Fair Organ Preservation Society

IN THIS ISSUELes Fréres Limonaire Pt 335 Years of Memories Pt 3Southern Counties Organ

Rally 2006Visit To Wisconsin

W.E.S.E.S. 51st RallyAnd Much More

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE KF3-06

Fair Organ Preservation Society

The Key Frame is published by the Fair OrganPreservation Society quarterly in March, June,September and December and distributed free tomembers of the Society. Back issues can beobtained from the Stock Controller.

Material in 'The Key Frame' is copyright © the FOPS and/orthe authors and is not to be reproduced in part or whole, in anyformat, without written permission of the Editor and/or theauthor. All rights reserved

Contents

Chairman’s Chatter. Peter Haywood. 1.Southern CountiesOrgan Rally 2006. Alan Roberts. 2.CD Reviews. Michael Morris. 6.Les Fréres LimonairePart 3. Andrea Stadler. 7.Members Pics. Rudy Nijs. 18.Visit To Wisconsin. Dave Smith. 20.35 Years Of Memories.Part 3. Andy Hinds. 25.W.E.S.E.S 51st Rally. Dave Smith. 35.Jonas Gavioli, (Notice). Committee. 39.Letters 40.Heritage For Sale. Andrew Stephens.45.Daniel Auber. Andy Hinds. 50.F.O.P.S. Forum. (Notice). Committee. 51.Editorial. Dave Smith. 52.

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ImportantArticles, obituaries and advertisements intended for inclusion in aparticular edition of The Key Frame should be sent to the Editor toarrive by the dates shown below. Articles which arrive too late forinclusion in a particular edition will be held over for the followingedition. Contributions are, of course, welcome at any time and willbe published when space permits.Letters to the Editor are welcome at any time and will bepublished in the first available edition after their receipt.The dates below, are the copy dates for a whole year in advance,and are for the guidance of contributors and advertisers to assistthe Editor in preparing the magazine in a timely manner; they arenot deadlines, but the information given above should be borne inmind when preparing contributions. Regular contributors shouldcontinue to send their articles as early as possible.All contributions are assumed to be submitted with permission topublish in The Key Frame, on the FOPS home-page on theinternet and in any other FOPS publications. Variations to thispermission should be sent with the original article. Copyrightremains with the author unless specifically transferred to the FOPS.All contributions should carry the author's name on the documentitself, and may be edited for technical or any other reason withoutreference to the author.Views expressed in The Key Frame are not necessarily those of theSociety, the Editor, the Society Officials or the Society Members. Thereader is solely responsible for determining the accuracy ofstatements and the use made of them.

COPY DATESKF2-06 21st April 2006KF3-06 21st July, 2006KF4-06 20th October, 2006KF1-07 26th January 2007

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COVER PICTURES80 keyless Gebrüder Bruder Fair

Organ in the Jasper Sanfillipo OrganCollection, Chicago, U.S.A.

Photo: David S mith

Chairman’ ChatterAn extraordinary Meeting of your

Committee was held in early July todiscuss the implications of the news of thegranting of an export license for the ex.Grays/Jonas 98 key Gavioli

The granting of such a license, whichwas done with the say so of Ian Trowellof the National Fairground Archive inSheffield, places the entire stock of oldinstruments in this country in seriousdanger of suffering of a similar fate.

Quite why the body in Londonrefererred the matter to the N.F.A. and notthe F.O.P.S which has for nearly fifty yearsbeen the main society with regard toFairground Organs, remains a mystery.The people at Sheffield have no realqualifications where such an importantmatter is concerned or with regard to theWaverley Criteria, The criteria which has tobe met before an export license can begranted at all.

Although stopping the above nowseems unlikely, we as a Society have to beseen to be taking action to try to preventsimilar events from occurring in thefuture. To this end a letter has been sentthe relevant body expressing ourdispleasure at what has happened andrequesting an urgent meeting with themwith regard to any similar cases thatmight arise in the future.

That is it in a nutshell, an in-depthreport of happenings will appear in this orfuture issue of the Key Frame.

The unfortunate incident of thecharging of £1.04 for your last magazinewas resolved very quickly indeed thanksto the printers putting their hands upstraight away. Rowe the Printers whoprint the Key Frame have been more than

helpful over the matter and we thankthem for that. All monies owed to youshould be with you in this issue. (seebelow)

Thanks also to Kevin Meayers, ourPublic Relations Officer, for his time spentliaising with the Printers to bring aboutthis outcome.

Ladies and Gentleman, mistakes can bemade.

Happy Listening, Peter Haywood.

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WE ARE PLEASED TO WELCOMETHE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS

TO OUR SOCIETY.Mr D Evans,

Skelmersdale, West Lancs.

Mr & Mrs C Palmer,Yeovil, Somerset.

Mr S Whittaker,Brownhills, West Midlands.

Mr P Thomas,Coventry, West Midlands.

Mr E Thomas,Milton Keynes, Bucks.

Mr & Mrs ATipping,Kidderminster, Worcs.

NOTICEApparently, it is not possible to buy

a postal order for a sum as low as£1.04. It has therefore been decided to

deduct that sum from yourannual subscription and Rowe thePrinters will reimburse the Society

for the total sum involved.

The third annual Southern CountiesOrgan Festival was held at TwyfordWaterworks Museum in Hampshire on the4th of June. Set in rolling country- side justa couple of miles from the M3motorway, the museum itself holds afascinating history of potable waterpuming, filtration and supply to thesurrounding area. Indeed, part of theVictorian building is still used bySouthern Water.

There were, in total, some 27 organs ofvarying size attending; from the tiny'Babe' built and presented by PaulMcCarthy (who incidentally nearly gotpaid a mileage allowance, as he keptgoing around the building trying to find apitch!) to Ray Bryant's 69 keylessWurliTzer system Dean ‘Charlotte Rose’,now recently tuned and fully at home init's new transport.

The main body of organs were (inprogramme order):

Wilhelm Bruder model 74 4 (actually an exdemonstration model) owned by FrancisStapleton, which had been completelyrebuilt by Richard Dean last year; abeautiful 56 keyless Voigt belonging toPaul Kirrage that came originally from aGerman showman; ‘De Angelina’ a 55keyless David Leach Dutch street organbuilt at the extreme end of 1999 owned bythe very young but non-thelessenthuisiastic Ashley Spencer; the 54 key-less McCarthy ‘Broadtown Belle’2 owned byMike Harris, also in new transport; a 52key Verbeeck Dutch street organ built in1982 and owned by Glyn and MaryTisdall;3 ‘De Harlequin’,5 a 52 key streetorgan that started life as a Koenigsberg,rebuilt by Theo Heesbeen in 1989, thenpipework replaced in 2004, owned byGraham Spencer; A colourful WilhelmBruder model 79 (48 keyless)organ owned by Dr Andrew Leach; ‘Irene’a 42 keyless McCarthy owned by Cliff

Seamark; ‘BayfordBelle’, a 38 noteDavid Leach handturned organ,owned by RayBryant; the 36 keyPluer/ Krull Dutchstreet organ ‘DeKleine Molen’,owned by AshleySpencer; (photo left)Dave and JoanWright had theirlovely Hopp handturned organ

Successful Third Southern Counties RallySuccessful Third Southern Counties RallyBy Alan RobertsBy Alan Roberts

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JUST A FEW

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actually inside the building right next tothe triple expansion steam pumpingengine...which thankfully was notworking! In these acoustics, the Hoppsounded a lot larger.

The smaller type of organ wasrepresented by Andy Hinds, whoattended with his 31 note Alan Pell paperroll instrument; Robin Brailey broughtalong his 30 keyless Dean ‘Cindy’; whilstDave Deakin had an example of an AlanPell 25 note paper roll organ on display;Dave Heritage and his Lady wife camefrom Banbury to present their 22 keylessMcCarthy, and that young man, AshleySpencer, gets yet another mention with hisJohn Smith organ ‘Classica’.

Whilst still with this lucky youngman, it is worth mentioning that he alsopresented something a little different,namely a Williams MP3 player built tolook (and sound) like a small hand turnedorgan, the creation of Nick Williams ofLeintwardine, Shrops. It should be notedthat Ashley is just ten years old!

To round off the instruments atTwyford, we must make mention of thecollections owned and presented byNorman and Jane Dicker, and also ofBrian and Joan Chapman. These handturned, table top machines held quite afew people for some considerable time,such was their diversity.

The waterworks museum had laid on afree shuttle bus service to and fromWinchester railway station, and thisproved to be very poular, bringing inmany folk (one even came from Americato see the show, but not all the way on thebus, I might add).

Fortunately, the weather behaveditself, and produced a very fine, hot and drysummers day. The latter was to provetrying for several instruments; as therelative humidity dropped they becamemore temperamental, and a couple evengave up altogether. Nevertheless, a greattime was had by all.

I should like to finish by saying thatJohnathon and Helmut Eckhardt (whoproduce the official GDSF video andDVD) filmed the whole event and they willbe producing both a video and DVD ofTwyford 2006 in due course.

Finally, a big 'thank you' to themuseum and it's volounteer staff forhaving us all there. Both Graham Spencerand myself as co-organisers would like tothank all the organ owners and their helpers who came to support this growing event.

The details for next year's SouthernCounties Organ Festival have yet to befinalised, but will be announced in duecourse. I have no identification for the prettylittle organ, (picture 1). Can you help ? Ed.

Recently I looked out of the office window here in Cornwall and saw this lorry parked up oppositeour entrance. How about sending the organ down next time Dick!!

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I hope that members have had anenjoyable rally season so far and that thesoaring summer temperatures haven’tplayed havoc with the pipe-work or the

‘Gaviman’ sweltering at the back of theorgan.

I have received one CD this time andhope that more will follow. If you have hada recording or DVD made recently, I willbe pleased to give it a mention in thesepages, My address is:10 Church Lane,Barnwood, Gloucester.GL4 3HZ.

‘Het Kleine Juweel’,(The Little Gem),Volume 4’ is the latestoffering of music fromthe 56 Key PluerDutch Street Organbelonging to IanCrisp. This mostenjoyable CD can bepurchased from Ian at:The Cottage, GreenEnd, Weston, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 7ALand the cost of £8.75, includes postage.With a fine recording by Graham Spencerof Royalmusic Recording Services this CDmarks the debut of two young and giftedarrangers from Holland. Jeroen vanBaden is from Hoon in North Holland andstarted arranging when 17 years old.Marco Hage began making organ booksat the age of 14 and has also made his owncompositions.

The organ works on the Casio digitalmusic system while the pipe-workfollows more traditional design andincludes a rank of melodic piccolos to addsparkle to the music on this 2001 built

organ. The instrument uses the 56 keyLimonaire scale with good effect to createa characteristic happy street organ sound.

At 63 minutes long and with 23 tracksthis CD represents good value with avaried selection of musical styles. There isa bright and breezy foxtrot medley with

‘ALittle Love For Me’and ‘On Java The GirlsAre Brown’. A fine novelty piece is ‘TheSyncopated Clock’ which as you would

expect uses percussionto impersonate aticking sound. ‘ThePeanut Vendor’ is aCuban song from 1931and one of its uses wasin the movie, ‘A Star IsBorn’ with JudyGarland. From theU.S.A. we have theEverley Brothers 1958hit ‘All I Have To Do IsDream’ which is a realjoy to listen to on HetKleine Juweel.

With most Dutch Street Organrecordings you expect to find a number ofmarches and dances. There are threemarches with ‘The March of The 99thRegiment’, The Korfbal March’ and ‘TheUncle Peter March’. There are four dancetunes; a foxtrot, galop, waltz and a polka.

