Dear Jody,  Joyce Brite asked about the "Mighty Mo" organ at the Fox
Atlanta featured on A & E the other night.  I'll be happy to oblige.
From the movie palace buffs' bible -- "The Best Remaining Seats", Ben
M. Hall, Bramhall House, 1961 -- I quote from page 192:

  "Down in Atlanta, Georgia, an organ was installed that had the
  distinction, for three years, of being the largest organ in any
  theatre in the world.  The Moller De Luxe instrument in the Fox
  Theatre there had forty-two ranks of pipes -- six more than the
  New York Paramount Wurlitzer -- and was surpassed in number of ranks
  (though not in sheer music versatility) only when the Radio City
  Music Hall opened in 1932.

  "Fifteen ranks alone on the Atlanta Fox organ were given over to
  string tones, which were produced by organ pipes but which sounded
  surprisingly like the real thing.  Among its more novel accouterments
  were "trick coupler" tabs which, when activated, would make a single
  note struck on a key sound like a full chord.

  "It also possessed a row of "effects" tabs above the manuals that
  presented such startling possibilities as "Ding Dong I" and "Ding
  Dong II," "Slapsticks," "Storm," "Crash," and Grand Crash."  These
  last two effects were produced by a large steel mesh box mounted
  on an axle in one of the organ chambers and filled with nuts and
  bolts, scraps of crockery, and pieces of tin.  When a crash was
  needed, the box made a quarter-turn on its axle; when the situation
  called for a grand crash, the whole business started revolving until
  the organist released the tab.  There was no "Panic" button,
  however."


I'm glad someone else caught that production on A&E.  I took the tour
of the New Amsterdam Theatre while I was in NYC in August, and I would
well-recommend the purchase price of $10.

As for the Chinese Theatre, being an L.A. native, I sometimes take it
for granted, but I had to take my family there last week to see the
re-release of "The Wizard of Oz" in its true screen aspect ratio -- one
of only four theatres in the L.A. area to present the movie this way.

An incredible movie-going experience; the Chinese Theatre is not the
most Palatial of Palaces, but it is still breathtaking in comparison to
neighborhood crackerboxes.  We are fortunate in L.A. to still have many
intact movie palaces, with one more -- The Egyptian -- on the way back
to total restoration.  I hope they will never be torn down the way so
many others have been.

If you have a chance to catch this show featured on "America's
Castles", do so.  It may bring a lump to your throat when the camera
proceeds up the stairs of the Atlanta Fox to the strains of its "Mighty
Mo," as its richly atmospheric and colossal auditorium is revealed to
the wonderment of you, the viewer.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Mark Forer