The Listening Room

It is somewhat difficult in these days when “celebrity” almost equates to notoriety to imagine that a theatre organist over seventy years ago could achieve world-wide celebrity status such that he would not only successfully tour overseas, but his endorsement of such varied products as hats, tobacco products and shaving products (and whose records for many years gave credit to Wurlitzer organs) would be sought to give cachet to those goods.

Jesse Crawford was the first theatre organist to achieve major celebrity status, although his daily life would probably have provided lean pickings for gossip-hungry pictorial magazines had they existed then in the form they do now.

Although he produced his best work before he left New York for California in the early 1950s, much of this material is little-heard as it mainly exists on well-worn 78 r.p.m. records, of which few have been reissued in CD or even LP format. This is unfortunate, for it was Crawford who, more that any other individual, shaped the playing styles of his contemporaries and, consciously or unconsciously, many of those who have followed in subsequent generations.

“The Listening Room” presents a comprehensive collection of his recordings dating from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s, restored and enhanced digitally to reveal, in many cases for the first time, the hidden beauties and subtleties masked by surface noise and other distractions.

The accompanying notes concern mainly the background to the recordings and set the context in which they were made. For this reason, they are generally arranged in the chronological order in which they were recorded, which in some cases differs from the order (and even the years) in which they were released. Master/matrix numbers have thus been used, rather than record catalogue numbers, which are an unreliable guide in that respect, and moreover differ widely between the USA, UK and Australia, whereas the Master numbers remain the same. Even Master numbers can prove inconclusive, as there are at least two pairs of Crawford recordings (in each case one acoustic, the other electrical) both with the same Master number.

The 78 r.p.m. recordings do not tell the full story. One may wonder, for instance, how Crawford linked songs in his medley intermission performances. We can gain insight into more extended performances through the fortunate survival of a tantalisingly small number of recordings of broadcasts. Film and interview material add yet more depth to the picture. As there are several hundred items all told available it is necessary to be selective as to what to include, if for no other reason than that it usually takes upwards of an hour to restore just one side of a 78 record.

It is perhaps unfortunate that most of Crawford’s recordings that were still available in the late LP days were of largely public domain traditional music, that may have sold steadily, but lacks the flair and joy of much of his earlier material. Thus it is that for some people he has acquired the reputation for somewhat ponderous and unexciting performances. This is in no way alleviated by the fact that on many LPs that prominently feature his name only one track may actually be his playing, the others being by unmentioned performers of lesser status. Caveat emptor…

I have made a conscious effort in the notes to provide fulsome information without unnecessarily duplicating that contained in Dr John Landon’s definitive biographical work: Jesse Crawford, Poet of the Organ, Wizard of the Mighty Wurlitzer, published by the Vestal Press, Vestal, New York, 1974 - ISBN 0-911572-11-2. This is an essential work of reference to any student of Jesse Crawford and/or the theatre organ, as the two subjects are inseparably interlinked. If the information I have provided appears sparse, I recommend that you refer to that volume.

So far I have not mentioned Jesse’s wife Helen, who is an integral part of his story. Helen made only a few records, none of them as a soloist, and only five sides on pipe organ. It is fortunate that recordings of some broadcasts dating from the early 1930s and sponsored by a typewriter manufacturer have come to light, as these include wonderful solo performances at the Paramount Studio. These amply back the recollections of those who heard her and tell us that she was an extremely competent organist and could make the instrument sizzle; an ideal foil to husband Jesse’s less raunchy style.

Each recording has been individually restored, some being more worn than others. In each case, judgements have to be made as to how much acoustical detritus can be scraped off without harming the underlying music. In some ways the concept is similar to that of restoring a old master painting, although in this case, one is always working on a copy and can scrap the work and start over again, and again, and again… as has happened with more than a few of these examples. I have included both restored and unrestored versions of one of the Marsh 1924 recordings at the Chicago Theatre. Comparing these will reveal just how little fragile music there is under all the distracting noise. In most cases, though, particularly as the original recording processes improved over the years, it has been possible to achieve what I feel are fairly successful recreations of what was heard in the studios and theatres. I have in most cases given the results a stereo “spread” – if you don’t like that, then just feed one of the channels through your system. The spread is achieved by a time-offset, and does not use the out-of-phase devices that gave synthetic stereo such a bad name in the old days.