One of the tracks features a newcomposition by Marco Hage entitled

‘Tante Heintje Waltz’. whichcommemorates the famous organ grinderwho together with her husband played onthe streets of Amsterdam from around1905 - 1940 and this tune is very character-istic of the music found on the streets ofAmsterdam.

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CD Reviews by Michael Morris

Third part:Waldkirch 1908-1926, Paris 1921-1936

1. Limonaire Fréres, Waldkirch:In search of new markets

In 1902, Limonaire Brs. advertised in‘Der Komet’, the German showmen’sjournal. Was this a reaction to the interna-tional activities of Gavioli? Was it theanswer to the attempts of German organbuilders to establish themselves in theFrench market? The largest centre oforgan building in Germany was to befound in Waldkirch, in the Black Forest,where the Bruder family was the mostimportant and most famous family oforgan builders. It was by inheritance thatRichard Bruder (1862-1912) entered into thebusiness of the Bruder Brothers. firm.When Richard’s nephews managed to getrid of him in 1895, he was looking for newemployment, and for vengeance. Hebought the inn ‘Zum Rebstock’ andshortly afterwards, he was to be be foundwith his organ and swings on the fair-

grounds to introduce himself to his futureclients, the showmen. In 1896, he rented thelargest room of his inn to Gavioli of Parisand became the manager of this branch ofthe company.62

Figure 23 : “Zum Rebstock”, Waldkirch,Lange Strasse 46 (photo: Stadler).

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Les Fréres Limonaire -AHistory-part 3by Andrea Stadler,

translated by Björn Isebaert

This is the last of three articles which are the results of Andrea Stadler’s researchregarding the firm of the Limonaire Brothers, about whose history we hardly knew anythinguntil now.

We would like to express our gratitude to her for having allowed us to re-produce them inthe Key Frame. This series of articles which first appeared in the AAIMM magazine ‘MusiqueMécaniques Vivantes’ has now appeared in the journals of every major mechanical organSociety in the world and must be regarded as an important source of information regardingthe Limonaire family of organ and piano builders. Apart from the photos by Andrea Stadler,we have had access to some genuine vintage documents from collections of differentcollectors, to whom we are very grateful.

(Philippe Rouillé)

The Bruder establishments nowhad international competitors, enteringthe field which they thought theydominated. Today, we know that thisconfrontation was very creative ingenerating changes and positive resultson both sides. The reaction of the BruderBrothers soon followed in 1897 when alarge advertisement appeared in theJanuary issue of ‘L’Industriel Forain’.63 Unfortunately, this publicity was not enough toconvince the French clients and after some weeks, the German firmdisappeared from the advertisement

Figure 24:German Limonaire booklabel

But another organ building firm wasobserving with interest the commercialactivities of Gavioli and Bruder in Franceand Germany. In ‘Der Komet’ of 1902,German showmen could choose betweenBruder Brothers-Waldkirch, Gavioli-Waldkirch and Limonaire Fréres Paris.Due to a lack of success on the Germanmarket, the Limonaire Fréres did notrenew their publicity campaign. It is onlyfrom 1908 onwards that showmen canfind their name regularly in ‘Der Komet’,because the branch of Gavioli inWaldkirch then belonged to LimonaireFréres under the management of RichardBruder. Why was it that the Gavioli firm

On 1st June 1905, the firm became apublic company, the Public Corporation ofthe former company Gavioli and Co., witha capital of 1,100,000 F which would beraised to 1,400,000 F in 1906 and a largenumber of the shares were available on thestock exchange. The financial press, veryaware of the momentary success of aproduct that depends on a trend, stressedabove all the importance of export as ameans to improving productivity.Therefore the Gavioli Cie. planned thecreation of branches abroad, especially inBelgium, in order to be able to supply theAmerican market more efficiently thanthe Parisian establishments.

Unfortunately, the year 1907 proved tobe disastrous for the company as theeconomical and financial crisis in the USAhad a negative influence on the firm. Thecontract with the manager of theWaldkirch branch ended on 31 December1907 and Mr. Gavioli resigned. By 1909, thequestion of reducing the Company’snominal capital arose and although itstood at at 280,000F in 1911, by 1912liquidation was inevitable. LimonaireFréres et a Cie. then bought the remains ofthe Gavioli firm. On the one hand, theGavioli firm was unable in 1908 to keep itsGerman branch open, on the other, theGerman manager had a great interest insigning a contract with a moredependable company. The LimonaireFréres firm was entered in the Waldkirchtrade register on 1 January 1908. Businesswas going well and a new factory wasbuilt where the house of Richard Bruder,who died in 1912 was located. His widowand son Alfred (1889-1937) sold part oftheir land to Limonaire Fréres and EugèneLimonaire travelled from Paris to sign therelevant papers in September 1912.

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Figure 25. The house of the Gebr.Bruder, Waldkirch,Kandelstrasse 10 (photo: Stadler)Figure 26. Cover of a Limonaire catalogue issuedby the German branch in Waldkirch, Manager

Early on in 1913, the new managerAlfred Bruder detected a deficit and firedsome of the employees. In 1914, he askedthe municipal Council for a tax reductionbecause fearing that the parent companymight break with the branch andtransform it into a simple agency like theones in Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf andLübeck resulting in the unemployment ofthe 12 workmen.

However, the Great War resolved theproblem when, in 1916, the Secretary ofthe Interior decided to replace themanager, and in 1917, the Germansenforced the liquidation of all Frenchproperties. The expropriated propertieswere then purchased at the resultingauction by Richard Bruder’s widow. In1921, after the war, , Germany returned theproperty to Limonaire, but they never usedtheir former branch again becauseEugène Limonaire had retired frombusiness and his brother Camille died in1920. On 23 May 1924, the name ofLimonaire Fréres was crossed off theWaldkirch trade register and in 1926,Alfred Bruder repurchased from theLimonaire brothers the property on whichhis parental home was located. Hecontinued to build instruments until 1937.

During the sale, Eugène wasrepresented by Victor Flament, the son inlaw of Camille Limonaire.66 It was in thisway that the international cooperationwas ended.

2. The successors ofLimonaire Fréres, Paris

We don’t know the exact date onwhich Eugène decided to end hisprofessional activities. Neither do weknow why he sold the shares that

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connected him with the ‘Company for theManufacture of Pneumatic Instruments’?(Formerly the LIMONAIRE FRERESCompany) which was created by EugèneLimonaire and his brother Camille (whodied in December 1920). It was probably toassure the continuation of their familycompany, from which they wanted toretire for reasons of age and health.Established in 1920 by the Limonairebrothers, Lucien Moreau and RenéSavoye, this company with a capital of3,000,000 F67 had its main office in Paris, at 5 avenue de l’Opéra68. It united theLimonaire Fréres Company (whichowned the Gavioli brand name) and thefirm of the so-called Cantola69 of whichSavoye was the inventor while Moreauoccupied himself with manufacture andsales. Both Messrs. Limonaire wereentitled to the position of manager of thesection ‘Instruments, Music and FairgroundArticles’ for a period of two years. Mr.René SAVOYE was appointed by statute

Figure 27. A Limonaire jazzbandophone datingfrom the 1920s (documentation: A.Quier; moredetails in the journal of the AAIMM, nr.13, 1981).These instruments are more often found withoutvisible percussion, marked with the name Lemoineor even Poroit (see MMV 24 and 34).

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Figure 26.: large Limonaire organ with 68 keys and 320 pipes, manufactured in Waldkirch around 1910 by theGerman branch of the Limonaire firm (documentation: Musée des Gets)

as technical and artistic director of theCompany for a duration of fifteen yearsand 68% of the shares were to be be soldon the stock exchange. 16% of themwould be owned by the Limonaire Figure

Figure 28. Fréres.Limonaire publicity from 1932,avenue Opéra (documentation: private collection).

For some time, this company did goodbusiness.70 In 1926, the capital was raised to3,140,000 F, and the company’s base was transferred to 166 avenueDaumesnil .71

The managers between 1920 and 1926who succeeded the Limonaire brotherswere Charles Albert Demouts and laterLouis Moutier and the commercial andfinancial strength of the companypermitted the taking-over of the followingcompeting firms which had becomebankrupt:72

1921 Magnan Frères, Nogent le Rotrou(Eure-et-Loir) (the firm continues tomanufacture products),

1922 Lemoine et Dryvers, Lille (firmclosed),73

1922 Public Corporation of Frenchpneumatic pianos, Thouvenot andLimonaire Brs., Paris (firm closed),

1928 Foucher-Gasparini-Butel, Paris,rue de la Véga 17-19 (bankrupt in 1927).

But the Former Limonaire FréresCompany also suffered in the generaleconomic crisis and from the decline in themechanical organ industry74 as new forms of recreation (e.g. sports) as well asnew inventions such as the gramophone,

‘talkies’ and, some time later, radiobecame real threats. The Bottin of 192575 no longer mentioned Limonaire in themerry-go-round-section, although fair-ground articles could still be purchasedfrom the firm; and for automatic pianosfrom 1924, the Crédit Industriel andAutomobile offered hire purchasearrangements for all models of automaticpianos manufactured by the LimonaireFréres. Therefore, we can conclude thatthe demand for merry-go-rounds wasdown while the automatic piano has to be

‘marketed using all available means. Tofind new clients among the less well offpopulace, a financial firm occupied itselfwith the sales side in order to free themanufacturer of the economical risks. In1928, the nominal capital was reduced to1,000,000 F and on 17 May 1929, theliquidation became official. VictorFlament, son-in-law of CamilleLimonaire, and Paul Paillard acted asliquidators. But this wasn’t the end ofLimonaire. The company was sold on 15June 1930 to the Consortium Général del’Industrie Foraine which putadvertisements in the Bottin of 1930 and1935 under the name of The NewLimonaire Fréres Company. Among the

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founders of this company, which wasestablished on 20 June 1930, we find somepersons who were responsible for thesociety during itsliquidation,76 company managers orlawyers.

Times seem to have have changed, thepeople managing the company were nolonger craft or industry specialists butadministration specialists and for theowners, the expertise of the economicalmarket had replaced the knowledge ofproduct fabrication. The product rangehad become so varied that one can no

longer talk of a specialised company.77

Figure 29. Apresent day view of 79-97, rue ClaudeDecaen, Paris (photo: Stadler)

The nominal capital was established at100,000 F and was divided into athousand parts belonging to sevenassociates. There were no shares forpublic sale and the company base was nowto be found at 79 rue Claude-Decaen inParis.

It must have been this company whichbought Gaudin and Cie., successor ofCh.Marenghi and Cie., after theliquidation of that firm in 1932. Therefore,we read in the Bottin of 1932 thefollowing:

ORCHESTRAL ORGANSNew companyLIMONAIRE BRS.successor ofLimonaire Brs.Gavioli and Cy.Marenghi, Gaudin & Cy.GaspariniA.Lemoineinstruments played by perforated card-board or paperrue Claude-Decaen 79bis (12th arrondissement)

The property in the rue Claude-Decaen,owned by the Limonaire family, hadalready been partly sold to pianomanufacturer Joseph Jules in 1926. In1930 and 1931 – exactly during theinflation – the Office Public of the City ofParis78 bought 79 rue Claude-Decaen andseveral adjoining properties to buildhouses. The Avenir Forain of January 1932published the following advertisement:Organs – Limonaire Brs. Company.(Management change) before stock-taking andremoval for reasons of expropriation by thecity of Paris. At this very moment: sale of all models of new and second-hand organs – Exceptionally with a discount of 15% – Perforatedcardboard for all types of organs – All kinds offairground material. Merry-go- rounds. Attractions. Rue Claude Decaen79bis.79

It seems that the Poirot Brothers.company in Mirecourt (Vosges) took overall that remained of Limonaire Fréres as asettlement of debts.80

The buildings in the avenueDaumesnil are demolished in 1936. Andtwo years later, the Lacroix brothers soldthe property to a firm producing filters

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Today, not a single trace reminds us of theproduction locations of the LimonaireFréres companies. Every attempt to bringback the memories of this company (streetname, a small plate at the avenueDaumesnil 166) has hitherto failed. Allthat remains are the rare examples oforgans and merry-go-rounds and thefamily name which is to be found inFrench dictionaries: ‘a Limonaire is abarrel organ mainly used for carouselmusic’.

