The Mighty Wurlitzer

The voice of silent film

The “Mighty Wurlitzer” refers to pipe organs built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company for movie palaces during the silent film era. Designed as “one-man orchestras” to create symphonic sounds with real pipes and instruments like xylophones and drums, they remain treasured cultural icons in historic theaters.

Our restored 1925 Wurlitzer is a three-manual instrument, Style 260, Opus 1097 and was obtained through Jeff Weiler, a renowned expert in pipe organ restoration. According to Weiler, the organ’s rarity, size, and originality contribute to the instrument’s importance. The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company built 2,243 pipe organs between 1910 and 1943 and the organ installed at the Oriental Theatre is one of only about a dozen that remains in original condition, as built, with no changes or modifications. This instrument maintains the original, period elements and sound so audiences hear it exactly as it sounded in the 1920s.

When the Oriental Theatre opened in 1927, it housed an Oshkosh-built Barton pipe organ, which was removed in 1959. The last organ to serenade Oriental Theatre-goers was a 1931 Kimball. That instrument moved into the building in 1991, and it was removed and transferred to a new owner in 2018.

After Wurlitzer produced nearly a pipe organ per working day in 1926, sound came to American films in 1927, flattening the demand for theater instruments. But the instruments have never lost the grandeur and fascination that earned them the nickname of the “Mighty Wurlitzer.”

This instrument is a cultural icon of inestimable importance. We’re very pleased that it will have such a fine home because the combination of movie palace, film presentation and a theater pipe organ is truly the magic of the movies.

Jeff Weiler Renowned Expert in Pipe Organs

Frequently Asked Questions

A pipe organ? At the Oriental Theatre? Should I be excited about this?

Absolutely! Like all the great cinema palaces of its era, Milwaukee Film’s Oriental Theatre was meant to have a pipe organ to accompany silent films and serenade movie lovers through the ages. When the previous organ was removed from the theater before Milwaukee Film took over operations, it left an important and beautiful piece missing from this fabulous facility. Adding a pipe organ was a critical part of our restoration efforts.

Remind me, what happened with the old organ?

The last organ at the Oriental Theatre, a 1931 Kimball, was removed and re-homed before Milwaukee Film took over operations in 2018. That instrument had been installed in 1991. The original pipe organ that was part of the building when it opened in 1927 was a Barton that had been built in Oshkosh. That organ was removed in 1959.

Where did this new/old organ come from?

The 1925 Wurlitzer obtained by Milwaukee Film began its life at the Paramount Theater in Atlanta, where it remained until the 1950s.

The Mighty Wurlitzer

Frequently Asked Questions

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