What amazes me is that rather than the organ being restored as part of the building renovation as it should have been it was damaged much further than it was before. At least now the restoration is gaining momentum and more of the organ is playing now. What an amazing instrument.

I was almost sick at seeing that damage done by workmen. I saw an example of this in New Jersey in the 1970s. A large theatre was being rehabbed. The workers went up into the chambers, broke out the shades and grills, and threw the organ pipes down into the orchestra pit! The story was that they thought it was part of a antique, unused, heating system. I was invited to see the damage. I climbed down into the pit and rescued a Vox Humana and a nice tubby loud Open Diapason. With work I was able to use them in my home theatre organ. After many years of work and searching for pipes and all else, I ended up with a wonderful ten rank, mostly Wurlitzer and Moller, theatre organ. In 1998 my house burned in a extensive fire. I lost the organ and could never replace it.

As has been said already, it is shocking to see the damage made by the ignorant grunts who were allowed access to the chambers. They must have been low-lifes of the first order to have stood on the pipes and flattened them. Unbelievable. A shame that they could not be tracked down now and their photographs and names made public. What a mountain of skilled work went into that organ. (A small correction of information: The Tuba pipe is tuned by the wire. The sliding wooden plate is for regulating the volume and the tone.) Thanks for this fascinating upload.

@Offshoreorganbuilder

8 жыл бұрын

***** You might think that - I couldn't possibly comment(!) Seriously, I am afraid you can find the stupid and the thoughtless in all nations and all walks of life. I do hope that, one day, we shall see this unique instrument in full working order, and (with modern technology's help, perhaps) acceptably in-tune.

The restoration continues on the largest musical instrument in the world, right here in Atlantic City, NJ.

Hurry! Get her done. Awesome to have public exposure to the king of instruments by way of the king of kings!

Its shocking the carelessness and even deliberate Vandalism people can cause to such an Organ while doing other work. People can have no respect for things,. its disgusting! So glad to see its being restored and cared for, been a long time coming to an organ that has suffered many pitfalls.

@TheProducersLoftStudio

8 жыл бұрын

+Cave Johnson What a stupid thing to say.

@dlwatib

6 жыл бұрын

They probably lived in New Jersey.

I love you guys! :)

Despite the appearance, NOTHING in the organ is unrepairable.

Thank you so much for sharing this video. Do they offer tours of these chambers to the public? I would absolutely love to see these. I was blessed with a golden opportunity to tour both of the main stage chambers back when Dennis McGurk was the curator. Mr. McGurk was all caught up with his work and was able to accommodate me on a Friday afternoon. He gave me a four hour personal tour of the chambers and the blower room. Prior to that I also received a tour of the main chambers during an ATOS convention. It is heartbreaking to see the damage; especially where pipes had been stepped on and flattened. What sort of sub-human species had been allowed to work up in those spaces? You would think that most people would respect the workmanship in these chambers but obviously we live in a totally different time from when craftsmen too pride in their work and respected other craftsmen's work. I had participated with the restoration of the Broadway Kimball and would love to help out with the Midmer-Losh except I live too far away.

@KingdaToro

6 жыл бұрын

The public tour goes through all these in order: Remote console (tour group meets here), arena VIP box for organ layout introduction, ballroom, outside balcony, left stage chamber, stage and console, organ shop/right stage chamber/relay room, then back to the VIP box for the recital. The forward, center, and upper chambers are not included.

The blame for the damage must surely lay at the feet of the Auditorium management for allowing work to be carried out without the removal of this division? Willful vandalism comes to mind. If it was a priceless work of art in a private house or museum they'd make damned sure it was removed before any "renovations" or "repairs" were carried out. As for the workmen who thought it would be fine to just trample over something without question - I'd be checking references if I lived in Atlantic City and needed building work done...

@Tmanaz480

6 жыл бұрын

Cave Johnson ... Instead of the considerate, graceful natives of New Jersey? Have you been to Jersey?

Were those vandals from a construction company working out of the west valley of Los Angeles? This work looks familiar.

Ouch! Gosh it is heart breaking to see that damage! I really wonder how one keep all those thousands of pipes in tune?

You'd think you wouldn't have to tell construction workers that organ pipes are very valuable and they shouldn't walk on them or knock them over with construction materials.

