The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ]. HAslIHG. Director.
Washington, D. G.
THE RISE OF THE ORGAN.


to fill in breathing spells in weddings,
funerals. and sermons. has at last
come into real popularity. No longer
is it associated only with dreary
Bach fugues. and solemn accompani-
ments to the clatter of the collec-
ton plate. The king of instru-
ments has, after thousand odd-years
! of stately existence, taken on live
lier air, for all the world like a gray
haired bachelor scientist who sudden
" learns TO flirt.
The movies are. as everybody
knows, responsible for the organs new
mood. What is not so generally
known is that a remarkable interest
in organ study is being manifested. and
schools which teach organ playing
expressly for the theater have sprung
into existence.
More pipe organs are being built,
too, tho the cost of pipes is about rs
per cent higher than before the big
organ boom. The owners of moving
picture palaces do not seem to mind
this. Five or six thousand dollars for
an electric action. eighty stop, guar
anteed MOTTO break down often organ
is a good investment, if only for the
fact that it gives the theater publicity
agent something new to write about.
Thus, when the theater owner de-
cides to install the biggest and most
[
the state. or town-there is material
for a hot news item. When the in
strument is set up it is good for more
snappy description and instructive
statistics. Then the theater engages
a genius who wears a twelve shoe and
can hit more pedals at a time than
any other organist in the country.
And so it goes. The theater gets pub
Lofty. the patrons get the music, and
| the organ gets out of repair with a
| body but a movie magnate.
Require Constant Repairs
Church organs are usually visited
once a month by a repair man, to
keep them in playing order. but the
| theater instrument has to be looked
over once a week, and the repairer is
called in from one to three times a
pected casualties. This is all a part
Of the upkeep of the theater, and one
of the numerous factors which help
to BOOST the price of a movie ticket
The theater organ does not suffer
from being in a damp and unheated
hall six days in the week, as church
organ so often does. but 1t is worked
hard, so that its parts wear out faster
Withal, its lifetime at hard labor Is
estimated at twenty-five years. By
! that time. the theater magnates fig
ure, the vogue of the organ may give
! dion or the xylophone.
And speaking of xy1ophones. the
theater organ has special attachments
which the conservative church instru-
ment never dreamed of. The organ
is an imitator. A lengthy pipe of
wood gives an entirely different char
acter of tone from a similar pipe OF
tin or lead. and a short thick pipe
gives a still different variation. SO that
from the pipes the organ gets not
| oAly its different notes but also the
fdifferent tones. resembling the oboe,
flute, violin. and other instruments
| OF all the pieces in an orchestra, the
violin has been the most difficult to
reproduce on an organ, and 1t is one
| of the more recent tones represented
on the stops. The xylophone stop, or
which we started to speak. is a new
and strictly theatrical attachment. as
are stops giving the effect of drums.
| bells and other accessories OF an
orchestra. With all these devices. the
movie organ is an orchestra in itself.
and some instruments are provided FOR
extra emergencies by stops represent
! ing wind. rain and thunder
To musicians the interesting thing
about the organs plunge into secular
| affairs is the revolution in the theory
| OF organ music. 1t has always been
! held that the organ could be played
/ only in legato, flowing style. Hymns,
7
| the Bride" and an occasional minuet
made up the repertoire of the church
\ or concert organist.
Now the theater organ rolls out
anything from Hawaiian love songs
\ to jazz as means of intensifying emo
lions portrayed by screen action. A
few effects called for by orchestra
| scores are practically impossible to
obtain. Such an effect is the violin
| tremoIo. But the skilled organist
I - 70
set before him, tho it is said that
three-fourths of the music he uses is
written for piano and has to be ar
ranged by the player for organ redi-
ton.
Tone is More Restful.
! The organ is preferred to the piano
as an accompaniment for the silent
drama. because it is capable of a much
! wider gamut of tones Then it is more
/ easily subdued into a harmonious ac-
| compa niment to the picture, and the
| deep steady tone is more restful than
the shrill babble Of the piano heard
! in so many of the small theaters.
Music for the movies is an i'm
portant matter nowadays. We have
| advanced beyond the stage where~a
callers ringing of a doorbell in the
picture had to be interpreted for the
! audience by a real bell manipulated
| by the snare drummer.
Nor is it thought good taste any
| longer to play facetiously a few bars
from Good Night Ladies" when the
| harsh father of the heroine orders the
butler to remove the poor. and there
fore unworthy Romeo. Instead the
up-to-date organist shifts a few stops
and drifts into something sweet and
sad, and your sympathy for the mis-
used hero remains intact
i Mostly, the musicians are provided
with a regular program of music sug-
gested by the company producing the
feature. This sheet indicates that the
i Spring Song would be appropriate
for the first two minutes of the story,
1 down to the subtitle. Henry finds the
skeleton key in the closet" when it is
proper to change to The Cave of the
Mountain King and so. on thruout