The Byrd Theatre and Eddie Weaver Remembered

For more information on the Byrd Theatre and the Wurlitzer Organ visit "The Byrd Theatre" Web site.

1928 Byrd Theatre 

by Hugh Burdick    circa 1960    

Editorial note:

We felt the words below would interest and excite Theatre Organ enthusiasts and was worthy of printing here. These words accompanied a sound recording of the Mighty Byrd Wurlitzer made over 45 years ago. Today, May 28, 2005, the Byrd "movie" theatre  remains open and the Mighty Wurlitzer is still there.

The four-manual Wurlitzer at the Byrd is an outstanding instrument with many unusual features, and unlike most theatre organs is still in good condition. The organ is a late model, Wurlitzer's Opus number #1948 installed in 1928, thus it didn't have the hard silent movie usage of the earlier organs. Much credit should go to Mr. Bob Coulter, manager of the Byrd since it was opened in 28, whose vigilance has kept the organ from the ravages of mice, kids, meddlers, pipe thieves and water damage which have elsewhere taken such a toll of the country's theatre organs. It was a rare pleasure to climb the stairs and open the door to an organ with not a single missing, damaged or even misplaced part. There was still much to be done though, for countless small repair and adjustments to the complex electrical action system were needed as well as cleaning and tuning of pipes and other miscellaneous adjustments made necessary by the long years of idleness.  

 

The Byrd Theatre Wurlitzer in the summer of 1928. The Console sits in the window of The Corley Company waiting to be installed in the Theatre. The Model Console on Display was a Child Sized reproduction rumored to have been built for Organist Jess Crawford. Model was non-functional and its where a bouts today, is unknown.

Although this organ is not the largest Wurlitzer ever built, it has an unusually fine selection of voices. It has the famous Wurlitzer Brass Trumpet and Brass Saxophone and a big Ophicleide in the bass which is recorded here as no Ophicleide has ever been recorded before ! There is also a very rare and beautiful French Trumpet, a voice the discriminating listener can pick out as new to recorded theatre organ music. Note too the very mellow and beautiful Tibias in this organ ("Gone With the Wind"). Dick Leibert calls these the most beautiful Tibias he has ever heard and we agree. Much of this beautiful, mellow fullness is contributed by the Tibia Plena, a rarely found, large-scale open flute stop.

Probably the most outstanding feature of this Mighty Wurlitzer is the way it is installed. Placed in large chambers over the proscenium arch, it is perfectly situated to pour forth its glorious voices over the whole auditorium. The organ chambers are wide and shallow, stretching across the entire front of the theatre so that all the pipes are up front close to the expression shutters and no sound is obstructed or buried back in the chambers. From this high vantage point the tone just seems to flow out everywhere, into every corner, virtually engulfing the audience.

Picture yourself seated in Orchestra Center. Looking up through the wide, gold grills, you see organ pipes spread Cinema-Scope fashion before you.  At your left, in the balcony just off the stage, is the grand piano which plays from the organ console and, behind it, the brilliant Solo Xylophone.  On your right in a similar balcony, the mellow Marimba-Harp is located, the action covered with a velvet drape to make the tone even more soft and mellow, and standing on top, a real stringed instrumental harp.  Now the four manual mahogany console slowly rises stage center, the house lights dim, and you are about to experience the, The Mighty Byrd Wurlitzer.

ORGANIST FINDS A MECCA IN RICHMOND

by Edith Lindeman

There has been much talk recently about the organ at the Richmond Mosque Auditorium.  A very fine organ it is, too, worthy of being talked about and played upon.  However, there's another big Wurlitzer here which has been silent for so long that the older generation has forgotten that it exists, and the youngsters don't even know about it.

The instrument is located at the Byrd Theater.  It was installed when the Byrd was first built and folks who know something about organs will tell you that this is the finest, biggest and best in the city.

One man who remembered the Byrd instrument is Dick Leibert, a concert organist and one of the top men in his profession.  Leibert came through Richmond all of 25 years ago.  He had a go at the Byrd organ, and never forgot how it sounded.

Years went by, Leibert became a big name in his field, and then he was approached to do a complete series of LPs for Westminster Records, an organization that specializes in high fidelity recordings and tapes.  The series is to have such titles as "Leibert at Home" done in his own home; "Leibert Abroad" recorded in London; "Leibert in Radio City" and others.  There also was to be one album done on a big theater organ.  It was untitled until Leibert decided where he wanted to do his playing.

LEIBERT REMEMBERED

After 25 years, Leibert remembered the Byrd organ, and suggested that the recordings take place here.  They were done 10 days ago and the album now is titled "Leibert Takes Richmond."  It will be released in September and, in addition to a number of standard ballads and popular songs, it will include "Old Man River," the "Washington and Lee Swing" and "Dixie."  The last was done with all stops out, with drums drumming, horns tooting, and everything but flags flying-all on the Byrd organ, of course.

