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 Sat 27 Jan 1996, 04:01:17 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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