March, 1936 - listen for snatches of Crawford humming along as he plays

 

 

 

 

Francis Cronin

WNAC Studio, Boston (Aeolian-Skinner 4/36)

"Chu Chin Chow" Selection  Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (both 1947)

 

 

Edmund Cromwell

BPOE (Elks) Lodge, Queensboro (I am told it is a Wurlitzer, but it does not sound like one)

At Sundown 1927/8

Kilgen Hall, New York City (Kilgen ?/?)

So Blue 1929

Eddie Dunstedter

Minnesota Theatre, Minneapolis (Wurlitzer 4/20) 1929

If I Had You  Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Kimball Hall, Chicago (Kimball ?/?)

My Blue Heaven

 

Temple of Labor, Chicago (Barton 2/?)

Serenade (Toselli)

Unidentified Organ

Alice Blue Gown (vocal - Donald Novis)

Little Lady Make-believe (vocal - Bing Crosby)

KNX Studio, Columbia Square, Hollywood (Balcom & Vaughn 3/11)

Opening Broadcast Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4 1937

KNX Studio, Columbia Square, Hollywood

Fred Feibel

Unknown (studio) organ

In the Garden of Tomorrow

Reginald Foort

Paramount Theatre, New York (Wurlitzer 4/36)

Blue Danube Waltz (1935)

Tom Grierson

Wurlitzer player organ roll c.1929

If I Had You

John Hammond (recorded as "John Hassell")

Saenger Theatre, New Orleans (Robert Morton 4/26)

Further details about the organ and organist

Blue Danube Waltz  By the Waters of Minnetonka  

Gypsy Love Song  Love Me and the World is Mine

               

Henrietta Kamern

Loew's Rio Theatre, New York City (Möller 3/32)

Just Like a Melody From out of the Sky

Frederick Kinsley

Hippodrome, New York City (Midmer-Losh 3/?)

Poor Butterfly  The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

Sigmund Krumgold

Trinity Church Studio, Camden, New Jersey (Estey 3/21)

I Can't Give You Anything But Love  I'm Sorry, Sally  Just a Sweetheart  (all with Nat Shilkret's Rhyth-Melodists) 1929

Elbert Lachelle

San Francisco Mutual Station (? ?/?)

Sunrise Serenade

Voices of Spring (with canaries)

 

 

 

Ann Leaf

Paramount Studio, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/21)

Broadcast - 1934

 

 

 

 

Richard (Dick) Leibert

Radio City Music Hall Broadcasting Studio (Wurlitzer 3/14)

All Through the Night (Porter)  Beautiful Lady  Memories (1942)  Moonlight Sonata

Mountain Greenery  My Hero (1933)  Pale Moon  Poème  Wherever You Are

Stanleigh Malotte

WAPI Studio, Birmingham, Alabama (Kimball 3/8)

A Trip Through the Organ  (c.1944)

Marsh McCurdy

Loew's Lexington, New York City (Möller 3/28)

Lonesome and Sorry

 

Don Miller

Fisher Theatre, Detroit (Wurlitzer 4/34)

Coquette

 

Fisher Theatre, Detroit - auditorium and organ console

Dr C A J Parmentier

Paramount Studio, New York (Wurlitzer 4/21)

I Wanna be Loved  Juba Dance  Laugh, You Son of a Gun  

Poor Butterfly Russian Lullaby  The Secret   

Waiting at the Gate for Katy   Would You Like to Take a Walk?

 

Howard Peterson

Arcada Theatre, St Charles, Illinois (Geneva 3/16)

Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals

Norton H Payne

Capitol, Montreal, Canada (Warren 4/28)

The Palms

Harold Reider

Tivoli Theatre, Newark, New Jersey (Wurlitzer 3/17)

Trail of Dreams

Edwin Sawtelle

Waikiki Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii (Robert Morton 4/16)

Trade Winds

The Waikiki Theatre's organ was originally built for the Hawaii Theatre.  In this photograph it is seen in the Hawaii, played by Alice Blue.

Edwin Sawtell at the Waikiki Robert Morton

The Waikiki Theatre in 1936 with Model A Hammond.  The Robert Morton was installed later.

The theatre design is an interesting mix of Thirties Moderne and Tropical Atmospheric styles

Thanks to Bob Alder, final organists at the Waikiki, for the above two photos from his archives

Gordon Seaman

Roxy Theatre, New York City (Kimball 5/34)

Medley (recorded during an intermission - the only known recording of the main Roxy organ)

Views of the Roxy theatre and the 5-manual Kimball console now in Las Vegas

Arsene Siegel

Kilgen organ roll

Caprice Viennois (stereo recording - higher bitrate - will take longer to load)

Emil Velazco

Velazco Studio New York (Kimball 3/5-6?)

The Rosary

Welte-Mignon Studio, New York City (Welte 3/38)

Rain

 

Welte-Mignon Studio

 Hermann Voss

WGN Studio, Chicago (Wurlitzer 3/10)

'Twas the Dawn of a Beautiful Day

 

Thomas ("Fats") Waller

Trinity Church Studio, Camden, New Jersey (Estey 3/21) 1926-29

St Louis Blues  I Ain't Got Nobody  Soothin' Syrup Stomp Sugar   That's All   

Baby Oh Where Can You Be? Tanglefoot Waitin' at the End of the Road

Chloe  When You're With Someone Else (with Shilkret's Rhyth-Melodists) - It has been suggested that the organist on these two tracks may be Sigmund Krumgold, who was also at the studio that day. However, it is generally believed that Chloe at least definitely features Waller and that When You're With Somebody Else probably features him.  Tracks by Krumgold may be found above.

 

Lew White

Lobby Organ, Roxy Theatre, New York City (Kimball 3/14)

Blue Skies  Honolulu Moon

 

 

 

Studio Organ, Roxy Theatre, New York City (Kimball 2/9)

Blue Skies 1946  

Just a Cottage Small  A Pretty Girl

 

 

 

Paramount Studio, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/21)

There's a Tavern in the Town (with instrumental combo) 1932

 

George Wright

Grant Union High School, Sacramento (Hybrid 4/22) 1941

Oodles of Noodles

 

 

Grant Union High School

?Fox Theatre, San Francisco (Wurlitzer 4/36) c.1942

Boogie  Tiger Rag  When Your Lover Has Gone                                           



Unknown Studio organs, San Francisco c.1942

In a Monastery Garden  

Moonlight on the River Zigeuner

 

Paramount Theatre, New York City (Wurlitzer 4/36) - recordings for Muzac c.1948

Look for the Silver Lining  Love Walked In  September Song

Street Scene  When You Wish Upon a Star

 

Paramount Theatre, New York

 

 

 

 

Ken Wright

WKY Studio, Oklahoma City (Kilgen 4/14)

Does Your Heart Beat for Me?  My Ideal

Music by Moonlight (26 minutes of 30-minute broadcast, late 1940s)

Erwin Yeo

?Paramount Film Studios, Hollywood (Wurlitzer 3/18)

Braggin'  I Just Had to Come Back

 

 

 

 

Erwin Yeo with Gaylord Carter

Player Organs (machine-cut rolls)

Aeolian organ

Grizzly Bear Rag

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