Richard Simonton was one of those unprepossessing, highly respected
persons around whom many stories and legends appear.  He could see
decades into the future and used this second sight, as it were,
to be in the right place at the right time.

I met Dick Simonton in 1978 when I went to his home with a few theater
organ folks to see his instruments.  It is a wonderful house in Toluca
Lake and on the lake.  There is a large landscaped courtyard that is
open to the sky, but there is a large cover that moves over it to make
it part of the inside of the house when rain is not desired on the
plants.  How many of you wished you could throw a dome over your flower
garden before a storm?

The dining room next to the courtyard had a Violano in it.  The family
room next to that had a 60-something-rank Aeolian Skinner pipe organ
installed where Virgil Fox and my teacher, Joyce Jones, went to
practice when they were in Los Angeles.  There was a small antiphonal
positiv hanging on the wall next to the console.

But in the basement was a theater which allowed for private movie
showings using two or three different formats of full sized movie
projectors.  I believe they included Cinerama, which was unusual, since
the room was not nearly big enough, one would think, to show such large
scale movies.

At the screen end of the room was the Welte grand piano that I was told
came from Edwin Welte himself.  I believe it was a Hamburg Steinway.
It may have played red rolls.  I remembered reading about his exploits
in Germany and smuggling wire recordings of Welte rolls out of the
country.  He told me he had later bought two instruments from the
Weltes.  He spoke with me about possibly restoring those players but
nothing came of it.

What I found most interesting at that time was the Wurlitzer theater
organ installed behind the screen in the basement theater.  It was over
30 ranks and had been voiced by Jesse Crawford himself in his last
years on this earth.  In fact, Jesse made two LP's on this organ.  He
was in process of making a third recording but, sensing he would die
soon, he made Dick Simonton promise to destroy the unfinished recording
if he died before finishing it.  Dick said he did just that.  I hope he
kept a copy somewhere.

I was fascinated by him and also his protege, Steve, who helped
him keep the instruments in shape.  The three of us took his antique
limousine (I believe a 1940's Rolls?) to a local coffee shop for a
late meal and talked for hours.  I left his house on Cloud 9, simply
stupefied that such an awesome man could even exist.

He was a very interesting gentleman with an interest in just about
everything.  I learned that he had been a major owner and founder of
Musak of elevator music fame.  That company was just on an NPR report
as being worth tens of millions and now into satellite broadcasting of
their many music channels.

He also found his way to St. Louis and brought the Delta Queen and
several other passenger riverboats back to their former opulence.  He
brought that company back from death to major profitability.  Helen
Hayes was one of their most prominent regular passengers.

I know there were several other companies that he had taken from
nothing to major profitability.

He is credited with founding the American Theater Organ Society, though
it was not called that in those days.

One of the legends I have also heard about him included his responsi-
bility in bringing in the present day rage of body piercing.  Perhaps
it was just because of his investment in some jewelry manufacturers
that specialize in that today.

I was simply crushed when I read a few years later that he had dropped
dead in a hotel lobby while visiting an ATOS or AMICA convention.  I
was told that he had left an endowment of some kind that allows organ
club meetings to take place in his home.

I was also crushed to hear that in the most recent Los Angeles area
earthquake the Wurlitzer was damaged so badly they did not want to
restore it, and removed it.  I heard that they would restore the Aeolian
Skinner, but I would love to hear an update.

Would Richard Jr. please let us know the status of the Simonton Welte
grand pianos?  Are they still in the family?  If not, who has them now?

Dick Simonton will continue to be a man of legend for the foreseeable
future.  His contribution to automatic music and organ music will never
be surpassed.  I will always miss him

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis