Going to the FOX as a kid was wonderful. After a ride on the Grand Ave street car we would enter a Magical Palace of sight and sound. We were always amazed to see organist Stan Kahn rise up through the floor as he let it loose in the theater.
I am 92 years old and worked at the Fox Theater in 1940 and 1941 for part of those years. The Organist at that time was Tom Avey who I got to know quite well as he also worked at the Kirkwood Baptist church where he conducted the Music and choir. He offered to teach me and a friend Lyle Bonney to play the piano and told us if we were competent enough later he would allow us to TRY to learn to play this very Organ. Being 18 years old and quite stupid neither Lyle nor I had the sense to take him up on this once in a lifetime offer. War came along and we both served int WWll and after the war We simply forgot about Tom and his offer. What idiots we were. Today I love music and at this late date I am NOW trying to learn to simply play the Piano and I guess the stupidity is still with me as i t is unbelievably hard now to learn even the piano.Don Thompson.
To appreciate the sound of the Fox Wurlitzer, like any organ, you have to be there in person to hear it in the theatre in which it was built for. Great video. Nice to see Jack back on the organ!
I lived in St. Louis in the late 60's and early 70's - just 4 blocks from the Fox. One summer, I worked at a store down the street from the theater and the doorman used to come to my store. We got to be friends and he let me come up to the theater everyday to watch a movie and listen to Stan Kann play that magnificent organ. A beautiful theater palace and a wonderful instrument.
C. Howard Crane also designed a great amount of the Allen Theatres in Canada as well. Some of them still exist like the Palace in Calgary, Alberta or reconstructed like Capitol in Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton, Alberta.
An all round excellent video! Although very much an English Compton organ enthusiast, I hope before I leave this mortal coil I would have had a chance to play one of these fantastic beasts!
My family attended the Monday night movies in the 1980's. So glad people with money were willing to save the Fox. A well spent $10,000,000.00. Was also able to go to some of the last times at the San Francisco Fox. It could have been like this.
Glen Wasson SF regret afterwards. I would have liked to see a 4th version of Fox's mega theatres in SF. At least Detroit and Atlanta saved their Fox theatres too.
yeah, it's incredible that the sf fox could not be saved and was razed to build a post office. now, it's destruction is lamented...please contact the american theatre organ society to learn what you can do to help preserve this truly unique, american instrument.
Isn't it the same one? The organ from that went to someone's home, then he died and it was in storage for a while, then eventually they transported it to somewhere (I'm guessing this place) and restored it.
It is identical to the former San Francisco Fox Wurlitzer which is now installed and played at the Hollywood El Capitan theatre. Wurlitzer built 4 Fox specials based upon the 36 rank New York Paramount instrument. The Detroit Fox instrument was built with 37 ranks.
There's some cool information in this video I did not know. These types of theater organs videos are often at least an attempt at marketing these under appreciated instruments and this one does have an impressive 9,000 hits in 1 year. That's probably partly because it is a famous Wurlitzer in it's original venue, a very famous Fox Theater crown jewel, but there's a bit of irony in recording the "largest instrument in the world" with the internal mic on a camcorder from the audience. Making things worse, most people listening to it now are doing so through their computer's speakers which may be pretty good, or may be awful. The problem with the invention of the consumer video camcorder is they put internal mics in them and people use them for all sorts of documentation purposes as they are convenient, and thus the proliferation of these videos on YT. Currently with the introduction of HD and recently 4K, much has been done to advance the quality of the image in today's consumer videocameras, but the audio quality has not kept up. Despite the pixel quantity arms race in the consumer and professional videocamera markets, only expensive professional cameras have built-in ability to record good audio from separate mics directly into the camera. Even professional ENG style videocameras still need very expensive accessories attached if you need to record from separate mics wirelessly. The irony of that is it has been proven people are actually more particular about the quality of the audio in a "film" than they are about the quality of the picture. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for one of the major video cameras manufacturers to realize there is an vast untapped market for just such a thing as a consumer videocamera that comes easy to use, with quality, detachable, wireless stereo microphones. I know it would be a total pain to arrange for and record good audio from separate stereo mics but we and future historians will be kicking ourselves when the people in these types of videos are long gone and we don't have any good audio to go with the majority of the videos. These instruments could probably set the record for the oldest average age of the audience members, and the concerts are often poorly attended. It might be easier to get some badly needed younger audience members and new enthusiasts if they could get a slight inkling of what they really sound like in person. Watching the back of someone playing the theater organ is not the most exciting video on YT, so if the audio is also not exciting because of the recording quality forget getting many new and/or younger enthusiasts from posting YT videos, if that is a goal.
not exactly sure what you wished to accomplish with this posting. there are, extant, an almost endless number of well-recorded theatre organ albums (both on record and compact disc) available for purchase and well-recorded videos available here and on vevo. this truly, american invention is in dire need of recognition and support. perhaps you might expend your energy finding and promoting the "good stuff" instead of criticizing the bad, eh?
