Help Us Restore the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
Lincoln Hall’s Wurlitzer Needs Your Help!
Join Us As We ‘Pull Out All the Stops’
To Repair and Restore Our Treasured Theatre Organ,
Returning it to its Full Glory for Generations to Come.
Help us Make our Pipe Dreams Come True!
Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts’ treasured McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer in Lincoln Hall is needing significant repairs and rehabilitation. In the next twelve months, the organ will be restored to its full glory in the professional hands of ARCA’s long-time organ technician, Jason Wiles, and with the artistic consultancy of theatre organist Dave Wickerham.
To accomplish this, a McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Fund Raising Campaign has been created with a goal of $76,000
We ask you to help us reach this goal by making a contribution to restore ARCA’s beloved Wurlitzer for generations to come.
Since announcing the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Project at its May 5, 2024 concert, ARCA is grateful to have received 32 donations – raising 45% of our goal – in this initial phase of the campaign.
As ARCA brings its Restoration Project to the public, we are eager to have you join our efforts to restore the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer and invite you to donate today:
For questions, please contact John Soroka, ARCA Executive Director, at 724-659-3153
AN INVESTMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
Your gift in support of the Restoration Project will enable us to bring our Wurlitzer back to its full “Might” and guarantee that it will be playing music beyond our lifetimes – so future audiences of all ages may be inspired by the glorious sounds of an ‘orchestra of pipes’ – of winds and brass and strings – and snare drum, cymbals and chimes.
Together we will ensure that this treasured American form of musical performance will continue to enchant listeners with timeless melodies from the Great American Songbook, movies and Broadway musicals in generations to come.
Yours will be an investment in posterity that helps us make our “Pipe Dreams” come true.
ARCA’s Grand Old Instrument Needs Your Help
At the intermission of Dave Wickerham’s concert announcing the Wurlitzer Restoration Project on May 5, 2024, Dave shared that the organ has had technical issues for the last ten years. He said the instrument was “tired” and showing its age… and in need of repair.
To demonstrate this, he played scales on the keyboards that revealed notes that didn’t “speak” and explained why they weren’t voicing correctly. Dave described how he has had to make choices as an artist to hide the organ’s flaws – and explained how that interferes with the flow of the music that the audience receives.
Offering a financial context for the Restoration Project’s fundraising goal, Dave noted that the original price of the Lincoln Hall Wurlitzer was $48,000 in 1928 – which would have been equivalent to the price of 50 houses in that day.
OUR GOAL
ARCA’s Board of Directors has been forward-looking about the care of the Wurlitzer and in 2012 created a Legacy Fund in honor of Paul and Sally McKissick to support the instrument’s maintenance.
As ARCA begins the public phase of the Wurlitzer Restoration campaign, it is sincerely grateful for funds raised so far:
- Monies committed to the Legacy Fund over the years
- 32 contributions received in the initial phase of the Wurlitzer Restoration Campaign, including
- Three major leadership gifts from Board members
- Contributions from the Wurlitzer audience which attended the May 5, 2024 concert and campaign kick-off
With these contributions, ARCA is 45% of the way to reaching its goal – with $41,000 to be raised in the next 12 months from individuals, businesses and foundations.
How You Can Help
Over the years, our enthusiastic audiences at sold-out Wurlitzer concerts have demonstrated their appreciation for the instrument’s presence in Foxburg as well as ARCA’s efforts to maintain the instrument and present world-renowned theatre organists in Lincoln Hall.
We ask that you consider making a gift of any size to help ARCA restore this historic instrument. All donors will be listed on a Wurlitzer Restoration Project plaque to be hung in Lincoln Hall and unveiled at the gala concert in the spring of 2025 when the renovated organ is debuted.
Gifts may be made in honor or in memory of a loved one, family member or business associate – with benefits at every level, donors may underwrite a ‘Pipe, Pedal, Stop, Key, Chest, Rank or Keyboard’.
Benefits include a CD of Dave Wickerham playing the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer, an invitation to an exclusive preview “Informance” and reception prior to the debut concert, pipe organ key ring, framed watercolor image of the organ, and dinner for two at StoneRidge with the Artur & Marybeth Steffee, Dave Wickerham and Jason Wiles. (Donation form below.)
