4/23 WONDER MORTON THEATRE PIPE ORGAN
At Loew’s Jersey
Quick Facts
4 Manuals / 23 Ranks / 1799 Pipes
7 tuned percussions
9 non tuned percussions
10 sound effects (toy counter)
Pedal – 18 pipe stops, 4 percussion stops, 3 couplers
Accompaniment Manual – 35 pipe stops, 9 percussion stops, 1 coupler
Great Manual – 71 pipe stops, 5 percussion stops, 4 couplers
Orchestral Manual – 27 pipe stops, 4 percussion stops, 3 couplers
Solo Manual – 26 pipe stops, 5 percussion stops, 1 coupler
TOTAL STOPS — 177 pipe stops, 27 percussion stops, 12 couplers
Tremulants- 12 trems controlled by 10 pistons
Console operation – Air & pneumatics.
Second Touch — Accompaniment & Great Manuals
Ten divisional combination pistons for each manual
Twenty general combination pistons
Blower – 25 HP Spencer Orgoblo
Electronic relay – Z-tronics
Original Builder – Robert Morton Pipe Organ Company, Van Nuys, CA.
First installation 1929 – Loew’s Paradise, Grand Concourse, Bronx, N.Y.
Second installation 2008 – Loew’s Jersey, Journal Square, Jersey City, N.J.
Restoration/Installation timeframe: 1997-2008 = 11 Years
Restoration/Installation Crew Chief: Bob Martin
Crew Members Past & Present: 21 individuals (Several are now deceased.)
Technical Advisor: Brant Duddy
Chamber Layout: Bob Martin
Console Stop Specification Advisors: Clark Wilson & Simon Gledhill
Console Decorative Paint & Gold Leaf: Barbara Meise, ArtBuilders, Inc.
Donated Tuning: Bob Martin
Voicing/Tonal Finishing: Ed Zollman
Donated Moving Services: Bruce Pearson, ABC Movers via Sy Mendel
Donated Fork Lift Services: Suburban Fork Lift, Inc. Prospect Park, N.J. via Sy Mendel
ATOS Recognition: Organ Registered as a Level I Heritage Instrument
ATOS Crew Chief Certificate of service awardee: Bob Martin
“Wedding Cake” Console Decoration with Original Bench and Music Desk
Original Loew’s Jersey Rotating Lift
Remote Wireless Slave Keyboard plays the Orchestral Manual.
GSTOS founder Bob Balfour arranged for the acquisition of the instrument. He paid part of the purchase price out of his own pocket, and the rest was treated as a donation to GSTOS from the seller. GSTOS then spent $80,000 on parts and outside services to restore the organ using donated labor from the volunteer organ crew. (A sister organ, restored and installed entirely by professionals in a California theatre cost over half a million dollars.)
One of 5 virtually identical organs installed in the Loews NYC area Wonder Theatres in 1929, it is the ONLY one playing in a Wonder Theatre today.
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