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Figure 30. Limonaire advertisement for a mechanical piano in a worldly situation,documentation: Aressy, Perforons la Musique

Figure 31. 166 Avenue Daumesnil, Paris - thelocation of the former Limonaire Fréres pianoand organ company

Author’s Note: I would like to thankeveryone who has supported myresearch, particularly Françoise Mustelier,Denise Limonaire, Wolfgang Brommer,Florian Dering, Jan van Dinteren,Dr.Evelyn Flögel, Zeev Gourarier, HervéLefèbvre, Fabienne and François Marchal,Jos Roelandt and Philippe Rouillé.

This three part history of theLimonaire Family, written by Andrea Stadler, first appeared in Musique Mécaniques Vivantes, the journal of AAIMM and we would like to thankthem and everyone concerned forgranting us permission to re-print it in theKey Frame.

Reference Notes...62. RAMBACH (Hermann)/WERNET(Otto), Waldkircher Orgelbauer, Waldkirch,1984, p.76-82.HEIZMANN (Valesca), DieOrgelbauerfamilie Bruder, Waldkirch, 2002,p.15-16.63. Unfortunately, the journals of show-men in the Bibliothèque Nationale arevery incomplete. We don’t know if thisattempt by the Bruder Brs. was the only one.64. In the “organ” section, these threefirms are not the only ones, but only theseare of interest to us in this article.65. CAMT (Centre des Archives duMonde du Travail), Roubaix66. Municipal archives of Waldkirch.67. In 1886: 80,000 F; in 1908: 500,000 F. In1920, the Limonaire brothers contribute800,000 F cash to the new company. Inaddition, they own 500,000 F worth ofshares.68. This is the address of the Moreaucompany.

69. Statutes of the firm, CAMT Roubaix.Cantola, invented by R.Savote andU.Dryvers, is a special device for playing achurch organ.70. The Bottin of 1922 mentions that theChurch organs and salon organs of theAbbey firm, which was located inVersailles during the previous year, will be sold at the address of the FormerLimonaire Brs. Company. The telephonenumber of both firms is identical.71. The detailed registry of the ParisianArchives contains a list of people allowedto govern, manage or sign for thecompany, manage or sign for thecompany from 20 July 1920 onwards:(illegible name), Pierre Tabourin, CharlesDemouts, Jean Ginier, Claude Gayet,Eugène Limonaire, Camille Limonaire(who dies a few months after theestablishment of the company inDecember 1920), Eugène Fournier, HenriHeidsieck/Reims, Claude Thévenet/Château Chinon, César-Lévi/Strasbourg(the last three names have been addedlater, probably in 1926).72. Deed of sale in the Consortium Généralde l’Industrie Foraine of 1930 andliquidation registries in the ParisianArchives.73. Eugène Limonaire was one of the co-liquidators.74. Serious incidents may also haveattributed to the decline. Marcel Bartier,who probably worked as a musicarranger for Limonaire until 1923 – “theyear of the fire in the factory” – mentionssuch an incident (MEIJER (Tom), Muziekuit België (1), in: Het Pierement, vol.47,no.1, January 2000, p.18).75. The manufacturers of automaticpianos fill two pages in the Bottin with theirlarge, competing advertisements. So,

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A 56 key Limonaire Jazzbandophone. photo: David S, Smith

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these instruments are still quite popular.76. P.J.Tabourin, P.Paillard, L.Moutier, A.and P.Pignot, Meyer de Stadtelhofen/Geneva, and Henry Vallée, who replacesH.Heidsieck/Reims (Company statutes,Services de l’Enregistrement inAubervilliers).77. Company statures of 20 June 1930(Archives de l’Enregistrement inAubervilliers): The aim of the Company is themanagement in any form – even bycaretaking and representation – theacquisition, sale and creation of allenterprises manufacturing any kind ofmusical instrument – pneumatic,mechanical, electrical or other – and of anyother material which could be used byshowmen or in amusement parks;

The management – direct or indirect –of any patent, trademark, model orconstruction process of devices used forthe reproduction or transmission ofsounds or images, such as: gramophones,records, film equipment, silent or talking

movies, loudspeakers, record-players,amplifiers, radios, etc.The trade and manufacture of allaccessories connected with the objectsmentioned above;The management of all factories wheregames, toys, trinkets, furniture and body-work are made, as well as themanagement of all workshops dealingwith the manufacture of furniture,carpentry, wooden or metal trusses,mechanisms, electrical apparatus, etc. (…)78. In 1914, the City of Paris creates theOffice Public for cheap housing(OPHBM) (…) In 1932, the superiorCommittee for the general arrangementand organization of the Parisianregion entrusts Henri Prost with thedrawing up of the Plan of the arrangementdirector (documentation of the Pavillion de l’Arsenal, Paris,04/06/2004).79. We sincerely thank Fabienne andFrançois Marchal for providing us withthis untraceable text in the NationalLibrary.80. MARCHAL (Fabienne and François),L’Art Forain, Paris, 2002, p.132. All whatremains of the Limonaire companyarchives is now located in the Musée dela Musique Mécanique in Les Gets.

Figure 31. Cover of a French Limonaire cataloguefrom 1921, mentioning at the bottom several branchstores in France and abroad (documentation:Ph.Corbin)

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Figures 32 & 33. A Limonaire invoice andreceipt from 1921, each showing the firm’sheading (collection: H.Lefèbvre)]

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Members Picsfrom the camera of

Belgian member,Rudy Nijs.

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A very happy organ grinder with aGebrüder Bruder barrel Organoutside the Jäger and Brommerworkshop in Waldkirch.

right: A.Ruth & Söhne Barrel Organ seenat the 2006 Waldkirch Organ Festival.

left: Another Gebrüder BruderBarrel Organ, again seen atthe Wladkirch Organ Festival.

above: Limonaire organ inside a carousel seen at Bakkersmolen.

below: Gebrüder Bruder organ owned by Piet Kuindersma photographed at Arnhem May 2005.

I am lucky to have relatives inAmerica, even more lucky that they livein an area where there are some wellknown organ collections and individualswho are involved in the work of restoringmechanical musical instruments or inresearching their fascinating past.

It is some years now since I first madethe acquaintance of Fred Dahlinger Jr.whose work sometimes appears in thepages of this magazine. Fred was Directorof the Circus World Museum’s Libraryand Research Centre in Baraboo,Wisconsin and as the museum is only aboutan hour or so away from where my folkslive, it has always, (much to my Americanrelative’s amusement!) been a favouritechoice of mine for a day out and to re-newthe acquaintance with Fred.

However Fred no longer works at themuseum which meant that a trip therewould mean that I could enjoy the itemson show, but not see him. When he heardthat I was going to be in Wisconsin, Fredkindly invited me to get in touch and hewould try to make arrangements for me tosee some things that I had not seen beforeso I decided that for the first time ever, Iwould be in Wisconsin and not visit theCircus World Museum.

Now I am not that confident a driverin America, its not so much the fact thatthey all drive on the wrong side of theroad, I just can’t get the hang of nothaving street names and so on and Ilooked forward with not a littletrepidation to having to find my waydown to Baraboo to Fred’s place on myown, (I knew that none of the family

would be interested in coming along). I wastherefore delighted when Fred said that afriend of his would like to join us and as hewould be passing quite close to where wewere staying, he could pick me up anddrive me down. I was doubly delighted when I was told that I wasbeing picked up by Dick Lokemoen, thewell known restorer of organs andmechanical instruments whom I hadnever met.A visit had been arranged byFred but when Dick and I arrived, wewere told that the person at ourdestination had been in touch to requestthat we delay our visit by an hour. Dicksuggested that we could take a quick tripto the CWM after all to see the 89 keyGavioli there, which is one of theinstruments that has been restored byhim.

The museum is situated on the historicsite of the Ringling Brothers Circus winterquarters and is home to a vast and uniquecollection of horse drawn circus paradewagons. Enormous, beautifully carvedvehicles used as bandwagons, tableaux oranimal wagons as well as sometimesplainer, but still fascinating baggagewagons. Also there is a portable type ofcarousel and about five or six organs, all ofwhich are maintained under the watch- fuleye of Dick Lokomoen.

The Gavioli has been in the ownershipof the Sedlmayr family since 1955 and isknown as the Royal American Shows(circus) Grand Gavioli Band Organ. Muchof its early history is unknown, but it isthought that it might originally have beenimported into the States in the early 1900s

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Visit To Wisconsin U.S.A. June 2006by Dave Smith

by one of the Berni Bros. in New York.The earliest proof of it being in America isa photo taken around 1911 when in thepossession of C.W.Parker, themanufacturer of amusement devices,including carousels. When Parker’stravelling carnivals ceased operations, theorgan was stored in a Kansas farm barnfor 35 years until its acquisition by theSedlmayrs when the organ underwent amajor restoration programme under theauspices of Antonio ‘Tony’ L. Crescio aGerman immigrant who had worked forBacigalupo in New York.

At some time the organ had beenconverted to play A. Ruth & Son Model 36scale music and in 1965 it was againconverted to play from a duplexWurliTzer 165 roll mechanism. The organtravelled with the circus for several yearsuntil 1977 when it was stored in thewinter quarters in Tampa, Florida. In 1992it came to the CWM on a long term basis.There a total restoration of the organ wasplanned with the intention of returningthe instrument to its original scale and torestore the facade to how it was when itfirst appeared with the Royal AmericanShows in the 50s. The work wasaccomplished by new acquaintance, Dickand the work on the facade was carriedout by Rosa Ragan, an expert in fair-ground art restoration.Whilst on holiday Ipurchased a book by about Rosa’s work inrestoring the Glen Echo Park Carouselin Maryland, a book I can thoroughlyrecommend. I was to see more of Rosa’swork that day during the visit that hadbeen arranged by Fred. Dick also playedthe museum’s Style 165 WurliTzer for me.Built in 1916 and one of only six that werebuilt this organ was owned at one time bySkerbeck Shows of Wisconsin.

It was great to hear both of theseinstruments again, although Dick’strained ear detected tonal discrepanciesthat I could not hear, but then, that is howone becomes an expert in one’s field! Thenit was back to Fred’s where we prepared toleave for the next stage of my day out.

During the journey i was asked whatthe British organ fraternity thinks aboutthe sale of the Cornish Gavioli to anAmerican collection. I hope I was discreetin my replies, but is is difficult to expressour disappointment at its loss in the face ofsuch evident interest in it arriving justdown the road so to speak.

