MMD > Archives > January 1996 > 1996.01.26 > 04Prev  Next


Silver Beach Update
By Fritz Gellerman

Marianne Stevens replied to my inquiry about the North Tonawanda organ,
saying that there were two organs at Silver Beach which were bought by Jim
Wells. She had quite a clear memory of them, saying that one was European
with several carved figures, (this must have been the Ruth with the name Fred
Dolle on it), and the other looked like the logo on my letter. (The logo is
taken from a photograph of the North Tonawanda organ). Jim Wells remembers
buying the organs but can't remember any details. The two organs were listed
in G.W. MacKinnon's Fall 1972 catalog on page 153, apparently on consignment.

I have just sent an inquiry to MacKinnon. The locations and ownership of the
organ as I know it so far are:

•    1911:         Manufactured by North Tonawanda Musical Instrument
		  Works, 1911, serial number 877.

    1911-1945:    ? (At some point it was converted to the Wurlitzer
		  duplex tracker system).

    1945-1972:    Silver Beach Amusement Park, Benton Harbor, Michigan.

    1972-????:    Jim Wells, dealer.

    ????-1983:    Gerry O'Reagan, Staten Island, New York.

    1983-1994:    Alan M Gibson, Houston, Texas

    1995-present: Fritz Gellerman, DeLand, Florida

•I appreciate the help of several Automatic Music list members.

Fritz Gellerman

(Message sent Fri, 26 Jan 1996 23:01:17 -0500 , from time zone -0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Beach, Silver, Update