The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, is an American company, formerly a producer of stringed instruments, woodwind, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes. Console of the 3/13 Barton Theater Pipe Organ at Ann Arbors Michigan Theater A theatre organ is a pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra, but in latter years new designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and blends unique to the... Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall... The name orchestrion has been applied to three different kinds of musical instruments: A chamber organ, designed by Abt Vogler in 1785, which in a space of 9 cub. ... Classic Hammond B-3 organ. ... The Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and North Tonawanda, NY. Interestingly, the Wurlitzer company itself never called the instrument an electric piano, inventing instead the phrase Electronic Piano and using this... A Zodiac jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media. ...

Over time Wurlitzer changed to producing only organs and jukeboxes, but it no longer produces either. The factory, in the same complex as that of the Eugene DeKleist company (another maker of band organs and orchestrions, acquired by Wurlitzer), is in North Tonawanda, New York, USA. The building is now home to a wide array of tenants ranging from an indoor batting cage to private apartments to various light industrial and commercial businesses. The building's current owner is in the midst of a vast restoration project and has recently replaced the original Wurlitzer sign with a new one. For uses of the name tonawanda, see Tonawanda, New York. ... This article is about the state. ... A batting cage is an enclosed cage for baseball players to practice the skill of batting. ...

Deutsche Wurlitzer, owner of the Wurlitzer Jukebox and Vending Electronics trademark, was acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. ...

A Wurlitzer label on a pipe organ.

Wurlitzer 3500 Juke-box (1971)

Image File history File links Pipeorgan_Wurlitzer_label. ... Image File history File links Pipeorgan_Wurlitzer_label. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 686 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Jukebox Wurlitzer Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 686 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Jukebox Wurlitzer Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...

Jukeboxes

The Wurlitzer was the iconic jukebox of the Rock 'n' Roll era, to the extent that Wurlitzer came in some places to be a generic name for any jukebox. The Wurlitzer is often used to invoke the period in films and television.

Replica jukeboxes bearing the Wurlitzer name are still available. The more recent models are able to play CDs, as well as brand new special edition units also with iPod connectivity. These full and smaller sized replica jukeboxes, now owned by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, are available to view at: http://www.deutsche-wurlitzerusa.com/ (click on the ear)

Band organs

Band organ models once produced by Wurlitzer include: Fairground organ A fairground organ is a pipe organ which is not played from a keyboard, but rather by mechanical means such as music roll or book music, and designed originally to be used on a fairground or in the United States on a carousel or in a dance-hall...

• #103 (Flying Horses Carousel, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, USA),
• #104,
• #105 (Museum Carousel, Museum of Carousel Art and History, Sandusky, Ohio, USA),
• #125 (1901 Parker Carousel, Heritage Center of Dickinson County, Abilene, Kansas, USA),
• #145B (Lakeside Carousel, International Market World, Auburndale, Florida, USA),
• #146A (Dr. Floyd L. Moreland Carousel, Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey, USA),
• #146B (1912 Parker Carousel, Burnaby Village Museum, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada),
• #148,
• #150 (1906 Bartholomew Murphy Carousel, City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA),
• #153 (1898 Carousel, Canobie Lake Park, Salem, New Hampshire, USA),
• #155 "Monster" (Elitch Gardens Carousel, Kit Carson County Fairgrounds, Burlington, Colorado, USA),
• #157 (1928 Spillman Carousel, Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA),
• #160 "Mammoth" (modified in 1915 to a Wurlitzer Style 165, Joyland Amusement Park, Wichita, Kansas, USA),
• #165 (1921 Dentzel Carousel, Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, Maryland, USA), and
• #180 (Jasper Sanfilippo collection, Victorian Palace, Barrington Hills, Illinois, USA).

