Lexington, KY - In many theaters, as the Wurlitzer theater organ helped the locomotive rush toward Pauline or the steamboat come 'round the bend, the audience was really involved with the moving picture on the screen. Surrounding the listener completely, and adding almost a fourth dimension, the organ music meant that you were there - right on the railroad tracks or on the shore watching the steamboat. Indeed, the appropriate selection of music combined with the novelty sound effects (including locomotive rumble, steam hissing, train horn, bell and steamboat whistles, etc.) under the masterful hands and feet of an experienced theater organist, made the movie-going experience in the silent movie days not much different than watching a film with an elaborate soundtrack today.
Robert Hope-Jones, an enlightened English organ builder, who came to America in May of 1903, is considered to be the "father" of the theater pipe organ. When Hope-Jones joined the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in 1910, his organ specifications, patents and tonal concepts established the foundation for Wurlitzer's theater organ department. Wurlitzer developed into the largest and most prestigious manufacturer of theater organs in the world, producing a total of 2,234 Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestras by 1932. Approximately 46 original Wurlitzer theater organs remain in their original movie palace homes - a depressing reality, considering this is only 2 percent of the originally installed Wurlitzer theater organs in America.
The heart and soul of Kentucky's Mighty Wurlitzer (KMW) project is the three-manual/14-rank Wurlitzer theater pipe organ, originally from Lexington's historic Kentucky Theater. This is the sole-surviving theater organ from a theater in the commonwealth of Kentucky and is the "Official Theater Pipe Organ of the commonwealth of Kentucky" and the only theater organ listed as an "Official Project" of Save America's Treasures (SAT), which was established in 1999 by the Whitehouse Millennium Sub-Committee and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. KMW's theater organ project represents the tenth theater organ to have been removed from its original theater home and later to be reinstalled in its original home, an exceptionally rare and important cinematic and historical preservation project for Kentucky.
Since 1999, KMW submitted three SAT grant applications, and one federal earmark (2005) request through Senator Mitch McConnell, which passed the Senate but failed to receive House earmark-funding support in the following February (2006). Subsequently, all earmarks were cancelled. Though not receiving a SAT grant, KMW's FY2009 grant submittal received favorable reviewer comments.
Unfortunately, Public Law 112-10, providing appropriations for FY2010, did not include funds for Save America's Treasures grants and therefore could not accept applications or award grants during 2011. The appropriations budget for FY2012 is currently under review by Congress, and hopefully, the program will be funded with the FY2012 appropriations bill. Recently, KMW sent correspondence to each of Kentucky's Representatives and Senators in Washington to encourage each to support this win-win, dollar-for-dollar local match-grant program, which generates skilled jobs during the grant execution process and ensures the preservation of these nationally recognized historic projects for the nation and those located in Kentucky. If the FY2012 appropriations bill is passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate, Kentucky's Mighty Wurlitzer will have an opportunity to resubmit its fourth SAT Grant Application in May 2012.
KMW has recently completed its submittal of "GoodGiving.net portrait" information to the Blue Grass Community Foundation. According to the Blue Grass Community Foundation's published information, this new online resource for the nonprofit community is to inform, empower and enrich charitable giving in the region. Through GoodGiving.net, website visitors will be able to access KMW's "portrait" information about the project and make credit card contributions.
Where does KMW stand with the theater organ restoration, in terms of tangible progress at this point? KMW has purchased all required historical Wurlitzer pipework and percussion instrument additions required for the project at a cost of $39,500. Recently the three-manual Wurlitzer console was delivered to Carlton Smith Pipe Organ Restorations, located in Indianapolis, Ind., for its complete rebuilding and refinishing scope of work with a total cost of $63,000, including purchase of the new solid-state relay system. The paneled console will return to the Kentucky Theater with a gold lacquer finish with old rose color accents and a "Wurlitzer" logo on the glass music rack. Carlton Smith expects the console to be completed by March 2012, including purchase of the new solid-state relay.
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore and reinstall Kentucky's Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ is so important for Lexington, central Kentucky and the region, as it expands economic development opportunities to reinforce the preservation of the historic Kentucky Theater, by providing family-friendly programs, public subscription concert series, and establishment of a regional silent film festival with live Wurlitzer theater organ accompaniment with first-rate local, national and internationally acclaimed theater organists.
KMW is presently organizing the Magnum Opus Group, which will be a tour de force of interested business leaders and community benefactors to serve as an economic development steering committee for this project. KMW will be contacting local and regional corporations, businesses, organizations, banks, public and private foundations, making project presentations and choosing volunteers who have a compelling desire to champion the success and completion of this historic Wurlitzer theater organ project and its economic development opportunities. By serving on the steering committee, volunteers will help bring to fruition the glorious and truly wondrous sound of the restored, expanded and reinstalled three-manual/18-rank Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ in its original Kentucky Theater home.
Interested, and can't wait to get involved before KMW has had a chance to contact you, your company or organization? Please call Steve Brown at (859)559-7541 to schedule an individual or group presentation, which will showcase Kentucky's Mighty Wurlitzer project video and provide information about the project. Join the ranks and make it happen with your participation in the Magnum Opus Group.