Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
Philipps
serial or work Nr. ???? stamped on chassis.
- Revolver Mechanism (roll changer) Nr. 306.
- Date or date code cast into piano harp: 3.12.09
- Integral case and chassis format, with animated scenic effects.
- 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: 10 ft.
Width: 6 ft. 7 in.
Depth: 3 ft. 6 in.
Shipping weight: 2000 lbs.
61 Note Musical Scale:
- A high grade (??-note) Piano, with Mandolin attachment
- 42 Violins (30 wood violin & 12 viola pipes with brass freins)
- 30 Violoncellos (original substitution of wood harmonic
flute/piccolo pipes)
- 12 Violas (wood viola pipes with brass freins)
- Xylophone, 30 bars (reiterating action)
- Snare drum (reiterating action)
- Bass drum, with cymbal
- Kettle drum (tympani effect using two beaters)
- Triangle (reiterating action)
- Tambourine (reiterating action)
- Castanets (reiterating action)
Special Lighting Effects:
- Centered in the top center portion of the case is an animated scenic
effect. It consists of a Roman fountain scene painted on thin, vellum
type paper, stretched over a wood frame, much like a painter's canvas,
and protected on the front side by a sheet of glass. On the back side of
the vellum paper, all portions of the scene are blocked out with by an
opaque black paint, except for those areas of the fountain where back
lighted special animation effects are desired. Immediately behind the
transparent portions of the scene, sturdily mounted to the chassis, is a
wooden framework that supports a series of electric light bulbs mounted
in several vertically spaced levels, and which are located between a
pair of wide, wooden rollers. When the instrument is operating, the soft
warmth of the electric lights illuminates the fountain from the
backside, as the two round-belt motivated wood rollers, which support a
continuous fabric belt made of a loosely woven material similar to
cheese cloth, are caused to move so that the belting facing the scene is
descending. Dabbed on the cloth belt are numerous elongated splotches of
thick black paint, which, due to the electric illumination inside the
cloth belt and its movement, give the effect of water rippling down over
the various levels of the fountain. Enhancing the novelty of the
animation, a small rotating drum pinned to operate three mercury-pot
type electrical switches sequences the various electric lamps situated
behind the fountain portion of the scene.
Notes:
- The piano bass is strung with two unison strings, with a third
string an octave lower, for a total of three strings for each bass note.
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
Dance Hall, Florida (presumed original location).
During the years from 1965 to 1970, Otto Carlsen, the next owner of the
PianOrchestra, mentioned that he had purchased it from an old dance hall in
Florida. A date of August, 1910, was found scribbled in pencil inside one of
the front access doors, the left door, I think, leading to speculation that
this date might be when the instrument was set up for operation in its first
commercial location.
Circa 1964
Otto Carlsen collection, Monrovia, California.
Otto
Carlsen said that he had purchased the Wurlitzer style 40 PianOrchestra from
an old dance hall in Florida. He learned of it from a collector in
Jacksonville, Florida: a Mr. Ed Glover. After the purchase and shipping
arrangements had been made, the PianOrchestra finally arrived, after what
seemed to Otto to be a very long time. Upon examination, the bottom of the
case was crammed with several inches of accumulated debris, including dust,
gum and candy wrappers, and crumpled up, empty popcorn bags, plus other odds
and ends interesting or useful to mice and rats. The furniture case, as well
as the interior mechanisms, were in rather poor condition, but intact. There
was a clearly legible date of August, 1910, scribbled in pencil on the
inside of one of the tall, very narrow front case doors, the left door, as I
remember. Otto speculated that this date might have been the date the
PianOrchestra was set up for operation by its first owner (other than
Philipps or Wurlitzer).
To Otto's great disappointment, the main valve chest was full of
termites, so he built a new main chest of his own design. Although Otto
greatly admired the beautiful construction and exquisite craftsmanship of
the original Philipps main chest, and, in particular, the careful detail of
the valves and valve plates, he nonetheless opted to fabricate a new chest,
discarding the original valves and plates. He based the new construction
upon the Ampico valve system, because, he said, "it was much simpler to
build it that way, than to duplicate the original design." Another
disappointment, that could have easily been avoided, was that the shippers
basically ruined most of the original metal tubing in the machine. The
tracker bar bundle of tubing leading to the main chest, as well as the
tubing between the main chest to the upper pipe chest, had been folded in
half, for whatever reason, badly crimping and/or breaking all the tubing.
This made it virtually useless, except as a pattern, a template useful for
re-tubing the PianOrchestra as restoration progress permitted. Since Otto
had no source for similar metal tubing, he fitted the PianOrchestra chests
with metal nipples in order to accommodate readily available neoprene
tubing.
Included
with the PianOrchestra was a special "REWINDING" sign that hung near the top
center of the case. It was maybe 4 o 5 inches deep, 16 inches wide and 6 to
8 inches high. It was obviously just an attachment; not something
specifically made to fit the style 40 PianOrchestra. The little sign's
wooden housing, deep enough to facilitate standard-base size electric
lights, was in the same style and finish as the PianOrchestra case, which
was a thin black lacquer finish with a white/silver glaze filling the open
pores of the Oak veneer and paneling. The front of the sign's wooden case
was fitted with a decorative and elaborately perforated metal screen, with a
pattern of little holes that spelled out the word "REWINDING." There were
two electric lights behind the perforated screen.