Some orchestrions made by the company can be found at Clark's Trading Post, Lincoln, New Hampshire, USA, the Music Hall, Nevada City, Montana, USA, and the Jasper Sanfilippo collection at Victorian Palace, Barrington Hills, Illinois, USA. The company's patents, trademarks and assets were acquired by the Baldwin Piano Company with their purchase of the keyboard division of Wurlitzer in 1988. The Flying Horses Carousel is the oldest operating platform carousel in America. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Dukes County Settled 1642 Incorporated 1880 Government  - Type Open town meeting Area  - Town  26. ... Location within the state of Ohio Coordinates: , Country State County Erie Founded 1816 Government  - Mayor Area  - Total 22. ... Abilene is a city in Dickinson County, Kansas, United States, 163 miles (262 km) west of Kansas City. ... Auburndale is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. ... Casino Pier is an amusement park situated on a pier (Amusement Pier), in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, USA. The pier extends approximately 300 feet (100 meters) into the Atlantic Ocean, from the narrow strip of the Barnegat Peninsula (approx. ... Seaside Heights is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. ... “Burnaby” redirects here. ... City Park in New Orleans. ... NOLA redirects here. ... , Canobie Lake Park is an amusement park located in Salem, New Hampshire. ... Salem is a town located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. ... Elitch Gardens Carousel, also known as the Kit Carson County Carousel, is a 1905 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel located in Burlington, Colorado. ... Burlington is a city located in Kit Carson County, Colorado. ... The Van Andel Museum Center The Public Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan, founded in 1854 as the Grand Rapids Lyceum of Natural History in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is among the oldest history museums in the United States. ... Grand Rapids redirects here. ... Joyland Amusement Park opened in Wichita, Kansas, United States on June 12, 1949, and with the exception of a gap between 2003-2006, has been in continuous operation ever since. ... For other uses, see Wichita (disambiguation). ... Glen Echo Park is a public park in Glen Echo, Maryland. ... Glen Echo is a town located in Montgomery County, Maryland. ... Incorporated Village in 1957. ... Location in Grafton County, New Hampshire Coordinates: Country United States State New Hampshire County Grafton County Incorporated 1764 Government  - Board of Selectmen Deanna Huot, Chair Peter Moore Patricia McTeague Area  - Town  130. ... The Baldwin Piano Company is the largest US-based manufacturer of keyboard instruments, most notably pianos. ...

Chaminade High School, in Mineola, New York, is currently the only high school in the USA to have one in their school. It was bought from an adult movie theater.

Theatre organs

Perhaps the most famous instruments Wurlitzer built were its pipe organs (from 1914 until around 1940), which were installed in theaters, homes, churches, and other public places. "The Mighty Wurlitzer" theatre organ was designed, originally by Robert Hope-Jones, as a "one man orchestra" to accompany silent movies. In all, Wurlitzer built over 2,200 pipe organs (and indeed more theatre organs than the rest of the theatre organ manufacturers combined); the largest one originally built was the 4 keyboard / 58 rank (set of pipes) instrument at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Music Hall instrument is actually a concert instrument, capable of playing classical as well as non-classical repertoire. It was the only Wurlitzer installation still in use that has dual identical, but independent consoles. The baroque organ in Roskilde Cathedral, Denmark The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by forcing pressurized air (referred to as wind) through a series of pipes. ... Console of the 3/13 Barton Theater Pipe Organ at Ann Arbors Michigan Theater A theatre organ is a pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra, but in latter years new designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and blends unique to the... Robert Hope-Jones (9 February 1859 in Hooton Grange, Cheshire – 13 September 1914 in Rochester, New York, USA)) is considered to be the inventor of the theatre organ. ... Radio City Music Hall at Christmas 2005 Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

Other large Wurlitzer organs still in their original locations include the Chicago Theater in Chicago Illinois (the oldest); Byrd Theater in Richmond, Virginia; Fox Theatre in Saint Louis, Missouri; Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan; Shea's Theater in Buffalo, New York; Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, New York, Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, New York; the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee; the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama; Coleman Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma; the Denver Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado; the Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids, IA, the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, Oregon and the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington, The Plaza Theatre, El Paso Texas, the Rose Theater (originally Riviera)and the Orpheum Theater in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Smaller instruments in the UK exist in their original installations, such as the Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn and the Blackpool Tower Ballroom in the UK. These instruments are still being played several times a week. The Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre is a famous theater landmark in the city of Chicago, Illinois. ... History of the Byrd Theatre in Richmond Virginia The Byrd Theatre, named after William Byrd, the founder of Richmond, is one of Virginias finest cinema treasures. ... The Fox Theatre is arguably the most spectacular theatres in St. ... The Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, Michigan is a historic Roaring Twenties theater. ... ‹ The template below (Citations missing) is being considered for deletion. ... // The Bardavon 1869 Opera House, at 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY was built in 1869 as the current name implies and served as a venue for the performing arts until 1923. ... This is an article about the theater in North Tonawanda, New York. ... The Tennessee Theatre, located in Knoxville, is the Official State Theatre of Tennessee and opened in 1928. ... The Alabama Theatre was built in 1927 by Paramount Studios as an Alabama showcase for Paramount films. ... Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon. ... Paramount Theater in Seattle The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington is a 2,803-seat performing arts venue on the north edge of Downtown. ... The Orpheum Theater is also a concert venue. ... View of Downtown Omaha looking west from the Gene Leahy Mall. ... Looking down to the road below through the glass floor The Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in the town of Blackpool, Lancashire, in Northern England (grid reference SD306360). ...

Much larger, and more versatile, theatre organs have been built in the last 20 years by well-heeled private enthusiasts, the largest being the magnificent 5/80 organ at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington, IL. Other examples include the San Sylmar, CA Nethercutt Collection 4/77, the Organ Stop Pizza, Mesa, AZ 4/78, and the John Dickinson High School Wilmington, DE 3/66 mostly W.W. Kimball. These were built by a combination of older organs, and new pipework to achieve results. Organ Stop Pizza is a restaurant located in Mesa, Arizona. ... // Introduction to JDHS John Dickinson High School strives to ignite in each student a love of learning that will last a lifetime. ...

