Times Could Be a Lot Worse...

Grass...

I grew up in a house on a large corner lot, the corner of Union Street and Gillespie Street in Schenectady, New York.  My older brother Bill and I had two major duties -- cutting the grass in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.  We tried various ways of dividing up the work and no matter how we split things up each of us was convinced that the other one got the best deal.

Thus it was that I rejoiced when in 1948 my father bought a 20" Eclipse Rocket gasoline-powered lawn mower.  Suddenly, I wanted to cut the grass!  For the next several years I was the grass cutter.  I loved that machine.  I tinkered with it, putting a larger carburetor on it.  I filed down the detents on the governor to make it run faster.  I rigged it up with a harness to my old red wagon, and having mounted a seat, I drove it up and down the street.  Mike Leding and I argued endlessly whether reel mowers or rotaries did a better job of cutting grass.  That lawn mower was tough and lasted for many, many years.  Only God knows whatever happened to it.  Part of its legacy is that I still love engines and machinery.  I have, however, outgrown my love for mowing grass.

Recently, I ran across this old ad for that great old lawn mower.

Sign of the Season...

Another Great Organ Story...

A couple of weeks ago, Mary Ann and I attended a wonderful concert by the Vienna Boys' Choir.  It was part of the annual series of the Huntsville Chamber Music Guild, of which we have been members for many years.  

Before the concert, I was talking to Dr. Wilson Luquire, dean of the library at UAH and President of the Chamber Music Guild.  I was talking about a young organist I had read about recently when Wilson asked if I had been in Huntsville for the Paul Jacobs concert, part of this year's series.  I informed him that I had been out of town and had missed that concert.  Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in organ performance in addition to his Library Science doctorate, then informed me that in his opinion, Paul Jacobs was the best organist he had ever heard, bar none.

I found this clip of Paul Jacobs playing Bach's "We Thank Thee, God, We Thank Thee" from Cantata 29 on the great organ at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.  In spite of his youth, Jacobs is the head of the organ department at the Juilliard School of Music.  Play this clip when you have about ten minutes.  It's only about 9 minutes long, but you'll need a little time to regain your composure when it ends.  It's an astounding and inspiring performance.

An Organ Story...

Before there was "stereo" there was "high fidelity." In the 1950's, we got our first "hi-fi" or audiophile store in Schenectady -- the "House of Harmony" at 1444 State Street.  Remember that it was a city of nerds, with hundreds of engineers and technically savvy craftsmen, the home of General Electric and the American Locomotive Company -- "The city that lights and hauls the world!" The hi-fi store was an immediate success. It was owned by a young fellow named Bob Griswold, the son of a prominent funeral director. I and my technically-oriented buddies became regular visitors to the store.

Bob Griswold had another passionate interest. He loved theater organs. These were instruments that theater owners installed during the silent-film era to attract more clients. They were bombastic, showy instruments that were capable of a great variety of music coloration. And Bob Griswold went the extra step -- he bought a couple of theater organs, including one of the largest in the world, and moved them to a building in Schenectady!

The Marr & Colton 5/24 Before Installation

The large organ was originally built and installed in 1927 by the Marr & Colton Organ Company for the fabulous Schine's Rochester Theater in Rochester, New York. It had a 5-manual console and 24 ranks of pipes and is therefore referred to as a 5/24 organ. The theater was described as, "with over 3500 seats, the largest theater in America between New York and Chicago. The auditorium featured bronze light fixtures, murals, leather upholstery for the box seats, and an enormous Marr & Colton organ."

Bob Griswold brought the organ to Schenectady in an 18-wheeler over a period of several weekends. I was in high school when I first encountered the project and I got to work on some of the restoration work. It ignited a love for these instruments that I still enjoy.

The second organ was a Wurlitzer that Bob acquired from a theater in Utica, New York.

An image of Bob Griswold tuning the clarinet stop in the "main" loft of the combined
organ as it was being installed in a specially-constructed building.  This image appeared
in the July 4, 1958 edition of the Schenectady Gazette.

A few years after I got to know him, Bob Griswold died in an automobile accident while he was still a young man. I wondered for years whatever became of that magnificent pipe organ after his death. Now, through the magic of the Internet and Google, I know the "rest of the story."

Here's part of an article I recently ran across on the Website of the Puget Sound Theater Organ Society in an article about member Bill Blunk:

In 1961, the 3/9 Marr & Colton instrument was replaced with Bill's new purchase: the 5/24 from the Rochester Theatre in Rochester, New York. It was one of the largest instruments ever produced by Marr & Colton and the only five-manual.

Bill purchased the large organ from Bob Griswold who removed the instrument from the theatre in the early 1950's and installed it in his Schenectady music store.

The installation in the former Viking Theatre was completed with the help of Leonard Vernon and Dick Chase. Leonard Vernon did the refinishing job on the console.

Bill had hoped that the Viking would be a permanent home for the organ, but in 1964, the building was sold and on May 17, 1964, a final concert was held.

The 5/24 was removed shortly thereafter. During the Fall of 1965, Bill moved the organ to Portland where it was installed in a private studio which he rented. The instrument was featured at the 1966 ATOE Annual Meeting in Portland. The organ was later moved to Sherwood, Oregon and installed for several years in the Sherwood (Robin Hood) Theatre.

It was removed from this location and is currently in storage in the Portland area having been donated to the Columbia River Organ Club (CROC) by Bill Blunk several years ago. CROC is actively working to find a suitable location for re-installation.

The console as I remember it, in its original white finish
with gold leaf embellishment

It pleases me to know that the organ is still intact, even if not still in use. The experience that I had of working on it and hearing it inspired me in later years to restore a pipe organ for my own church, but that's a subject for a future post.

Historic Times...

We have witnessed a remarkable moment in the history of this great nation. Let's unite in support of our newly-elected President and offer him our prayers.

The events of the past few months have caused me to reflect on the path that the country has taken within the brief instant of my lifetime.  In 1960 I hitchhiked from Corpus Christi, Texas, to upstate New York.  I purposely took a route across the deep south to witness a culture that I had never seen.  I saw segregated drinking fountains and rest rooms, signs on businesses that read, "No Negroes," and was shocked at some of the rural poverty that I saw.  That experience made a deep impression on me.

In the 1970s, I was living and working in southern Mississippi.  By now, the civil rights act and the voting rights act had brought about enormous change.  Nonetheless, when I invited a black friend to move in with me after he had gone through a difficult divorce, my neighbors let me know they were outraged that I would invite a person of color to live in their "safe" neighborhood.

In the 1980s, I befriended a gentleman who lived in Indianola, Mississippi, in the heart of the delta.  During several visits to his home, I concluded that the Mississippi delta hadn't gotten the word yet on equal rights.  It hearkened back to what I had witnessed in my 1960 pilgrimage across the south.

And yet here we are, a nation that has overwhelmingly elected a black man to its Presidency.  Something of enormous significance has taken place.  I don't understand it, but I welcome it.  This marvelous republic never ceases to amaze me with its resilience and ability to reinvent itself.  I love this land and its people!  God bless the U.S.A.!!!