•I have some news which fans of Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas, may find distressing: Louie the Clown and the Wurlitzer Mammoth Military Band Organ are missing from the park, along with a number of other antiques. The disappearance of Louie and the Wurlitzer is just the latest in the saga...

•As if Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas, didn't already have enough troubles, now it has been hit by vandalism. Four young people are under arrest after causing thousands of dollars of damage to the amusement park. Furniture and equipment were thrown out an office window, and racist and vul...

•A recent fire at Joyland Park in Wichita, Kansas was determined to be arson. http://www.kansas.com/2011/03/05/1748661/fire-investigators-joyland-fire.html Joyland Park has been a popular target for vandals ever since it closed in 2006. For those of us who remember the park when it was open and oper...

•[ Ref. 110310 MMDigest, "Vandals Hit Former Joyland Amusement Park" ] With all of the continuing problems at Joyland Amusement Park, I am truly thankful that I was able to acquire the band organ last summer when I did. The little shed of a building it sat in on the midway was certainly vulnerable, ...

•I just received word from organ lover Nancy Strattan of the death a few weeks ago (from complications of hip-replacement surgery) of Harold Ottaway, owner of Joyland Amusement Park, Wichita, Kansas. Harold was the man responsible, along with the late Jess Gibbs, for bringing Joyland Louie, the Wurl...

•The organ that used to be at Joyland Park in Wichita, Kansas, started out as a de Kleist barrel organ built in 1905 that was sold to Wurlitzer and converted to Style 165 at their factory. The melody section has a set of mixture pipes, which consists of two ranks of violin pipes, one is tuned a perf...

•When the Wurlitzer Style 160 "Mammoth" military band organ operated at Joyland Park, in Wichita, Kansas, it ran continuously from park opening to closing. It was the only music in the park. It drove the ride operators crazy, but the park seemed dead if the organ stopped. Joyland Park is probably cl...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Hi, My name is Damian Mayes. I was the caretaker of the Wurlitzer Style 160 "Mammoth" military band organ at Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas, for over twelve years. I currently am selling Wurlitzer unit valve blocks. They are made of hi...

•Does anyone have reliable data about the number of keys in the chest of the Mammoth and Monster organs? The organ that was at Joyland Park in Wichita, Kansas, is often called a Mammoth, but I think that the main chest is different, and was one of the Eugene DeKleist barrel organs, which I have not ...

•My shop is restoring a Wurlitzer 125 which was once used in the Wonderland Amusement Park in Amarillo, Texas, and then later in a different park in Texas. At some unknown time in the past, it was equipped with a clown "playing" a small keyboard added to the front of the cabinet. The clown's hands m...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I heard "Trudy" many years ago and am wondering if David Wasson (or "Trudy") has a web site? I live in Winfield, KS, and there is virtually no activity with this kind of music in this area except for a band organ (a Wurlitzer, I think) at Joyland...

•After my post on Wurlitzer "Monster" and "Mammoth" band organs yesterday I heard from Art Reblitz and Al Pebworth. Both informed me that the organ owned by Don Neilson which I referred to as a "Mammoth" is not believed to be an actual "Mammoth." It is, rather, a DeKleist organ on which Wurlitzer ma...

•Mikey Mills' posting to yesterday's MMD shows a lot of enthusiasm for band organs but little understanding of the amusement park business -- and it _is_ a business. If you don't run it right, you go under; witness the demise of Stan Nelson's Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas. Most of the ba...

•First Public Organ Concert The "Midget Monster" style 165 duplex organ will be played for the public for an extended time on Saturday, October 13, 2018, at the Wichita Botanical Gardens main building. I am planning to play it from 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. that day. Until now, the organ has not been used f...

•-- A little humor (very little) -- Would you believe that my big military band organ only plays "hole" notes? Merry Christmas to all, and a happy, musical New Year! Gordon Ramsey - Ramsey Music Service Wichita, Kansas [ Gordon donated a band organ to provide music for the carousel, [ formerly at Wi...

•An organ rally will take place at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas on Saturday, June 12. The rally will be in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary Celebration of Gage Park. Members of the AMICA Heart of America chapter will participate in the organ rally. Free carousel and train rides will be offered ...

•Both organs at Myrtle Beach were owned by Harry Beach, according to a 1959 ad (in the Billboard, Feb. 2, 1959, p. 61) offering the 165-roll- playing organ for sale for $6000. The ad was repeated on p. 105 of the Apr. 13, 1959, issue of the same magazine, with the price reduced to $4000. But Mr. Bea...

•Our kind of music can be found on YouTube! YouTube is now showing player pianos, band organs, theater organs, live and rare performances. To start with lets look at the Walt Disney Haunted Mansion demented Pipe organ recorded by the talented and ghoulishly demented Gaylord Carter on a Robert Morton...

•Here is a "Long" answer to Justin Senneff's question about the Wurlitzer band organ at Bushkill Park. Bushkill Park, dating back to 1902, was upgraded to a modern amusement park around 1933 by the late Tom and Mabel Long, an upgrade which included the acquisition of an Allan Herschell merry-go-roun...

•Vic Searle asked about the Wurlitzer Style 155 "Monster" band organ (090308 MMD). This early organ (two of the three surviving examples were actually built by DeKleist) plays its own 100-key Style 155 roll. The earliest "Monster" is the one for which Marty Roenigk is seeking more rolls (090307 MMD)...