now owned the organ and at least could assure its future. This offer was eventually accepted, the N.F.T.O.S. To help finance the Riviera’s secure future, the club made an offer to purchase the Wurlitzer for a substantial amount, along with a provision to have the instrument remain in the theatre. This would allow planned expansion of the organ’s original 11 ranks of pipes. New modern electrical relays and switches were purchased by the club to compliment the old existing equipment. The club purchased a brand new set of Post Horn pipes for the organ, which were playing by the autumn of 1971. The Wurlitzer organ from the Kensington Theatre in Buffalo was donated to the Riviera Theatre project in 1970, and although that organ had been badly damaged by flood and vandalism, many of the parts of this organ were eventually incorporated into the “Riv” organ. A sheet of board found blocking the sound from the pipe loft was removed why it was placed there, and by whom, remained a mystery.ĭuring the one-year closure of the theatre, however, the monthly organ concerts continued as usual, the theatre being opened for one night a month. Various instruments, and pipes within the organ began to sound forth. The dormant elevator was repaired and once again the console rose in splendor from its pit. By 1969 these public concerts were heard at the Riviera 12 to 14 times yearly, with frequent use of the organ for special events as well.ĭuring this time the organ itself saw improvements, as well as expansion. The club was barely able to meet expenses-plus, but this concert set the pattern for the many successful monthly concerts, as we know them today.
For this concert, the theatre was rented on a weekday evening, a name artist from out-of-town was hired to play, and the Riviera’s doors were opened to the public for the event. Jsaw a drastic departure from the usual “Sunday Morning” club organ concerts at the “Riv”. On “D” day 1944 the organ was in good enough shape for organist Carlton to celebrate the event by giving the first public concert at the Riviera in at least 10 years.
There followed months of hard labor, cleaning magnets, removing fallen plaster from organ pipes, replacing missing and damaged pipes, and cleaning of electrical contacts.
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Carlton Finch and his father Harry obtained an OK from the theatre’s management to restore the organ in 1944, only part of the great manual would play. Time and lack of maintenance took its toll on the instrument. In the early 1930’s use of the organ was discontinued as a regular program feature, and heard thereafter only on special occasions. The console was painted and decorated to harmonize with the Theatre’s interior, by Wurlitzer’s Band Organ Artist. Other differences included the omission of the standard remote Piano, and a 5 H.P.
Listed as a Model 235 Special, the organ differed from a standard 3 manual 11 rank Model 235, by substituting an Oboe Horn rank of pipes from the standard Salicional pipes usually found on this model. The Wurlitzer Organ to be installed in the new Theatre, Opus 1524 was shipped from the Wurlitzer Factory on November 19, 1926.
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