New meaning to term 'organ donation'
Piano Lesson
Ever considered donating an organ to scientific research or a loved one? Well, that's exactly what Leonard and Louise Johnson, both 84, of 14 Garrison Road did this June.
The Johnsons, who have lived in Hingham since the 1950s, donated their 1924 Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ to the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Leonard learned to play the piano as a child and took up the parlor organ as a teenager when the organ was at the pinnacle of its popularity. The organ became popular in the 1920s as it replaced pit orchestras in movie theaters before the introduction of speaking pictures. But the speaking picture meant the demise of the organ, which acted as a narrative device in the films. As the need for organs decreased, many churches began to purchase them for use in their congregations.
The instrument the Johnsons bought in 1960 had been used at a church in Gardner, Mass. The organ was headed for the scrapheap when Johnson, a former electrical engineer and avid organist, heard about it.
"An engineering friend alerted me to the fact that a Wurlitzer theater pipe organ was for sale in Worcester, so that my wife and I could go inspect it," Leonard recalled. "We bought it almost immediately."
Fortunately for the Johnsons, the organ had not been broken down yet, and was being stored in a location close enough to Hingham.
Then the couple was faced with the enormous task of transporting their purchase to their home and reassembling it. Originally, the many pipes were stored in the garage, forcing the family's cars outside for 10 years. However, Leonard's passion prevailed and, "We had a one-story addition put on just to accommodate the console," Louise recalled. The console, similar to the keyboard on the piano, once occupied the living room almost entirely. Its hulking wood frame and several rows of keys filled a space comparable to a parked car.
As the years passed, Leonard continued to add to the organ. When the Johnsons first acquired it, the organ had just four sets of pipes, and by the time of donation, he had tripled the pipes to a set of 12. A special vent was installed in the wall of the living room to bring the sound from the basement, where the pipes were stored, into the room. The technical aspects of the organ are dense, but can be simplified into several main components. The console is the part of the organ that the organist operates, the blower is the valve, which controls the sound emitted by the pipes, and the pipes blow the sound. The Johnsons' Wurlitzer had a five-horsepower engine specifically to operate the blower. The pipes occupied the entire basement, filling a massive area with tubes of metal in assorted heights.
Many Hingham residents may wonder why the Johnsons chose Plattsburgh, and the answer is quite simple. There is very little demand for theatre pipe organs anywhere at this time. The Johnsons' children have grown up, and, according to Leonard, "They were relieved, they realized they wouldn't have to cope with it." Leonard truly loved his organ, and had several requirements for a suitable new home for his organ. He felt that the organ would have to remain intact, it would have to be serviced, maintained, played, and enjoyed, and "All of these were satisfied by the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts." [continue]
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