12/05/07 Our First Tag ALong

Today we participated in our first Tag Along. This is where there is an activity the park advertises through the Activities Department but no bus is provided for transportation, everyone drives themselves or buddies up with other residents.



We left this morning at 9:45 for the drive to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa. Its about an hour drive but we had to stop to ask for directions so it took us a few minutes longer.

Organ Stop Pizza is home to the largest Wurlitzer Pipe organ in the world and one of the six organs left that was built in this time period.

During the early silent film era, motion picture theatres throughout the country used pit orchestras and pianists to provide the background music for their stage shows and silent movies. With escalating costs of musicians, not every performance could afford the expense of an orchestra. This monetary constraint was the inspiration for the concept of a "unit orchestra" where one musician could do the work of many.

The unit orchestra became known as the theatre pipe organ. It was designed with imitative orchestral tones in mind rather than the customary sounds found in a church organ. The theatre organ has been described as part military band, part symphony orchestra and part theatrical sound effects. The sound effects part of this equation was proven to us today as the organist took the time to explain all the sounds it could make with a flip of a switch on the massive keyboard. More about that later.

During the late teens and early twenties, most theatres, regardless of size, installed pipe organs. Though there were many manufacturers the Wurlitzer pipe organ was considered the best by far. The "Mighty Wurlitzer" enjoyed familiarity with names such as Frigidare, Victrola and Kodak.

We met up with the other Quail Run residents and took our seats at the picnic type tables with movable padded benches. It's quite a large place with a capacity of 744 seated patrons. As I looked around I could see a lot of pipes as this organ has nearly 6000 pipes to it.....but I didn't see the organ. It wasn't long before the announcer told us who was playing for us today and gave us a rundown on her accomplishments in the organ world. Such as she started playing at the age of three, has played for Dodgers Stadium, in the late 90's she was named Organist of the Year and the list went on and on. My question was still....Where's the organ?

Organ Stop's Wurlitzer theatre organ was built for the Denver Theatre and was installed in 1927 where it was used regularly until the early 30's. Soon talking movie pictures were the norm and the organ was rarely heard. It was silenced when a fire in the auditorium caused extensive damage to it.

Organ Stop bought the organ in the early 70's and took on the mammoth task of restoring it. Several additions were made to the instrument using parts from other Wurlitzers. The enlargement and improvement of this instrument has been an ongoing project, in 1997, a larger four level console was added. Through the years several rare sets of pipes have been added, including a huge set of 32 foot wood diaphones. The massive quantities of wind required for operation are provided by four huge turbine blowers.

Our lunch today was a salad/pizza buffet for the cost of $7.00 each. Today I sampled a slice of pizza with pineapple on it, a first for me. It was ok. I don't know that I would order a whole pizza with pineapple in mind.

It was time for us to finally meet the organist and I was still wondering where the organ was. We could hear it before we could see it.

OHHHH....there it is!

The organ is "presented" on an 8000 pound rotating hydraulic elevator.

Beautiful isn't it?

Many of the percussion instruments, such as the xylophones, glockenspiels, drums, etc. are installed in the dining room for greater audience appeal. We get to see them "work" as they are played by the organist.

As I mentioned earlier the organist told us about the sounds this pipe organ is capable of making. We heard the ocean as the waves hit the shore, a train whistle and horses running to name a few. It was truly amazing.

Here's a picture of "some" of the 6000 pipes. Take notice of the blue pipes, they are the ones sending the air needed to make the pipes and instruments play.

When we heard drums, these were playing. They look like ordinary wash tubs but they really are specially built drums.


At one point the organist played "Alley Cat" and the curtains opened on a tiny stage.....

A picture from behind the organist. It looks like the control panel in a spacecraft doesn't it?

We're really glad we participated in this tag a long. When we were outside talking with other people from our park we were told that when the regular organists are there (this lady was a guest player) that the place really gets rockin'. We'll go back again before we leave Arizona to experience that.

We made our way back to Arizona City and Bob started putting up the lights on one side of the rig to see how the light holders we got will work. We're hearing we going to have several days of rain starting on Friday so this is all that will get done for a few days.

After dinner I went up to work on the puzzle we have going and to hang out with my Puzzle Pals. Bob kicked back for night of TV.