The records are played at the correct speed in each case, which in most of the earlier examples is 75 rpm, not 78. This correction restores not only the correct pitch but also the correct tremulant speeds as they were set. Every effort has been made to ensure that the sounds that result are as authentic and accurate as possible. Audio restoration software has improved out of all recognition over the past few years, so it may be that future developments will run rings around these efforts. But we shall have to wait and see. Unlike most audio software on the market, DC6 (http://diamondcut.com) one of the suites used (I use several different programs as suits the individual records) was specifically written to restore 78 r.p.m. recordings (the Smithsonian’s collection of Edison Diamond Discs), and is ideally suited to the material in this study.

Unlike a notorious LP compilation issued some thirty years ago, if there is a vocal refrain on the original recording, it will not be cut out; such butchery has no place in restoration.

Finally, no animals were harmed in the production of this website, which may contain traces of nuts. See your doctor if symptoms persist.

Draw up your chair, sit back and start clicking. It's going to be a long night...

Helen Crawford (née Anderson) was married to Jesse Crawford (see below) and joined him at the Chicago Theatre where a second console was installed so that they could perform duets, a practice that continued after they moved to the New York Paramount. They made a few duet records. Helen made no solo records, but accompanied Bing Crosby on two sides and played Hammond organ on a few records as a member of an orchestra conducted by her husband. Anecdotal evidence has indicated that she specialised in the more lively and rhythmic playing, a foil to her husband whose fame derived largely from his playing of ballads. That she was an accomplished and exciting player can be verified from recordings taken from broadcasts of the 4/21 Wurlitzer in the recording studio located in the Paramount building in New York City in 1931. In several surviving, although technically low-fidelity, recordings she plays solo medleys, accompaniments to vocalist Paul Small, duets with Jesse and reinforces a small studio orchestra. We hear three medleys, in the last of which Helen is joined briefly by Paul Small. She plays in both jazz and ballad styles, the latter mirroring many of the stylistic features characteristic of husband Jesse.

One of Helen's many compositions was a melody used for the song "So Blue". On this edition of the sheet music she appears as both performer and composer.

Click on the picture to hear Jesse playing this song at Wurlitzer Hall, New York City, on 15 March 1927 (Victor Master 38302). He is assisted by percussionist Joe Green

All the above are contemporary popular songs. Note the contrast between the two choruses in “Walking My Baby back Home” when Helen approaches the tune with vigour after a rather laid-back first chorus with Paul Small.

Here are three fourteen-minute segments of Royal Typewriter broadcasts from which the above solos were extracted

From the surviving broadcast extracts we can make an interesting comparison between the playing styles of Helen and Jesse Crawford. They both played the song Tie a String Around Your Finger, and the contrasting styles and approaches are clear to see. Same song, same organ, roughly the same date:

Jesse Crawford was the first theatre organist to achieve world-wide renown. He was one of very few organists whose individual influence on playing styles was immediate and enduring. His approach to the playing of ballads in particular and his use of fingered glissando techniques have influenced in one degree or another virtually all who have played the theatre organ since the 1920s. His playing was not, of course, restricted to ballads, as can be seen in The Listening Room selections, where sprightly versions of several songs show no hesitation in being brash and brassy with English Horn where appropriate.