On arrival at our destination, wewere ushered into a small factorycomplex which was deceptive as at theback of the buildings there was a veritableAladdin’s cave of Mechanical musicalmarvels. carousel figures and antiqueitems and curiosities such as you canhardly imagine. I was over-awed by thegrandeur and beauty of some of the manyobjects on display here and will allow thephotos I took to do the talking for me as Ifailed to take in so many of the details thatI was given. Enjoy the pictures!

It only remains for me to thank ourhost and also Fred Dahlinger and DickLokomoen for having been such greatcompany and for their invitations to do itall again some time in the future. I wasdisappointed that family matters meanttha tI was unable to take Dick up on hisinvitation to visit his work-shop where heis presently undertaking the restoration ofa 65 key Gavioli, besides having one ortwo organs of his own. I am hoping that Ican persuade Dick to let us have an articleabout his work on the Gavioli at some datein the future and I sincerely hope I can takehim up on his offer to visit him.

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above: Dick Lokemoen tweaking the RoyalAmerican Shows 89 key Gavioli.

right. Fred Dahlinger, yours truly and DickLokemoen

below: a view through the wagon shed showingjust a few of the many wagons on show

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Two of the magnificent Circus Parade Wagons at the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin,USA. above, The Two Hemispheres Band-wagon, Dick can be seen approaching the Style 165WurliTzer. below. The Band-wagon from the Pawnee Bill Show.

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Four of the delights seen in the USA. above: A 101 key Mortier and a delightful very large 114 keyGaudin dance hall organ. below: 65 key Gavioli from a PTC 5 abreast Carousel, one of several with acarved moth on the facade and a completely original 67 key Gasparini.

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1977, oh dear. Another year, anotherhoo-hah. We had by now settled into ayearly pattern of events where goodorgan music could be heard, and I now hada car! There were still plenty of LPsavailable to be purchased, and it wasabout an LP that there was this hoo-hah.A new one appeared on the market, onthe Jaycee label and the picture cover wasa reversed photograph of JimmyWilliams' first gallopers, (below) so it gavenothing away. The recording itself was ofan organ cyphering on occasion, with a bitof background noise, so not the bestrecording you ever heard. In the FOPSnotes in the Worlds Fair a discussionbegan as to whose organ was on therecord. The most ludicrous suggestionswere made by people who, I can onlyassume were either deaf or who had notheard the record. The recording was quiteclearly of the Noyce's 89-key Gavioli ontheir gallopers.

The FOPS, and I'm sure I'm rememberingthis correctly, decided that one side wasNoyce's and the other was DonRobinson's 89-key Gavioli, although notspecifying which was which. Sheermadness, as it is obviously the sameorgan on both sides.

We purchased this record at theHullbridge Rally in Essex, but every-where we went for weeks afterwardsthere were signs proclaiming ‘Norecording due to piracy’. It seemed as if itwas a bandwagon that many organowners were keen to jump on, but thingsreturned surprisingly quickly to an evenkeel, although there remained a certainamount of suspicion as to who wasresponsible for the recording. We wouldlike to reiterate here and now that it wasnot us. At Hullbridge the programme hadan entry for a ‘52-key Breeder organ’. (Answers on a postcard, please).

The big event for us in the south in1977 was the Queen'sSilver Jubilee Rally onClapham Common.There was a good organattendance with thehighlight being BillHunt with theWonderland Marenghi.The organ was in goodvoice and at the end ofthe day played 6overtures on the spinand strangely the moreovertures played, the

35Years Of Memories. Part 335Years Of Memories. Part 3recounted by Andy Hinds.recounted by Andy Hinds.

Photographs by Dave Deakin and Andy Hinds

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larger the crowd became. I don't know whythis happens, but it still happens today.There is something about a well playedpiece of classical music that grabs a passing customer by the lapels andshouts ‘Oi! Listen to this’, and they do.

It was around this time, although Icannot confirm the year, that theMammoth Gavioli sprouted a band-master. This almost life-size figure stoodjust behind the fence at the front of theorgan and beat time with the music,without, it seemed, being connected to theorgan in any way. Naturally, it had a tube,which had been hidden in a trench, but onasking George Parmley where he got itfrom, he insisted that it came with theorgan when new. Now, I enjoy a jokeprobably more than anyone, but todeliberately mislead in such a manner isnot good when it is so obviously not true.

Funnily enough, we came across thisphenomenon again when we startedexhibiting models in the 1980s. You would come across a modelorgan quite obviously made from drinking straws, milk bottle topsand numerous unwanted Xmas decorations and case carvingswhich looked like they had beentrampled over by a dog, with anexquisitely carved bandmaster and bell-ringers. When asked where the exhibitorgot the figures from he would answer ‘Icarved them myself’, instead of the truth,which was obviously ‘I bought them fromso-and-so’. Then, when the follow upquestion of "Why didn't you do the casecarvings, then" was asked, one wasgenerally met with abuse. The moral: whynot just tell the truth about somethingwhen lying just makes you look silly?

1978 was very much a routine year,

89-key Gavioli for the first time atBanbury. I was amazed to find that he onlyhad 4 books of music at this rally, butwhether he did not load the books on ornot, I don't know, but he did borrowheavily from Ted Reed. The organ playedOK, but not a patch on what it sounds likenow fully restored.

Blow me down if we did not see theorgan again later in the year. JackWharton had decided to initiate an end ofseason ‘do’ at his premises, and I do meanend of season as they were held inNovember. Noyce's gallopers were thereand all the organs played well, as theyshould do in a 40 mph gale andtemperature approaching freezing point!

Another back end of the season eventwas the organ festival at Hadlow Down.This event always seemed to have anorgan or two from miles away, and the oddthing that you would not expect to see. In1978 there was Cyril Woodend's 61-keyVerbeeck from ‘way oop north’, Duncan Price's Gavioli, Ted Reed'sGavioli and Forrests 65-key Gavioli out oftheir gallopers have all been there overthe years. Another visitor in the early1970s was the 101-key Mortier ‘TheBandmaster’, which has been recently restored. It was at this eventthat we first came across the 72-key CarlFrei street organ ‘De Moriaan’, then owned by George Marsh. At the time the organ always played too slowly, but always sweetly.Dave asked George if he would play atypically Dutch tune, so he played theDutch national anthem. Now there's asense of humour! I have a picture of ‘DeMoriaan’ on the picture sleeve of an LP of

‘De Grote Gavioli’. Who knows why.

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owner that is Arthur Clarke. It all startedreally in the 80s, and we were at HadlowDown listening to Arthur's 84-key Gavioli. The books kept stopping inthekeyframe and so we went to see what waswrong. Arthur had gone off for a breakleaving someone else in charge, who didnot know what was wrong. Dave saw thatthe problem was that the keyframe drive wheel was slipping, so wedis-mantled it and put it back togetheragain just in time for Arthur to come backand wonder why his pride and joy was notplaying. We put a book on and away shewent. After that we spent many anenjoyable hour at the Gavi's keyframewith Arthur, who seemed to have anendless supply of lager and cigars.

It is also an enduring memory to seeArthur clog dancing along the front of theGavioli to ‘Hits of the Black and WhiteMinstrels’. One year at Hadlow Down, wehad to turn off the organ for a flying andparachuting display. The moment thedisplay had finished and during thecrowd's applause, Dave put on

I've never seen Arthur laugh so much. Ifthere was no-one in front of the organ, hewould say ‘Put the magnet on’. The mag-net is Steve Clarke's arrangement of ‘TheDancing Dustman’ and it is absolutely truethat every time we put this book on,people came to listen to the organ.

1979 looked like a quiet year. Theprogramme for the Andover Rally showsthe first (that I can find) mention of a smallDean organ at a rally, although I do notremember it at all. It was at Knowl Hill thatyear that I had my only sighting of Jack Hardwick's 87-key Bursens organ.Suffice to say, it was not playing at anytime I went past it, and since then I havenot seen it again. (Reader question - Ibelieve that this organ was recently sold.Does anyone know where it can be heard,if at all?). Yes, it was Hardwick's as inHardwick's of Ewell, the yard from whichcame many a restorable engine in theearlier days of preservation. The familyused to come into the greengrocer's whereI had a Saturday job. They were smashingpeople and they had the longest Mercedescar I had ever seen.

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Hadlow Down Rally. 1978

At Peterborough Expo that year, wehad our first chance to see Bill Sykes' (nowReeder Bros.) 89-key Gavioli. Without thebrass resonators that were installed a fewyears later, the organ was a bit quiet butvery pleasant to listen to. I had a favouriteon this organ, which was a strange littletune called ‘Tsin-Tsin Waltzeraum’, and itwas so good it was got rid of. I believe thatBert Epton's organ now plays it.

It was in the last year of the decade thatwe visited the 84-key Van Der Beeckorgan in Ray Beardow's Gallopers atWoburn Abbey (below). Having purchasedthe Decca LPs, it had to be done. It lookeda picture framed in the courtyard door-frame as you approached it from thehouse. The organ was playing well at thistime, but there was only a small amountof music on the organ, the rest beingstacked in a random manner in the cornerof the amusement arcade. In the followingyears, the ride was relegated to the fair atthe end of the Safari Park drive and theorgan went downhill from then on. It isbetter now though, following restoration.

Strangely, it seems, that from 1980 I didnot buy any more rally programmes, butfrom photos and tapes I have built up apicture of the highlights and importanthappenings.

Firstly, in 1980, Brian Oram again! Wewere at the Alexandra Palace Rally, andBrian was there with ‘La Cascade’. It was abig site and this organ was placed fairlycentrally and despite earlier altercationswe were on nodding terms with Brian.Having walked around the site for awhile, a sit down was welcome and weplonked down in front of ‘La Cascade’.Brian, who was also seated on the bench,turned, saw us, saw our tape recorders andran to the keyframe, shut the organ offmid-book and closed the door. Now,obviously, knowing Brian's attitude torecording, we would not have dreamed toeven consider recording his organ, but Isuppose he did not know that. What isstranger, though, is that about two hourslater we happened by again, sat downwith tape recorders off, facing away fromthe organ, on the floor, between our legs.

It appears that Brian wassome distance away, butonce again he ran, furtherthis time - about 50 yards -and stopped the organ mid-book. Presumably, if wehad sat there all day, hewould not have played theorgan at all. We have alsorecounted this to BozOram, and again, helaughed until he didn't.

It was at PeterboroughExpo in 1981, that we sawthe debut of Goff Radcliffe's89-key Marenghi, alongwith a personal appearance

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for the weekend by Arthur Prinsen, whohad restored the organ. This organ, aseveryone will know, I expect, came fromBill Barlow's collection, where it was a 98-key organ called ‘The Scenic’. Therewas some good old music to be heard, butmost bizarrely the organ had obviouslyhad several books with either no end, nobeginning or neither, and someone hadjoined batches of them together as

‘Radcliffe's favourites’. For example, youcould be standing listening to an excerptfrom ‘Zampa’, and the organ would goseamlessly into ‘Ever So Goosey’, and fromthere into a march, all within the samebook without pausing for breath. It wasquite fascinating, as you did not knowfrom one second to the next what youwould be listening to.

I believe that these books have beenrestored since, and it is good to hear theorgan on CD. Having done two marchdiscs, it must now surely be time to breakopen some of the old-time songs andrecord them. (I'd like ‘Barking Creek’, ifthat's alright).

In 1983, we saw the opening ofTurner's Musical Merry-go-Round inNorthampton. We visited during the firstyear and were very impressed, especiallypersonally with the 105-key robot Decap,although as stated previously, theHooghuys was not playing. All the otherorgans were played for varying periods,and were all quite impressive. But, as withother collections, over the years theemphasis on the mechanical organdecreased in favour of the cinema organthat had been given a new home. On ourlast visit, Nicholas Martin played for twohours and there was an intermission for aride on the gallopers and one tune fromeach of the organs that were still playing.

