In a previous digest, Bill Finch wrote the following:

> The Midmer-Loesch Theatre Organ on the Atlantic City Pier (The largest
> theatre organ built) cost $83,246.  The Radio City Organ (also Midmer-
> Loesch I believe) cost $60,000.  Most Wurlitzer Theatre Organs were
> around $35,000, but they were worth a million dollars in publicity.

The information about The Radio City Music Hall Organ is incorrect.

This organ is considered by many to be the ultimate in theater organ
evolution and indeed it was one of the last ones built in the golden
era of such things.  The organ was designed and contracted to be built
by Kimball Pipe Organs, who made the world's finest classical pipe
organs and some of the worlds finest Theater organs as well.  However,
before the organ could be built, the Kimball owner's idiot son took over
the business and decided that in the future there would be no pipe
organs since they would be far too expensive to buy, so he started
production of a VERY experimental electronic organ that used celluloid
film loops of pipe organ sound that looked like soundtracks on a movie
film.  This was to compete with the Hammond Clock company's organ.
He then fired all the world's finest pipe organ technicians building
organs for Kimball and closed down all pipe organ activity at the company.
This left a paid-for organ design and no one to build it.  Wurlitzer
was contracted to build the Kimball specifications for Radio City and
the merger of specs from Kimbal and Hardware from Wurlitzer produced
the finest theater organ ever built.  It was designed with two consoles
in order to accommodate the world famous husband and wife organist team,
Helen and Jesse Crawford, who toured the country performing on two
consoles playing the same organ.  In theaters that did not have two
consoles, they traveled with a slave console that could easily attach
to the existing organ and sit at the opposite side of the stage from
Jesse.  Helen always got to play the slave console.    (those were sexist
days, you know)

Sorry I do not know how much it cost to build, but let us say no expense
was spared.

D. L. Bullock  Piano World  St. Louis