Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
Philipps
serial or work Nr. ???? stamped on chassis.
- Revolver Mechanism (roll changer) #???
- Date or date code cast into piano harp: ??????.
- 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 Philipps Pianella Mandolinen (P.M.) or Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra rolls.
- Tracker Scale: Pianella Mandolinen (P.M.)
- Height: 8 ft. 6 1/2 in.
Width: 4 ft. 10 in.
Depth: 2 ft. 6 in.
Shipping weight: 1,500 lbs.
61 Note Musical Scale:
- Piano (61-note), with Mandolin attachment
- 1 rank of 42 pipes consisting of:
25 Violins (wood violin pipes with brass freins)
10 Violas (wood viola pipes with brass freins)
7 Violoncellos (wood violoncello pipes with rollers)
- Xylophone, 30 bars (reiterating action)
- Snare Drum (reiterating action)
- Bass Drum, with cymbal
Special Lighting Effects:
- Centered in the top center portion of the case is an animated scenic
effect. Depicting the garden of an Italian villa, featuring a spouting
fountain, the scene is 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 area
of the fountain, sturdily mounted to the chassis, is a wooden framework
that supports several electric light bulbs, 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
descends. 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 the
fountain.
Chronological History:
Circa 1910/12
Manufactured by J.D. Philipps & Sons, Bockenheim, Frankfurt-am-Main,
Germany.
Circa 1910/12
Original location in France unknown.
Circa 19??
Alain Vian collection, Paris, France.
Alain Vian had a small collection of automatic musical instruments for
sale that he had gathered from various locations in France. They were stored
away in several dank, rather dirty locations, jammed together with a variety
of other old items.
Circa 1969
Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., Santa Fe Springs, California.
The PianOrchestra was purchased from Alain Vian, Paris, France. Hathaway
& Bowers, Inc., purchased a number of instruments from Alain, and upon
crating had the lot of them shipped to the USA. Upon receipt in Santa Fe
Springs, they were uncrated in the back parking lot. The crates were stuffed
with finely shredded wood excelsior to protect the valuable contents. As the
packing excelsior was pulled out of the crates and thrown in piles, I
remember watching in astonishment at the streams of tiny bugs, probably some
kind of lice, who's little bodies glistened in the bright sunlight as they
scurried up the arms of the anyone touching the packing material or the
entombed orchestrions.
When we had finished unpacking everything the piles of packing excelsior
were thrown back into the empty crates, the crates, excelsior, and any
remaining bugs then pushed to the back side of the parking lot, far away
from the Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., showroom and shop building. Next, I told
the workmen to go home and take a bath. I did the same. Needless to say, the
little Pianella/PianOrchestra was thoroughly aired and cleaned.
Much later, after the instrument had been allowed to become slowly
acclimated to the lower humidity levels of Southern California, loose tubing
connections were repaired, all manifolds were tightened and minor regulation
was performed in an attempt to get the instrument in some kind of playing
order. These efforts proved nearly fruitless, however, as the instrument,
without major restoration effort, would only function in a feeble way. It
was put on display and sold as an unrestored instrument.
Circa 1969
Miller collection, Connecticut.
Dr. Miller drove out to Southern California in his flat-bed truck to get
the instrument. It was hoisted onto the truck bed by the Hathaway and
Bowers, Inc., shop crew and laid flat on its back. Dr. Miller meticulously
wrapped the PianOrchestra in a heavy tarpaulin, tying it down carefully, for
the long trip to his home in Connecticut. He eventually did enough
restoration work and/or adjusting to get the PianOrchestra into fair playing
condition.
Circa 1991
Trager collection, Illinois.
The Model 38 Pianella was kept in a vintage post
and beam wooden out-building by Dr. Miller, opposite his huge 110-key
Gavioli Fair Organ. The building was in good condition, but yet small
critters did often manage to get in and scatter some nuts in the bottom of
the music machines. After Tim Trager bought the handsome "little" Model 38
Pianella, Dr. Miller quipped to him that now he would have to "clean out the
chipmunk's stored nuts every year."
Currently the instrument is unrestored with the exception of the
soundboard and pinblock, which have been restored.
