Nice to read about Richard Simonton in 090212 MMDigest [Play a
Wurlitzer Harp for Elevator "Muzak"].  He was a fine friend of mine who
contributed a lot of stuff for my "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical
Instruments", and more.

For a number of years I would go and watch movies on Saturday nights
in the Bijou Theatre in the lower level of his house where a Wurlitzer
theatre organ was installed.  Gordon Kibbee was the "house" organist
but occasionally someone else might drop by, such as Gaylord Carter.
Upstairs in the living room was a large Aeolian residence organ plus a
set of echo pipes later installed at the other end of the room.  There
was also a large Steinway Welte-Mignon from Germany, with a beautiful
ebony case.

Some films were shown one memorable evening from Harold Lloyd, who was
there, but reluctantly, for he thought that modern audiences might not
find them to be funny.  Everyone did.  Later, Lloyd syndicated his
films and had someone release them on tape.

Harold Lloyd had an Aeolian Duo-Art player organ in his home but no
rolls for it, or only a few rolls.  One day I heard of someone in
Pasadena, I think, who had a bunch of rolls.  Dick Simonton and I went
over there, bought them, and gave them to Harold.

Some of Dick Simonton's correspondence with Edwin Welte is in my
"Encyclopedia".  Later I appraised all of his Welte correspondence
and related things, and he donated the collection to University of
California at Los Angeles [UCLA], where it probably can be viewed
today.

The Delta Queen was bought from Greene Line Steamers in Cincinnati.
It had been used earlier on the Sacramento River (the source of the
Delta name), if I recall.  The Greene Line was either failing or had
failed, and I think Dick Simonton paid all of $25,000 for the tired
old steamboat, rehabilitated it, and enjoyed owning it.

Dick was a very kind, very smart, and very generous person.  He was
the founder of the American Theatre Organ Enthusiasts (ATOE, now
renamed ATOS, for 'Society').  From Dick I purchased the New York
Paramount 4/36 Wurlitzer when plans to set it up in California fell
through.  I later sold it to a group in Wichita, who installed it in
an auditorium there.  Someone there made up an "official history" of
the instrument that omitted where they bought it!

The "discovery" in Germany of Edwin Welte and the Welte-Mignon was, of
course, in an era in which there was no AMICA, the MBSI was interested
only in music boxes, et cetera.  Dick was not a historian, although he
appreciated history; Walter Heebner, a publicity person, took care of
having the recordings made, using old Welte catalogues for information
(plus what Edwin Welte supplied), etc.  The recordings were fantastically
successful in the marketplace.  I think Reader's Digest was among the
distributors.

Dave Bowers

 [ Early Welte-Mignon audio recordings are described at
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/Pictures/Welte/index.html 
 [
 [ A short history of the Delta Queen steamboat is at
 [ http://deltaqueen.wordpress.com/delta-queen-history/  and
 [ Mr. Simonton's adventures with the Delta Queen are recounted at
 [ http://ww.cruisemates.com/articles/feature/DeltaQueen-Muster-81307.cfm 
 [
 [ -- Robbie