ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
From: Bill Frisk, December 2011
The Toledo Paramount organ was silent for most of the 1950's, so no modern released recordings were done before Virg Howard.
There had been some water damage after WWII and Toledo Pipe Organ Company removed a good portion of the
pipework for the insurance claim and repairs.
They were not paid in full because the theatre management company decided not to complete the repairs and
to keep the balance of the insurance money rather than pay Toledo Pipe Organ.
Mr Howard was aware of the pipework sitting in storage for many years and made arrangements with the theatre
to have him pay the balance owed to the organ company and he would be the exclusive organist for ALL public performances.
I was told it was something like $800 and they did not charge interest on the balance!
The Paramount had 3 strip Cinerama installed and he played organ overtures for many of the performances.
I saw a number of his performances and it was impressive seeing organ rise from fairly deep pit.
He definitely had a sense of showmanship and promoted his organ dealership by performing at the Paramount
with his exclusive deal. He also had a trailer that looked like a railroad caboose for appearanaces
with electronic organs at county fairs and other venues like that.
The Paramount closed with Cinerama and the stage was not able to be used during that time because of the
curved screen built in front of the proscenium. Later the Cinerama sign was moved to the Valentine theatre
when it was equipped with 70mm Cinerama equipment. The sign was destroyed about 20 years ago when the
Valentine was remodeled into a performing arts center.
The organ had a master scale xylophone sitting in the auditorium in front of the swell shades on a small
balcony and the grille openings had heavy curtains covering them. So the organ was aptly described as an
unenclosed master scale xylophone accompanied by a muffled Publix Special by another area theatre organist.
It was a good run for Mr Howard and exposed the public to theatre organ music and encouraged many people
to buy either an electronic organ from him, or worse yet, buy and save a theatre pipe organ.
I can think of at least a half dozen local victims of buying a genuine theatre pipe organ.
When the Detroit Theater Organ Club was moving the Fisher Theatre organ from the Iris Theatre to its
current location in the Senate Theatre in Detroit there was a concert for club members played by
John Muri for their listening pleasure. There are recordings of that concert and it was a much different
instrument with John Muri in charge. So it was enjoyed for one day without the loud xylophone dominating the ensemble.
It was not advertised and was considered a private event, so Virg Howard was not required to be the organist.
There has been some talk of trying to release that recording but the legal questions after almost 50 years
of where do you start to license it are fairly daunting. It would make a nice set of then and now tracks
with the Berkeley Community Theatre organ on a CD if it were to happen. The DTOS has the tapes.
Virg Howard later played at least one concert at the Senate after the Toledo Paramount was gone.
My great grandfathers boiler firm was involved in rigging the Wurlitzer chests into the chambers during
the theatre construction as a job to keep a number of employees busy between other jobs.
The organ parts would have seemed light by comparison to the heavy equipment they normally moved and installed.