Crawford’s first recordings were made in 1924, using an experimental electrical recording system invented by Orlando Marsh, who is seen above with his equipment on stage at the Chicago Theatre and Crawford at the organ console. At the time, the major recording companies still used an acoustic process, which, on the evidence of the recordings here, was far more satisfactory than Marsh’s system. Among the many faults in the system are the restricted frequency response, the internal generation of considerable background noise, and a number of unfortunate resonance frequencies, presumably within the microphone. In the restoration process, which has been in the nature of an archæological “dig” to extract the music from the noise barrage not only of years of wear and tear but also that created by the recording process and the theatre ambience, as many of these extraneous sounds as possible have been removed. The fragile musical content remaining has been enhanced as far as possible, but the inherent limitations, especially the minimal frequency response recorded, dictate boundaries to what can be achieved. Two items have been included because the song tunes were written by Jesse Crawford. An unrestored recording is alongside its restored version to illustrate the extent of unwanted and extraneous noise that has to be removed from these early electrical recordings.

The announcement of Crawford's first Victor records in early 1925 - He is shown at the Chicago Theatre console

It is believed that such success as Marsh achieved with his recordings (which appeared on numerous record labels) was largely due to Crawford’s Chicago Theatre discs, but it was not long before the venture failed. Crawford may have lost the money he invested in Marsh, but his records brought him to the attention of The Victor Talking Machine Company (hereinafter referred to as "Victor"), a prestigious company, who soon had him recording for them using the tried and tested acoustic process at the Wurlitzer Company’s showroom in Chicago, using a 2/7 instrument. Primitive though the recording system may have been, the results when scrubbed up, are far superior to those of the Marsh system, and produce quite an acceptable result.

Rank	Pedal	Accomp	Great	Solo
8 English Horn 61p	8	8 8t	16 8 8t	16 8
16 Tuba Horn 85p	16 8	8 8t	16 8 4 16t 8t	8 4
16 Open Diapason 85p	16 8	8 4	8 4	8
8 Tibia Clausa 85p	8	8 4 8t	16 8 4 2-2/3 2 16t 8t	16 8 4
8 Krumet 61p		8	8	8
16 String 73p	16 8	8 8t	16 8 8t	16 8
8 Viol d'Orchestre 73p	8	16 8 4 8t	8 4 2 8t	8
8 Viol Celeste 73p	8	8 4 8t	8 4 8t
8 Oboe Horn 61p		8	8	8
8 Quintadena 61p		8	8
16 Concert Flute 97p	16 8	8 4 2	16 8 4 2-2/3 2 1-3/5
8 Vox Humana 61p		16 8 4	16 8 4
8 Vox Humana 61p		8 4	16 8 4
8 Dulciana 73p	8	8 4	8	8
8 Aeoline 61p		8	8

Chrysoglott		C	C	C
Harp/Marimba		H Mt	H M	H M
Xylophone		Xt	X	X
Glockenspiel/Bells		G	G B	G B
Chimes		Ct	C	C

Accompaniment to ...	8	16 -8 4
Great to ...	8		16 -8 4
Solo to ...	8	8	16 8 8t

Synoptic specification derived by Larry Chace from the stop list in John W. Landon's book, Jesse Crawford, Poet of the Organ; Wizard of the Mighty Wurlitzer

Wurlitzer installed the above instrument in the showroom of their store in Chicago in the late summer of 1925, where it replaced a smaller 2-7 organ on which Crawford had recorded a few sides for Victor using the acoustic process in late 1924 and early 1925.

It was to be December 1925 before Crawford returned to the store, to find a new organ and a new (electrical) recording process. Over the next three years he created a series of recordings of singular importance, which set his mark on theatre organ playing throughout America, as organists listened to them, and which were also strongly influential in other countries such as England and Australia , where they were marketed by Victor’s local associated companies, His Master’s Voice and Zonophone.

