Joliet musician seeks home for historic Chicago theater organ

A rapidly disappearing part of theater history recently was showcased in a Joliet garage.

Taylor Trimby hosted an organ concert at his home for members of the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts and the Joliet Area Theater Organ Enthusiasts. Both organizations preserve theater organs and educate the public about their use.

“The biggest thing is just to get people to know about them and to understand how this is a part of Americana,” Trimby said. “This has been a part of us since 1906 when theater organs were first made. They’ve been a part of us for a long, long time. We just need more people to know about them.”

So Trimby, a member of CATOE and JATOE and former chairman of the board for the American Theatre Organ Society, had two reasons for hosting the concert.

He said he wanted members to see the restoration of two theater organs – one of which needs a home – and to raise awareness in the community about the significance of theater organs and why they should be preserved.

“The xylophone, the orchestra, the bells, the drums – I thought it was going to be like a church organ and, my gosh, it wasn’t.”

—  Taylor Trimby of Joliet, Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts and the Joliet Area Theater Organ Enthusiasts

To that end, Donnie Rankin performed at the concert on Edna, a Wurlitzer console from the former Oriental Theatre in Chicago, which CATOE acquired in the 1980s and stored at Mundelein Seminary, Trimby said.

Rankin was the American Theatre Organ Society’s 2023 Organist of the Year.

Trimby said CATOE brought the organ to the 65th annual American Theatre Organ Society Convention last year, where it was very well-received.

“The people just went nuts because it’s so cool-looking and to be able to play it and take pictures of it,” Trimby said.

Trimby said Edna was stored in his garage after the convention for rewiring and replacement of some components. However, local organ enthusiasts want to find a good home for it.

“But we want it to go someplace where it’s going to be used,” Trimby said. “We don’t want it to go to a place where it would get used once or twice a year. We’re hoping people will see this [story] and say, ‘Hey, this is great. This organ would fit here perfectly.’

“I’m not going to send it to somebody’s house to sit in their basement.”

[ Joliet woman on a mission to keep ‘king of the instruments’ alive ]

Trimby said he also wants members to see the restored case and chamber parts of Cassandra, an organ that belongs to the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Cassandra will return to the theater after a new organ lift is installed and other infrastructure work is completed, Trimby said.

The case for preserving theater organs

According to the ATOS website, theater organs differ from concert organs in many ways because theater organs were designed to accompany silent films.

One significant difference is the real installation of additional musical instruments and sound effects in the pipe chambers an organist can pneumatically operate, according to the ATOS website.

These instruments and sound effects included piano, drums, cymbals, xylophone, marimba, orchestra bells, chimes, castanets, woodblock, sleigh bells, train and boat whistles, car horns, sirens, bird whistles and imitation ocean surf, according to the ATOS website.

Trimby said he fears that if theater organs are discarded – as many are – and not played as they were intended, an entire theatrical expression will die and be forgotten.

“And that would be sad,” he said.

Trimby’s love of the theater organ ignited when he was 10. He’d heard the legendary Kay McAbee of Joliet perform on the Barton Grande Pipe Organ at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet.

McAbee, who died in 2012 at the age of 81, was inducted into ATOS’ “Hall of Fame” in 1985. He served as organist and choirmaster at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Frankfort for 23 years, and performed at the Rialto and across the U.S., according to his obituary.

“I heard him play and instantly I was hooked – because of the sound” Trimby said. “The xylophone, the orchestra, the bells, the drums – I thought it was going to be like a church organ and, my gosh, it wasn’t.”

As Trimby listened to McAbee, he promised himself that he, too, would play the Barton Grande Pipe Organ at the Rialto one day.

“Five years later, I was on the bench playing,” Trimby said. “And I haven’t stopped.”