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~ George Wright's Showtime ~ |
What Happened one Saturday night at midnight at the San Francisco Fox...
George Wright allowed me the opportunity to create an event many have
said was historic. The night: Saturday, March 5, 1960. The time: Midnight
and the place was the Fox Theatre in San Francisco.
It all began with those hi-fi records of the 50's which introduced me to the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ. It was a time when homes were
transformed into concert halls, cathedrals or vast theatres through never
before heard audio dynamics of high fidelity recordings and powerful sound systems. They would give the theatre pipe organ a new lease on life.
One of the first was "George Wright's Showtime." Recorded at San Francisco's Fox Theatre, it captured a sound which I found incredible.
George Wright autographed a record jacket to me from that album. He wrote: "The Show Must Go On.....Why?"
I was about to learn the answer.
If the electronic reproductions were grand, how more awesome would they be when experienced for real. I wished to hear the sounds of the Fox
Theatre's Mighty Wurlitzer and with George Wright at the console.
For every problem, there is a solution, so they say!
On December 22, 1959, my 21st birthday to be exact, I picked up the
telephone and called George Wright.
His first question: how did I get his phone number?
My first question: Would he play a concert for a few friends at the Fox?
To my surprise he said if I could find $500 bucks he would do it. A
subsequent telephone call and the date, March 5, was set. Another $500 for the Fox Theatre rental and we all had deal. As I said yes to all this the only problem was I didn't have $100, let alone a thousand.
In those days there were these wonderful groups called home organ clubs. I began hustling up $100 at a time from each club. Two guys from a radio
station said buy out the organ clubs, they would bankroll the whole thing and split the profit, should there be any.
We had a deal and the tickets, priced at $2 each, went on sale. The
question, would anyone buy a ticket to hear a guy play the organ at midnight.
A few minutes after 10 p.m., the last showing for the night of "Sink The Bismark" would end. A few hundred movie patrons casually made their way out the giant theatre doors. Leaving the theater they couldn't believe their eyes. Neither could manager, Bob Apple, his assistant, Ken King, or his boss, John Klee. I, too, was more than a little bit surprised.
Yes, they would buy a ticket. Would they ever! Nearly 4,700 people stood two and three deep wrapping around the full city block that housed the Fox. Their purpose was to enter this magnificent "Cathedral of the Motion Picture," the San Francisco Fox and be dazzled by the artistry of George Wright.
Just after midnight, the house lights dimmed and then began one of my life's most defining moments.
From the organ chambers came sounds of pipes recreating violins tuning up for a concert. Then the building literally shook as the sounds of 32 foot pipes were heard.
A spotlight from six floors above and a full city block away, hit the orchestra pit and the sound of Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business" punctuated the night air. Slowly, and with an awesome majesty, emerged George Wright at the magnificent San Francisco Fox Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ.
"George Wright's Showtime" had come to life.
We all have dreams. Once in a while they come true. I have been so
incredibly fortunate in my life to see so many dreams become reality. Yet, nothing, I believe, will ever match the sight and sounds of that magnificent organ its console emerging from the depth a deep orchestra pit, its pipes filling this vast auditorium and the incredible response of cheering and applause from those many thousands.
What a night! Many saw their own dreams come to life at this most
Fabulous Fox. The grandeur of this entertainment palace was like a
magnificent chalice holding our most treasured memories and inspiring us with a radiating and shining brilliance. For others it simply was a place to fall in love. For all of us it was a brief time to ignore reality and embrace our dreams, our fantasies and our loves.
For many of us, George Wright was our Frank Sinatra. How ironic they both died in May, 1998. Wright was 77. In the years which followed that first midnight concert I would see and experience the complex and
multidimensional sides of George Wright. Without question, like Sinatra, he was one of the finest musicians America has ever produced. Like Sinatra, he created musical moments which were unforgettable.
Commenting on the fullness of George Wright would be simply dishonest to omit that he was, also like Sinatra, in fact, not a very nice person. That is a shame. Today I still find myself pushing back some very painful and ugly memories.
To compare the music and life of Frank Sinatra to that of George Wright is totally appropriate. Both were the finest in their field. Certainly Frank Sinatra and George Wright left a legacy of musical excellence which, though possibly equaled, shall never be surpassed. They both, it would seem, believed their music would neutralize any discomfort or pain they might cause.
Yet, above it all was their music. Anyone who loves the sound of the theatre pipe organ will remember George Wright. Without George Wright would we might never have cared about the sounds from the New York Paramount, the Fox Theatre in San Francisco, the Chicago Theatre or the Rialto Theatre in Pasadena, California.
For those who didn't understand and you can be sure that many did not,
George Wright was leader to an international band of folks with some very off the wall interests.
Rational folks, many might argue, don't spend half the night searching
through miles of wires completing a needed link so a single pipe can sound. Hours more are then given to bringing hundreds of pipes to sound in tune.
Still others of us search for music, out of print for decades, and a passion
for musical perfection stimulates our journey. Success is when we replicate a sound, a style or an emotion gone out of style years before television, computers or anything described as "high speed." Finally, we would exhibit our accomplishment in empty theaters before sometimes less than 20 people.
Yet, we were, and still are, a strange group trying to not let a sound we love slip away. It is a sound which, for so many, began when we first heard the sounds of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ under the command of George Wright.
Now more than 43 years later I take enormous pride knowing we created
and shared a dream together at midnight on Saturday night, March 5, 1960.
Lest we forget, those moments had a name:
George Wright's Showtime
- Allen White, March 11, 2003
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