Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
#937
stamped on top of the piano frame (visible only when piano is removed).
- Revolver Mechanism (roll changer) Nr. 438 (replacement for missing
unit)
- Date or date code cast into piano harp: 5.7.10.
- Integral case and chassis format.
- Standard 6 station, friction drive revolver mechanism (roll
changer).
- Round belt/chain & sprocket reduction for feeder (pump) crankshaft.
- Pneumatic lock and cancel register controls.
- Uses Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra or Philipps Pianella
Mandolinen (P.M.) rolls.
- Tracker Scale: Pianella Mandolinen (P.M.)
- Height: (per catalogue) 10 ft. 6 in.; Actual 10 ft. 9 in.
Width: 6 ft. 6 in.
Depth (per catalogue): 3 ft. 10 in.; Actual: 4 ft. 5 in.
Shipping weight: 2600 lbs.
61 Note Musical Scale:
-
Piano
(??-note), with Mandolin attachment
- 49 Violins (wood violin & viola pipes with brass freins)
- 30 Violoncellos (wood violoncello pipes with rollers)
- 30 Piccolos (4 ft. wood harmonic flute pipes)
- Xylophone, 30 bars (reiterating action)
- Chimes, 13 bars (orchestra bells)
- Snare drum (reiterating action)
- Bass drum, with cymbal
- Kettle drum (tympani effect using two beaters)
- Triangle (reiterating action)
- Tambourine (reiterating action)
- Castanets (reiterating action)
Automated Birdcage:
-
The
birdcage, identified by Christian Bailly as a Bontems, is 20 inches high
and 12 inches in diameter, and consists of a standard spring motor
powered unit with two mechanically operated birds. The spring motor
mechanism is tripped for one cycle of play (lasting approximately 30
seconds) during the start of the PianOrchestra music roll rewind cycle.
The overall music roll rewind time is approximately two minutes.
Chronological History:
Circa 1909/10
Manufactured by J.D. Philipps & Sons, Bockenheim, Frankfurt-am-Main,
Germany.
Circa 1909/10
Imported and sold by Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, New York.
Circa 1910 to 1931
Presumed initial customer site: Brooklyn, N.Y., or the Coney Island area.
1931
Acquired by George Messig, Brooklyn, N.Y.
George Messig, who had a piano business dating back to the 1880s, was a
piano tuner and technician located in Brooklyn, New York. It is fairly
certain that he knew of the PianOrchestra due to his normal business
activities, servicing the PianOrchestra while in its original commercial
location, which is said to have been in a dance pavilion on Coney Island. It
is unlikely that it was in still in use when Mr. Messig acquired it,
whereupon he dismantled the machine, wrapping some of the parts in
newspapers, which were dated 1931. When restoration was commenced by Messrs.
Joe Hanulec and Walter Kehoe in 1981, many parts were still wrapped in the
1931 newspapers. George Messig stored the machine completely disassembled in
a lean-to shed at his home. The dirt floor and leaking shed roof took its
toll, with wood rot damaging many parts of the case. All the art glass and
beveled mirrors survived the shed and subsequent moves without being
significantly damaged. The decorative self-playing birdcage placed in the
center niche was stored indoors and did not suffer from neglect as badly.
George Messig passed away sometime prior to 1968, the year his family
sold off his business assets, along with the Wurlitzer PianOrchestra. At the
estate sale, John Ford of "Ford's Piano Supply" purchased the Wurlitzer
orchestrion.
1968
Purchased from the George Messig estate by John Ford of "Ford's Piano
Supply."
John Ford, the owner of "Ford's Piano Supply," located at 4898 Broadway
in New York City, purchased the PianOrchestra from George Messig's estate
sale in 1968. John Ford had known George Messig personally, acquiring other
memorabilia relating to automatic music at the sale. Reportedly, Mr. Ford
wanted to set the PianOrchestra up in his home, but it did not have a
sufficiently high ceiling. He never reassembled or attempted to restore the
PianOrchestra, possibly due to its poor overall condition, although he had
both the room and facility at his place of business to do so. John Ford
never saw the restored machine, although he was invited to do so.
As an interesting side note, John Ford related that George Messig at one
time rebuilt upright pianos for $125. This price included moving the piano
to his shop, refinishing the exterior, installing new ivories, new whippens,
butts, shanks, and hammers, plus two tunings and, then, moving the piano
back to the owner's location.
1970
Purchased by Walter Kehoe, Syosset, N.Y., and Phil Crouteau, Brooklyn, New
York.
