Dream House Remodeled
Nine Times For Final WurliTzer
By Weldon Flanagan
Though
the
Fort
Wayne
Paramru
nt
WurliTzer
wasn't
the largest
instrument
ever built by North Tonawanda
's whistle
factory,
the most overwhelming
surprise
when the organ first sounded
off in the
Flanagan's
Dallas
residential
palace
was that it
did
not blow
everything
out
of the house.
Of course
there was one
deflecting
feature
-
the swell
shades
did
not open
direct
into
the
general
listening
area
and caused
the musical
breezes
to circulate
against
the walls
FLANAGAN
IN
FULL-On
a lot that
tapers from 65 feet in front to 55 at the
rear, and is 150 feet in depth, Weldon
Flanagan
has installed
his WurliTzer
in
his home as shown above. An explanation
of the rooms and buildings,
by the num-
bers
-
1-
Living room where console is
placed; 2-
Den; 2a-
Breakfast
room and
kitchen
area;
3-
Planter
fireplace;
4-
Mixing chamber; 5-
Main organ; 6-
Solo
organ; 7-
Blower,
generator,
air condi-
tioning,
heat for blower
and chambers;
8-
Pool; 9-
Patio;
10-
Bedrooms and
baths area; 11-
Driveway
and carport.
l 6
before
hitting
the
listeners
In some
close-quartered
installations,
the musical
draft has been known to cause chills.
One thing is certain,
however:
when
a pipe organ is installed
in a residence,
the owner is the boss and well able to do
anything
thought
wise
-
be it wise or
wrong.
The reader
may notice
in the house
diagram
an owner's
idea;
the unusual
arrangement
of the Flanagan
Solo Organ
.
After having played
a theatre
instrument
live
for over
10 years,
the author
has
developed
a few likes
and dislikes
that
are reflected
in the installation
of the
Fore Wayne instrument
.
One concerns
the
Tibia.
This
rank
requires
the greatest
amount of area for
the sound
to develop
properly,
and is
therefore
the
back
rank
rn
the Solo
chamber,
with the traps and percussions
being closest
to the shutters
. Normally
the latter items have a muffled
sound in
most theatre and residential
installations
where there are no percussion
chambers.
The
story
of the
WurliTzer
really
starts
back in the early fifties
. At that
time
the
organ
owned
was
a 3m
/ 8r
Wicks theatre
instrument
that left much
to
be desired.
There
was
something
else that entered
the picture
about then
that left absolutely
nothing
to be desired
- the future Mrs. Weldon Flanagan.
When
matrimony
became
the topic of the day
and
niglit
the little
lady
happened
to
mention
that she "was
startled
to think
of all that stuff being in a home."
So,
the bulk of the Wicks was donated
to our church. The theatre
equipment
was
discarded
and parts
were used
with an
old
24-rank
Hook
&
Hastings
straight
organ.
Other theatre
ranks were sold to
friends
and pipe organs
were forgotten!
This was March,
1957.
The old Hook
&
Hastings,
with added
Wicks, played
the
wedding
march
in April
of the
same
year.
Life was bliss
until July,
1961.
Then an organ bug, long dormant, flared
up and did a little biting.
This caused
a
suggestion
to be made to the effect
that
a theatre
pipe organ be located
and in-
stalled
in the new house.
B-O-O-M!!!
Mrs.
Mary Flanagan
quietly
cried
all
night
and was upset
for several
days
after.
It must be explained
that even though
a pipe organ did not live in the house
from 1957 to 1961, there
were
several
different
makes of electronic
instruments
boarding
there.
And the house,
which
was brand spanking
new to begin with,
had been remodeled
seven
times in four
years.
Th
i s was done to achieve
certain
desired
effects
for the plug-ins.
After
all, playing
a 4m/20r
Publix
WurliTzer
every
day,
three
times
a day
at the
Dallas
Palace
caused
certain
spoilage
of the organist
when it came to having
just a plain,
ordinary
electric
organ in
the house
.
