Help Us Restore the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Organ
Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts’ treasured McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer in Lincoln Hall has been increasingly in need of rehabilitation and significant repairs.
At the intermission of the concert on May 5, 2024, a Wurlitzer Restoration Project was announced to return Lincoln Hall’s organ to its full glory over the next twelve months in the professional hands of ARCA’s long-time organ technician, Jason Wiles – with Dave Wickerham as artistic consultant and theatre organist/technician Clark Wilson working remotely as a technical consultant.
To accomplish this, a McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Fundraising Campaign goal of $76,000 was announced.
In the quiet phase of the campaign, ARCA has raised 51% of this goal: 38 donations totaling $39,115 from Board members, audience members at the kick-off concert, and gifts in memory of Dr. Arthur Steffee, ARCA’s late President.
We’re halfway there! To help us ‘get over the top’, ARCA is grateful to have received a very generous challenge grant from a major donor, whose gift will serve as a 2 to 1 MATCH, doubling each and every dollar received in the public campaign.
We are eager to have you join our efforts to restore ARCA’s beloved Wurlitzer – and invite you to donate today – with your contribution doubled!
Donate To The McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Fund
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.
Since announcing the Wurlitzer Restoration campaign last spring, ARCA is sincerely grateful for funds raised so far.
- Monies committed to the McKissick Legacy Fund over the years
- 38 contributions received in the quiet phase of the Wurlitzer Restoration Campaign, including
- Three major leadership gifts from Board members
- Significant contributions from ARCA Members
- Contributions from audience members who attended the Wurlitzer concert and campaign kickoff on May 5, 2024
- Gifts in memory of Dr. Arthur Steffee, ARCA’s founder and President
With the donations from the quiet phase, ARCA is 51% of the way to reaching its goal – with $36,885 to be raised from individuals, businesses and foundations.
MATCHING GRANT
To help us ‘get over the top’, ARCA is grateful to have received a very generous challenge grant from a major donor that will serve as a 2 to 1 match for donations made in the public phase of the campaign.
Every gift received will be doubled – to maximize the effectiveness of your generosity.
With your help and this generous grant, together we can reach our goal and guarantee that audiences will continue to experience the organ’s glory long into the future.
We invite you make a gift of any size to help us preserve Lincoln Hall’s treasured and historic McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer.
Donate to the Restoration Fund and Your Gift Will be Matched 2 to 1
BENEFITS OF YOUR GENEROSITY
Gifts of all sizes are welcomed – and 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’.
All donations will receive recognition in ARCA’s publications.
At various levels of giving, additional benefits include:
- Listing on a Wurlitzer Restoration Project plaque to be hung in Lincoln Hall
- Free tickets to the Grand Debut Wurlitzer Concert on Sunday, June 1 at 2 PM
- A CD of Dave Wickerham’s performance on the newly renovated McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer
- An invitation to a preview “Informance” and Lincoln Hall reception on Saturday, May 31 at 4 PM – in advance of the Grand Debut concert
- Other benefits include a pipe organ key ring, framed watercolor image of a photo of the Mighty Wurlitzer by photographer and media artist Dennis Keyes and a dinner with ARCA Board members, Dave Wickerham and Jason Wiles (Benefits listed on the DONATE webpage)
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.)
GRAND DEBUT CONCERT
After a year without Wurlitzer concerts during the Restoration Project, on Sunday, June 1 at 2 PM in Lincoln Hall the newly refurbished McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer will be unveiled at the Grand Debut Concert performed by internationally renowned theatre organist and ARCA favorite, Dave Wickerham. Tickets $25, ARCA Members $20, Students $5.
This concert will sell out so be sure to buy online or reserve early: 724-659-3153
AN INVESTMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
By donating in support of the Restoration Project, you will enable us to bring our Wurlitzer back to its full “Might,” 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.
Your gift 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 for generations to come.