The total intermission was 20 minutes, atmost, so it was a good job that we also likethe Wurlitzer. We did not visit after that,but perhaps the collection will have a newlease of life with the Saunders team.

There was a very good cassettereleased of the Turner collection ofmechanical organs in the 90s. It was wellrecorded with decent tunes, and proudlyannounced itself to be Volume 1. To behonest, I do not know why people botherto put ‘Volume 1’on a recording, because in95% of cases, there is never a furthervolume, so we get all excited overnothing. A second volume of thiscollection would have been something tolook forward to.

It was also that year, I think, that theWookey Hole fairground collectionopened in Somerset, as part of theWookey Hole experience. This was a verygood collection of fairground artefacts,based around the Lady Bangor collection,which used to be exhibited in a shop inPortobello Road market in London. It wasa strange set up, as you had to negotiatethe cave system and have the history ofpaper making drummed into you beforeyou got to the interesting bit.

On our first journey there started inSurrey in brilliant sunshine and ended inSomerset in a snow blizzard. The snow hadthe effect of our being the only ones in thecollection for a long period, which enabledus to have the 49-key Marenghi organplayed for us for about an hour. The organwas not 100% perfect, but played wellenough and had some interesting music. Readers will know that thiscollection was sold off, and the organ cannow be seen at Ted Reed's where itappears as a guest organ. Prior to themove to Ted's, the organ has only been

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seen in public when there is a ‘K’ in themonth.

Reading the Keyframe article aboutthe ‘Gavioli Gathering’ recently reminded methat in the mid-80s at the Parham Steam Rally, we were present at thecountry's only ever ‘Gasparini Gathering’,when all the remaining Gasparini organsappeared. These were Phil Read (theorganiser's) 52-key, Jim North's 52-key,Paul Kirrage's 46-key and a 52-key ownedby a Mr Gammage from Weymouth.

The last organ appeared very rarely inpublic, and it was a bit of a coup to have itthere. It was excellent, with lots of itsoriginal features and original Gasparinimusic, but the only problem was that theowner believed that it was totallyacceptable to play one tune every 20minutes, so we had to time our walk pasts

carefully. Paul Kirrage's organ was aChiappa rebuild, and had some good oldChiappa music. I particularly liked ‘RobinHood’, which Paul hated! There were alsosome Carl Frei arrangements on thisorgan, but the books were on grey cardand stamped with the word ‘Bever’.(Obvious reader question: Does anyoneknow who, or what, Bever was?).

It also turned out that Jim North'sorgan had a short piece of about oneminute of original Gasparini music. Whenthis was played the organ soundedcompletely different from itsPrinsenesque sound. Phil Read's organ is aLeach and Overington rebuild, and in itsearly days after restoration had a selectionof quality Dutch music by a variety ofarrangers. It is sad indeed, that throughselling into private collections, and a

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The Tussaud Group’s 49key Marenghi at WookeyHole.

variety of other reasons, these organs arevery rarely, if ever seen today.

The Gasparini organs were also themain staple diet of the end of seasonsteam-ups held at Northchapel WorkingMen's Club. This was a superb series ofevents at which all manner of thingsturned up, and it was at the last of thesethat we saw the ex-HollycombeCollection's 46-keyless Bruder, whichused to grace the steam yacht. This organwas on an open trailer with not very muchmusic, and we have not seen it since. At Hollycombe, the organ used toplay one continuous book of music,which was only about 25 minutes long,and I have to say that over the years ‘OverThe Waves’ drove us absolutely mad.Unfortunately, as is usual with WorkingMen's Clubs, the members decided thatthey did not want an open house for non-members, although, strangely, we wereboth "affiliated", and the event wasterminated at that venue. This was atravesty as the event was building nicelyinto a major one and would havegenerated a lot of takings for the club. Aparticularly interesting year for this eventwas 1987, as it took place the week afterthe Great Storm in almost completedarkness, which gave it a real old fair-ground feel.

Side-stepping to Hollycombe for amoment, we have been regular visitorsover the years, from when it was the oldcollection, via the grand closing rally andorgan line-up, to the new collection as weknow it today. The old collection hadthree organs. The Bruder alreadymentioned, an 89-key Gavioli, which isnow owned by Kevin Gamlen and takespart in the ‘Gavioli Gathering’ and a28-keyless Chiappa on the Razzle-Dazzle.

The Gavioli always played ‘Over TheWaves’and the music of Johann Straussbut not much else and what it did play youcould only just about hear. It's better nowthough. The little Chiappa organ wasalso very tuneful. (Reader question: Doesanyone know the whereabouts today ofthe Bruder or the Chiappa?). See the letterssection for informtion on the Bruder. TheChiappa went to Switzerland. Ed.

The collection today with more organsis that much more interesting, but it is ashame that they do not have the funds toproperly restore the ‘Peacock Marenghi’.Fully restored, this organ would bemagnificent. When Page and HowardOrgans did a partial restoration, youcould see the potential, but only beinggiven a limited budget was the majordrawback. To my mind, funds should

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Bandmaster on the 89 key Gavioli at Hollycombe

have been found and the restorers giventhe chance to do a proper job.

It was in the early eighties that we mettwo other relatively local enthusiasts. Wewere in the beer tent at Roxton Park, (onlybecause it was raining), and startedchatting with this chap. It transpired thathe lived about two miles from me and hadworked at the same company as my uncleGeorge. This turned out to be Mark, thetaller half of Mark and Val. Normally, afterhaving done a tape of an organ at arally, if there any tunes we did not know,we would play them to George whowould invariably know the title of the tuneand the full words. It also has to be saidthat he knew rude words to more songsthan anyone I know.

In 1982, we happened upon PaulKirrage at an event related to the TaskerCollection in, I believe, Winchester. Paullives out Dave's way and had helped theNoyces out for years, although neither ofus recalled him. At this time he hadpurchased a 30-key Chiappa organ and hehas had a string of fine instruments since.His current organ, a Voigt, is a joy, but theChiappa had a super version of ‘Puff TheMagic Dragon’, which I kept requestingmuch to Paul's chagrin, because he hated it.His 48-key Marenghi had a book of RegDixon's theme song ‘Confidentially’ which I loved and Paul hated. His 46-keyGasparini had a book of ‘Robin Hood’,which I loved and he hated. I think he didit deliberately.

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Percy Cole’s Gondola Ride and 98 key Gavioli at Windsor Forest Steam Fair, 1974

In the mid-80s, Knowl Hill hadRichard Preston's Gavioliphone presentevery other year. Apparently the Prestonsstopped at this rally on the way to theirholidays. You could get close to the organthen and hear the full richness, which issomething that you cannot do now withseveral feet of stage in between, and, ofcourse, the organ was playedcontinuously. I have always wonderedwhy, when this organ has 112 keys, do youhave to get so close to it to hear it?

Talking of playing continuously, we hadcause to be standing by a non-playingorgan at Dorset last year, I will notmention which, and when we asked, wewere told that, ‘we play for 20 minutes ineach hour’. Now, to me, that is a very goodreason to only pay one third of theattendance money. If you do not want toplay the organ to the public, leave it athome. Too much of this goes on today.Organs start playing at noon, break at 1o'clock for lunch, back at 2 and thenclosed down at 4. Acceptable? I shouldsay not. We can only be thankful that thisapplies to a minority of instruments.

So, the mid-80s. What else did theybring? Misery for the amateur recorder. Itwas a bizarre day that this happened. Itwas at the 1986 Knebworth rally that itmanifested itself. We walked across thefield, tape recorders in hand and sat downin front of Ted Reed's Marenghi, givingourselves a sit down before approachingTed to see if it was OK to record. Thekeyframe was lifted mid-tune and the lateTom Barry, whom we had known andspoken to for years came from the back ofthe organ and appeared very agitated.

He said ‘Oi, can't you read?’ Havinglooked round to see if he was, in fact,talking to a dog and not us, we asked

what was the matter. Tom said ‘Can't youread - NO RECORDING’. In all fairness, wecould not read the sign as it had blowndown in the breeze. Apparently, theMarenghi had appeared on aprofessionally issued cassette, which hadused pirated recordings of this, and otherorgans, and Ted had put a bar up againstall recording. Fair enough, because thatwas his choice, but the problem was thatbecause of the immense respect thateveryone had for Ted, nearly everyoneelse did the same thing, and the ones whodid not had not heard of the problem.

Well, that was just fantastic, wasn't it?All we could rely on after a rally was ourability to recall tunes played. It presentedan ideal opportunity for organ owners toproduce cassettes for people to purchase,as that would be the only way that anymemories of the instruments could beretained. Did they take up the mantle? No.Well not in the south, anyway.

What was stranger about this episode,however, was that by the end of that rallyseason, no matter where we went, therewere no people listening to organs. Fromthat fateful day, we did not see anyone thatwe used to talk to when they wererecording, it was as if they had only beentape recording enthusiasts and as soon asthey could not do that any more, theyvanished. We began to wonder, in fact,whether we would be the only two trueenthusiasts left. I believe that the non-enthusiast was attracted to the organs bythe sight of people tape recording, andwondering why. Once they heard themusic, they stayed for a few tunes. Oncethe tape recordists had gone, the public hadno hook and so did not stop to listen. This,I believe, was the beginning of the fallingaway of the organ's popularity.

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You could say, by looking at cause andeffect, that the banning of amateurrecordings was responsible for the down-turn in the popularity of the fair organ,and that it all started, completelyinadvertently, with Ted on that fatefulday. As any one who knows Ted will tellyou, it would be the last thing that hewould want. However, much morerelevant would be to blame the thought-less moron who thought he could just

release tapes of other people's organs,without their permission, for nothingother than personal gain and get awaywith it. From what I can recall, he did getaway with it, as he was never identified. Afurther two volumes of these tapes wereissued, and having heard both it seemsthat organs from St Albans OrganMuseum, Pettigroves' Gallopers andForrests' Chairs are on them, again,obviously, without permission.

All photos by DaveDeakins and Andy Hinds.

4the and final part inKF4-06

right: Steve Neville’s 68key Limonaire and ‘Lord

Lascelles’ at RoxtonPark

Would it rain or wouldn’t it rain? That wasthe question that most of us wereasking ourselves as the weekendapproached for the 51st West of EnglandSteam Engine Society rally.We had somepretty fearful weather during theprevious week and even if it didn’t rainon the day, it was sure to be a mud-bathunderfoot, or so we thought.

I went along on the saturday andalthough it was not the sunniest of days,it was fine and fairly bright. No mudunderfoot and just a mere hint of drizzle.Just through the main gate was MargaretCook’s exquisite Ruth playing, as usual toperfection and there was Margaret with Jeremy Bryce and Ian Rogers.Margaret’s sunny smile and warmwelcome was enough to brighten us upand we stayed for a bit of a chat to theaccompaniment of the Ruth. below

The next organ we encountered was the31 keyless Botting belonging to JamesDundon. It was still fairly early and Jameshad not long arrived at the rally after hisstint as saturday morning DJ on the localCornish radio station, Pirate FM. Jameswas having breakfast at the side of theorgan, complete with glass of champagne.

I made a comment aboutdoing things in style tolearn that it was his 21stbirthday and was told that Iwas just too late as thebottle was now empty!Congratulations James.