Realizing
that
the disease
had re-
Owner Flanagan
at console of his
WurliTzer
turned,
a restricted
okay
was
given.
"If
you really want it that bad, it is all
right with me, providing
this is the last
time we will have
to remodel."
There
was
a neat
little
2m
/ 8r Wurli Tzer
in
Ohio and it arrived in Dallas
in jig time.
Reportedly
an original
installation
in the
Iris
Theatre,
Detroit,
the
organ
was
minus a few things needed
to make it a
true theatre
screamer.
In the
meantime
the
final
remodel
work was started
-
construction
of a
large room on the back of the house. This
turned out to
be
disaster.
Money ran out
and several
ideas
had to be abandoned,
and
there
were acrimonious
arguments
with the City of Dallas
when the attempt
was made to secure
a permit
to build
the
room in the
first
place.
All this
subsequently
turned to advantage
as the
reader will see later on.
The little WurliTzer
had no Tibia and
numerous
other
accessories
that
were
wanted.
This started
a search
for extra
equipment
- and it turned out to be the
best thing that could have happened.
The
organ
grapevine
led
to California
and
Russ Nelson,
who is a national
director
of ATOE,
and, at that time, was in the
business
of buying
and
selling
pipe
organs
by the piece or package.
Without
this used organ dealer,
the Fort Wayne
Paramount
Wurli Tzer would have landed
somewhere
outside
of Dallas.
Miscel-
laneous
parts were purchased
and he was
ultimately
advised
that certain
ranks and
equipment
were still desired.
When
the organ
in Indiana
became
available,
Nelson
sent
word
that
it
contained
many of the items
that were
desired
for the smaller
WurliTzer.
The
date was sometime
in March,
1962, and
three weeks
later
the organ was safely
stored
all over the house,
after a wall
had been removed
to
get the console
in
theatre organ
Location of the console
in
living room
and later replaced.
It isn't
difficult
to
envision
one pleased
customer
and a
wife who was beside
herself
and ready
for a nervous
breakdown.
The
cost
of transportation
was
in
excess
of what was originally
budgeted
and a return
trip was necessary
to the
Republic
National
Bank. The employees
of
the
institution
were
outspoken
in
appra1smg
the sanity
of the situation
when they learned
that a 40-foot moving
van was on its way to Dallas
loaded
to
the gills with organ parts and the bank
balance
was
literally
$0
. 00.
Banking
friends
came through
just in time. This
is all very funny now
, but it was not so
at the time.
To give credit where it is
due,
Russ
Nelson
was
not only
responsible
foe
aiding
in the acquiring
of this fine in-
strument,
but his expert
care,
with the
help of Harvey Heck, another
California
organ
buff, in removing
the instrument
assured
proper
handling
and shipping.
There
have
been hundreds
of words of
correspondence
between that familiar box
number in Orange, California,
and Dallas
,
Texas
.
Descriptions
of installations,
certain
things
that
should
be
. done,
others
to avoid
- in total,
advice
that
could
never
have
been
paid
for was
available
just for the asking
.
After the initial
shock was over
, and
calm was halfway
restored,
the decision
was reached
to build a house around the
organ.
The idea
had to be discarded,
however
,
for
there
was
a shortage
of
about
$30,000
in funds
necessary
to
complete
the plan
.
In
the meantime
the
little
"dream
house"
was in a state
of disorder
and
confusion,
with
coal
dust
everywhere
.
The back door could not be opened
to
feed the
chg
or put out the
garbage.
It
was somewhat
of an amusing
sight
to
see the house
trash
being taken to and
put out through the theatre
stage door, or
carried
to the trash cans at the music
store
.
Eventually
everything
was
re-
arranged.
Through all this
the
WurliTzer
Widow Flanagan
was amazingly
under-
standing
.
Spring '64
At this point the
hotise
had undergone
its
eighth
remodeling
.
With an under-
standing
Father-in-law
contractor,
a
sigh
, a tear and a few distressed
stares
by neighbors,
the decision
was made to
remodel
a ninth and final
time
.