All contributions will have allowable tax advantages, which will be acknowledged in writing. Donors will receive an acknowledgement of their gift in ARCA publications and on our website (unless otherwise requested)
THE WURLITZER RESTORATION PROJECT
Theatre organs are complicated instruments, with thousands of mechanical parts and miles of electrical wiring. Just like a 1928 automobile or a hundred-year-old home which needs major attention due to worn components plus technology updates, the time has come to undertake a major servicing and rehabilitation of the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer.
At the May 5, 2024 Wurlitzer Concert of Dave Wickerham, ARCA initiated a year-long restoration project in the expert hands of theatre organ technician Jason Wiles, who for the ten years has been maintaining the instrument. Jason will be consulting artistically with theatre organist Dave Wickerham.
Jason and Dave have worked together closely prior to and during performances over the years. Jason tunes and prepares the organ in advance and during concerts is on hand to go into the organ chamber and correct an errant cipher – should there be a ‘stuck’ tone.
Dave Wickerham shares a rich perspective about ARCA’s Wurlitzer Restoration project:
“Theater pipe organs, like classic cars and other fine antiques need proper restoration at least once every century. The Mighty McKissick Wurlitzer organ here in Foxburg, PA is no exception… It’s tired and needs YOUR HELP!
Jason Wiles will provide the much needed repairs of this timeless piece of history to ensure its continued functionality for the next hundred years.
Jason has devised a plan and budget to complete the restoration project in the twelve months following the May 5, 2024 concert. During this time, ARCA will not be able to present Wurlitzer concerts until the newly restored organ is unveiled in the late spring of 2025.
Jason knows the Lincoln Hall Wurlitzer intimately. For ten years, he has delivered an instrument to ARCA’s guest organists that has allowed them to express themselves and delight audiences, without revealing the instrument’s age or ‘wrinkles’. With his skillful ‘bandaid’ patches, Jason has been able to keep Wurlitzer audiences blissfully unaware of hidden defects of the instrument and always has allowed the show to go on.
During the renovation, he will remove the ‘bandaids’ and perform the major tasks necessary to return mechanical and electrical components to pristine condition.
“It has been my honor to have maintained the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ for the past 10 years. Because of his creative nature, Paul McKissick was able to fit a large pipe organ into a small space. For this very reason, however, it has become difficult to service certain portions of the instrument. The wind chests (components of the organ that physically hold and control the pipes) need to be removed in order to do thorough maintenance and restoration of the organ. This will ensure that all 1,170 pipes function properly.
I also look forward to adding a 16′ low note extension (12 bass pipes) to the Tibia rank. At the same time, upgrades also will be made to the keyboards, pedalboard and organ’s electronic control system.”
An additional set of bass pipes donated by Dr. Arthur Steffee will be installed during the restoration to provide those body-shaking vibrations in the lowest register that audiences love.
Steffee bought the pipes at the time he purchased the Wurlitzer from Paul McKissick and prior to its installation in Lincoln Hall in 2005. They have been in storage since – and recently refinished by Dr. Steffee in preparation for their installation as part of this project.
They will be installed behind the player piano to provide the powerful lower sounds that move audiences in repertoire from John Williams Star Wars to inspirational hymns.
Origin of the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer
The Lincoln Hall McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer is one of only three hundred Wurlitzer theatre organs existing today in the United States, from the ten thousand built between 1910 and 1940. A number of these instruments live in private residences, It is one of twenty-four built in its size and style and is one of the best examples of this class of theater organ.
Built in 1928 at the Wurlitzer Organ factory in North Tonawanda outside of Buffalo and numbered OPUS 1989, the organ originally was installed in Cleveland’s Uptown Theatre, which opened on November 22, 1928. The organ was played for several years accompanying silent movies.
With the end of the silent film era it was subsequently purchased by Richard Wheeler, a Cleveland organist, and remained in his home until Wheeler passed. Paul McKissick purchased it from the Haynes Company in North Canton, Ohio, where it had been in storage, destined for a pizza parlor in Florida..
Paul lovingly and painstakingly rebuilt the instrument over eleven years and in 1999 the restored Wulrtlizer was installed in McKissick’s garage at their home in Lake Latonka near Mercer, PA. The organ became known as the Latona Pipes, and was played in annual benefit concerts hosted by Paul and Sally McKissick to raise money for the DeBence Antique Music World Museum in Franklin, PA.