@jamesp8391

2 жыл бұрын

You would think that, however I have run into this on countless of my regular maintenance accounts. Churches will have renovations or maintenance jobs done, and the construction workers will step all over everything or drop paint and equipment on pipework like it doesn’t exist. It’s sickening. Then you have to fight with their insurance companies that don’t want to pay for their negligence. It’s a nightmare. I have one job where they went to patch a chamber ceiling from tower water damage, and they actually thought it would be a good idea to put a roofing ladder on the chest with the pipework and smash the top 24 notes of every rank on the chest. It’s getting ridiculous now and needs to stop. It’s been a huge problem in the last 5 years

Wow i was born on that day i think 06 dec 07

The sound track is in deed the M-L. This is an unreleased recording of Barbara Fesmier former staff organist at Boardwalk Hall. I would have to dig through my notes to tell you what year this was recorded, but I seem to recall cir. mid-1960s.

@hootinouts

9 жыл бұрын

Vic Ferrer It is absolutely beautiful. I met Barbara once at the home of Jim and Dot Shean in Levittown Pa. They have a 3/19 Wurlitzer. It was open console all afternoon and Barbara graced our ears with her masterful playing.

@MegaMobass

3 жыл бұрын

So I’ve done some digging since I’ve found this video, which has been at least a year. And I’ve recently found some of those unreleased recordings on sound cloud of all places as I haven’t been able to locate anything else. And I found an excerpt recording of “It may as well be spring” Personally I would LOVE to hear her personal recordings on these instruments. And anything from previous organists.

@MegaMobass

3 жыл бұрын

@vicferrer do you have the full recording of “It may as well be spring”? I’d really like to know/have it.

What a shame it is that so many of the pipes were damaged by careless workmen. I think there is just no excuse for something like that. How hard would it have been if they needed space to take the pipes out and put them off to the side?

@TheProducersLoftStudio

7 жыл бұрын

Yes. Very upsetting indeed that this damage was caused by ignorant construction workers. Fortunately, there is a very competent group of organ builders and volunteers successfully bringing the instrument back to playing condition. These are very exciting times at Boardwalk Hall.

Is there a video like this of all the other chambers?

Can someone tell me who is playing the background music "It might as well be spring"? Is this the Midmer_Losh? Is this recording available to purchase?

Some of those pipes looked like they got intentionally damaged. So whoever did this will pay a HUGE fine and some jail time to boot. When will the Echo chamber be fully repaired/ functional?

The papier-mache pipes are NOT the Egyptian Bazu; they are the Bassoon.

How is the restoration coming along today? I haven't been able to find much info, other than seeing some work being done in the left stage chamber. I can't wait to hear that portion come back to life! If I remember correctly, it had a lot of string divisions, which have always been my favorite type of pipes.

@ekp8525

8 жыл бұрын

+Maxxarcade I heard from another KZread vid that restoration is set to be completed in 2023

@Pyro.Technic.801

7 жыл бұрын

ekp8525 the organ is now fully playable just needs to be fully tuned they are hoping to be done in late 2017

@LeftiusMaximus

7 жыл бұрын

Not even close to fully playable....no work has been done in either of the middle or ceiling chambers. The left stage chamber is mostly on line and the left forward chamber is being worked on. This facebook group is a wonderful page for information facebook.com/groups/4729554825/

@KingdaToro

6 жыл бұрын

That's just the left stage chamber. When it's done, the organ will be 50% playable. The six smaller chambers still need to be done.

@anb7408

7 ай бұрын

As of 2023, the organ is around 62% playable. The famed Echo and Fanfare chambers are still untouched. It will be a while before those are playable again.

i relish the day to hear this beast in full glory. we just got our ogran up and running after a regime change and all the unit needed was its electric motor oiled . nothing on the scale of this madness by idiotic people

@RealRaynedance

7 жыл бұрын

Well they're expecting it to be up and running at its full potential in 7 years or so. Hopefully that's accurate.

@signbear999

Жыл бұрын

@@RealRaynedance Almost 7 years and nope, they haven't even touched this section yet.

7:36 what is the name of that song? it's great! :D

Is there a video like this for the Fanfare on the other side?

@TheProducersLoftStudio

9 жыл бұрын

No Mike. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to get into the Fanfare Division. On that shooting day. Maybe next time!

What is the name of the piece playing in the background?

@vinceharzewski2778

9 жыл бұрын

"On the Road to Mandalay" recorded for the CD "The Auditorium Organ" in November 1998.

@SimmoneOrganWorks

9 жыл бұрын

Vince Harzewski Thanks! Do you by chance know the name of the first song as well?

@Renatodonadio

4 жыл бұрын

@@SimmoneOrganWorks The first song should be "It might as well be spring", years ago on the former Acchos site there was an alternative version to download in which Barbara Fesmeyer fantasized on the piece with a "rolling" xylophone ;-D

The sound of this organ is sublime, couldn't we have the organ less the talking please!!!!!

I wonder if those flattened piped can be salvaged? I'd love to lend a hand sometime in attempting to restore those.