It was
felt
by this time that we would never be
able to move and so the plans included
changing
the
kitchen,
enlarging
the
master
bedroom
and fixing
up several
other items.
Construction
started
in August
and
was
completed
in
November,
1962
.
There was no kitchen,
air conditioning,
etc
. , during this time and it was impos-
sible,
for financial
reasons,
to not live
there.
With no back walls in the house,
the dog running
wild, plus the constant
worry
of protecting
organ
parts
from
workmen and rain, nerves were stretched
to the breaking point.
Installation
of the organ was begun
in December,
1962 and progressed
very
slowly;
everything
had to be done in
spare
time.
Fortunately,
as
mentioned
above,
the first room could not be com-
pleted
and
eventually
became
organ
chamber
space.
Many cuts and bruises
later,
with events
too disappointing
to
enumerate,
the wind was
ready
to be
turned
on. One final
problem
however
was
the three
phase,
220 volt current
necessary
to operate
the blower.
The
local
power
company
had
agreed
to
install
the necessary
service
and put in
Editor's
Note: Weldon
Flanagan
is well
known to most theatre
organ buffs for his
lengthy
stint at the console
of the Dallas
Palace
4m
/ 20r Publix
WurliTzer.
In this
issue he tells of the extensive
trials
and
tribulations
encountered
when
he
instal-
led the Fort Wayne Paramount
WurliTzer
in his home. In a future edition
of THEA-
TRE ORGAN he will write about his ex-
periences
with the Dallas
Palace
organ.
In addition
to ploying
the theatre
and
residential
instruments,
Weldon Flanagan
manages
to tend to business
- he operates
the large House of Music,
Inc., in down-
town Dallas.
a
special
transformer
at
no charge.
Everything
was wired in and then it was
discovered
that two weeks prior the city
council
ha<f
passed
an ordinance
ruling
that no power lines
could
be installed
over a swimming pool. Our pool was in
the way
.
This was almost too much; however,
after
talking
things
over with the city
electrical
inspector,
the
w1nng
was
approved
and completed.
The wind was
turned on the third week of April, 1963.
At this writing the organ is practical-
ly complete
- except
for some additions
that will be made later.
There
are no
parts
scattered
about and the house
is
once more the big-little
"dream
home"
with the added
pleasure
of
«music
by
WurliTzer
. "
The
organ
is
listed
as
Opus
2128 and was
shipped
to Fort
Wayne August 26
, 1930.
The cat is not at all interested
or
disturbed
by
the WurliTzer
except
when
he is moved from his favorite
spot,
the
Howard Seat
.
-
FACTUALLY SPEAKING
-
Relays
are
located
in attic
above
living room and den areas.
Chambers
and blower have a 100,000
BTU heater
and three-ton
air condition-
ing unit with separate
thermostat
from
house temperature.
Console
regulator
is located
in hall
closet.
Ceiling
in mixing room is 14' down to
10'.
Chamber ceiling
within dotted area is
19' to 15'.
Blower is located
in separate
building
on individual
concrete
foundation
with no
vibration
to organ.
The organ is on separate
foundation
to the house and is solid concrete
slab.
Chambers
are constructed
as follows:
outside
to inside
1
in~h
wood, 2 inches
air space, 1 inch Celotex,
2 inches
sheet-
rock,
½
inch wood,
steel
reinforcement
rod and 4 inches
of blown Gunite,
both
ceiling
and exterior
walls.
(There
is no
neighbor problems when organ is
Ifayed).
House is of regular
brick veneer con-
struction.
Attic
is floored
and sheet-
rocked for relays.
Main organ has
14 shutters
with 12
movements;
solo has same number.
The blower
uses
air from chambers
which
is
temperature
regulated.
This
seems to have eliminated
usual rumbles.
Air
pressures
used
are
six
,
ten,
twelve and fifteen
inches.
'Hammondite'
Flanagan
graduates
to
big WurliTzer.
1 7