Vincent Astor and Tony Thomas will soon be reunited with an old friend, the Orpheum’s Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. The instrument has returned from Chicago for the Orpheum’s 92nd birthday, and you can be one of the first to hear this powerful pipe organ at a free homecoming celebration.
“I’ve been playing this Wurlitzer off and on since 1970,” says Astor, who will open the show. “I plan to demonstrate mechanical parts of the instrument that may not be familiar to listeners, like the marimba, xylophone, and glockenspiel.”
Orpheum Theatre
What’d I say? The Wurlitzer returns!
In fact, nearly 10,000 theater organs were built by about three dozen companies between 1910 and 1940. Only a few hundred still exist today and only 38 remain in any semblance of original condition. The Orpheum in Memphis has one of them.
In addition to Astor’s masterful talent that will show off the organ’s unique sounds, Thomas will play silent film scores that should delight fans of nostalgia. Only fitting as the organs were very popular in theaters during the days of silent movies. Rumor has it that the Orpheum plans to return the Wurlitzer to this original purpose during upcoming film offerings.
While you enjoy the plethora of almighty orchestral sounds from the singular instrument, Astor asks you to remember one thing: “There. Period. Are. Period. No. Period. Speakers. Period. It’s a pipe organ.”
Mighty Wurlitzer Homecoming, The Orpheum, 203 S. Main, Thursday, Nov. 19, 7-9 p.m., free.