In America this influence was particularly pronounced as the time (1925-1927), coincided with a period of the prolific construction of new cinema palaces and the peak of theatre organ manufacture, with Wurlitzer completing organs at a rate of over one per working day, and the other manufacturers struggling to match output with orders. Along with all these new organs came the pressing need for organists to play them. Crawford’s records were available everywhere, and set a kind of universal paradigm for theatre organ playing, becoming what the public wanted and expected to hear, self-perpetuating as potential organists listened to these records and used them as patterns for their own playing. To such an extent had Crawford become an eponym of theatre organ playing that one enterprising organ company actually constructed a mechanical accessory so that an organist of lesser talent could emulate the way he would at times glide between notes using fundamentally the Tibia Clausa. They called it a “Drawl Effect”. Fortunately for theatre patrons who might have had this unleashed to assault their ears incessantly by misguided and minimally talented organists who could not achieve the effect using their own fingers, it appears that only a prototype “Drawl Effect” was constructed; but too late, as organs by that time were being supplanted by sound films, and production was not initiated.

When Crawford began recording this organ he was organist, with his wife Helen, at the Chicago Theatre. In 1926 he moved to the pinnacle of his career at the Paramount Theatre in New York ’s Times Square . If there were any doubt in 1925 that he was the world’s premier theatre organist, this was definitively dispelled when he arrived in New York . Victor did not like recording organs in theatres (although a few obscure in-theatre recordings were made, none by Crawford), and there was no studio organ available in 1926 in New York that would suit Crawford’s playing to the degree that Wurlitzer’s store organ in Chicago did, so for the next couple of years he travelled from New York to Chicago to make his records, unless time constraints were such that he was forced to use a two-manual organ in Wurlitzer Hall, New York. That he clearly preferred the Chicago instrument is evidenced by his continuing to return to it for his recording session whenever circumstances permitted.

Many of Crawford’s recordings from Chicago became best-sellers – Valencia was a particularly high-selling item. He even recorded new versions of Somewhere a Voice is Calling backed by Schubert’s Serenade, which he had recorded at the same location by the acoustic process using the earlier organ (see below).

The instrument itself is of great interest, in that its prime function was to demonstrate to potential clients the various sounds the Wurlitzer theatre, church and residence organs could produce. Hence it contains an English Horn, generally found on somewhat larger theatre organs at that time, and at the other end of the decibel scale, Dulciana and Aeoline ranks, more often found in church and residence organs than in theatre instruments. It is surely no coincidence that this organ contains the appropriate stops that match the requirements of the RJ roll-player; there is no evidence that one was actually connected to it, but if it were desired to do so, the organ could admirably demonstrate the capabilities of these rolls, aligned to a 2-7 instrument, and even make a fair fist of the larger Style R rolls and player, that could operate up to thirteen ranks from three manuals and pedals.

Assuming that the synoptic specification above is correct, some details are non-standard for the time; others may be seen as progressive. It would appear to be the first Wurlitzer organ in which the Tibia Clausa was available at higher than 4ft pitch (unless there higher pitches were later additions). It is shown at Twelfth (2 2/3ft) and Piccolo (2 ft) pitches. It was not long since the Tibia Clausa had been found only at 8ft pitch, and its availability on the Solo at 16 (TC), 8, 4, 2-2/3 and 2 ft pitches marked a new concept in theatre organ design that was soon to be echoed in the larger instruments built for the Ambassador, St Louis (where it appeared a 1-3/5ft pitch as well) and the Paramount, New York. The Tibia was now ready to play a much more prominent rôle in the make-up of the sound of the theatre organ than it had in the past.

The inclusion of the quieter Dulciana and Aeoline ranks would have been serendipitous for Jesse Crawford, who always paid great attention to the accompaniment parts of his arrangements. It can be heard clearly in these tracks that he was careful to obtain a balanced contrast in both tone colour and volume between melody and accompaniment parts. He makes use of stops such as the Quintadena to create interest as well as contrast, to which subtle rhythm patterns are then applied. The specification does not note the presence of pizzicato, but there is evidence of its use, especially in Mary (What Are You Waiting For?) .