At 3.38: 'They deported him'?? Since when did the church have the power to deport from the UK? A muddled history, I'm afraid. Beautiful instrument, though. Peter
Peter Almond He didn’t get it quite right. Hope Jones immigrated, was briefly employed by Skinner, went out on his own, failed, and tried to convince Wurlitzer of his ideas, which he was partially successful with, prior to committing suicide.
And all of 8 people in the audience. Surprisingly reverberant. A lot of misinformation from the organist. The story of Hope Jones isn’t quite accurate. A theater organ doesn’t play faster due to wind pressure. Metal isn’t totally indicative of tone, that’s more about scale.
you are correct. hope jones lived in upstate new york. he was trying to modify the standard, church organ to support the accompaniment of silent films. he invented a direct-electric action that allowed the console to control the organ from any distance. in fact, he placed the console in the graveyard outside the church and played the organ from it. he also invented the "tibia", the "fat flute" that defines the theatre organ. higher wind pressure only makes pipes sound louder. organ pipes have been crafted from metal and wood for as long as they have existed.
John Black if you have not heard the organ in person you cannot judge the quality. Hearing an organ in a RUclips video over whatever speakers you use is far from optimal and cannot be used to judge an organs sound. Not to mention it depends on the mic used for recording and where it was located.
Going to the FOX as a kid was wonderful. After a ride on the Grand Ave street car we would enter a Magical Palace of sight and sound. We were always amazed to see organist Stan Kahn rise up through the floor as he let it loose in the theater.
I am 92 years old and worked at the Fox Theater in 1940 and 1941 for part of those years. The Organist at that time was Tom Avey who I got to know quite well as he also worked at the Kirkwood Baptist church where he conducted the Music and choir.
He offered to teach me and a friend Lyle Bonney to play the piano and told us if we were competent enough later he would allow us to TRY to learn to play this very Organ. Being 18 years old and quite stupid neither Lyle nor I had the sense to take him up on this once in a lifetime offer. War came along and we both served int WWll and after the war We simply forgot about Tom and his offer. What idiots we were. Today I love music and at this late date I am NOW trying to learn to simply play the Piano and I guess the stupidity is still with me as i t is unbelievably hard now to learn even the piano.Don Thompson.
That's amazing. I hope you are having as much fun learning to play piano as I am.
What an INCREDIBLE sound!!!When I hear a great Wurlitzer like this it sends me goose bumps!! Those Fox Specials were unmatched in so many ways!!
To appreciate the sound of the Fox Wurlitzer, like any organ, you have to be there in person to hear it in the theatre in which it was built for. Great video. Nice to see Jack back on the organ!
I lived in St. Louis in the late 60's and early 70's - just 4 blocks from the Fox. One summer, I worked at a store down the street from the theater and the doorman used to come to my store. We got to be friends and he let me come up to the theater everyday to watch a movie and listen to Stan Kann play that magnificent organ. A beautiful theater palace and a wonderful instrument.
C. Howard Crane also designed a great amount of the Allen Theatres in Canada as well. Some of them still exist like the Palace in Calgary, Alberta or reconstructed like Capitol in Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton, Alberta.
An all round excellent video! Although very much an English Compton organ enthusiast, I hope before I leave this mortal coil I would have had a chance to play one of these fantastic beasts!
Thx, it is quite an experience to be there in person. Well worth the trip.
very interesting to learn this about the organ.Wurlitzer is a beautiful instrument, I love to listen to the music
My family attended the Monday night movies in the 1980's. So glad people with money were willing to save the Fox. A well spent $10,000,000.00.
Was also able to go to some of the last times at the San Francisco Fox. It could have been like this.
Glen Wasson SF regret afterwards. I would have liked to see a 4th version of Fox's mega theatres in SF. At least Detroit and Atlanta saved their Fox theatres too.
yeah, it's incredible that the sf fox could not be saved and was razed to build a post office. now, it's destruction is lamented...please contact the american theatre organ society to learn what you can do to help preserve this truly unique, american instrument.
always loved that organ
Excellent
Excellent vox Humana !!
Back in the days when this theatre was built the word was "Hang the cost, build a palace!"
Can I just ask is this organ built to the same spec/simillar spec to that of the Wurlitzer that was formerly in the SF Fox?
Isn't it the same one? The organ from that went to someone's home, then he died and it was in storage for a while, then eventually they transported it to somewhere (I'm guessing this place) and restored it.
