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Queensland Gallery of Modern Art Cinematheque installs Wurlitzer organ
posted by
tibiarex
on
April 16, 2007 at 7:35 am
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — The Queensland Gallery of Modern Art that opened earlier this year in Brisbane contains two purpose-built theatres (Cinematheque) for the showing of cinema as an art form.
On 29 March the restored Wurlitzer organ built in 1929 for Brisbane’s Regent Theatre was inaugurated with a short concert by organist Tony Fenelon followed by the screening of the restored and enhanced surviving segments (17 minutes) of the 1906 feature-length (60 minutes) film “The Story of the Kelly Gang”.
The organ had been removed from the Regent in 1964 to spend the next forty years in a residence in New South Wales, before being purchased by the Gallery as an original and complete example of a Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra designed for the accompaniment of silent films (although the Regent opened as a “talkie” house in November, 1929).
In its new home its prime function will be for organists to accompany such films, and it gave an excellent account of itself in that realm. The story was featured in the several Brisbane newspapers and also the
Arts media.
I have a detailed article about the organ and the Cinematheque on my website at:
Theatre Organs
and about the Regent at:
Theatre Organs Regent Page
Details about the Cinematheque may be found on the
official website.
