OGDEN — Back when movies were silent and theaters were huge, the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ was all the rage. With a skilled virtuoso at the console, the organ provided epic-size sound effects, created a dramatic range of emotions, and enhanced and enlivened the movie experience in untold ways.
Sound came in, and the organ went out — sometimes dismantled and sold for junk. The lucky ones were relegated to the back room of a pizza parlor or someone's home.
When that happened, says Blaine Gale, organ player extraordinaire and resident organist at the Salt Lake's Organ Loft, "theaters lost their voices. And when you exclude the voice, you exclude the heart."
Which is one reason a theater organ is high on the wish list when elegant old theaters are restored to their original glory. "A theater organ is a living, breathing part of the theater," said Ed Zollman, president of Zollman Pipe Organ Services, based in Wichita, Kan. He is currently helping wishes come true at the Peery Egyptian Theatre in Ogden.
Zollman has been installing a 3 manual/23 rank Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ in the theater, a process that has taken about seven months. The finished organ will be shown off at a gala celebration on Wednesday and will feature renowned organists Jelani Eddington and Patti Simon in concert, as well as a screening of a classic silent Laurel and Hardy comedy, accompanied by the organ.
It's a fitting way to celebrate the theater's 80th anniversary, said Luckey Heath, president of Peery's Egyptian Theatre Foundation, which was instrumental in bringing an organ back to the storied theater.
The Peery was built in 1924, quite literally rising out of the ashes of the Arlington Hotel, which burned to the ground the year before. The inspiration came from the Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, which was built amid the furor of finding King Tut's tomb, said Val Summerill, a driving force in restoring the theater.
The original Ogden theater closed in 1984. By then, the furnace was out; there was no running water. "It took 12 years," Summerill said, "and we had several near misses with the wrecking ball, but we were able to save it."
The Peery reopened in 1997, restored to its original Egyptian flavor and color — but without its original organ. However, the Peery's need is now being filled, thanks to an organ donated by Michael Ohman. This Mighty Wurlitzer came from the Fox Beverly Theater in Beverly Hills, by way of the Great American Wind Machine pizza parlor.
The white-and-gold console had to be completely refurbished, not only inside but also outside, said Gale, who is a member of the theater foundation's board of directors, and chairman of the organ-restoration committee. Patti Simon, who is not only a great organist, but also the wife of Ed Zollman, "took one look at it and said it looked like Napoleon's bedroom in King Tut's tomb."
Last fall, over the Thanksgiving weekend, Gale loaded the console in a rented truck and took it back to the Zollman's plant in Wichita. He went back to get the now-glistening black console over the Easter weekend. "It adds a whole new meaning to the notion of 'haul-iday,' " Gale joked.
In addition to the console, the organ has 18 ranks of real pipes, and then extra voices produced digitally. The pipes that are needed to produce those tones will not physically fit in the space, Zollman said, so modern technology makes it possible to create them digitally. But it takes a "bee's nest of wiring."
Installing an organ such as this involves both technique and physics, he said. The pipes are placed in two chambers, high on the sides of the stage. One is the brassy side, the other the accompaniment side. Nothing is visible from the auditorium except shutters, which can be opened to let the sound out. Tucked behind the theater's proscenium arch, are all the percussion instruments — the drums, the castanets, sleigh bells, marimba and others. They are all connected electronically to the console, which can be brought into the orchestra pit or up onstage for performances.
That's what makes these organs so great, said Gale. "They called them unit orchestras, because one person could do everything an orchestra can do."
And that's why theater supporters go to such great lengths to get them installed. "There is no other technique like it. It is an art form that is rare, unique," said Michael Ballam, director of the Utah Festival Opera in Logan, who is also working on an organ-installation project for Logan's Ellen Eccles Theatre (originally the Capitol).
That group has "nearly all" its funding in place and is in the process of doing installation-feasibility studies. "We're doing all in our power to get this glorious instrument in its rightful place," Ballam said of that organ. "One of the exciting developments is that we've located some of the pipes that were part of the Capitol's original organ."
There has been an upsurge of interest in theater organs around the country, said Ballam, as new generations are coming to appreciate what they can do. "There's nothing like the sound of air through real pipes; it's not something you can synthetically reproduce. It's like being in the presence of a live singer, as opposed to a CD or DVD. Being in the same space as a Pavarotti is never the same as watching a DVD. Sure, the CD or DVD is easier or cheaper. But that's not what we're all about."
Neither there, nor at Salt Lake's Capitol Theatre, which has a theater organ, nor the Organ Loft — nor the Peery Egyptian Theatre, which now joins the organ family.
"I'm excited for the Egyptian," said Ballam. "It gives that building more life."
Gale, too, is excited that the theater's heart is back. "The theatre pipe organ has awesome sonic pleasures for audiofiles and youthful ears.
"Today's musicians can use its capacity to please nearly every known musical taste. We fully expect this instrument to be the equal of the finest organs in theater history."
If you go. . .
What: "The Return of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ"
Where: Peery Egyptian Theatre, 2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $10 general, $8 seniors, $4 children (10 and under)
Phone: 801-395-3227
E-mail: carma@desnews.com