Larkin Building Reproducer
By Jim Heyworth, forwarded by Karl Petersen
> Forwarded from Piporg-l list:
> From: James Weisenborne <JJWEISEN@vm.occ.cc.mi.us>
> Subject: Larkin Administration Building
The Larkin Company was started in 1875 by John Larkin. His slogan was "Factory-to-Family." The company had a mail order business which sold over 600 products ranging from soap, to groceries, to home furnishings. In the early 1900's Frank Lloyd Wright designed a unique administration building for Larkin that had a huge atrium that was open on the many floors to the offices, which, incidentally, used steel filing cabinets and had an early type of air-conditioning. As the finances of the company grew, Mr. Larkin decided that he wanted a large concert organ installed in the atrium and the original contract for the Moller organ called for a 94 rank instrument, a 9-foot Chickering grand piano AMPICO wired into the organ, and a roll-playing device with 100 organ rolls. Mr. Larkin wanted organ rolls which would utilize the grand piano.
In 1921 the Administration Building had over 1800 employees. It was said that annually over 50,000 visitors toured the factory facilities, so you can imagine how happy Moller was to place one of their instruments in the Larkin building.
The Larkin organ was also broadcast over the radio. Moller, not unlike the Skinner and Estey companies, broadcast over the radio: in Philadelphia, over WHAT in 1930-1931; in 1932, from the New Waldorf-Astoria; in 1932, from the Larkin Administration Building over WEBR.
Here is a sample program from Tuesday, September 20, 1932 - 3:30 to 4:00 PM from the Larkin building.
The Moller Artiste and Harry W. Whitney, Organist
1. Artiste: On Wings of Song - Mendelssohn
2. Whitney: Selections from The Desert Song - Romberg
3. Whitney: Music, Music, Everywhere; I Guess I'll have to Change my plans
4. Artiste: Ballet Egyptian No. 3 - Luigini
5. Whitney: Tea for Two - Youmans
6. Whitney: And Still I care; Here's Hoping
7. Whitney: Be My Lover; Moonlight On the River
On Sunday, January 8, 1931 over WHAT, Moller broadcast Artiste rolls:
Theme song (1 minute)
Announcement
1. Overture to William Tell (14 minutes)
2. Miserere ("Il Trovatore" - Verdi (8 minutes)
3. Andantino in D flat - Lemare (6 minutes)
4. Humoresque - Yon (2 minutes)
5. Intermezzo, No. 2 - Wolf-Ferrari (3 minutes)
6. La Tabatiere a Musique - Liadow (2.5 minutes)
7. Arabesque ("Le Cid") - Massenet (2.5 minutes)
8. March Militaire - Schubert (2.5 minutes)
9. In a Monastery Garden - Ketelbey (7 minutes)
10. Pomp and Circumstance, No. 1 - Elgar (7.5 minutes)
According to Dr. Victor Zuck, one of the men who actually built the first Moller Artiste player on site at the Larkin Building, it was little over a decade later when the Larkin organ was sold for a mere pittance to the Schlicker Organ Company of Buffalo, broken into various parts and sold as several small organs. Dr. Zuck told me that he was offered the console, but it was so big, he wondered what he would do with it, so he refused it.
The Larkin Building was demolished in the 1950's, I believe. Does anyone know if the site is still a parking lot? Likewise, does anyone know the whereabouts of the 9-foot Chickering or the Artiste player and rolls? Needless to say, these organ rolls were unique because they were hand-registered for the Larkin organ and from the old-timers whom I interviewed for my article on the Moller Artiste, these rolls were stunning in their effect. How sad it is that we are so quick to discard nearly everything in the United States. |
(Message sent Thu 7 Mar 1996, 03:11:59 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
|
|
Mechanical
Music Digest™ Archives
