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The "Winston Band Organ"
By Bob Conant

Dear MMDers,  I, too, heard the Reithoffer (Winston) band organ a number
of times during the 1970s and '80s.  It was stated on the record jacket,
or perhaps on a display sign on the organ, that it had been "recently"
restored in Europe at a cost of $200,000.00.  That was a lot of money
in the 1970s and I was skeptical at the time.

As Bill Luca states, it wasn't playing well on the day he heard it.
Well, it wasn't playing well any time I heard it nor did it sound very
good on the recording.  My thought was that they didn't get their
money's worth out of a $200k restoration.  On the other hand, the
musical arrangements were excellent and I could hear the beauty of
what the organ could have been with a proper re-restoration.

Matt Caulfield asks who was arranging Wurly 165 music at that time,
to perhaps determine who arranged the "Winston" jingle.  I don't think
the Wurlitzer roll frames were added to the organ until sometime in
the 1980s so the Winston theme would have been played on a 90-key Frei
scale cardboard book.  This was most likely arranged in Europe as there
were a number of arrangers who could have done it -- perhaps even Carl
Frei Jr. as he was still living at that time.  I expect the book still
exists with the organ, and if it was arranged by Frei or by Marcel Van
Boxtel the name would be on the book.

One final note: when the organ was traveling in the '70s and '80s with
Reithoffer Shows, it was displayed within a classic European four
wheeled wagon with the curved, split hinged roof.  This was interesting
to see by itself, as not many of these wagons exist in the USA.

Cheers,
Bob Conant
Bradenton, Florida


(Message sent Fri 9 Sep 2005, 15:59:34 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Band, Organ, Winston

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