Other unusual features of the specification, which differs quite markedly from the standard Style 260 design are the proliferation of inter- and intra-manual couplers, the inclusion of a Krumet to “cover” for both the Kinura and Orchestral Oboe ranks normally included and the omission of a Saxophone. The normal powerful 16ft wood Diaphone extension of the Diapason is replaced by a 16ft String bass. Whether this was done to suit the microphone or just to be in balance with the room is not known. A Style 260 Diaphone would have been useless for recording, as its frequencies would be too low to be captured by the recording apparatus, but it might well have shaken the recording head off the wax. At least with the string, there was a chance that some of the pipes’ harmonics would make it onto wax. However, in the recordings made, it is clear that 8ft basses provided the substance of the pedal for recording purposes.

The electrical recording process was still very much aleatory when Crawford arrived to start his first recording in December 1925. He had previously had some experience of microphones when Orlando Marsh had made some pioneer electrical records of him at the Chicago Theatre in late 1924. The recording quality of these discs was in many ways worse than the then standard acoustic process that used an exponential horn to focus sounds onto the cutting head. Apparently, Crawford’s discs were Marsh’s top sellers, but this was a relative term, and they brought little direct return on the money Crawford had in vested in Marsh’s system. In terms of his career, he was an established recording organist when contact was first established between himself and the Victor Talking Machine Company, and this could have given him a significant advantage in launching his recording career.

He was the only theatre organist for years to appear playing a theatre organ on Victor records (some other record masters were made of different organists, of which a few were released, but not on the Victor label). The only other entertainment organists of note who recorded for Victor (including “Fats” Waller and Sigmund Krumgold, both of whom stood in for Crawford during his holidays when he was at the Paramount , New York ) did so at the Estey organ in their studio at the old Trinity Church , Camden , NJ . Millions of Crawford's records were sold. Precise (audited and reliable) sales figures are not available for the period he recorded for Victor, but the eighty-or-so discs he made were pressed and sold around the world, and today still turn up in bric-à-brac shops and on markets such as e-Bay, with remarkable frequency, up to 80 years later. Some idea of the contemporary popularity of his records can be gauged from the following comment (that refers only to those copies sold in America on Victor’s Black Label, and not those pressed overseas):

Other hits by Victor's most popular scroll-label stars—Jesse Crawford, Paul Whiteman, and Gene Austin among them—averaged sales of a quarter-million copies. The extremely common Crawford-Goldkette recording of "I'd Love to Call You My Sweetheart" (Victor 20257) is typical of this category, selling 261,698 copies. Alan Sutton: The "Million Seller" Fallacy: A Reappraisal of 1920s Record Sales, http://www.mainspringpress.com/millions.html

Being a brand new system that Victor was keen to get up and running as soon as possible, it is hardly surprising that problems were encountered when attempting to capture on wax through the primitive microphone the complex sounds produced by a Wurlitzer theatre organ, even one as well-suited as this one. The recordings show how the recording techniques developed and were improved as each session arrived. Notable in the earliest records are systemic problems with quieter ranks that have a complex degree of harmonic development, the fourth (tierce) harmonic being particularly prone to run amok in the microphone. Vox Humana, strings and colour reed sounds vary in their harmonic content and volume on disc from note to note, depending on the microphone’s response to the frequencies involved. Originally, the surface noise when the disc was reproduced through the low-fidelity acoustic gramophones of the day, would have masked them, but once that background patina is carefully scraped away, these strange phenomena become apparent.

Fortunately, as time passed, these problems were resolved and eventually disappeared. However, for a long time it was a matter of experimentation to decide what stops could or could not be used on recordings, and organists using large organs were frequently reduced to selecting from considerably reduced palettes of “record-friendly” combinations. Matters were no better where classical organs were recorded, and the problems there were so extensive that in the music press of that time one frequently encounters complaints that recording companies made a great job of recording theatre organs, but classical instruments sounded dreadful on record, and asking why this had to be so. It is readily apparent that the Tibia Clausa, and in particular the sensuous example on this organ, perfectly suited the recording technology of the time, as its lyrical tones transferred perfectly to wax in the hands of the man who had elevated its status to that of the archetypical theatre organ sound.