The next organ we sawand heard was thelittleLimonaire on the HowardBrothers Gallopers. A nice

West Of England Steam Engine Society’s51st Rally,August 2006 by Dave Smith

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little instrument, but my programmemakes no mention of it and so I have nodetails. Can any one enlighten me?

It was a pleasure to re-new myacquaintance with an old friend who usedto live quite close to me in Cornwall andwas attending the rally with his delightful42 key Verbeeck street organ. A real joythis little instrument and Mike has someattractive and interesting music toaccompany it.

We had been at the rally for nearly twohours and had only gone about ahundred yards!

The mighty Anderton and Rowland’s98 key Marenghi had pride of placeopposite the very neat fairground whichhad some interesting rides includingDorman Bros. Savage built Yachts andtheir 1934 Orton and Spooner Waltzer andJoey Rowland’s 1930’s Ark. Other ridesincluded Dodgems, a Dobbie set,Swingboats, an Austin Car Ride and JohnSmith’s Old Time Striker.

Bernard True had his 53 keyless organ,this year without the stage which usuallyaccompanies it, there was instead a longsheeted trailer for performances by thesingers and dancers and as a venue for theSunday church service. It was good to seeBernard, who had not been too well for awhile, lookig good and enjoying theweek-end

Robbie Richard’s 87 key Limonairewhich had at one time been owned by Mr.Emmerson of Banwell, Somerset wassurrounded by examples of thewonderful collection of Romany livingwagons and carts that Robbie hascollected and painstakingly restored tosuch a high standard, but the real star ofhis collection was his newly overhauled

Scammell Showtrac which was making itsdebut having only been completed thatmorning. Originally owned by TommyWhitelegg and named ‘City of Exeter’, thisvehicle has been restored in the Whitelegglivery and has once again been named

‘City of Exeter’ in memory of its’ distant past.If any one would like to purchase an

organ, Harvey Lander’s 65 keyless Pell isfor sale and was making a good salespitch for itself playing happily away behind Robbie’s Limonaire. Sotoo was Ian Rogers 31 key Leach and 20 key Stuber hand-turned street organ, both ably looked after,(when I first arrived on the scene), by his wife Linda and son Clive whilst Ianwas off taking photos. How about a couplefor the Key Frame Ian? Later on Iintroduced Ian to Mike Green and Iancommented that the little Stuber was harder work than Mike’sVerbeeck as it had to be cranked by hand,whereupon Mike produced a pair ofgrips, attached a handle to the wheel atMike Green hand turning his 42 key Verbeeck.

36

the back of the organ andproceeded to entertain us, deftlyswapping hands mid-tune, justto show off!

The only organ I didn’t comeacross that was in theprogramme, was a 20 pipeHarmonette owned by GordonGoodrich of Sheffield, Yorks. Ifyou were there Gordon, sorry Imissed you.

The W.E.S.E.S. rally is one ofthe nicest and friendliestrallies it has been my pleasureto go to over the years withmany and varied exhibits toplease all tastes and I urgeevery one who has theopportunity to get down toCornwall to come along. Ittruly is the ‘Best in the West!’.

37

above: A real favouritewherever it appears, themighty Anderton &Rowland’s 98 keyMarenghi.

above right: HarveyLander’s 65 key Pell, forsale.

right: Bernard True’s 53keyless Dean organ gettingsteamed up!

left: Limonaire organ on theHoward Brother’s Gallopers.

below left: Mike Green’s 42key Verbeeck

below: Clive Rogers withthe 20 note Stüber ‘LordClive’ and Dad Ian’s 31 key

left: Robbie Richard’s newlyrestored Scammell Showtrac,

‘City of Exeter’ making its’debut at the 51st W.E.S.E.S.rally with the justifiably proudowner at the wheel.

Members will be aware that theJonas Family have obtained an exportlicence for their 110 key ex. Fred GrayGavioli organ, and have sold it to JasperSanfillipo in America,

Your Committee had been assured bya letter from the Reviewing Committee forthe Export of Works of Art in 2004 that

‘According to the UK system of exportcontrols, any cultural goods manufactured orproduced more than 50 years before the date ofexport and valued above certain thresholdsrequire and export licence (unless they wereimported to the UK less than 50 years ago.

If the item was considered, by an exportadvisor, to be of outstanding importance it isreferred to the Reviewing Committee on theExport of Works of Art. In making a decisionas to whether an item is of outstandingimportance, the advisor judges the object against the Waverley Criteria:

• is the object so closely connectedwith our history and national lifethat its departure would be a misfortune?

• is it of outstanding aesthetic importance?

• is it of outstanding significance for the study of some particular branch ofart, learning or history?

If the Committee decides that the objectdoes meet with one or more of the WaverleyCriteria, it may recommend that the Secretaryof State defer granting an export licence inorderto give a UK institution or collector the

Your Committee has no problem withthe above, but are appalled that theScience Museum, asked to supply anexpert advisor, passed the request to theNational Fairground Archive at SheffieldUniversity, who in turn consulted withfairground historian Michael Smith,rather than consult with the FOPS. IanTrowell of the NFA and Michael Smithgave their opinion that the organ did notmeet any of the Waverley Criteria andhence the export licence was granted. IanTrowell also stated in his letter to the MLA

‘We have not consulted within thecommunity of organ enthusiasts, many ofwhom have their own collections. It would bedifficult to attain an objective view from thiscommunity’.

Your Committee finds this statementoffensive, and whilst respecting IanTrowell and Michael Smith as fairgroundhistorians, we do not believe they arequalified to give expert advice onmechanical organs. We have thereforerequested urgent meetings with theScience Museum and the MuseumLibraries and Archives Council topromote the FOPS and its 900 members asthe primary source of expert advice onmechanical organs. We have alsoexpressed our disapproval to Ian Trowelland Michael Smith for not contacting theFOPS on this occasion and for IanTrowell’s disparaging remarks regardingfair organ enthusiasts.

We will keep you advised ofdevelopments.

39

An Important Notice From Yor CommitteeThe Jonas Family’s 110 Key Gavioli

Andy Hind’s series of articles hasprompted more replies. Firstly fromDerek Betterton of Littlehampton.

Seeing the excellent photo of NormanHobbs’ Bursens reminded me of the otherorgan Norman owned. This was an84-key Mortier Orchestrophone, built in1927, and Norman used to let me exhibitmy models along the front of the organwhilst putting the books through.Particular favourites of mine were ‘OldComrades’ and ‘Sussex by the Sea’. I hadforgotten this organ, but I believe it is nowabroad somewhere and it is available on CD.

Paul Kirrage told Andy.....‘As far as I know, the Bruder organ

from the single steam yacht atHollycombe did not go with the rest of theequipment to Cornwall. It wascertainly bought by a chap who livedaround Aldershot who was involved withRushmoor Steam Rally and the 3Counties Steam Preservation Society. Icannot now remember his name but I usedto see him a lot when I had my Gaspariniorgan. He told me that he had been able tobuy the Bruder before the yacht went to Cornwall, but I do not knowif he bought the figures as well.Unfortunately, I have no idea if he stillowns the organ and I have not seen itsince, but I recall he had an organ that hebuilt himself and seemed quiteknowledgeable’.

.....then added the following a couple ofdays later.

‘It is more or less as I thought except itseems the organ did go with the yacht toCornwall and Keith Emmett somehowacquired it at which time Kevin Meayersdid a little work to it. The guy I told youabout bought it very shortly afterwardsfrom Keith. He had tried to buy it beforeit went to Cornwall, but was not able tofor some reason. His name is LesBurberry, he lives near Aldershot some-where and I don't think he has ever takenthe organ out (at least as far as I am aware)’.

The Bruder organ did most certainly cometo Cornwall, but where it is now I don't know.The figures were taken off and sold at a collectors auction at Par in Cornwall atabout the time the Penwith Pleasure Parkclosed.

I know because PPP was just half a milefrom my house and I was enlisted to overseethe organs. Tim Blythe come down to get itready for the opening of the park. The Bruderreplaced the Gavioli in the Gallopers at thepark and the Gavi was in my back yard atSt.Erth. I have several pictures to back this up.ED.

More info for Andy from BjörnIsebaert

With much pleasure I've been readingyour ‘35 years of memories’ in the KeyFrame andI have two things I'd like to add:

Another lame excuse to add to your listof excuses for not wanting to play arequested tune: ‘The first page of the book istoo short!’: I got this in the museum inUtrecht when I asked to play a specificmarch on the Hooghuys organ; whilethere were two blank pages at thebeginning of the book, the guy at the

40

LettersLetters to the Editor may be submitted by

post, fax or e-mail and are accepted on thebasis that all or part of them may be used andthat they may be edited for technical or anyother reasons. Where used, the essence of thecontent will be faithfully retained. Lettersconsidered unsuitable by the Editor may berefused and returned without explanation.

keyframe thought this was not enough ... Ikindly suggested that he could perhaps goto a retirement home, since his reflexesapparently weren't good enough tooperate an organ ...

There are several orchestral recordingsof the ‘Donna Juanita’ overture.Amazon.com only lists one on the MarcoPolo label:(http://www.amazon.com/gp/prod-uct/B00000462A/qid=1152598376/sr=1-2 / r e f = s r _ 1 _ 2 / 0 0 2 - 9 3 8 1 3 2 5 -0323221?s=classical&v=glance&n=5174),but I also have it on another CD withother overtures by Von Suppé. Theoverture is also on the Mortier inHelmond and was copied for the largeGaudin/Verbeeck now in the Milhouscollection in the USA.

Are there any more parts to come inyour series of articles? I surely hope so!

See elsewhere in this issue and one moreto come in KF4-06. Ed.

Unfortunately, the very interestingarticle about ‘Little Italy’ in KF2-06contained some inaccurate statementswhich Mr. Roland Antonelli would liketo correct

I would like to place on record what Ibelieve to be the facts regarding BarrelPiano's in Manchester. Should anybodywish to contest them then they will have toshow documentary evidence not just theirown paper work.

Facts.Simon Robino the elder was born in

Italy and emigrated to Marseilles France.He married there and had a son, Simonand three daughters.

Dominico Antonelli met father Robinowhilst he was in France before going toLondon. Domenico arrived in Manchester

and the local directory of 1896 establisheshim at 121, Great Ancoats Street. Heoffered Robino employment to put themusic on the piano's and the census of 1901shows him resident at 8 Marshall Streetwith a 6 month old daughter born in Manchester which places his familymoving from Marseilles to Manchesterbetween 1896 and 1901 the previousdaughter having been born in Franceabout 1895 and being 5 years old atcensus. Robino was listed as a worker (being employed) music maker.All thecompany awards at InternationalExhibitions came after he left.

He left his employment about 1905and was listed as an instrument tuner andrepairer at 59, Olham Road, in 1906.The ideathat the learnt the skill of building barrelpiano's from his father bears no truth inhistory. He was not a carpenter, and evenif he had some knowledge from his employment, none of the premiseswere equipped for building as was59, Great Ancoats street.

There are references to Rossi andSpinelli, Gavioli, Robino havingmanufactured at 5, Jersey Street. They hadall, from time to time, occupied the build-ing, but it was also named Gun Streetwarehouse and was not equipped formanufacturing.Robino purchased VarettoBros organ equipment in 1932 but theyonly produced organs .

