Are the Chiappa organ shown at 1:20, the Imhof with the figures at 1:09 and the photoplayer shown at 0:24 still in the museum? I have never seen any of these instruments since the museum transferred over to the new building.
Hi - thanks for your interest! The Chiappa is on display by the entrance to Gallery 1, underneath a portrait of our founder, Frank Holland. It is in fair working condition and is demonstrated occasionally (it is extremely loud!) but requires some attention and is on our list of candidates for expert restoration. The Imhof orchestrion sat for many years in our workshop after the move to the new building, lacking a space for display - we are pleased to say that it has been formally transferred to the "Internal Fire" Museum of Power in Wales where it can undergo a full restoration and be seen and heard once again. The Photoplayer is currently on-stage in our concert hall, but requires some work and is also difficult to display in that location, so does not currently feature in normal "front of house" tours. We are currently exploring an exciting idea to create a space in another area of the Museum which will feature the Photoplayer and allow it to be seen and demonstrated alongside silent films.
mad@! so good to see this, what a stroke of luck! for techmoan to find this
Are the Chiappa organ shown at 1:20, the Imhof with the figures at 1:09 and the photoplayer shown at 0:24 still in the museum? I have never seen any of these instruments since the museum transferred over to the new building.
Hi - thanks for your interest! The Chiappa is on display by the entrance to Gallery 1, underneath a portrait of our founder, Frank Holland. It is in fair working condition and is demonstrated occasionally (it is extremely loud!) but requires some attention and is on our list of candidates for expert restoration. The Imhof orchestrion sat for many years in our workshop after the move to the new building, lacking a space for display - we are pleased to say that it has been formally transferred to the "Internal Fire" Museum of Power in Wales where it can undergo a full restoration and be seen and heard once again. The Photoplayer is currently on-stage in our concert hall, but requires some work and is also difficult to display in that location, so does not currently feature in normal "front of house" tours. We are currently exploring an exciting idea to create a space in another area of the Museum which will feature the Photoplayer and allow it to be seen and demonstrated alongside silent films.
I remember it similar in layout to that when I visited a couple of times when we lived in Chiswick (early 1970's)