2023-24 Season WAVE SERIES
The Phantom of the Opera – October 28, 7:30 PM
Organist Ron Carter returns to provide the soundtrack to this 1925 classic, spooky thriller starring Lon Chaney.
Christmas with THE WAVE – December 2, 11:00 AM
Three gifted theatre organists play your favorite seasonal songs and carols at this FREE open house event that features the Gingerbread Village and Santa!
Metropolis – February 17, 7:30 PM
Organist Clark Wilson performs this 1927 futuristic silent film by director Fritz Lang (regarded by many as the first science fiction film) that features a classist struggle, a love story, and an out-of-control robot.
Celebrate THE WAVE – February 18 – 2:30 PM
Ken Double, organist of the Atlanta Fox Theatre’s Mighty Mo organ, brings his special artistry and flair in a matinee performance that will put THE WAVE through its paces and delight the audience!
Wings – May 4 – 7:30 PM
This romantic action-war film is known for winning the first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1927. Ron Carter returns as organist for this suspenseful drama starring Clara Bow and Gary Cooper.
THE WAVE Theatre Organ
On June 25, 2021, RiverCenter became the new home of an Allen GW IV digital theatre organ, a gift from Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish through the Atlanta Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society (ACATOS).
The history of theatre organs can be traced to entertainment venues in the mid-teens through the late 1920s, when entertainment across the country centered around silent movies and Vaudeville. During their heyday, thousands of movie houses depended on live musical accompaniment, providing the primary usage of the original theatre organs until the “talkies”—movies with sound—became mainstream in the early 1930s.
In the decades to follow, some organs were destroyed when their theatres were torn down, but some found their way into churches or private home installations. The American Theatre Organ Society was founded in 1955 to save as many of these instruments as possible. While there were originally several thousand theatre organs, today only a few hundred remain.
The Allen Organ Company of Macungie, PA is a world leader in the creation and manufacture of digital organs for churches, concert halls, theatres and private homes. In 1997, the company’s “Renaissance” technology changed the organ world, using digital technology to imitate pipe organ sound. In the distinctive world of the theatre organ, the model GW IV made history.
“GW” stands for George Wright, the legendary organist who consulted with Allen technicians to create the instrument. RiverCenter’s GW IV has four keyboards with the equivalent voices of 33 ranks of pipes. The GW IV also features percussion (glockenspiel, xylophone, chimes, etc.) and “traps” (cymbals, snare drums, tambourines and castanets) making the GW IV the full equivalent of a large theatre pipe organ. The sound is amazing.
The History of RiverCenter’s Allen GW IV Organ
RiverCenter’s Allen GW IV was originally owned by South Florida pipe organ enthusiast Cal Jureit. Jureit purchased the Allen digital organ when a move to a new home could not accommodate the space required for his large Wurlitzer pipe organ that was installed in the upper floor of his previous home. Following her husband’s passing, Jureit’s wife, Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish, decided to carry on Cal’s legacy and love of the theatre organ and began hosting a series of concerts in her home. As the former Director of Music at Principia College in Alton, IL, Dr. Juriet shared her passion for music through these “Jureit Musicale” concerts presenting some of the finest theatre organists in the world, both in concert and in silent film presentations with theatre organ accompaniment (what the original theatre organs of the 1920s were intended to do).
Recently, Dr. Jureit-Beamish and her current husband have done some downsizing of their home as well, and she began looking for a new home for the instrument. She contacted Ken Double, organist for Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, President of ACATOS, and frequent performer at the Jureit Musicales, to see if he could assist her in finding a home for the organ.
As Double tells the story:
“It’s funny how one door closes, and another door opens. One initial potential for the organ was a church south of Atlanta, and it appeared that might be the new home. But a change of heart from church leaders opened another door, and in stepped RiverCenter Executive Director, Norm Easterbrook. Atlanta Chapter member John McCall initially opened the doors at the church, and while disappointed with that change of heart, he was overwhelmed to find out an old friend was interested in the Allen organ.
Mr. Easterbrook and ACATOS have a relationship dating to Norm’s tenure at the Rylander Theatre in Americus, GA, home to a Moller theatre pipe organ. When Norm found out about the Allen organ being available, the phone lines and internet waves started burning immediately!
With three different theatres, and a portable installation that only digital technology can provide, this Allen GW IV has not one, but three new homes in which the patrons of the RiverCenter can enjoy the music of the theatre organ, be it in full “pops concert” mode; silent film accompaniment; or simply making enjoyable pre-show music for attendees to enjoy.
Opportunity, good fortune, and timing. How fortuitous it is that this wonderful donation by Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish found its way to the ACATOS, which found a highly interested and motivated Executive Director in Norm Easterbrook, to bring this great musical addition to the River Center.”
Easterbrook acknowledges that the Allen GW IV’s digital technology and portable installation made it the perfect instrument for RiverCenter, allowing for use in all three of RiverCenter’s concert halls. “We are profoundly grateful for the gift of this theatre organ to RiverCenter. It is a gift to the Columbus community and the surrounding region as it will delight audiences in whatever way it is presented here at RiverCenter. You can’t help but smile and feel good when you hear a theatre organ because they are just pure fun.”
The Wave Programming Fund
RiverCenter is honored to receive a founding gift for The Wave Programming Fund from Judge Steven and Amelia Smith in honor of Judge Smith’s father, William Joseph Smith.
William Joseph Smith was born in 1922 in Ashland, Kentucky, and in his first eight years of life the film industry experienced the transition from silent movies to “talkies.” In those childhood years, a young Bill experienced the majesty and beauty of theatre organs, and a love affair with this genre of organ performance was born. As a teenager he loved hearing mini concerts in the theaters before, and between, the talking features. He was thrilled when the organist would open up the volume amidst a grand finale.
Bill was a member of the “Greatest Generation” and in 1943 headed to the South Pacific as an Army Air Corps B-25 pilot. New Guinea and the other remote South Seas islands were very foreign to this homesick 22-year-old. One of his greatest comforts while overseas was listening to music from back home. He loved the big band tunes, especially In the Mood, A String of Pearls, Stardust and Sentimental Journey. Hearing those songs performed on the theatre organ 20, 30, or 50 years later was a continuing joy of his life. He often reminisced of delighting in great organ concerts in grand theaters in St Louis, Louisville, Atlanta, and Cincinnati.
Bill greatly enjoyed building hi-fi and stereo systems in the 60s and 70s and had quite the collection of theatre organ music. Steve was exposed to the music as he was growing up and Bill’s love of theatre organ music became his as well.
Bill was a Baptist minister and helped install and build a multi-rank pipe organ in Rose Hill Baptist Church in the 1980s. In 2002, Steve had the great joy of taking his dad to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa Arizona to hear one of the largest Wurlitzer pipe organs in the world. They left 3 hours later – only when the restaurant closed. William J. Smith, as pastor, pilot, wonderful father, and music lover never ceased to be richly entertained by listening to the wonderful melodies of theater organ music.
If you would like to make a contribution to The Wave Programming Fund, visit our Support page to make an online donation, CLICK HERE to download a PDF form to be mailed or returned to our Box Office, or email development@rivercenter.org.