It was common practice for repairersto re-label pianos by eradicating theoriginal manufacturers stamps andreplacing them with their own. Thusmany piano's carried, not themanufacturers label, but the name of thetuner who had access to the soundingboard or the person who had re-pinnedthe barrel. There is no evidence to

41

establish that anybody other thanD.Antonelli & Sons, and Wright andHolmes Bros. built BARREL PIANO'S inManchester. Domenico never built organsbut did supply a service to the show-ground organs by producing the slottedcardboard books that operated them. Allthe above facts are supported bydocumentary and photographicevidence. The public confuse HurdyGurdy (hand held instrument) barrelpiano and barrel organ( which was muchsmaller and lighter than the piano).Thepiano had to be heavily contructed tocarry the tension delivered by thestringing. Roland Antonelli.

More about the worries raised by thesale of the Jonas Gavioli from RichardEvans.I was interested to read Dr. VanessaToulmin’s reply to Allan Fitton’s recentletter about the Jonas Gavioli. I too haveseen the papers under the Freedom ofInformation Act relating to the exportlicense application.

Whilst I appreciate that the nationalFairground Archive’s (NFAs) advice wasgiven in good faith, I think some aspects ofit were far from professional. Even if oneaccepts the contention that the JonasGavioli should only be considered in afairgound context, the NFAs advice for thepurposes of the export license was in my opinion both inadequate andirrelevant. It consisted of thirty two wordswhich mainly stated the obvious.

The organ has been in preservation fora longer period than its use in Fred Gray’sScenic Railway. I would argue that thisfact alone supports the case forconsidering it in a much wider context thanthe one put forward by the NFA. As

far as I can see there was no properappraisal under the Waverley Criteria ofeither the organ, or more importantly, itsmagnificent and unique facade. In myview the export license was granted bydefault and should therefore betemporarily suspended whilst the issue isunder discussion.

Also the NFAs sweeping statementabout the inability of fair organenthusiasts to have an objective opinionon the subject is disgraceful. They shouldwithdraw it immediately if they want tohave good relations.

I remain unconvinced by Dr.Toulmin’s assurance that the NFAs advicedoes not set a precedent. Does this meanhat in future hey will consider requests foradvice on mechanical organs in a widercontext and also refer to the Fair OrganPreservation Society? Their stubbornrefusal to admit that they got it wrong onthis occasion makes it unlikely this willhappen unless they can be persuaded tochange their mind.

I am naturally disappointed by theoutcome of the export license application,but I would have respected the decisionwith good grace if it was shown that thecultural and historic importance of thisorgan had been properly considered. Iwould now urge the NFA to withdrawtheir original poor advice and to considerthe request again.

Richard Evans. August 2006

Peter Mackett has some comments tomake regarding items in KF2-06.

Firstly, I can confirm that the ex.Edwards 89 key Verbeeck organ now atDingles is a genuine Verbeeck organ as ithas the same sound and tone as all theothers I have seen of this make that came

42

from the London factory. Most Verbeeckorgans have very little reed pipe-work andthis is evident in this case where themajority of the pipe-work is made upwith violins, piccolos and flutes whichgive the typical Verbeeck sound whichtends to be lot lighter than other makes offair ground organ.

I heard the organ play at the G.D.S.F. in1988 and it sound just like all the otherVerbeecks I have heard so I am sure it isoriginal and genuine.

As regards the front, this could havebeen purchased in Belgium from acommon source who manufacturedcarved fronts for several organ builders aswas the case in the organ world at thetime it was built in the early 1930s. I haveseen a photo of the 91 key DeCap ‘DeValco’ taken at this time and the two sidecases are identical to this organ in everydetail although it has now been altered tosome extent. This front also could havecome from the work shop of PierreVerbeeck in Antwerp as photos I haveseen of his organ fronts are very similar indesign and the factories did indeed run inconjunction with each other.

If any member knows any more, Iwould be pleased to hear from them.

Next to Andy Hind’s article, ‘35 Yearsof Memories, Part 2’. Firstly the ex. JimmyWilliams 89 key Gavioli. I believe that thisorgan is now in a private collection in theU.S.A. having been rebuilt from a derelictstate. Next the Carl Frei Street Organ ofA.E. Showering. This organ was alwayslisted as a 52 key instrument but in truth itis a 50 key and, unusually, keyed in thestandard 48 key Gavioli scale which isstrange for a Dutch organ but since all theoriginal books that came with it are of thisscale it must have been like it for a long

time. As stated it did not sound like atypical street organ but more like aGerman fair organ having only tworegisters; violin on piano and mixture,(open pipes) and Trombone added inForte Although it had a long front, theorgan is quite small and could originallyhave been a barrel instrument.

It also has a large collection of musicwith arrangements by Carl Frei, ChiappaLtd., Urbain Van Wichelin, ArthurPrinsen, Peter Watts/Steve Clarke andothers with no covers on them. After Mr.Showering’s death the organ wastravelled for a few years by John Mitchellwho put it in a new lorry. It is now instorage at the Showering’s home and hasbeen for a good few years.

The 98 key Marenghi of Bernard Broadis still owned by his family in Cornwallbut is no longer taken out. (A recentconversation with Bernard’s grandsonrevealed that the Marenghi is under-goingrestorative work and could be seen again in thenot too distant future. Ed.).

Peter Phillips 90 key Gavioli StreetOrgan (Andover ‘76) is, in fact, a cutdown Mortier Dance Organ, converted toa street organ and still retaining itsoriginal repertoire of dance musicalthough a lot of the original organ hasbeen lost.

The reason the melody register wasnever engaged is because the key framehas to be watched at all times as the musictended to wander and it had to be heldover by hand to make it track properly.The DeCap fair organ is 78 not 72 key andtotally original, one of only six built by thecompany.

Re: the photo of the ex. HollycombeBruder, it is now owned, as far as I know,by Les Burberry of Hampshire and has

43

been for several years, although I have notseen it for a long time.

Goff Radcliffe’s 89 key Gavioliactually played from an extended 68 keyBursens scale as the arrangements for thetwo were identical.

I also read with interest in PeterClarke’s article on the A.G.M. hiscomments on the book on Alan Baldry’sLimonaire of Ascher’s ‘Alice Where ArtThou’ when he said how good it was. I firstcame across this book on the 89 keyMarenghi now owned by Mike Priestnerwhen it was at the National MotorMuseum, Beaulieu.

The book was left in the luton on thelorry for years and never played. One daywhilst in conversation with ChrisEdmonds, a former owner of the organ, hehappened to mention the book and askedif I ever played it, so the next chance I had, I did play it and was totallyamazed. To try to describe thisarrangement is impossible, you have tohear it as it is incredible and certainlynothing else I have ever heard compares

to it. The original arrangement was fromthe Marenghi factory so I do not know thearranger’s name but he or she was totallybrilliant at the art if this book is anythingto go by. The full title of the book is ‘Alice,Where Art Thou - The Romance Variations OfAscher’. It is a Victorian Ballad.

A thought to ponder on from Mr. PeterPalmer.

Since taking ownership of 53 keylessstreet organ almost two years ago, I havefound it almost impossible to book it intocertain rallies. Upon enquiring, the usualreply is, ‘sorry, the organ allocation is fullybooked’. Whilst in conversation withanother organ owner, he gave me the mostlikely reason that being that present organowners and exhibitors immediately re-bookat the same venue for the following year .

If this is the case, then the paying publicmust notice it and it must also bediscouraging to organ owners to maintaintheir interest, something which organsocieties try to encourage. I have thoughbeen to other venues with the organ helpingto raise funds for a local children’s charity.

The first time I ever saw the Jonas Gavioli, W.E.S.E.S. 16th rally, August 1971. I was on my honeymoon!! Ed

44

I imagine that for many people with-in our movement, the news that theJonas family's 110 key Gavioli had beensold to an American buyer came assomething of a surprise, not to say ashock. Certainly it did to myself, partlybecause I wasn't aware of the instrumentbeing officially on the market and partlybecause I'd hoped, naively perhaps, that thedays when rare and valued parts of acountry's heritage could be sold off to thehighest bidder from overseas were gone.Clearly this is not so and, since DavidSmith suggested a debate should beopened on what might be done infuture to prevent such losses, I felt Imight jot down a few thoughts on thismatter, past and present.

Probably I should start by offering acollective guilty plea on behalf of theBritish organ movement. Particularlyduring the sixties and seventies, but rightup to the present day, organs have beenimported in considerable numbers fromthe continent and other places to swell theranks of those already here. Indeed, someof our best known collections, past andpresent, have consisted entirely ofimported organs. Furthermore, most are ofa kind that never saw normal workinguse on these shores, be they dance hall,café or street organs, so it could be arguedthat we were robbing somebody else'sheritage, simply for the pleasure ofowning something which was never a partof ours. Without wishing to denigratethis argument however, it should be saidthat times change. Back then, such organswere in plentiful supply, whilst our native

antique fair organs weren't. Furthermore,in the case of café and dance organs,many were of comparatively recentmanufacture. The 112 key Mortier boughtby George Cushing, for instance, was lessthan thirty years old when he bought it. Itcould be argued then that these were notantiques or heritage pieces, but pieces ofoutdated technology that had fallen fromfavour and were of interest only to a feweccentrics. Of course, there wereexceptions even then. I recall hearing thatwhen the late Arthur Mason bought theGrote Gavioli from the continent back inthe sixties, he had some difficulty getting itout of the country. Even then, there wereenthusiasts who didn't want to see it leaveand apparently the dockworkersresponsible for loading it onto the shipweren't entirely sympathetic either.Nowadays, this once steady flow hasslowed to a trickle. Some organs have evenmade the return journey and, whilstperhaps sorry to see them go, I'm inclinedto feel that if someone now wants them intheir country of original use and origin,then that's where they belong.

Even so, the occasional instrument stillmakes its way over here. The arrival of theMunich Oktoberfest Gavioli raised a feweyebrows, for instance, so the question wemust ask is, why does it still happen? Whyis it that a large and attractive organ, a part of German mechanical musicheritage, can't find a buyer in its owncountry? Two possibilities spring to mind,and they apply equally to any organ orpiece of heritage on the market:

1. The organ is being offered at an 45

Heritage For Sale?by Andrew Stephens

unrealistic price, attainable only by thosewith more money than God.

2. The instrument is not perceivedas being of sufficient interest by thepreservation movement in that country towarrant anyone meeting even areasonable asking price.

If the second consideration applies,then we must accept that any buyer who'sprepared to look after the instrument isprobably better than no buyer,particularly if the alternative is theinstrument languishing in a yard until itdeteriorates to the point where it has to besold cheaply (or expensively!) as arestoration project. In the case of the firstconsideration, however, I feel thatenthusiasts are entitled to look askance atthe vendors, as it raises questions ofresponsible custodianship.

In a democracy such as ours, it's oftensaid that anyone is entitled to do as theyplease with their own property, and this istrue up to a point (although just trysticking uPVC windows on your grade 1listed building!). However, and I fear I'mabout to be naïve again, is it really toomuch to ask that owners of particularlyrare artefacts show a little sensitivity andresponsibility when the time comes todispose of them? Regarding the JonasGavioli, rumours have been flyingaround, since the sale, of an asking price soexcessively high that potential Britishbuyers were unable or unwilling to meet it.Then in steps a foreign buyer for whommoney is no object and another little boxon his 'wants' list gets ticked off. All verynice for him, no doubt, but we're wavingbye-bye to a piece of our heritage, so is italso too much to ask that potential buyersshow a little restraint too? Probably in thismust-have world where money is

king, it is too much to expect this kind ofaltruism from either party, so the nextquestion is, can a third party do anythingabout it?

