I looked through my collection of original band organ catalogs to
study the history of the words "Band Organ".  After looking through the
catalogs and old literature, I believe that these words were derived
from the term "Military Band Organ" which was originally used to
describe brass trumpet cylinder organs.  The word "military" was
eventually dropped by those in the trade who used the organs and the
instruments became known as just "band organs".  Also, American band
organ history was tied more to skating rinks than to fairgrounds.

Turn-of-the-century American carnivals were primitive by English
standards.  America did not share the history of traveling bioscopes
or showmen engines which were necessary to move and power the large
traveling fairground shows with large fair organs.  Consequently, the
word "fair organ" was not used in America.

The term "military band organ" was first used by Eugene DeKleist in
his 1890's promotional material to describe brass trumpet barrel organs
made by his North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory.  During the 1890's
military band music had become very popular particularly with the rise
in popularity of the march king, John Philip Sousa, America's first
musical super star.  By the late 1890's nearly every town had a milit-
ary type band.  The military band organs were designed to simulate the
popular military band sound of the day.  Thus the term military band
organ served as a good descriptive term for marketing purposes.

The military band organ and military band music coincided perfectly
with the American roller skating craze which took place in the late
1890's and early years of the twentieth century.  The band organ found
an ideal home in the roller rink.  The powerful brass band music of the
organs easily cut through the loud noise of many wooden wheels rolling
on the skating floor and provided the music and rhythm to skate to.

The roller rink thus became the prime American market for military
band organs.  Most of the largest band organs in America, including my
110-key Gavioli, were used in roller rinks and not on fairgrounds as
in England.

The huge Wurlitzer Company continued with DeKleist's Military Band
Organ terminology until the end of their band organ business in the
1930's.  Their prolific advertising continued reinforcing the term
"Military Band Organ" with the trade.  In describing the 100-key
DeKleist-built Monster Military Band Organ, Wurlitzer stated,
"Especially designed for roller skating rinks -- Produces music equal
to a large military band".

In fact, the Wurlitzer catalogs, even those of the late 1920's, were
titled, "WurliTzer Military Bands".  The Wurlitzer 1923 catalog
described the organs as follows:

  "A WurliTzer Military Band produces the loud, lively, enjoyable
   music that everybody likes, and that cannot be drowned out by
   the noise of the skaters."

Below this description, Wurlitzer showed a small group of musicians in
military band dress.  Note that even in the 1920's Wurlitzer continued
to focus on the skating rink market, which was their main market for
organs.  Incidentally, the emphasis on the skating rink market explains
the strict tempo style of most Wurlitzer band organ music.  The
strictly predictable tempo was necessary to roller-skating.

Interestingly, in the 1923 Wurlitzer catalog, the words "Band Organ"
without "Military" appear in the description of non-brass organs such
as the style 146 A.  They called it just a Style 146 A Band Organ.  In
this catalog, however, the term Military Band Organ was still used to
describe the style 125 and style 148 brass trumpet organs.  Also
Wurlitzer termed the Style 153, 157, and 165 as Duplex Orchestral
Organs and did not use the term Band Organ or Military Band Organ.

In the catalog descriptions, these organs were marketed not to skating
rinks but to carousels and dance pavilions.  Curiously, in the 1926
catalog the Wurlitzer put the term Military Band Organ back in their
descriptions of organs such as the 103 and 146.

The North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works, and later the Artizan
Factories, Inc., referred to their instruments in their respective
catalogs as Automatic Military Bands and Military Band Organs.  Both
used the term Band Organ in trade advertisements in the Billboard
magazine.

In the early years of the century, Gavioli maintained a New York City
branch at 31 Bond Street.  I have an old catalog from this office. The
catalog called the instruments "full band organs" for "shows, merry-go-
rounds, dance halls, stating rinks, etc.".  This term could have been
provided by Louis Berni who ran this office.  He was known in the trade
as "the Band Organ King".

After the Gavioli New York office closed, Berni started the Berni Organ
Company.  In his 1913 catalog he called the instruments "Mechanical
Band Organs".

Tim Trager
Trager@idt.net

 [ Thanks for the fine history, Tim.  Here's the next question for the
 [ experts:  What audible differences between organ styles (fairground
 [ vs. band organ) does one hear on a recording?    Is there a character-
 [ istic sound which differentiates a fair organ in England from a band
 [ organ in the U.S.?  Is the strident brass trumpet and wood trombone
 [ unique to the American band organ?  -- Robbie