The Elsinore Theater has been a significant
entertainment venue for the Salem area since its construction
in 1926. It was known for silent movies accompanied by
a large Wurlitzer theater organ.
The heart of the Historic Elsinore Theatre in
Salem isn't in its Tudor Gothic lobby or gilded auditorium.
Instead, you have to go up an extension ladder through a trap
door and walk up three flights of rickety wooden stairs, stepping
into a hot, claustrophobic loft over the stage.
Here is the home of the Parks Murdock Mighty
Wurlitzer Organ. The loft, lined
with tongue and groove cedar, is packed with two tons of organ
equipment, 24 ranks or sets of pipes for
1,644 total pipes. Largely invisible to the audience, the organ
is most visible in the organ loft, where four chambers are packed
with pipes and instruments.
When organist/house manager Rick Parks sits
down at the organ console, the light opera sounds of Andrew
Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" thunder in magnificence,
and the jazz classic "Tuxedo Junction" swings into elegant
but dominating mode. The sound seems
to pour from everywhere, as well it might for the biggest
theater organ in the Pacific Northwest, rivaled only by the
Paramount Theater in Oakland, Calif., on the West Coast.
"It's almost like being in a cockpit of a 747,
Parks said of playing the console. "I can't talk to somebody
while I'm playing."
The Elsinore organ - which has been under
construction for more than 20 years at the theater; cobbled
together from bits and parts of other organs all over the
country - is not just remarkable for its size and power.
It's also notable for the fact that it is mainly
the creation and contribution of Parks, 27, and his father,
Clayton Parks, 69. Now valued at around
$250,000, the organ was given to Stage, Inc., by the Parks,
who have contributed most of the labor to build the organ.
"I tell people my truck is up here, my new
home is up here," Clayton said.
The 1925-26 Elsinore, built as a vaudeville/movie
house, originally had its own organ, but as with many old
movie theaters, the organ was removed in 1962. Dennis
Guthrie, son of the builder of the theater, A. B. Guthrie,
incorporated the organ into his Portland home. The organ was
dismantled and "parted out" 10 years later, its parts sold
around the world to complete other organs. The
original was 13 ranks, 850 popes, considerably smaller than
the current organ. In Oregon, only the
Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay, which opened in 1925, still
has its original theater organ.
The Elsinore's new organ got its start in
1996 when Clayton, formerly in radar operations for
the Federal Aviation Administration, became smitten with organs.
"What it helps to be, if you're going to do
something like this, is to be a millionaire, be crazy, and
have an understanding wife," he said.
Although Clayton plays the piano rather than
the organ, his son was drawn to playing the organ at an early
age, taking lessons since he was 11. The
organ started at 250 pipes in the basement of the Parks' West
Salem Home but out-grew that space after 20 years. "We had
too many components," Rick said. "We wanted to put it in a
place where the public could hear it." Then-owner Tom Moyer
loved the organ and encouraged the Parks to move it to the
Elsinore, where he asked Rick Parks to play it before movies.
After Stage, a nonprofit, purchased the theater, the Parks
gave it to the organization, primarily to qualify for a $60,000
grant from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust to expand the
organ. Rick joined the Stage staff as part-time house manager
1993, taking the job full-time in 1995.
Now, after years of work, the Parks are drawing close to
finishing their labor of love following some recent additions.
"We're almost done," Rick said, adding, "I mean, we never
finish; we're always building."
The Parks in 2001 added a set of six
diaphones, or foghorns, mounted at the back of the stage,
which rise to about 10 feet. These 1918 creations came from
Kansas City, Mo. The console, by contrast, came from the Paramount
Theatre in St. Petersburg. Fla., by way of Los Angeles.
Parts typically have come from all over the
country, and some even came from the original Elsinore organ.
The foundation chamber, at the south end,
includes louder pipes and a base drum, including parts from
the former Organ Grinder in Portland; the solo chamber, with
the solo voices, features pipes, snare drums and castanets;
the main chamber, or complimental voices, is primarily pipes;
and the unenclosed chamber has percussion pipes. The pipes
are made of lead, tin, and various kinds of wood. Also
housed in the unenclosed chamber are the relays and switches,
part of the new computerized relay system. If
anything can be improved now, Rick said an upgraded computer
system would be a major asset.
The organ has already proved to be an asset to the Elsinore,
where it is featured at weddings, monthly silent movie showings,
and special events.
For Rick Parks, there is no place he would rather be, even
though he was aimed at a better-paying career in the state
social service system.
"I have fun at it," he said of the organ.
Bibliography:
Statesman Journal newspaper, June, 2001, "The Sounds
of Elisnore" by Ron Cowan
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