Installed December 1925 at the then-stupendous cost of $72,000 a four-manual twenty-eight rank pipe organ, it was one of the largest instruments the Rudoph Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York had built up to that time.
This is a map of our Wurlitzer organ, showing how all the bells and whistles are laid out.
Michael Shea
(1859-1934)
Michael Shea was one of the last of the real showman of the old tradition. With his name the growth of vaudeville in America is inseparably linked; the greatest star of stage and screen during the past half century knew and respected him; much of the glamor and color and zest of the most robust period of the American variety stage clung to Michael Shea and made him a more remarkable figure, in most respects, than the most famous of the star he hired and put upon his stages. He was a peculiar titan in the business of make-believe, a two-fisted Irishman who dealt in lights and laughter, gaiety and song.
Michael Shea was born April 17, 1859 in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada* son ofDaniel and Mary Griffin Shea.
*It is disputed as to whether or not Michael Shea was born in the First Ward or in St. Catherines, but sometime shortly after his birth the family definitely settled in the First Ward. The young Shea attended both public and parochial schools in the Ward and as early as age 15 went to work on the docks as a laborer, much like the other young men in the Ward.
He took his earnings and borrowed $2,500 from a friend to open Shea's Music Hall in 1882. His first theatre would succumb to a fire 11 years later, but Shea would rise up to create an empire of entertainment in Buffalo, giving his name to no less than a dozen theatres. Performers clamored to get a run at Shea's theatres. To most of Shea's Buffalo though, Michael Shea could be found standing at the back of the theatre, wearing an old hat, a Mackinstosh (waterproof raincoat) always seeing how his show would "go over".
Michael Shea was known for his generosity.
To the employees of the Shea's theatres, he was "The Old Man" and many had stayed with the Shea's theatres for more than 25 years (although it was a safe bet that he had fired each of those veterans at least once every year as well). One young usher, not recognizing Mr. Shea, told him to put out his cigar in the theatre. Michael Shea took him to the manager's office, insisting on promoting the young man.
"Downtown Buffalo was not long without a sign that spelled out S-h-e-a and proclaimed that refreshment and amusement were on tap within. The people of vaudeville stage are nomads and they wander ceaselessly from metropolis to tank town, from stage to stage the country over. Their contracts are brief and hurried and they find little time to bestow their affection in passing. And yet Michael Shea, working through many years with hordes of these minstrels and troubadours, left an indeliable impression on each of them. Indeed, in the brightest days of vaudeville there was no such town as Buffalo .. they called it Sheatown".
The Buffalo Times
This advertisement was taken out by a cast of performers to show their appreciation.
"If you've got the show, they'll come in."
Michael Shea's 'theory of amusement'.
"My memory of him goes back to the days of vaudeville. The old tradition used to be that if you were in love and wanted to get married, Buffalo would be the place because Mike was always there to help you. If you were feeling rotten and wanted a rest cure, Buffalo was the place because Mike Shea was there to help you. No matter what you did backstage, your friend Michael Shea was on hand. That's what made Buffalo a good show town. Michael did more for every trouper, including myself, than any other man."
Eddie Cantor
(1892-1964))
All the Bells and Whistles"
Michael Shea loved strings and the Buffalo Wurlitzer organ contains seven ranks of them. Quite a large number for an organ of this type. The pedal organ is one of the largest to be found anywhere with twelve ranks of its own. Among the ranks of pipes is a gorgeous-sounding sixteen foot tibia plena (8' open wooden flute). The smallest pipe is no bigger than a pencil while the largest of the pedal pipes are thirty-two-feet long, huge enough for a good-sized man to sit in. Virtually every instrument is a symphony orchestra represented in this organ and when full organ is played it sounds very much like a complete orchestra.
The massive instrument is located in six large chambers, three on each of the theatre. It contains a complete set of percussion stops, commonly known as the "toy counter". Included in this section is a large xylophone, marimba, harp, chimes, cymbal, kettle, snare and bass drums, orchestra bells plus the usual array of sounds that were initially used to accompany silent films such as auto horn, boat whistle, Chinese gong, bird whistle etc. Sitting in the lower box on the right hand side of the stage is a large grand piano which is played from the organ console.
The original voicing of the organ* was done personally by Joseph Carruthers and James Nuttall, the company's two major voices. Carruthers was the best diaphone man in the business while Nuttall was a top reed voicer. Both men were proteges of Robert Hope-Jones. Rarely did these two men leave the factory to go out into the field and voice the various organs, themselves. Their assistants usually performed this task. The fact that Carruthers and Nuttall did the voicing themselves is one reason why this organ sounds so great; the other reason is that the instrument and the room seem to be perfectly matched.
*Voicing of the organ is the intricate process of adjusting the physical components of an organ's pipes to control their tone, volume, color and speaking speed. Often performed by a highly skilled artisan, it transforms a collection of manufactured pipes into a cohesive artistic musical instrument designed to complement the acoustics of its specific space. While tuning simply adjusts a pipe so it plays the correct pitch, voicing shapes how that note sounds. This meticulous process involves several key aspects: Timbre (Tone Color): Voicers adjust the brightness, darkness and warmth of a pipe. They do this by manipulating the size of the pipe's mouth, altering the thickness of its upper lips, or carefully making small cuts called "nicks" in the pipe's interior. Speech: (Attack): This refers to the initial transient sound the pipe makes when air first enters, much like the consonants in human speech. Voicers regulate how quickly or slowly a pipe "speaks" so it articulates clearly in a room. Volume and Balance: Every single pipe must be adjusted to ensure one stop (a distinct set of pipes) doesn't overpower another. Voicers adjust the airflow at the base of the pipe (the toe hole) and the width of the air channel (the flueway) to balance the volume across the entire keyboard. Acoustic Adaptation: Because every space has unique reverberation and geometry, the exact same organ will require different voicing in a grand cathedral versus a small chapel.
On digital or electronic organs, "voicing" refers to a similar concept where technicans adjust the digital parameters (such as harmonic content, digital wind pressure and tremulants* to simulate traditional pipe styles or emulate the acoustics of various historic venues.
*A tremulant is a device on a pipe organ which varies the wind supply to the pipes. This causes their amplitude and pitch to fluctuate.
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