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Updates - Latest developments
1/12/07 Article -
Centenary of the Electronic Organ - and scanned version of The Christie Book of
Golden Notes added to the Journal
6/11/07 Recordings of three
of Crawford's Wurlitzer organ rolls added to
The Listening
Room.
27/10/07 An interesting comparison of Helen
and Jesse Crawford both playing the same song in separate 1931 broadcasts -
added to
The Listening
Room.
26/10/07 Three 1931 broadcast segments by
Helen Crawford and three by Jesse Crawford added to
The Listening
Room as well as sheet music cover of "So Blue" featuring Helen as composer
and performer, with link to Jesse Crawford's recording of the song.
12/10/07 Restored versions of two broadcasts
by Stuart Barrie added to the UK page of the
Virtual Radiogram
8/5/07
The Listening
Room - over 100 digitally restored (6 hours of music) of Jesse and Helen
Crawford
5/10/06 Correct identity of Hearn Residence organ at Geelong noted
2006 marks the
instrument’s centenary: the first of its type was publicly unveiled at a concert
in New York on 26 September 1906.
Instruments using
electricity had been around since the invention of saucer bells struck through
the agency of static electricity in the mid-eighteenth century. Organs with
action systems powered by or incorporating electric mechanisms had existed since
the 1830s, but this was the first public performance of an organ of which the
sounds were generated purely electronically.
The Telharmonium could
not be regarded as a commercial success, but in its principles it laid the
groundwork for organs that could be successful once amplifiers and loudspeakers
had been developed.
11/1/05 - Home page revamped to clear the clutter and make
it easier to use. Photo of the auditorium of the Regal,
Chester, added
23/12/04 - A new page added to the Journal - full scan of Wurlitzer
Record magazine from 1929
26/6/04 - A new page added to the Virtual Radiogram,
featuring Australian recordings and
broadcasts of the past
25/4/04 - My apologies for a very lengthy
delay in updating the site - I now have this again in hand. Today a new
page has been added for the Museum of Modern Art in Brisbane,
and I have added a new Journal article on The Second-Largest Wurlitzer.
There is plenty more to come, and more will appear in the next few days.
10/1/03 - A couple of new photos (Fats Waller and Wyndham Lewis)
added to the Virtual Radiogram page, from
the Gordon Crook collection. Thanks to Gordon for these.
27/12/02 - Video clips added to History
Page 6 (State Sydney) and Regent, Melbourne
(construction of Granada, San Francisco, organ). These seem to work OK through
Windows Media Player. They are MPEG4 files. Photos of Edwin Sawtelle
and the Waikiki Theatre, Hawaii added to the Virtual
Radiogram - thanks to Bob Alder.
Nov/02 Additions to Regent,
Brisbane, page - thanks to Jim Clinch et al.
3/9/02 - A series of contemporary articles about Jesse Crawford's
visit to England in 1933 has been added to the Journal.
Some corrections made and a few new photos added to the State,
Melbourne, page. Work is proceding on New Zealand - should be some
pages launched shortly.
13/7/02 - Some excellent new photos by Cameron Simpson added
to the Dendy, Brighton, page - all 800x600.
12/7/02 - New major feature - The
Virtual Radiogram - over 250 sound recordings of theatre organs 1924-1952
from records and wireless - currently UK and USA - wider coverage to come.
28/4/02 - One new Journal
Article. Full copies of Ambassador's Perth
Souvenir Opening Prgramme, also Magazine 22/12/28 added. thanks to John
Furhmann of Perth for sharing these wonderful documents with us.
21/4/02 - Two new Journal
articles, including A Sefl's wonderful article on the Tibia Clausa. More
additions will come shortly when time permits.
18/2/02 - Two new items in the Journal.
Read the great church v. cinema organ debate of 1931.
31/1/02 - Minor changes only - more hyperlinks added to the
General History pages. Bert Howell band photo added to State, Melbourne,
page.
19/12/01 - New article added to the Journal
- it would appear that unit pipe organs may have existed in Europe twenty years
before Hope-Jones built his first in 1907. New photos added to the Ballarat
page.
11/11/01 - More historical reprints added to the Journal
- Quentin Maclean and Wilson Oliphant write about the theatre organist's profession
in England in 1927 and 1938, respectively. The editor of "The American
Organist" describes organs and organists in New York in 1927 - from the
perspective of "The Old Brigade"
3/11/01 - Historical article reprints added to the Journal
- two by John Compton and one from a 1935 science book describing cinema organs
16/10/01- Complete section on Victoria
added, with nearly three hundred illustrations and fullest possible details
of all past and present theatre organs in the State. Allow plenty of time
to explore this new section.
8/7/01 - Console stopkey layout diagrams added (via hyperlink)
to Capri, Goodwood page. Newspaper
cutting added to Macclesfield page
7/7/01 - Specifications added to Queensland organ pages (via
hyperlinks).
5/7/01 - New Page - List of organists
- who played where
29/6/01 - New article - Kinoorgel - by Thomas Klose, added
to the Journal
17/6/01 - Additions to all General
History pages - mainly photographs, illustrations and animated doo-dabs.
Minor refinements to Encylopaedia Contents
Page
9/4/01 - Queensland detailed
surveys added - includes all theatre organs in Queensland and many photos. To
mark the TOSA Festival in Brisbane later this week and the reopening of the
Kelvin Grove Christie
10/3/01 - Option to stream music while browsing added to
Home Page
7 and 8/3/01 Photographs added to several pages:
Capri, Goodwood
- Don't miss this - great new photos by courtesy of Wayne Bertram
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4/1/01 New Pages added:
All South Australian pages are now uploaded, some text only
pro tempore
Page updated:
28/9/00 Page added
17/9/00 Page added
10/9/00 Pages added:
More pictures will be added when scanner driver problems
are resolved
2/9/00 Pages added:
30/8/00 Search engine added to Home Page, to assist researchers
to find what they are looking for throughout the site. Guestbook added.
29/8/00 Links to Theatre Organ Web Ring and Organ Web Ring
added and activated
28/8/00 Site launched on theatreorgans.com server
with new title
New URL is http://theatreorgans.com/southerncross/index.htm
26/8/00 (anniversary of the Battle of Crécy, 1346)
General tidy-up, lots more pictures added to General History section (still
more to come, but having problems with scanner driver software), new title for
the site (now Theatre Organs under the Southern Cross) and ready to download
to permanent site for ongoing instalments - this will be like a part-work and
gradually completed over the next year or so. Thanks to Jerrell Kautz
for providing server space to house the site.
Previous test site is now obsolete
23/8/00 New page added: Grand
Theatre, Adelaide
Minor corrections to dodgy links
22/8/00 New page added: Glenelg
Theatre, SA
20/8/00 Corrections and adjustments to several pages - thank you to Wayne
Bertram, Don Hyde and Wurlitzer Willy for suggestions.
New pages added:
16/8/00First test version of limited number of sample pages: At this stage,
only the Encyclopaedia of Australian Theatre Organs (parts of it) is running.
31/8/00
Journal of Australasian Theatre
Organ Studies launched with two articles - many more to come.