With the recent posts on Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland, I could
not help but to think of today's tragic lost opportunity to promote
and expose mechanical music to the public at these places.

At one time these parks were owned by private owners who cared about
creating an authentic historic atmosphere with mechanical antiques.
Today both theme parks are operated by large non-personal corporate
enterprises that have as their main goal making every square inch
a profit point.

In days past, Walter Knott personally took an interest in the historic
items he collected, as well as their proper display.  Each item added
to the nostalgic mood of the place.  The same was true with Walt
Disney, who personally purchased the Raney Collection of automatic
music for use at Disneyland.  Both discovered that mechanical music
added life and interest to their respective tourist attractions.

In the heyday of these places, while these men lived, personal pride
was taken in the antiques on display, from the stage coaches and steam
train at Knott's to the real Stanley Steamers at Disneyland.  This time
period ranged from the mid-1950's to the late 1960's.  People who were
lucky to visit these places during this period discovered absolute
magic!

But then something went wrong.  After the dreamers and builders such as
Walter Knott and Walt Disney passed on, a sycophantic corporate culture
of professional management moved in.  The corporate culture, driven by
the "bottom line", looks at everything with an eye on the cost versus
the benefit.  Every square inch of the property is scrutinized with
profit in mind.  It's OUT with the inefficient and costly, and IN with
the efficient and profitable.  Every dime squeezed out is looked on as
helping the profit margin and stockholder value.

This corporate culture brings financial success to the shareholders,
but something is lost in the process.  Sadly, only the astute
enthusiast knows it is missing.  The missing thing is that special
nostalgic atmosphere created by functional antique items on display,
such as mechanical musical instruments, antique cars, antique arcade
machines, carriages, steam trains, and so on.

It is costly to display and maintain a Wurlitzer Concert PianOrchestra.
The coins taken in by the instrument can not justify the maintenance
expense.  Outside repair staff must be brought it at an hourly rate
that is far above the minimum wage paid to the typical park workers.
The park's "Jack of all Trades" carpenter only butchers the instrument
further.  And then finally the floor space taken up by the instrument
is eyed for a gift rack that can be filled with high profit trinkets
made in China.  Thus the instrument is carted off to a warehouse on the
back lot.

About five years ago I visited the storage rooms of Disneyland, Disney
World, and Knott's Berry Farm.  At that time these storage rooms
contained many mechanical musical instruments such as Tangley
Calliaphones, Seeburg nickelodeons, Wurlitzer orchestrions, band
organs, monkey organs, music boxes.

The Knott's storage room was especially interesting, with a narrow aisle
where you had to shimmy sideways past monkey organs, nickelodeons, a
Tangley, and at the end a veritable pile of large and dusty disc and
cylinder music boxes.  In another area sat the disassembled 29C
Wurlitzer PianOrchestra from the historic Banner Theater, and a Philipps
barrel orchestrion.

The Disneyland storage room was mammoth and filled with display props
from floor to ceiling.  The music machines were in a caged-in area and
included:  a Welte 4 Concert Orchestrion, Imhof and Mukle Tribut
Orchestrion, an Arburo, a Wurlitzer LX, a Wurlitzer 157 band organ, a
Nelson Wiggen style 6, a KT Special, a Wurlitzer Mandolin Quartette,
and a Mills Violano amongst others.  These instruments were squeezed
into this area in both horizontal and vertical storage on shelves that
went up 25 feet!

In Florida, the Disney World storage area looked like a mini-museum
filled with many noted instruments from the Paul Eakins collection,
including such instruments as the Emperor Mortier and Sadie Mae as well
as the huge Wurlitzer Concert PianOrchestra from the Raney Collection.

The people in charge of these storage areas for the most part had no
memory of the instruments time on public display.  They also had no
idea of the musical ability of the items.  Nor did the new generation
of management care -- such items were considered unproductive assets
which failed under a cost/benefit analysis.

One of the management people at Disney World explained to me that every
part of the park was a profit point.  Numerous areas were pitted
against each other to produce the most profit.  Every inch of space had
to be financially justified.  The Penny Arcade in Walt Disney World was
such a profit point, and it was determined that a high margin gift area
would be more profitable and thus the mechanical instruments were moved
out.  Under this mindset "an authentic nostalgic atmosphere" could not
be quantified in terms of a profit, whereas a gift rack or food station
could be quantified.

In addition, the music machines were looked upon as a non-justifiable
expense.  By the way, this fate was applied to the other historically
interesting items, from streetcars to antique cars to the beautiful
walking-beam steamboat at Disney World, which was relegated to rot away
in a back canal because it was too slow.

It must also be noted that the mechanical music items and other
antiques were no longer needed to bring in the people.  The Disney name
alone was sufficient.  According to management, the missing atmosphere
was not necessary to entertain the public.  I could not even get them
interested in a new instrument like a Banjo Orchestra or a new monkey
organ due to their mindset that mechanical music was an unproductive
expense.

A sub-concern expressed by management to me was that they wondered if
the current generation of visitors related to the instruments and their
music.  In fact, they told me that serious thought had been given to
tearing down the "turn-of-the-century" Main Street and replacing it
with a 1950's vintage Main Street.  I was told that when Disneyland
was built in 1955 the visitors "related" to the antique-looking Main
Street; now, 40-plus years later, the public would relate better to a
1950's-style Main Street.

All of this discussion ultimately resulted in management's decision to
sell off the mechanical instruments.  Disney World was first, followed
by Disneyland, and later by Knott's Berry Farm under its new corporate
theme park ownership.

Yes, a few token instruments remain here and there, but it is certainly
not like it was.  The few that are left are not well maintained, with
the exception, as of last report, being the Disneyland Welte.  By the
way, when Disney World staff completed the sale of the bulk of their
collection they _celebrated_ with a party -- those "dead" assets were
now history!

If Disney or Knott's current management wanted to, they could have
kept, maintained, and displayed their mechanical musical instruments
in grand style.  These places generate a huge amount of revenue with
plenty of excess to subsidize a displayed collection.

Even though management does not agree with me, I firmly believe that
music machines from band organs to dance organs and nickelodeons would
add a lot to the fun "atmosphere" to these places.  The visibility of
well-maintained instruments displayed in a heavily-attended place such
as Disneyland or Disney World would be sure to generate many new
enthusiasts.  Other parks such as the Six Flags parks would certainly
follow the lead of a Disneyland.  Unfortunately, one can only consider
it a sad lost opportunity to promote mechanical music.

Other smaller attractions, such as Clark's Trading Post, Knoebel's
Grove Amusement Park, Sea Breeze Park, Hershey Park, and Kennywood
Amusement Park, successfully use and celebrate mechanical music
machines, primarily band organs.  For the most part these are still
family-run operations that know how to balance the corporate bottom
line with the happy nostalgic sound of mechanical music in an authentic
environment.  And these places have generated a number of mechanical
music enthusiasts, particularly band organ fans.

I hope that this discussion gives you some insight into the corporate
theme park mindset as it relates to mechanical music.  Can such a
mindset be changed?  I sincerely hope so, for it would go a long way
in promoting the wonderful world of mechanical music!

Tim Trager