In
1970 Walter Kehoe and Phil Crouteau purchased the instrument from John Ford.
Phil Crouteau was in the business of tuning and restoring pipe organs,
Walter Kehoe working with him part time.The PianOrchestra was thought to be complete when bought from Mr. Ford, even
though it was a "big grab bag of pieces" and there was no guarantee that all
the parts were there. It was later discovered that many parts were missing.
A large group of people had attended the Messig estate sale, with many loose
and separated PianOrchestra components being carelessly sold off to
individual buyers. So, the hunt for the missing PianOrchestra pieces began,
with Walter Kehoe attending as many "Music Box Society" meetings as
possible, trying to find out who had attended the George Messig sale. He
tracked down many of parts original to the style 33-A PianOrchestra, and
eventually all the missing parts needed except one, the pneumatic lock &
cancel register unit. It was a critical part, controlling precisely what
musical effects were to play, the loud and soft expression and all the
trapwork effects. No register unit was ever found.
1974
Owners become Walter Kehoe and Joe Hanulec.
Joe
Hanulec of Shoreham, Long Island, New York, became a partner with Walter
Kehoe in the PianOrchestra project in 1974. Both Joe Hanulec and his wife,
Judy, had their own restoration business called the "Pitch and Time Shoppe,"
which, in addition to the larger pneumatic instruments, specialized in
repairing music boxes and clocks. Joe Hanulec had been commissioned to
rebuild a Welte player grand belonging to Phil Crouteau, which led to Joe
Hanulec meeting Walter Kehoe. Before the Welte restoration was complete Phil
Crouteau died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving Joe Hanulec the
opportunity to become half owner in the Wurlitzer style 33-A PianOrchestra.
The
restoration work commenced in earnest during 1981. Walter Kehoe and Joe
Hanulec did ninety-nine percent of the restoration work; devoting one day of
almost every weekend for ten years, with some large breaks for certain
domestic requirements. One major delay was the conversion of Joe Hanulec's
attached garage into a room that was large enough to suitably house the
assembled PianOrchestra.
The original piano action was disassembled, cleaned, and carefully
refitted with new felt bushings, butts, and hammers. Another challenge was
the ranks of wooden pipes that needed to be reassembled. This was a test of
patience and endurance. There were over 700 pieces that had to be sorted out
and carefully glued back together. How the puzzle of pieces had to fit
together was a judgment call, determined by old glue patterns and eyeballing
the size of the many similar looking wooden parts. All the pipes are
original except for the 15 that were missing, and that have since been
replaced with new ones.
Since
the lock and cancel register unit was missing, another similar unit was
located in California. It belonged to a Wurlitzer style 32 Concert
PianOrchestra in the Jerry Cohen collection, Studio City, California.
Jerry's collection suffered an unfortunate and devastating fire in 1979,
badly damaging the style 32 PianOrchestra. Jerry Cohen gave permission to
photocopy and make drawings of the damaged, but basically intact register
unit. The replacement register control unit for the 33-A PianOrchestra was
duplicated from scratch, with over 300, oftentimes intricate, pieces that
had to be carefully crafted.
The
roll changer was missing, so a loose Philipps three-roll revolver mechanism
was bought from Terry Hathaway circa 1974. Then, in 1986, just prior to
fitting the little three-roll changer into the PianOrchestra, Joe Hanulec
received a call from a friend, Fran Meyer, who worked for William (Bill)
Edgerton's Mechanical Music Center, located in Darien, Connecticut. Fran
informed Joe that they had recently purchased the remains of a piano
technician's shop, which included the kind of Philipps six-roll changer that
was needed for the PianOrchestra.
The xylophone was found in New Jersey, and the birdcage belonged to a
collector located in Cobbleskill, New York. Despite the collector being a
close friend of Joe Hanulec, and a former Long Islander, too, it took 15
years before Joe Hanulec was able to talk his friend into selling the
birdcage. In late 1991, just in time for the East Coast Musical Box Society
Chapter meeting in January of 1992, the birdcage finally became part of the
PianOrchestra once again. More recently, the birdcage was restored, with the
metal cage itself gold plated, the birds re-feathered and the base gilded.
This total restoration of the bird cage was done by Jere Ryder of
Automusique, Summit, New Jersey.
2022
Ownership Unknown
By early 2022, the Wurlitzer Style 33-A PianOrchestra was offered for sale through the Classic Auto Mall, a large consignment house specializing in classic automobiles and other collectibles. The Classic Auto Mall is located in southeastern Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia.
