Regarding Jim Kenney's inquiry about Wurlitzer 157s: Ron Bopp's organ
book states that twenty were made and many still survive. There are
two or three still at operating carousels.
There is a 157 at the PTC #79 carousel at Paramount's King's Island
amusement park, King's Mill, Ohio. This organ had previously been at
Coney Island, and Asbury Park, NJ. Paul Eakins restored the organ and
also released a recording of it.
Another 157 is on the Spillman park carousel at the Grand Rapids Public
Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
There were a 157 and a 153 at the Dentzel carousel at Knott's Berry
Farm, Buena Park, CA, but the carousel is no longer all original and
I do not know if the organs are still there. (A Wurlitzer 157 and its
PTC #38 carousel at Dorney Park, PA were lost in a 1983 fire.)
I do not know how many collectors own 157s, but one is pictured in Ron
Bopp's book from the Bronson collection, Dundee, Michigan.
Dan Robinson
confusedl@earthlink.net
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