The contribution you make will be an investment in posterity that helps us make our “Pipe Dreams” come true.
ARCA’s Grand Old Instrument Needs Your Help
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 from the same year.
At the intermission of the Wurlitzer concert on May 5, 2004, ARCA’s Executive Director John Soroka announced the Wurlitzer Restoration Project on behalf of the Board of Directors. Dave Wickerham presented the need for the restoration project and stated 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.
Dave shared 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!”
To demonstrate the need, 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.
THE WURLITZER RESTORATION PROJECT
The year-long restoration project has been in the expert hands of ARCA’s theatre organ technician Jason Wiles. He has been providing the much-needed repairs to ensure its continued functionality for the next hundred years, consulting artistically with theatre organist Dave Wickerham and with theatre organist Clark Wilson remotely as a technical consultant.
Jason knows the Lincoln Hall Wurlitzer intimately. For ten years, Jason has tuned and prepared Lincoln Hall’s Wurlitzer in advance of concerts, delivered an instrument to ARCA’s guest organists. He also has been on hand during concerts to go into the organ chamber and correct an errant cipher – should there be a ‘stuck’ tone.
This had allowed ARCA’s world-renowned theatre organists to express themselves and delight audiences, without revealing the instrument’s age or ‘wrinkles’. With his skillful ‘bandaid’ patches. Jason was able to keep Wurlitzer audiences blissfully unaware of hidden defects of the instrument and always has allowed the show to go on.
On May 5, 2024, Jason Wiles announced the plan to complete the restoration project in the twelve months following the concert. During this time, ARCA has not been able to present Wurlitzer concerts – as we await the organ’s Grand Debut Concert on Sunday, June 1 at 2 PM in Lincoln Hall.
During the renovation, Jason has been removing the ‘bandaids’ and performing the major tasks necessary to return the mechanical and electrical components to pristine condition. He described the project:
“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 had become difficult to service certain portions of the instrument.
Many of the wind chests (components of the organ that physically hold and control the pipes) were removed in order to do thorough maintenance and restoration of the organ. While apart, it was decided to rearrange the layout within the solo pipe chamber. This will not only improve the overall sound quality, but also facilitate one’s ability to move within the chamber.After further examination, it was also decided to replace the “non original” Kimball saxophone rank with a “Wurlitzer style” Trivo saxophone rank. This will be delivered shortly and will be a substantial upgrade. Currently, the tremulants (vibrato units) and wind supply lines are being reconfigured and reinstalled.
Preparations are under way to install the 16′ low note extension (12 bass pipes) in the Tibia rank donated by Dr. Arthur Steffee, who purchased them prior to the organ’s installation in Lincoln Hall and refinished them in recent years. They will be located behind the player piano at the rear of the hall. Also, maintenance and upgrades are being done to the keyboards, pedalboard and control system wiring.”
ARCA is grateful for bass pipes donated by ARCA’s founder and former President, the late Dr. Arthur Steffee, that will be installed 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 the organ’s initial installation in Lincoln Hall in 2005. They have been in storage since – and prior to his passing he had refinished them in preparation for their installation as part of this project.
The bass pipes 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 and patriotic medleys.
Donate To The McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Fund
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 Wurlitzer 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 Wurlitzer 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.
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.
Continuing ARCA’s successful Educational ArtReach Program, Dave Wickerham presented four theatre organ “Informances” performing popular songs ranging from Disney and Star Wars to Harry Potter and Jurassic Park; Chattanooga Choo Choo; and a silent film comedy short featuring Laurel & Hardy in “Battle of the Century– The Pie Fight”.
The amazed look on students’ faces showed their fascination as Wickerham displayed the orchestral sounds the theatre organ can replicate and demonstrated the percussion instruments featured on a shelf at the back of the hall – snare drum, cymbals, marimba, and pitched sleigh bells.
Donate To The McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Restoration Fund
Photo credits
- denniskeyesphotography.com
- David W. Diffenderfer