Leibert says, "I never heard a Wurlitzer sound like this one.  It's mostly due to the fact that the pipes are situated behind a sort of gold grille, and the sound just pours out all over the audience without any sound being smothered."

Although Leibert did the playing, the most arduous work was done by a trio of technicians who handled the recordings.  There were Chuck Gerhardt of New York, a musical director for Westminster Records; Alexander Magocsi, the recording company's engineer, and Hugh Burdick of Lake Geneva, Wis., an organ builder.

It was Burdick's job to see that the organ was in prime condition.  It is Robert Coulter, manager of the Byrd, who has seen to the excellent condition of the instrument with its 202 stop tables, 1,680 electric contacts, 1,882 electric wires, and more than 10,000 contact points.  There also are some 1,229 pipes ranging in size from that of a soda straw to those big enough to encase a good-sized man.  The pipes are up four flights in four rooms above the Byrd.  The console in the auditorium is merely the keyboard apparatus from which the music is originated by the performer.

$30,000 IN EQUIPMENT

The technicians trucked down $30,000 worth of equipment from New York in order to make the recordings here.  The stuff filled a large van and included tape recorders, miles of cable, and any number of microphones that were set up in various parts of the theater to get "stereophonic sound" into the records.
Eddie Weaver at the Mighty Wurlitzer

Loew's Theatre, now called the Carpenter Center For The Performing Arts

Wurlitzer Opus #1827

Installed 1/20/1928

Mosque Auditorium, now called the Landmark Theatre

Wurlitzer Opus #1757 Installed 10/15/1927
Thursday, January 27, 2000, "Eddie Weaver at the mighty Wurlitzer" was a trademark phrase that was once a well-known part of Richmond's show business milieu.  And for good reason;  Weaver played the Wurlitzer pipe organ to the delight of Richmond audiences for over 50 years.  On January 27, 2000, Eddie Weaver died. He was 92.  My memory of Eddie Weaver blurs his three main gigs in Richmond - the Loew's Theater, the Miller and Rhoads Tea Room, and the Byrd Theater - into one persona.  However, the picture I saw of him when I got the news of his death was of him rising up out of the stage at the Byrd, arms flying as he demonstrated his enthusiastic mastery of the huge pipe organ.  The audience would hear the organ before they saw it.  Then it would slowly ascend into view, all the while with Weaver playing furiously at the keyboard.  As an impatient teenager in the '60s, I must admit I sometimes viewed his performances as corny.  But I never ceased to be amazed at his mastery of the instrument he played.  By pushing buttons and levers, he could make it sound like a harp, a piano, drums, you name it.  The Wurlitzer was much more than a keyboard:  It was a throwback to the days of silent movies, when they were an essential element of movie palaces, such as the Byrd and the Loew's.  From my view, looking at Eddie Weaver's back, it looked to me like he was flying a spaceship as much as playing music.  Not only did it seem to have hundreds of gadgets to push or pull, but there was a 15-horsepower engine pumping air into three rooms full of pipes and literally miles of wiring.  In those days, a trip to the Byrd was more than just a matter of catching a flick.  There was the time the show started and the feature time.  The show included short subjects such as cartoons, travelogues, one- or two-reel comedies, and Eddie Weaver.  Thus, the show time might be 7 p.m. and the feature time would be 7:50 p.m.  So, sandwiched between trailers for upcoming features and a cartoon, Eddie Weaver would play two or three familiar tunes and then be lowered back beneath the stage. Weaver's first performance in Richmond was in 1937 at the Loew's.  His last was in the same theater, now called the Carpenter Center For The Performing Arts, in 1992.  His peppy performances in movie theaters and for white-gloved ladies at luncheons entertained generations of Richmonders.  Now Eddie Weaver, a native of Allentown, Pa., is gone.  His passing will no doubt cause the many thousands of us who grew up in Richmond to pause to remember the magic of going to the movies in a time when people dressed up for the occasion.  We will remember following the bouncing ball on the screen and singing along with Eddie Weaver at the mighty Wurlitzer. Weaver's family will receive visitors at the Parham Chapel Woody Funeral Home, 1771 Parham Rd., Saturday Jan. 29 , 2000 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.  His graveside service will be private.
Today the Organ is played each Saturday night with Bob Gulledge, a student of the late Eddie Weaver, at the console of the Byrd Wurlitzer.

It was my pleasure to be asked to fill-in for Bob Gulledge for the Christmas Show's, December 2005, and to be on-call as the need arises.

The Beautiful Byrd Theatre and it's "Original" Wurlitzer Organ.

 

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