Otto Carlsen never restored the sign, nor did he ever attempt to use it
with the PianOrchestra. It lay around his shop gathering dust for years. I
remember inspecting it many times. Once, at my insistence, Otto lighted it
up. The punched design on the metal screen consisted of at least two sized
holes. The larger pattern of holes, each hole maybe 1/4 inch in diameter,
spelled out the word "REWINDING." Smaller holes, maybe 1/8 inch in diameter,
or slightly less, made up a decorative design that flowed around the word
"REWINDING." Up close, the lighted sign was difficult to read, with many
little points of light -- with naturally much brighter dots of light
directly in front of the light bulb filaments. At first glance, the pattern
of bright and dark dots seemed to make little sense. At a distance, however,
after a moment of study, it was readable.
Apparently it had been rigged up to light up whenever the machine was
rewinding, advising dance patrons that the machine was still working
properly, but rewinding the music roll. Philipps Pianellas/Wurlitzer
PianOrchestras with a roll-changer are relatively slow in rewinding music
rolls, so perhaps the sign, Otto speculated, kept patrons from kicking the
machine, since the front bottom of the case had been quite beaten around the
toe-line. Neither the sign's case or its perforated screen appeared to be
home-built. Rather, the whole assembly was of professional quality, the
punched metal screen clearly made from a well thought-out and constructed
die, causing Otto to wonder if such signs were offered by Wurlitzer or one
of its dealers as an optional accessory. However, no printed reference of
such an attachment has yet been noted, to my knowledge, nor do I know of
anyone else who has ever known of another such electric sign. The little
"REWINDING" sign eventually found its way to Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., and
was sold to a collector as a novelty item.
There had been extensive damage inflicted on the delicate, Roman fountain
art-scene, which was painted on a thin, vellum type paper, its edges glued
to a wood framework. The back side of the painting was blacked out, except
for certain portions of the fountain itself, which were lighted from behind.
All that protected the delicate paper was a sheet of glass over its front
side. According to Otto, the shippers had used part of the case as a packing
crate. Due to a sloppy and inept job of packing and crating, during shipping
a carelessly directed nail in the make-shift packing crate was thought to
have contributed to the shattering of the painting's protective glass
covering. The shattering glass extensively cut and damaged the delicate
"velum" paper painting. The nearly destroyed painting was stored in a shoe
box, which was later given to an artistic friend, and local coin-piano
collector, Don Rand, who then painstakingly pieced together the shredded
painting. Not knowing what else to do, Don glued the collection of torn
pieces onto a glass panel. This not only held the shattered vellum in place,
but it protected the finished work, too. Then, once all the surviving shreds
were in place, the more ragged tear lines were touched up, filling in the
jagged cracks with paint. For the few small areas still devoid of any
surviving vellum, the scene was essentially filled in and completed by
painting in the missing details on the glass itself. The belt driven
lighting effects behind the painting had not been restored, nor did Otto
ever restore them. But it did not matter much to Otto, because without any
back-lighting the scene was indeed beautiful to the eye. However, if
back-lighting was applied, the extensive damage to the painting was
immediately obvious, the newly painted portions and cracks transmitting
light quite differently than the still intact fragments of original vellum
paper.
Circa 1967
Jim Miller Collection, Reed City, Michigan.
Jim Miller of Reed City, Michigan, began forming a fair sized collection
of mechanical music machines in the late 1960s, and bought the PianOrchestra
from Otto Carlsen, with Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., acting as an intermediary.
Mr. Miller was already a collector of modern, narrow gage railroad
equipment. Wallace McPeak, of Mesquite, Texas, also supplied instruments for
the Miller collection.
Less than a year after buying the PianOrchestra, Mr. Miller, who was in
the aluminum business and was in the process of selling out to Olin
Industries, decided to reduce the size of his musical collection. Hathaway &
Bowers, Inc., bought the style 40 PianOrchestra.
Circa 1968
Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., Santa Fe Springs, California.
Back in Southern California, the style 40 PianOrchestra was put on
display in the main showroom of Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., Santa Fe Springs,
California.
While on display, the belt driven lighting effects for the animated Roman
fountain scene were finally restored and made functional.
October 1968
J.B. Nethercutt, Nethercutt collection, Sylmar, California.
Before
the PianOrchestra was shipped from Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., to J.B.
Nethercutt's Sylmar, California, facility, the fragile Roman fountain scene
was replaced by an original painting of the exact same type, taken from the
front panel remains of another, less fortunate, Wurlitzer style 40 Mandolin
PianOrchestra. Below is the story about this other Wurlitzer style 40
Mandolin PianOrchestra, the front section rescued from a junk store in
Colorado.
About 1965 Warren Dale and his wife, Betty, were rummaging through a
large junk/antique store in Buena Vista, Colorado, when his wife noticed an
interesting looking "back-bar," or something of the kind. She immediately
called for Warren to come see what it was. Warren immediately recognized it
as the large front center section of a Wurlitzer style 40 Mandolin
PianOrchestra, complete with the fragile center Roman fountain scene.
Without hesitation, Warren asked to talk with the owner of the shop, who
said that the rest of the machine had been dumped years earlier. Warren
bought the front panel with the original painted scene, which was in near
perfect condition.
Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., bought the style 40 PianOrchestra center panel
in 1968 from Warren Dale and carefully removed the undamaged, original
painting, replacing the damaged one in the Nethercutt style 40
PianOrchestra. Later, the style 40 front panel from Buena Vista, Colorado,
with the damaged but repaired Roman fountain scene from Nethercutt's
machine, was sold to Bob Adams, San Francisco, California.
