The Rudolph Wurlitzer Co.
Opus 1003, 1925

Updated through online information from Eric Schmiedeberg.

Updated through online information from Eric Schmiedeberg. -- It is quite possible that this Wurlitzer is the first one to be influenced by Portland organist Glenn Shelley. According to Theatre Organ Society Historian Steve Levin, Shelley favored the rare Wurlitzer Krumet as a voice to be included in all of the Wurlitzers he had anything to do with.

Only 73 sets were ever manufactured. Wurlitzer built over 2,200 theatre organs. By 1924, Shelley had a sufficiently respected position among organists in Portland--of whom some were (and are) recognized as having been the greatest to play the theatre organ--to carry this sort of gravitas with his colleagues; as well as theatre owners and the Wurlitzer Company.

The Krumet and--after 1925--the (also rare) English Post Horn were trademark voices of Shelley's specifications. Along with these, Marimba/Harps and Pianos would also be featured. The organ showing the favor that Shelley showed toward these percussions is illustrated best in the 3/8 sent to Bligh's Capitol Theatre in Salem, OR.

Here we see the Piano and Marimba/Harp added to an instrument smaller than what would normally have contained these. Six of the seven Shelley Specials (as I call them) were 3-manual instruments of 8 to 13 ranks. The organs of ten ranks or less did not contain couplers (a typical Wurlitzer practice) and usually had reduced tuned percussion compliments.

This last element was probably due to the desire of offsetting the added costs associated with "special" instruments. It should be pointed out that the Shelley instruments were sold to theatres built and run by independent operators. This is unlike the Fox West Coast chain arrangement featuring organist Frank Lanterman's English Post Horn-equipped, coupler-heavy Wurlitzer 2/10 Style 216's. Cost-cutting modifications are not as necessary to large corporations!

Steve Levin is not the only person to have acknowledged Shelley's role in specifying all of the 3-manual Wurlitzers (and one 2-manual) in Oregon/Southwest Washigton area. It is understood and acknowledged in the pstos.org website, and acknowledged by historically-minded fans of the theatre organ; especially in the Pacific Northwest. It has been stated in other publications that Oliver Wallace had an influence on the designs that Shelley would create. Considering Wallace's reputation and acknowledged friendship with him, this is no doubt true.

Wallace was a Grand Master and had played the huge 33-rank Wurlitzer demonstrator/show organ many times at the Liberty Theatre in Portland. Here Shelley had numerous opportunities--beginning at the tender age of 17--to hear Wallace use the resources of that instrument. I can personally quote Shelley directly that he highly favored and valued the Krumet rank of that instrument, but dared not use it when he played the farewell concert on the Liberty organ in 1959, because it was temperamental and out of tune!

Shelley usually used Wurlitzer's Style "H-3M" ("H-3 Manual") or Style 235 as the basis of most his designs. These automatically incorporated Marimba/Harps and Pianos in their make-ups. Shelley would swap out the Orcchestral Oboes for English Post Horns on 10" wind and Kinuras for Krumets after 1925. All of the Shelley Specials will be found in the OHS Database. All of them were decidedly unusual Wurlitzers. The "Shelley Specials":

• Opus 1003--3/10--MacDonald Theatre--Eugene, OR--1925--Intact as of 2015
• Opus 1126--3/10--Egyptian Theatre--Coos Bay. OR--1925--Also intact
• Opus 1257--3/13--Elsinore Theatre--Salem, OR (perhaps with some input from opening night organist Percy Burraston of Australia)--1926--Broken up
• Opus 1427--3/8--Bligh's Capitol Theatre--Salem, OR--1926--Intact, minus Krumet
• Opus 1679--3/10--Castle Theatre--Vancouver, WA--1927--Intact Opus 1710--3/13--Oriental Theatre--Portland, OR--1927--Broken up
• Opus 1897--2/10--Pelican Theatre--Klamath Falls, OR--1928--Intact with full-sized 3-manual console and a 16' English Post Horn octave added by Wurlitzer in 1937--Aragon Ballroom--Chicago

Updated through online information from Eric Schmiedeberg.

Updated through online information from Eric Schmiedeberg. -- I visited the MacDonald Theatre in 1995; a decade before it became the performing arts facility it is today. At that time, the organ-related areas of the theatre were still intact.

The load-in and load-out of this organ was remarkably easy as installations go. The ends of the two chambers were accessed through very large wooden doors with "ice box" type latch handles; the thresholds thereof being positioned in the stage wing walls and less than three feet above the stage floor.

The chambers were long, shallow triangles with hard plaster walls and large swell openings. Tonal egress would have been excellent. If the subsequent installations of this organ are any indication, then the MacDonald Wurlitzer must have been one of the better theatre organs in the state of Oregon, if not the West Coast.

This entry describes an original installation of a new pipe organ. Identified by Eric Schmiedeberg, using information found in Wurlitzer List by Judd Walton.