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A. L. Crescio, Band Organ Repairman
By Andrew Barrett

Dear Mr. Quashnock and group,  Not being an old-timer (I'm still in
my 20s) I never met the man personally, but here's what little I know.

As I understand it, Anthony(?) L. Crescio was an old-time band organ
repairman who was the man responsible for bringing the 89-key Gavioli
organ, owned by Royal American Shows, back to its original splendor.
Apparently, this organ had been converted to use Ruth scale book
music (type 36? 38?) at some point in its life, and Mr. Crescio was
responsible for overhauling the organ and taking it back to its
original Gavioli scale.  This organ is currently on display at Circus
World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin.  Here are a few YouTube videos
of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx18MKrJMGc
Attachment thumbnail part of "Barnum and Bailey's Favorite" (Karl L. King) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGPBSK8Cac
Attachment thumbnail part of "Broadway March and One-Step" (Karl L. King) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P7d3YtigqQ
Attachment thumbnail Mr. Fred Dahlinger, who has probably forgotten more about band and fairground organs than I will ever know, knows the full story of this organ, and probably more about Mr. Crescio. I don't happen to have his email address so I can't copy him on this post, but I hope someone will forward it along to him. I am copying it to Mr. Tim Trager, another organ authority. Out of curiosity, Mr. Quashnock, what is the serial number of your Wurlitzer organ? Was it ever used on a carousel, to your knowledge, and if so, which carousel and where? In my spare time I have been compiling a list of surviving Wurlitzer band organs (or at least those whose whereabouts are known) in the hopes of one day putting up a web site devoted to the history of same. If one or more of you folks are independently working on the same thing, please email me so I can send you what I have so far so that we don't have to "re-invent the wheel" in our band organ research. Sincerely, Andrew Barrett

(Message sent Sun, 17 Apr 2011 03:24:00 -0700 (PDT) , from time zone -0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Band, Crescio, L, Organ, Repairman

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