New digital recreations of these instruments have also reached technological peaks in the last few years. Companies such as Walker Theatre Organs, Allen Organ Company and Rodgers Instruments have utilized high-level, digital sampling of original pipe organ sounds to incorporate into their electronic instruments, resulting in very close duplications of these original musical wonders. Rodgers Instruments LLC designs and manufacturers classical organs, using digital technology. ...

In the 1950s, the American Association of Theater Organ Enthusiats (AATOE) was formed to save and preserve theater organs that still remained. (There were other builders as well, including The John Compton Organ Co. LTD, Hill Norman and Beard, W.W. Kimball Company, M.P. Moller, Inc., Robert Morton Organ Company, George Kilgen and Sons, Marr and Colton Organ Company, the Bartola Musical Instrument Company (Barton Organ Company), and the Wicks Organ Company.) The AATOE is now know as the American Theater Organ Society (ATOS).^[1] and there is smaller but comparable society in the UK, the Cinema Organ Society.^[2] This article needs to be wikified. ... The Robert Morgan Organ Company was a producer of Theater Organs with a heydey in the late 1920s under the Wonder Organ brand. ... In 1918, The Bartola Musical Instrument Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States was formed by Dan Barton who came from Amherst, Wisconsin. ... In 1918, The Bartola Musical Instrument Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States was formed by Dan Barton who came from Amherst, Wisconsin. ... The Wicks Organ Company produces pipe organs. ...

Wurlitzers in Britain

The Trocadero Wurlitzer, Elephant and Castle, London (detail)

There were a number of Wurlitzers in Britain in the period before the Second World War (1939-45). The first was a very small, six rank instrument installed at the Picture House, Walsall in the West Midlands. Before being exported to UK the organ had already seen some service in another cinema in Cleveland, Ohio USA.
This organ is now located in the Congregational Church, Beer, South Devon, UK
http://www.beer-congregational-church.org.uk a delightful small fishing village on the south coast. Unfortunately the percussion and toy counter division was removed and "lost" when the organ was installed in this church, since it was not considered necessary for church purposes. While this is understandable it was of course a short-sighted policy for such a historic instrument, and was also very sad.
Before the instrument was bought by the church it had been in a private residence, Dormston House Sedgely, Staffordshire after its removal from the cinema. It became available when that owner decided it was not big enough for his home needs!
From a player's point of view the instrument is in exceptionally good condition, apart from a few annoying squeaks and cyphers! It is the hidden inner workings which now demand much attention.
The Church is very conscious of the fact that it owns a musical ancient monument, so it is naturally keen to restore the Wurlitzer to its original condition and to preserve it for the generations to come.
To do this will cost several thousand pounds, so it hopes to stage a few fundraising events in order to raise the money.
Many Wurlitzers were in the larger cinemas and broadcasts were made by the BBC on a regular basis. The more famous of these organs were at the Empire Cinema in London, The Tower Ballroom Blackpool and at the Granada cinema in Tooting - which is currently undergoing a lengthy restoration.^[3] It was recently played in public for the first time in 33 years. British organist Reginald Dixon was well known for his performances and broadcasts on the Blackpool organ. Image File history File linksMetadata Wurlitzer_light. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Wurlitzer_light. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the town in England. ... For the crater on Mars, see Tooting (crater). ... Reginald Dixon MBE (1904 in Sheffield-died 1985) was a theatre organist. ...

The Trocadero Elephant and Castle Wurlitzer, was the largest organ ever to be shipped to the UK,^[4] installed in 1930 in time for the grand opening of the 3,400-seater Cinema. Organist Quintin Maclean is always associated with the instrument. This was closely followed in size by the Paramount/ODEONS at Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle. The Cinema Organ Society^[5] has an extensive list of British cinema organs.^[6] The Elephant and Castle, commonly shortened to the Elephant, is a major road intersection in inner south London, and is also used as a name for the surrounding district. ... The Cinema Organ Society is for everyone interested in organ music as entertainment, with the emphasis on the cinema or theatre pipe organ. ...

The Blackpool Opera House organ was the last new Wurlitzer to be installed in the UK in 1939 and was designed by Horace Finch. The Granada, Kingston also received a Wurlitzer in or around 1939, but most of this came from an earlier installation in Edinburgh. This was the last Wurlitzer installation to be opened and Reginald Dixon was at the console. Horace Finch b. ... Reginald Dixon MBE (1904 in Sheffield-died 1985) was a theatre organist. ...