Ultimately, there is only one body withthe power to stop an item of our heritagebeing sold abroad, and that's thegovernment. By refusing an exportlicense, they can effectively force thevendor to find a buyer within the country,but of course, there has to be a goodreason for it and someone has to make anapproach to the authorities. There aresuccessful precedents, however. Thesingle steam yacht and razzle-dazzle ridesthat now form part of the Hollycombecollection were both the subject of exportattempts during the 90's. Both licenseapplications were refused, owing to thevalue of both machines to our heritage.The French government too, refused alicense for the export of the Bourgade105 key Gavioli instrument when thatwas bought by an American collector. Inthat case the outcome wasn't entirelysatisfactory, as the instrument was tied upin legal wrangling for a protracted periodand remains out of the public view, but it is,at least, retained in its country of origin anduse, where it is of enormous value to theirheritage. Hopefully, in time, it will be ondisplay again.

There is a problem, of course, indeciding which items are of the greatesthistorical importance and whoseattempted export should be resisted. Bywhat criteria should this decision bemade? The two that spring most readily tomind are rarity and British historical links.If an instrument can tick both boxes, then that might be a suitable basis toapply for the refusal of an export license.The 98 key A&R Marenghi, for instance, is

46

Thanks to Mr. Arthur W.J.G.Ord-Hume for sending in this picture to illusrate his letter in KF1-06 in reply toColin Middle’s Birnbeck Pier article in KF4-05

in near original condition, was built forthe British market, never worked any-where else and is a rare piece by any stan-dards. Not that I imagine there's any like-lihood of it coming up for sale, but cer-tainly any attempt at export should befirmly resisted. The 101 key Mortier 'DeKluisberg', on the other hand, whichrecently came on the market, is notespecially rare and has no cultural orhistorical links with this country, beyondthe preservation era. Had a continentalbuyer come forward, in all conscience itwould have been hard for me to say thatan export license should have beenrefused, however much I like the organ.

If we accept these criteria, the questionremains: Who is to monitor the situationand make any necessary approach to thegovernment? Here, perhaps, is a potentialrole for the society. Faced with the regularexport of fine street organs, the Dutchgovernment, pressured by enthusiasts,produced a list of organs whose culturalvalue was such that they were never to beexported. It's certainly too much to expectour government to take similar action ofits own volition, but perhaps the societycould come up with a similar list. If wewere then unable to encourage thegovernment to put legal protection onparticular instruments, we could at leastmonitor the situation ourselves. In theevent of an export attempt being made ona valued instrument, an objection to thegranting of an export license could then bemade to the relevant department by thesociety itself. Bearing in mind the fact thatthe society is almost fifty years old and respected throughout thepreservation movement, such anapproach might carry more weight thanan approach by an individual.

Ultimately, with no buyer forth-coming, with an export license grantedand having been unable to persuade yourlocal millionaire that he might like toinvest in a piece of our heritage that is ofno great interest to him, I guess we justhave to take it on the chin. The best wecan hope for, and this applies to anyonewho buys an historic organ, is that thenew owner appreciates what he hasbought and looks after it. This isprobably not a concern with the Jonasorgan, judging by the standard ofrestoration on some of his otherpossessions, but such is not always thecase. I'm sure no-one needs reminding ofthe appalling treatment meted out to theRodeo Switchback, and, whilst that mayhave been an example of corporateapathy towards an acquisition whichdidn't live up to its' commercial promise,I can't help wondering how many organslanguish in sheds and private collections,equally unloved. The novelty valuewears off but that peculiarly humanbloody-mindedness sets in and theowner won't sell because he just doesn'twant to. gain, we're probably equallyguilty in this country. Look through theold FOPS Organ Parade book, thenconsider how many of those organs havedisappeared from view in this country.They must be somewhere…

So to sum up, if you own an historicorgan but don't really want it, how abouta bit of altruism? Consider where it bestbelongs and consider offering it to anenthusiast at a reasonable price. If it mustgo on the open market, again, keep theprice reasonable. You never know, youmight just attract someone who neverthought he could afford such a thing. And,to the committee, how about that list?

48

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If you were to approach the keyframeof the Show Organ Society's ‘Mammoth’Gavioli and say "'Ere, Norman, could youplay the overture to "La Muette dePortici", please", he would probably look atyou as if you were mad. ‘La Muette dePortici’ is more familiarly known as

‘Masaniello’ after the hero of the piece, andit is by this name that thisoverture is known to organenthusiasts.

‘Masaniello’ was writtenby Daniel Francois EspritAuber and first performed inParis in 1828. Like manyother great composers, hismusical talents werediscovered early in his lifeand he could play manyinstruments at an early age.Thankfully, he chose not tofollow hisparents plans for him and he became acomposer.

Auber composed many operas andcomic operas between 1805 and 1869,with varying degrees of success, but for awhile he was to dominate the Frenchcomic opera scene to the same extent asthe French opera scene was dominated byGiacomo Meyerbeer. (We will look atMeyerbeer and organ music by othercontemporaries of Auber in a later article).

So popular was he, that he was made amember of the Legion d'Honeur in 1825,Napoleon III made him his ImperialMaitre de Chapelle in 1857 and both theroad leading to, and the nearest station to,the Paris Opera House are named afterhim. He was witty, kind and loved by the

French, but he became sick during thePrussian siege of Paris and died there in1871.

‘Masaniello’ was said to be Auber'sgreatest musical triumph. Several moresuccesses followed including ‘Le Cheval deBronze’, the Bronze Horse, in 1835, theoverture to which is the only other piece

of Auber's work to find it'sway onto the mechanicalorgan, as far as I can see.

Opera experts will tellyou that Auber is bestremembered for his works

‘The Black Domino’,‘FraDiavolo’ and ‘Gustave III’,but for us in the organ worldhe will always beremembered for the twoovertures we have.

To hear the tunes live, and you reallyshould request both at every opportunity,you can find ‘Masaniello’ on theMammoth Gavioli, Bill Hunt'sWonderland Marenghi and at Ted Reed's,where you can also hear ‘The BronzeHorse’, which has been arranged by KevinMeayers. The usual version of ‘Masniello’played is from Chiappa & Co.

I have not seen either on an organ CD,but Masaniello was available on theMammoth Gavioli LP "Famous Overturesand Marches" and on one of the lastavailable "Listen to Wonderland"cassettes. The Bronze Horse could be foundon Volume 4 of Duncan Price's 89-keylessGavioli. Either way, both overtures by this(now) little known composer are worth acareful listen.

50

Daniel Auber, January 29, 1782 -May 13, 1871. by Andy Hinds.

John Page raised some issues in the let-ters page of KF2-06 regarding the noticeunder the above heading whichappeared in KF1-06, and each pointraised is addressed as follows:-

1. The notice was unsigned, as is this one,as it is an official notice from the committee.

2. The membership figure reported byJohn Page to the Committee on 25thFebruary 2006 (his last report to thecommittee) was 922. Therefore the 89members he records as using the Forum isless than 10% of the membership as statedin the Notice.

3. The Committee sought legal advicebefore stating that the disclaimer would beinadequate if legal action was takenagainst the F.O.P.S. by a memberaggrieved by statements on the Forum.

4. It is neither constitutionally orethically possible for a Committeemember to request his/her vote to bereversed following the formal closure ofthe meeting at which the vote was taken,and the decision to close the Forumremains recorded as ‘unanimous’.

5. The future of the Forum will bereconsidered by the Committee at themeeting to be held in October 2006, asstated in the Notice.

51

IMPORTANT NOTICEF.O.P.S. Forum (F.O.P.S. Web Discussion Group.

EditorialYou may remember that your last

copy of the Key Frame was printed a littleearlier than usual due to the fact that I wastaking a month’s vacation in the USA.Unforunately, during my absence, therewas an unfortunate incident when theincorrect postage was used and many ofyou had to pay £1.04 to get your maga-zine from the Post Office. On my return Ihad no less than 27 letters and e-mailsadvising me of the problem. ALL of themwere written in a courteous and politemanner and I thank all of thosecorrespondents. Rowe the Printers inHayle, Cornwall also received severalletters and were contacted by theCommittee to discusss the matter. TheCommittee were impressed by themanner in which Rowe’s immediatelyaccepted responsibilty and madearrangements to rectify the problem, evengoing to the extent of placing an advert inthe World’s Fair and I thank them on yourbehalf for their efficiency in the matter.

One letter, however, did upset me, andRowe’s , a little. You will know who youare sir when I remind you that you usedthe word incompetence three times in theletter that was sent to the company, alsopointing out typsetting errors. Firstly, youshould check the errors as one of them wasnot incorrect. Secondly, I am the one whodoes ALL the typesetting and layout andalthough I do my best to find errors, I amnot always successful. That is down to me, not the Company. Lastly, I hadthought to suggest that since your eagleeye had found these errors, you might liketo take on the job of proof reading mytypesetting, then I noticed that you hadspelled incompetence incorrectly in every

instance! Perhaps an apology would be inorder.

It would appear that contributions tothis magazine are once again at a low ebb.Other than the last episode of AndyHind’s 35 year saga, and the promise ofan article about the Hooghuys firm,which has yet to materialise, there isnothing to hand for KF4-06. The last threeissues have contained very little that hasbeen sent in to me. Most of it comprisesarticles and items that have been beggedfrom people or other publications. Even asI write, I am racking my brains to try tofind enough material to fill the remainingfour or five pages so that KF3-06 can get onto the press next week. I don’t know howmany rallies have taken place this year orhow many of you have visited them, howmany members have pictures andhistories of instruments or can puttogether an interesting article but I doknow that very little comes to me.

New working practices and the factthat I am now working weekends as awedding photographer mean that I haveless time to spare in tracking downmaterial for the Key Frame so if you wantthe magazine to continue in its presentform, please help me by making acontribution to its contents or if you areaware of a source of a good article, pleaselet me know, or even sort it out for me.

Some of you will be aware that TonyHarrison, our Stock Controller, has notbeen too well of late and has had to go intohospital a couple of times. Tony with hiswife Maureen has done stirling work forthe Society over the years with the sales stand and has helped to addsubstantial funds to our bank balance. I amsure you will all join me in saying get wellsoon Tony. Dave Smith.

52

1

The Fair Organ Preservation Society President:

Mr R. A. Elliot

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PresidentMr. R. A.ElliottLinden Lea61 Church StreetNorthboroughPETERBOROUGHPE6 9BN

Vice Presidents:Mr D A ROBINSON39 Caistor RoadMARKET RASENLN8 3HYTel: 01673 843400

Mr F R GAMESON5, Harbour ViewBredon RoadTEWKESBURYGL2 5AZ

Mr J CRAWLEYOrchard End75c Putnoe LaneBEDFORDMK41 9AFTel: +44 (0)1234 270727

Mr C F JEFFERY48 Elm RoadEast SheenLONDON SW14 7JQ

Mr A E TAYLOR93 Pennine RoadWoodleySTOCKPORTSK6 1JX

Australia Representative:Mr J R ELLIS19 Oaks RoadTHIRLMERENew South Wales 2572AUSTRALIATel: +61 (0)2 4681 9237Fax: +61 (0)2 4681 9559E-mail: richard.ellis@rexnord.com

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Public Relations Officer:Kevin Meayersc/o Unit 1,28, Plantation RoadAMERSHAMHP6 6HJE-mail kevin.meayers @btopenworld.com

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Old Glory CorrespondentMr. N. WILLIAMSHarry French CourtAshby RoadLOUGHBOROUGHLE11 3UNE-mail:organs@nickwilliams.net

Junior Co-ordinatorMr R Hill19 Greenhill RoadKetteringNN15 7LWTel: 01536 523603Email robertarthurhill@yahoo.co.uk

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