A few entries ago, a question about the Orpheum organ came up and I said it was now in the SHS auditorium. Judy Vicars Van Hagen sent the following information:The Barton Theater Organ was originally in the Orpheum Theater, used for silent movies and Vaudeville, and is now housed in the SHS auditorium.
It is presently played for public concerts by Mark Gifford, a wonderful musician in Springfield who has an avid interest in the upkeep, repair, and restoration of this magnificent musical instrument. An Organ Organization raises money for maintaining the organ, supported by money earned at the concerts.
At our 45th Reunion Mark played an organ concert for us (see picture below), and he opened and closed the concert with the SHS Fight Song. Up until that time there had been no keyboard arrangement of the Fight Song, so Carolyn Baldwin Quinlan notated the song for Mark and he composed an arrangement for the keyboard that he played for us at the Reunion concert. It was exciting to hear it played that way!
An excellent story on the Orpheum theatre and its organ appears on the SHS web site. The story notes that the last person to play the organ in its Orpheum site was Wendell Kennedy, father of Alan Kennedy '58.
A little history: the Orpheum company built 45 theatres in 36 cities throughout the USA and Canada. They provided vaudeville and movies until the advent of cable television in the 1980s. Some towns have saved their Orpheums as public auditoriums. For a reminder of that opulent era, see the Orpheum at Galesburg, Illinois.
Mark Gifford at the restored Orpheum Organ,
SHS Auditorium (Barton Theatre)
Picture by J. V. V. Hagen
SHS Auditorium (Barton Theatre)
Picture by J. V. V. Hagen
4 comments:
Thanks to Judy and Will for the history and pictures. We recently saw a Buster Keaton silent movie in Binghamton, NY accompanied by a restored theater organ and the Binghamton Pops. Now I can show Dave my favorite childhood theater where I was introduced to ballet, symphonies, and many other cultural events which became lifelong interests.
Barbara Edmiston Mitchell
Will -
In connection with the piece about the Orpheum theater organ, I recall the Tom Harmon of the class of '57 was "instrumental" (how's that for a pun?) in taking the organ apart and putting it together at SHS. He might have been the first one to give a concert on it at the school, I'm not sure.
CQ
My husband had what I think is a brilliant idea. How about a theater organ concert at SHS for the 2008 reunion - maybe accompanying a silent film? Each person could give a donation for maintenance of the organ. For people who haven't been back to the school and/or remember the Orpheum Theater fondly, this would be a real treat. Incidentally, it was Tom Harmon that I remember playing it at the theater.
Barbara Edmiston Mitchell
Will,
Thansk so much for this wonderful update and great memories. I recall fondly how Tom Harmon also played the pipe organ at 1st UMC and always awed the congregation when he played it so fantasticly as a young HS student! I did not know that I missed the playing at our last reunion, and that is cool about Carolyn getting the SHS Fight song for the organ too. I hope that we can be blessed with another concert at our 50th reunion!
Tom Downs
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