|
Pittsburgh Area Theatre Organ Society, Inc. |
|
Live Theatre Organ music at its very best on ……. The Mighty PATOS WurliTzer |
|
If your speakers are on, click here to listen to a short sample of Ken Double’s playing at a recent PATOS concert. |
|
PATOS is the acronym for the Pittsburgh Area Theatre Organ Society. PATOS is a non-profit corporation devoted to the preservation of theatre pipe organs and the music they create. PATOS was started in 1970 by a handful of members with the goal of one day restoring genuine theatre pipe organ music to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh had lost virtually all of its pipe organs in downtown theatres in the great St. Patrick’s Day flood of 1936.
|
|
This is an old photo of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Theater (now Benedum Center) taken several days after the worst of the flooding in March, 1936. Note the high water mark.
The names notable on the marquee are Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Major Bowes, Xavier Cuqat and the Waldorf Astoria Orchestra.—What entertainment! |
|
All other organs in area theatres which survived the flood, were victims of changing times and fell to disuse and disinterest through the years. But this was the fate of theatre organs throughout the world which was brought about when the Silent Movie films were replaced with the “talkies.“ Presently, the only theatre pipe organ in the Pittsburgh area is the 3 manual 19 rank WurliTzer owned and maintained by the Society. The organ was moved from New York in the mid 1970s, completely restored and expanded through the years to its present glorious size and condition. The organ’s present size is, ironically, about the same as the organ that was in the Stanley Theater when the above picture was taken. See our informative brochure. The history of the theatre pipe organ and other information is given on the history page. Information about the Prospect Theatre—the original home of the PATOS WurliTzer can be found here.
PATOS uses this instrument during 3-5 public concerts and programs per year at the Keystone Oaks High School (KOHS) (1000 Kelton Avenue in Dormont, PA, 15216) which is a suburb of Pittsburgh. These events (now numbering more than 175) consist of formal concerts which are usually on Saturdays and start at 2:00pm or 7:30pm with doors opening forty-five minutes earlier.
PATOS publishes a newsletter called the PIPES OF PATOS that keeps its members informed of activities.
Membership in PATOS is available by paying the annual $12.00 dues as discussed on the Membership page.
This web site was last updated by Jay Smith on April 3, 2015. If you have any questions or comments, send us E-mail. |