There is little to be gained by my describing the music played – those for whom this site is intended will need no commentary. I have selected the more lively of Crawford’s musical pastels in preference to an overload of waltz-ballads, and have included a number of personal favourites. What are You Waiting For, Mary? was a personal favourite of the late theatre organ historian Ben Hall, and I also have a great liking for it. When the restoration of Baby Feet was done, there was no way those glorious tibia sounds were not going to be included. Meadow Lark was the first Crawford record I ever owned, at the age of about twelve. I was already familiar with his name through Reginald Foort’s The Cinema Organ, and my copy of this classic Crawford disc (issued in England by HMV) eventually became worn-out at about the time I found another copy in a junk shop. So those had to be included. Most of the other items virtually chose themselves, and I am happy that the selections provide a fair and enjoyable sample of his recordings on that rather special organ, played with his exceptional touch of genius.

Although Crawford travelled on several occasions from New York to record at Wurlitzer’s Chicago showroom, which by then had been equipped with a 3/15 organ, his duties at the Paramount Theatre did not always allow this, so he cut a relatively small number of sides in Wurlitzer Hall in New York, using a 2/8 instrument..

The above would, prima facie, appear a fairly strong condemnation of the Wurlitzer Hall's organ, were it not that the evidence of history and of the following recordings reveals a different story. The Wurlitzer Hall organ was a Style F 2/8, which had four tremulants (Main, Tibia, Vox and Tuba), and did not have a 10" #2 Trumpet, but rather a 15" Tuba Horn. More extraordinary is that George Wright apparently did not listen to the recordings, in which it is quite obvious that Crawford did not rely on the "8ft Trumpet" (which it did not in any case possess), for his pedal basses. Although 16ft Pedal is not apparent, as the recording system at that time did not successfully handle frequencies as low as 32Hz, that would not have registered, neither was it in any of his contemporary recordings, and indeed, it was some years before this was achieved.

The evidence of the entirety of Crawford's recordings indicates that his memory was incorrect (when talking at least twenty years post hoc), or that George Wright misunderstood his reference, as the comments align exactly to the first Victor recordings that Crawford made using the Style E 2/7 Wurlitzer (with the characteristics described) at the Wurlitzer Store in Chicago in November 1924 and January 1925. These recordings were made using the acoustic process, the frequency response of which would not accommodate even an 8ft fundamental (64Hz). It was therefore necessary to use the Trumpet in the Pedal, as its range of harmonics could be recorded and would provide the semblance of an 8ft bass. That this was done can be clearly heard in the examples of those recordings included in The Listening Room. It was common practice in many acoustic recordings for bands to use Sousaphones or Tubas in place of double basses, for the same reason that the Trumpet stop was used to provide the pedal bass in Crawford's acoustic recordings.

So it is that through a case of mistaken, or rather misremembered, identity, perpetuated by one who either didn't listen to, or who inexplicably failed to take note of, the evidence of the recordings, that the Wurlitzer Hall organ's memory has been maligned unjustly. It is time for these recordings to be given the hearing they deserve and for the slight of history to be removed from the instrument.

Crawford poses at the console of the organ specially designed for him to record and broadcast – recording studio, Paramount Building, New York

The organ recorded most by Crawford was the special 4/21 Wurlitzer in the recording and broadcasting studio located in the Paramount Theatre, New York.