Dr. Arthur and Patricia Steffee attended one of these benefit concerts. When Paul decided to downsize and was seeking a place for the Wurtlizer for the next generation, Dr. Arthur and Patricia Steffee purchased it to enhance the newly renovated Lincoln Hall, on the second floor of the Foxburg Free Library, the primary performance venue for Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts (for which they were founding members).
Its seventeen ranks of pipes translate to 60 notes per voice or rank, more than 1200 pipes and 6,000 moving parts to make the Wurlitzer sound. Only the relay and computer are not authentic or vintage parts on the organ.
The installation included one of Wurlitzer’s most unique features, the decorative ‘Toy Counter’ of miniature instruments, which are displayed in a rear balcony in Lincoln Hall and are all powered by the organ. The marimba was added and all the associated drums, cymbals, bells and automatic piano produce a balanced blend of unmistakable Mighty Wurlitzer sounds.
By the fall of 2006, the second rebuilding of the organ and installation in Lincoln Hall were completed and ARCA’s theater organ performance series in Lincoln Hall was inaugurated.
The organ was named the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer and a wall plaque hung beside the organ that Paul McKissick built.
In 2012, the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Legacy Fund was established in honor of Paul and Sally McKissick, at which time a portrait of Paul painted by Andor Paposi-Jobb (an ARCA founding board member) was hung above the plaque on the wall of Lincoln Hall.
ARCA audiences have enjoyed eighteen years of glorious music making on the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer by some of the world’s greatest theatre organists – including David Wickerham, Brett Valliant, Walt Strony, Ken Double, Clark Wilson, Scott Foppiano, Donna Parker, Jelani Eddington, and Martin Ellis.
Wurlitzer Improvements Over the Years
Over the years, improvements have been made to address challenges resulting from the organ’s placement at the back of Lincoln Hall. As beautiful as it was beneath the crystal chandelier and under the percussion shelf, the organ’s original position (on the extreme left side as one faces Lincoln Hall’s entrance) didn’t allow organists to hear what they were playing from both pipe chambers. It also prohibited use of the Lincoln Hall proscenium screen for silent movies, which have been so popular with ARCA audiences.
In 2018, thanks to a generous gift from Rod and Nadine Stewart, ARCA was able to remove the platform on which the organ console sat at the back of the hall to make possible the transport of the console to the front of the house for concerts and silent movies. Their donation also allowed for the installation of a system which projects video of the hands and feet of the performer onto a screen in the stage proscenium – to be enjoyed from every seat in the house.
The new set up was especially appreciated on Monday morning, December 12, 2022, the day after Dave Wickerhan’s sold out Christmas concert – A Magical Wurlitzer Christmas, as four hundred students in grades K to 6 and the Jr. and Sr. High band from Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools were bused to Lincoln Hall.
As a continuation of ARCA’s successful Educational ArtReach Program, Dave Wickerham presented four theatre organ “Informances”, providing an overview of what a theatre organ is and how the pipe organ works. He performed popular songs ranging from Disney and Star Wars to Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Chattanooga Choo Choo and led a Christmas carol sing-along.
Demonstrating how the Wurlitzer organ would have been used a hundred years ago to accompany silent movies, Dave played his improvised score for a silent short of Laurel and Hardy’s “The Battle of the Century Pie Fight” to peals of laughter from the students.
Wickerham demonstrated the range of orchestral instrument sounds that the theatre organ can replicate. The amazed look on students’ faces showed their fascination as he played the percussion instruments on the “toy counter” at the back of the hall – snare drum, cymbals, marimba, and pitched sleigh bells.
After the concert, the students wrote thank you notes with drawings of the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer, expressing their delight and appreciation. The students had never experienced anything like it – and said they wanted to come back with their parents.
“Thank you for letting us have this AMAZING experience.”
“I LOVED the music.”
“This was my favorite field trip ever!”
“Your ability to play all those keys was really awesome and I didn’t even know an organ was a thing before Monday.”
“I’m not really interested in music, but when you played the Star Wars theme song, I was very interested. I wish we could have stayed longer.”
Audiences of all ages – from 6 to 75 – have been charmed and amazed by Lincoln Hall’s McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer in the hands of masterful keyboard artists since its installation nearly twenty years.
With your support, we can insure that the organ will be playing music far beyond our lifetimes – and continue to inspire and touch future generations with the musical grandeur of Lincoln Hall’s McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer.
