Massive Compton 9 Rank Cinema/Theater Organ ca. 1934

Completely restored Compton 9 rank cinema/theater organ ca. 1934, United Kingdom. In the early 20th century custom design pipe organs were used to accompany silent movies, and later as feature entertainment during the era of "talkies". While The Rudolph Wurlitzer company is legendary in this respect, The John Compton Organ Company supplied many of the fine instruments to cinemas throughout the British Isles. This particular organ, one of the finest of its size, was supplied in 1934 to the Astoria Cinema in Kingston, Hull, a brand new state of the art cinema at that time. Seating over 1500 people, the organ had to be powerful enough to fill the large auditorium with sound. It performed for many years until it fell into disrepair in the 1970's. In the early 80's, the Compton was removed from the Astoria and reinstalled in a theme park, but when this venture failed in 1989, the York Museum of Mechanical Music was able to purchase it. Still in entirely original condition, the organ was purchased into a collection in 1999 and completely rebuilt. Over € 100.000,00 was spend. Now the organ can be played manually or via computer. This instrument is complete, from keyboard to compressor. The illuminated surround can be set to give a fixed colour or to change slowly through the colours of the rainbow. Everything is here to redeploy a piece of music history into your venue. Comes with original archive photo's of James Swift at the organ console who opened in the Astoria Cinema in 1934. PLEASE NOTE: The Compton is located in our Gallery and is dismantled and packed in professional crates ready for international shipping. We have a team that can facilitate world wide delivery and installation.