Paramount Building, New York, recording studio
Wurlitzer, opus 1960, 1928 (first used 1929)

Rank	Pedal	Accomp	Great	Bomb	Solo
8 Tuba Mirabilis 73p(ipes)	8	8 8t	16 8 4	16 8	8
8 English Horn 61p	8	8 8T	16 8	16 8	8
8 Trumpet 61p	8	8 8t	16 8	16 8	8
16 Tuba Horn 85p	16 8	8 8t	16 8 4	16 8	8
16 Open Diapason 85p	16 8	8 4 8t	16 8 4	16 8	8
8 Horn Diapason 61p	8	8	16 8	.	.
16 Tibia Clausa 97p	16 8	8 4 2 8t 4t	16 8 4 3 2	16 8 4 3 2	16 8 4 2
8 Clarinet 61p	.	8 8t	16 8	.	8
8 Saxophone 61p	.	8	16 8	16 8	16 8
8 Krumet 61p	.	8	8	.	8
16 Solo String 85p	16 8	8 4	16e 8 4	16 8	16 8
16 Solo String Cel. 85p	16 8	8 4	16e 8 4	16 8	16 8
8 String 73p	8	8 4 8te	16 8 4	.	8
8 String Celeste 73p	8	8 4 8te	16 8 4	.	8
8 Viol d'Orchestre 73p	8	8 4 8te	16 8 4 2	.	8
8 Viol Celeste 73p	8	8 4 8te	16 8 4	.	8
16 Oboe Horn 73p	16 8	8	16 8	.	8
8 Quintadena 61p	8	8	8	.	8
8 Vox Humana 61p	.	8 4	16 8 4	16 8	16 8
8 Vox Humana 61p	.	8 4	16 8 4	16 8	16 8
16 Concert Flute 97p	16 8	8 4 3 2	8 4 3 2	.	.
.	.	.	.	.	.
Piano (Wurlitzer grand)	16 8	8 4	16 8 4	8	8
Harp	.	H	H	H?	H?
Master Xylophone	.	.	X16 X	X16 X	X16 X
Chrysoglott	.	C C4	C16 C	C16 C	C16 C
Xylophone	.	X	.	.	.
Vibraphone	.	V	V		V
Glockenspiel	.	.	G	G	G
Chimes	.	.	C	C	C
.	.	.	.	.	.
Accomp to ...	8	4	8	8	8
Great to ...	8	8t	16	8	.
Bombarde to ...	.	8	.	.	.
Solo to ...	8	8 8p 8t	16 8 8p	16 8	16

Pedal: Bass Drum, Kettle Drum, Cymbal, Chinese Gong
Accomp: Snare Drum, Tom tom, Tambourine, Castanets, Chinese Block, Sand Block
Great: Snare Drum, Tom tom, Tambourine, Castanets, Chinese Block, Sand Block

(Note: "3"= 2-2/3'; "e"= ensemble; "p"= pizzicato; "t"= 2nd touch)

The tuned percussions (except for the Chrysoglott) were located in their own chamber with its own expression.

(This stoplist appears in Jesse Crawford, Poet of the Organ; Wizard of the Mighty Wurlitzer, by John W. Landon. Additional information from Ray Thursby.) Condensation by Larry Chace.

The instrument was arguably the best studio theatre organ in the USA in its day; folklore has it that it was a gift from the Wurlitzer Company to Jesse Crawford in recognition of the sales that had resulted from his endorsement of the Wurlitzer product and the inclusion of the words “recorded on the Wurlitzer organ” that graced the labels of all but his early Victor records (and nearly all those on HMV label overseas). It seems no longer possible to confirm this story, but the hearsay evidence supports it, including Jesse Crawford’s regret that he transferred ownership of the instrument during the 1940s to Paramount, as he was unable to provide a home for it (he owned no real estate in NYC), and subsequently reportedly searched in vain for a suitable pipe organ to record after the second World War. Be that as it may, the instrument was eventually put up for sale (by Paramount?) and purchased in the 1950s by Richard Loderhose, who installed it first in his home in Jamaica, Long Island, and then in 1975 the Bay Theatre, Seal Beach, California where it has achieved the size of 54 ranks (see http://www.baytheatre.com/). It was removed from the Bay Theatre in 2007 and is believed to be headed for a college auditorium in Arizona (as of August 2007).

In 1928, Howard Wurlitzer, whose tight financial control was evident throughout Wurlitzer’s history to that time, and who would have been most unlikely to sanction such a gift, ret