![]() ![]() These upgrades include additional bass power, one newly commissioned voice and several sets of pipes that have been exchanged for higher quality vintage pipes. The pipe chambers have been redesigned with many restored pipe chest mechanisms and improvements. ![]() Also, its control system has been upgraded to state-of-the-art designs with multiple memory levels and a record/playback capability. The console has been magnificently refinished, and features restored keys of reclaimed ivory and ebony. Many of the finest artisans in the country were selected to accomplish the various tasks involved and the results are a delight to the ear and eye. In 2007-08 the Clemens Center undertook a major renovation project and after a thorough renovation to all its components, the theatre pipe organ premiered on October 27, 2013. Working frantically right up to the last minute, the organ was played in October 1977 by David Peckham at the official grand opening of the Center, which starred Ella Fitzgerald. During April of that year, the Center was able to purchase a four-manual Wurlitzer Theater Organ from our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, NY. In March of 1977, Lauren, Joyce, David and Kent Peckham and David Teeter took on the restoration of the organ. Nothing was done after the Flood of 1972 until 1976 when a concerted drive was undertaken to save the theater for use of a community and performing arts center – the Clemens Center. Then came the Flood of 1972, which completely ruined the console, blowers in the basement, and the organ elevator lift motors, gears and other parts. By 1963, the organ was in playable condition. So much of the organ had been demolished in one way or the other that another 3/15 Marr and Colton organ was purchased from the Palace Theater in Jamestown, NY, and moved to Elmira. It wasn’t until 1961 that a group of local organ enthusiasts including Lauren Peckham, Bob Oppenheim and David Teeter took on the monumental work of an organ restoration project. Then came the Flood of 1946, which floated the console out of the pit, and when it came back to rest on the elevator platform, it was upside down. ![]() After that time, the organ was used only on rare occasions and was not kept in repair – the last record of its having been played was in 1941. The organ was used daily to accompany the silent films until the advent of talkies in 1929. In 1925, the Marr and Colton Company installed a 3/20 instrument in what became the Keeney Theatre. ![]()
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