Wurlitzer "Style 4 manual Special"

Factory date: August 2, 1932

Cost: $32,510

The organ in the RKO Roxy (Center) Theatre was one of three Wurlitzers ordered for Rockefeller Center, the others going to Radio City Music Hall (4/54, Op. 2179) and the Radio City Studio (3/14, Op. 2180). According to Music Hall organist C.A.J. Parmentier, the specifications for all three organs were drawn by R.P. Elliot of the W.W. Kimball Company, yet Wurlitzer got the contracts to build them. One possible explanation is that S.L. "Roxy" Rothafel, manager of both the RKO Roxy and Music Hall, had good experiences with the large Kimball organs that had been installed under his watch at the original Roxy Theatre on Seventh Avenue and 50th Street.

Although Op. 2178 had a similar design to Op. 2179 in the Music Hall, the latter organ was larger due to it having "straight" ranks while the RKO Roxy (Center) organ was highly unified. The RKO Roxy organ had a factory date of August 2, 1932 and cost $32,510. By comparison, the larger Music Hall organ cost $107,445, owing to it having a second console, second relay and two 32' stops.

The organ was removed in the early 1950s and moved to a residence in Harrisburg, Penn. In 1962, the organ was purchased by Jimmy Boyce, who had it installed (without any swell enclosures!) in the "America on Wheels" roller-skating rink in Alexandra, Va. The organ was removed in the late 70s-early 80s and sold to a collector in Phoenix, Ariz. Opus 2178 was ultimately parted out, with its Art Deco console going to the Berkeley Community Auditorium, in Berkeley, Calif., where it controls a spectacular instrument based on the Toledo, Ohio, Paramount Wurlitzer, with choice Wurlitzer ranks added.