Wurlitzer318.htm

3/18 Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ with toys

Installed 1979 in Uncle Milt's Pipe Organ Pizza Co.

2410 Grand Boulevard By Milt Kieffer
Vancouver, Washington

This Wonderful Wurlitzer Pipe Organ was played daily for restaurant patrons until
Uncle Milt's Pipe Organ Pizza Company's Last Evening Performance on September 30, 1999.

It had been featured in many concerts by both local and visiting theatre organists.

About the Instrument

This instrument got its start as the 3/13 Wurlitzer 235 at the Orpheum Theatre in Seattle, Washington. After it was removed from the theatre by a Seattle purchaser, it remained in storage for several years until it was obtained by 'Uncle' Milt Kieffer for installation in his planned pizza restaurant in Vancouver, Washington.
The organ was moved to Uncle Milt's in 1979, and as it grew to its present 18 ranks, so did its need for a larger console. Conveniently, the instrument at Portland, Oregon's Organ Grinder Restaurant had also outgrown its original 3-manual console. The console, originally from the Oriental Theatre in Portland, was a natural choice for the organ at Uncle Milt's Pipe Organ Pizza.
When it was shipped to the Oriental Theatre from the Wurlitzer Factory in 1927, the three manual console sported a plain ivory finish. According to an article in the November/December 1995 issue of Theatre Organ, it was played in this guise for approximately two weeks before management decided it was too plain for the ornately decorated theatre. So they covered the top and horseshoe with plaster, ran lines across the new finish, painted it bright gold and painted the sides, front and bench white with gold trim. It remained in this color scheme throughout its stay at Uncle Milt's.
(Information in previous paragraph supplied by Paul Quarino)
It was featured in its final private concert at this location on June 5, 1999.

The instrument was sold to Dr. Dick Lang, removed from Uncle Milt's Pipe Organ Pizza Company building on October 17, 1999 and put in storage in San Diego County, California.
As of February 15, 2001 work at the Ken Crome Studios had started on the console and seemingly going rather fast. The inside had been cleaned out and it had been stripped of all original gold finish and "a ton of plaster." Many holes and blemishes from previous additions had been replaced and repaired. Surprisingly, all of the wood under the gold plaster and original paint was mahogany in good condition so the console was refinished in its natural wood.
The standard bench that accompanied the console was too battered to refinish so a new concert style bench that matched the new finish was ordered. Swing-out drawers were to be added on the underside, on each side of the key desk. All elements of the horseshoe area-keyboards, tabs, pistons, etc., were ordered to be installed as soon as finishers completed their work.
Dr. Lang was planning to update the midi-interface as well as a few new tabs to represent additional ranks to be added later. His dream was to have the console look original without anything added that was not part of a theatre organ. "It must look correct in every way," he wrote. Although the kick board in ivory was original as well as the console back, it was restored "all in the original wood.........mahogany." He also envisioned a new pedal board in Wurlitzer style.
Unfortunately, the house he was building in the San Diego area would not work for setting up the organ as he wanted it to sound so early in 2002, Dr. Dick moved to a mountain community in Southern California to wait out the console restoration and search for an appropriate venue for the "Grand Lady" as he liked to call her.
Alas, his plans for this great instrument seem to have faltered. The Wurlitzer 3/18 has been advertised for sale in the 2004 January/February ATOS Journal. Those of us who played and loved the "Grande Lady" must hope fervently that whomever purchases her will be able to finish the restoration and find the right venue to allow her to speak in the voices she sang with while in Vancouver, Washington.
She certainly is a grand old girl and deserves the best.

As she left Uncle Milt's, the imitative voices in this instrument included: Concert flute, Brass Trumpet, Brass saxophone, Viol d'Orchestre and Celeste, two Vox Humanas, Salicional, Kinura, Clarinet, orchestral Oboe, Oboe Horn, Open Diapason, Horn Diapason, two Tibias, Tuba, and English Post Horn. The 18 ranks of pipe work encompassed 1,362 pipes.
Percussion and sound effects included: Xylophone, Chimes, Chrysoglott, Glockenspiel, Piano, Harp, Marimba, Castanets, Wood Block, Tambourine, Triangle, and various horns, whistles, cymbals and drums.
A 10 horsepower blower supplied the air that operated all departments of the organ.
- © 1998 Ray Hughey. This article first appeared in a CROC handout for a Concert on the 3/18 and is reprinted here with permission from the author.

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