@shiningarmor2838

8 жыл бұрын

You'd have to melt and reroll the pipe to get anything useful

@Maxxarcade

8 жыл бұрын

+Shining Armor I wondered the same thing. I think I've seen damage like that get fixed in other organs, but I can't remember if it was that severe. In either case, I hope they can salvage as much as possible.

@ccoraxfan

8 жыл бұрын

+Shining Armor Not true! These pipes are made of a very soft lead/tin alloy which is like solder and is easily formed. They can be fully restored by using the proper size mandrels and simply bending the metal back to the proper shape. Any broken pipes can be repaired by soldering. It mainly takes a lot of work, one pipe at a time. One wishes the people who did this vandalism could be made to pay for the repairs.

@HobbyOrganist

8 жыл бұрын

+ccoraxfan Yes, they can be repaired, but if they are just common ranks most builders have scads of old pipes stored away from rebuilds and salvaged organs, it would be cheaper and quicker to simply replace some of those really squashed pipes with used ones of the same type.

@ccoraxfan

8 жыл бұрын

Victorian Sculptures What exactly is a “common rank” when every pipe of every rank is custom made and voiced for the room it’s in? Even replacement pipes would have to be specially made and voiced to match the rest of the pipes in that rank, or It’ll sound out of place. And as far as I know, most of the ranks in this organ are voiced on much higher wind pressure than most organs, which makes them quite different in design.

Were All Those Pipes that were significantly damaged by vandalism?

@CorvetteCoonass

7 жыл бұрын

They were damaged by construction workers doing renovation to the building. The city just didn't care about the organ which is weird because that was the main attraction of the building back in the day. Classical music and even instrumental music in general has really fallen to the wayside for vocal music. The public no longer appreciates instrumental music like they used to, but thankfully there are people who still care about instrumental music.

@dlwatib

6 жыл бұрын

I bet they were unionized construction workers.

Words cannot describe my revulsion and disgust with management and the workers (neanderthalian knuckle-dragging grunts) that did the damage to this organ. I have been an organbuilder for decades and find these pictures disgusting! Thank God for people who care and will bring this organ back to its former glory. As to the grunts, I will spare all my vitriol.

@TheProducersLoftStudio

Ай бұрын

This damage was probably done by the installers of AC or other building construction people over the decades. Since the filming of this video, the ML has thankfully been in the caring and competent hands of some incredibly dedicated people who are methodically restoring this world's treasure back to its glory. 🙏

There would seem to be a controversy here...both the (Philly) Wannamaker and the Atlantic City Organ seem to claiming the title of worlds largest organ. Though I have heard both (online)...would think the Wannamaker is tonally better...and of course that's dependent upon my system audio and the recording audio...and both organs are ongoing restoration... Damned uncaring workmen (intentionally?) treading all over and flattening those pipes...dammit! Bad enough that there was storm damage without workmen causing more! Yeah, I would put blame on management for their seemingly uncaring attitude too...and not following up on worker damage! Flattened pipes just do not want to whistle! Were I about 30 years younger, would volunteer some time to help out...sighs

@CorvetteCoonass

7 жыл бұрын

This is the largest pipe organ ever built, the Wannamaker is the largest pipe organ that's fully operational. When this organ is fully restored, it will be the largest operational pipe organ in the world.

@KingdaToro

6 жыл бұрын

The Wanamaker is heavier and has more ranks. The Atlantic City organ has more pipes, which is the standard measure of organ size. It's also much louder and more powerful, the loudest stops on the Wanamaker are on 25 inches of wind, while the Atlantic City organ has ten stops on 50 inches and four on 100 inches, including the loudest organ stop in the world.

Someone just stepped on those pipes 3:59, they could have pulled them out and then stepped, but they saw on value and thought, Well it's never going to play again and who cares. Or maybe the tripped and sat on them. So all the contractors up there in the roof just tromping around trying to renovate and no one told them to be careful of the pipes. Unbelievable. You can see where feet just trampled all over the place. The people that supervised the renovation were truly brainless and the people that hired the brainless supervisor was the worst of the bunch as he should have known better.

Find what companies did the work and publish them. Did the morons think (obviously morons don'think) thathe organ was to be removed andiscarded, so the damage they did was of no importance?

The idiots who did the renovation should’ve been sued for the damages and put out of business.

Damage was done by wanamaker fans /s

@TheProducersLoftStudio

3 жыл бұрын

Wanamaker fans love the Boardwalk Hall M-L and M-L fans *LOVE* the Wanamaker pipe organ!

@instakillgaming

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheProducersLoftStudio yeah was just kidding

this is terrible