When composer Nathan Barr found the instrument he had been looking for, he built a studio for it.
Barr collects unusual musical devices, especially mechanical ones from the early 20th century. His search for a theater organ started when he scored “Hemlock Grove,” a Netflix horror series that earned him his first Emmy nomination. Five years ago, he discovered an old Wurlitzer pipe organ in floor-to-ceiling crates in a warehouse in Reno, Nev. The organ had occupied the scoring stage at 20th Century-Fox; you can hear its grand and powerful sounds in such classic scores as Bernard Herrmann’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” Jerry Goldsmith’s “Patton” and John Williams’ “Witches of Eastwick.”
Installed at Fox in 1928, the organ was designed to accompany silent films but remained in use until 1997, when the studio sold it. When Barr bought the instrument, it had been acquired by Ken Crome,...
Barr collects unusual musical devices, especially mechanical ones from the early 20th century. His search for a theater organ started when he scored “Hemlock Grove,” a Netflix horror series that earned him his first Emmy nomination. Five years ago, he discovered an old Wurlitzer pipe organ in floor-to-ceiling crates in a warehouse in Reno, Nev. The organ had occupied the scoring stage at 20th Century-Fox; you can hear its grand and powerful sounds in such classic scores as Bernard Herrmann’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” Jerry Goldsmith’s “Patton” and John Williams’ “Witches of Eastwick.”
Installed at Fox in 1928, the organ was designed to accompany silent films but remained in use until 1997, when the studio sold it. When Barr bought the instrument, it had been acquired by Ken Crome,...
- 6/6/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
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