The theatre organ in the Casino Theatre on Catalina Island is
a 4-manual 16-rank Page organ built in Lima, Ohio, circa 1929.
It was the largest Page pipe organ built.
There were three very similar instruments built by Page --
all three still exist:
1. Casino Theatre, Catalina Island, CA, 16-ranks
2. Embassy Theatre, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 15-ranks (originally)
3. ?, moved from its original location and now being installed
in an Atlanta High School, 15-ranks originally. (Sorry, I cannot
recall where this organ was originally installed. Seems to me it
was built for a theatre in Flint, MI, or a radio station and has
thus moved several times.)
The Catalina Island organ sits in an amazing art deco theatre,
literally just yards from the Pacific Ocean. The theatre has an
amazing acoustic environment. The ceiling of the auditorium is,
for all intents and purposes, a parabolic reflector which produces
a wonderful room for music.
Tom DeLay
Historian, American Theatre Organ Society
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