It is identical to the former San Francisco Fox Wurlitzer which is now installed and played at the Hollywood El Capitan theatre. Wurlitzer built 4 Fox specials based upon the 36 rank New York Paramount instrument. The Detroit Fox instrument was built with 37 ranks.
NOTHING SOUNDS LIKE THE GREAT WURLITZER ORGAN IT THE STOPS ARE THE SAME AS THEY WERE VOICED.AND PLAYED CORRECTLT
There's some cool information in this video I did not know.
These types of theater organs videos are often at least an attempt at marketing these under appreciated instruments and this one does have an impressive 9,000 hits in 1 year. That's probably partly because it is a famous Wurlitzer in it's original venue, a very famous Fox Theater crown jewel, but there's a bit of irony in recording the "largest instrument in the world" with the internal mic on a camcorder from the audience. Making things worse, most people listening to it now are doing so through their computer's speakers which may be pretty good, or may be awful.
The problem with the invention of the consumer video camcorder is they put internal mics in them and people use them for all sorts of documentation purposes as they are convenient, and thus the proliferation of these videos on YT. Currently with the introduction of HD and recently 4K, much has been done to advance the quality of the image in today's consumer videocameras, but the audio quality has not kept up. Despite the pixel quantity arms race in the consumer and professional videocamera markets, only expensive professional cameras have built-in ability to record good audio from separate mics directly into the camera. Even professional ENG style videocameras still need very expensive accessories attached if you need to record from separate mics wirelessly. The irony of that is it has been proven people are actually more particular about the quality of the audio in a "film" than they are about the quality of the picture. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for one of the major video cameras manufacturers to realize there is an vast untapped market for just such a thing as a consumer videocamera that comes easy to use, with quality, detachable, wireless stereo microphones.
I know it would be a total pain to arrange for and record good audio from separate stereo mics but we and future historians will be kicking ourselves when the people in these types of videos are long gone and we don't have any good audio to go with the majority of the videos.
These instruments could probably set the record for the oldest average age of the audience members, and the concerts are often poorly attended. It might be easier to get some badly needed younger audience members and new enthusiasts if they could get a slight inkling of what they really sound like in person. Watching the back of someone playing the theater organ is not the most exciting video on YT, so if the audio is also not exciting because of the recording quality forget getting many new and/or younger enthusiasts from posting YT videos, if that is a goal.
not exactly sure what you wished to accomplish with this posting. there are, extant, an almost endless number of well-recorded theatre organ albums (both on record and compact disc) available for purchase and well-recorded videos available here and on vevo. this truly, american invention is in dire need of recognition and support. perhaps you might expend your energy finding and promoting the "good stuff" instead of criticizing the bad, eh?
Superrr!!!
At the end they asked for How Great Thou art and he tried to play Amazing Grace!
William Fox's motion picture(1929)
We also invented the electric guitar by Les Paul.
Nice video, but, what is with the constant rocking back & forth? Getting seasick here.
+Andork Kuomo Glad you liked the video, but it looks pretty rock solid to me except for a couple zooms.
+Dennis Furbush No, it rocks back & forth the entire time, like a boat in light waves...you can't see it?
+Dennis Furbush You must be watching it while on a boat, then ;-) The whole image rotates slightly (and continuously) clockwise then anti-clockwise.
At 3.38: 'They deported him'?? Since when did the church have the power to deport from the UK? A muddled history, I'm afraid. Beautiful instrument, though. Peter
Peter Almond He didn’t get it quite right. Hope Jones immigrated, was briefly employed by Skinner, went out on his own, failed, and tried to convince Wurlitzer of his ideas, which he was partially successful with, prior to committing suicide.
And all of 8 people in the audience. Surprisingly reverberant. A lot of misinformation from the organist. The story of Hope Jones isn’t quite accurate. A theater organ doesn’t play faster due to wind pressure. Metal isn’t totally indicative of tone, that’s more about scale.
you are correct. hope jones lived in upstate new york. he was trying to modify the standard, church organ to support the accompaniment of silent films. he invented a direct-electric action that allowed the console to control the organ from any distance. in fact, he placed the console in the graveyard outside the church and played the organ from it. he also invented the "tibia", the "fat flute" that defines the theatre organ. higher wind pressure only makes pipes sound louder. organ pipes have been crafted from metal and wood for as long as they have existed.
horrible sound. Not an organ but a bombastic piece of noise!
John, this is a THEATER organ, NOT a church organ. Get a life.
+kiqw Obviously another self proclaimed organ "expert" that doesn't know shit.
John Black if you have not heard the organ in person you cannot judge the quality.
Hearing an organ in a RUclips video over whatever speakers you use is far from optimal and cannot be used to judge an organs sound. Not to mention it depends on the mic used for recording and where it was located.