In the early 1970s, Harry Batt came with a group of people to visit
our collection in Mandeville.  The Batt family owned the amusement
park at Pontchartrain Beach.  At some point, we inquired about the
status of the band organ.  We were informed that the "guts" of the
organ had been removed to make room for loud speakers that were part
of a sound system designed to play music.  Some of the pipes were
used to make sounds in the "spook house".

Mr. Batt stated that there were still parts from the organ in their
warehouse.  He invited us to come to his office at the Beach to
investigate.  Not long thereafter we did go, but found that all the
remaining parts had been discarded.  I think we were able to get
a few pipes from the bottom of the case, but I am not certain.  So, 
that is the sad story of that instrument.

The Batt family also operated the amusement area at City Park New
Orleans.  The organ on the carousel there suffered the same fate.

In 1992 we found a Wurlitzer 105 that I think came from the liquidation
of the Bill Allen collection in California.  The park was flooded
during Hurricane Katrina and the organ sat on its elevated stand for
several weeks in the carousel building with water up to its casters.
Many of the glue joints came apart.  With donations from the Landry
family, we restored the organ in 2008.

We went to the carousel in December, 2013, to repair a problem with the
gear drive (on the 1906 carousel, not the organ).  The park is open in
December and part of January for "Celebration in the Oaks".

After getting the carousel running, I checked the organ.  The hour
meter that I installed during restoration indicated only four hours
of play since the restoration in 2008.  When I asked why the organ
had been played so little, I was told by the operations manager of
City Park that "people on the carousel complain because the organ is
too loud," and that apparently is with most of the stops turned off.
We are going to experiment with a removable polycarbonate panel to
partially cover the front in order to reduce the sound pressure level.

Don C. Elbers
Mandeville, Louisiana

 [ Writer Denise Trowbridge tells about Pontchartrain Beach at
 [ http://www.denisetrowbridge.com/2008/12/pontchartrain-b.html 
 [ -- Robbie