The Worthing Assembly hall houses the biggest Wurlitzer organ console in Europe, this console was installed in 1981 after being brought from Blackpool. This organ was originally built in the late 1890's and was re-conditioned and brought back up to service in the 1960's, it was then bought by the national organ trust in the 1980's and installed in Worthing in 1981, the organ has been slowly upgraded to an electric air pump system, programmable pre-sets and a full pipe system.

Many of these organs have survived and are installed in private homes, Town Halls, Concert Halls and Ballrooms all over the country. The largest fully functioning Wurlitzer in Britain today is the four-manual organ in the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn, London (now a bingo hall).^[7]. For other uses, see Kilburn (disambiguation). ...

Electric pianos

Main article: Wurlitzer electric piano

From 1955 - 1982 the company also produced the highly regarded Wurlitzer electric piano series, an electrically amplified piano variant. The Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and North Tonawanda, NY. Interestingly, the Wurlitzer company itself never called the instrument an electric piano, inventing instead the phrase Electronic Piano and using this...

Electric guitars

The Wurlitzer brand was applied to several lines of electric guitars during the 1960s. The first family of solid body electric guitars and basses were manufactured by the Holman Company of Neodosha, KS, from late 1965 until 1967. Models included the Cougar, Wildcat and Gemini, all of which had different body shapes. The majority of the Kansas made instruments were guitars, with only a handful of basses being manufactured.

The second family of guitars debuted in 1967, and were manufactured in Italy by the Welson company, and were semi-hollow in construction.

Wurlitzers in popular culture

• A Wurlitzer jukebox is prominently featured in the 2005 movie V for Vendetta in V's hideout.
• Singer-songwriter Tori Amos used Wurlitzer electric pianos on her albums "Strange Little Girls" and "Scarlet's Walk" and toured with them during her "Strange Little Tour" in 2001 and "On Scarlet's Walk" tour in 2002 and 2003.
• The Waylon Jennings song The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You) is about an endless stream of coins being fed into the jukebox to play sad songs for the coin dropper's lost love.
• In John Betjeman's documentary Metro-land (1973), Len Rawle performs on a Wurlitzer organ from the Empire cinema in Leicester Square, which he had installed in his house in Chorleywood.
• Wurlitzers are used in several songs on the 'As I Am' album released November 2007 by Alicia Keys.
• A Wurlitzer Jukebox is featured in the 1986 Tom Cruise Movie, "Top Gun".
• "Wurlitzer Jukebox" is a song on the album 'Colossal Youth' by Young Marble Giants.
• "The One With the Wurlitzer" is a song on the 1999 self-titled album by American Football.
• In the television series Cheers, a Wurlitzer 1015 is prominently displayed in the back of the bar behind the area where Sam and Woody work.
• Panic At The Disco used a wurlizter piano in "Mad As Rabbits" (2008)

This article is about the film. ... Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was a respected and influential American country music singer and musician. ... A collection of Betjemans poetry, published by John Murray in January 2006 Sir John Betjeman CBE (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Whos Who as a poet and hack. He was born to a middle-class family... Metro-land was a widely praised and fondly remembered documentary for BBC television by the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman (1906-84). ... Leicester Square at night in 2005: a view towards the northeast corner. ... Chorleywood is a town in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. ... Colossal Youth is the Young Marble Giants debut and only L.P. It was released early 1980 to much critical acclaim, and some commercial sucess. ... Young Marble Giants were a Cardiff post-punk musical trio formed in 1978. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... This article is about the TV series. ...

References

1. ^ ATOS - American Theatre Organ Society
2. ^ INDEX
3. ^ The Tooting Project.
4. ^ http://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/main%20pages/tech/choice.htm
5. ^ INDEX
6. ^ http://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/main%20pages/List%204%20web.htm
7. ^ Juliette Soester, Willesden Local History Society (September 2000). The Gaumont State Cinema. Brent Heritage. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.

Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Wurlitzer Jukeboxes
• Jukebox-World Jukebox-Archive, forum, serial number database, spare parts and more from Wurlitzer to NSM, from Seeburg to Tonomat and other manufacturers
• Wurlitzer and other jukeboxes and parts
• Pinballrebel.com Wurlitzer jukebox information, videos, and museum with photos and descriptions.
• Blackpool Tower Ballroom and organ
• The Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, IA
• The Rose Theater (originally named Riviera), Omaha, NE
• The Orpheum Theater, Omaha, NE
• Deutsche-Wurlitzer USA Official Website
• American Theatre Organ Society
• Garden State Theatre Organ Society
• Cinema Organ Society
• Dickinson Theatre Organ Society
• Gameroom Show Gameroom juke-box related website
• Wurlitzer Electric Piano Archives
• Len Rawle's homepage, noted British organist and renovator of Wurlitzers
• Wurlitzer Guitar history
• Wurlitzer jukebox France Jukebox France Wurlitzer
• [1] WurliTzer Opus List