Farewell to the last cinema organist

Farewell to the last cinema organist

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norman lebrecht

October 09, 2016

Steve Tovey, organist at Birmingham’s enormous Odeon for 25 years, has died at 69.

He was a notable restorer of disused instruments.

Obit here.

steve-tovey

Comments

  • Ravi Narasimhan says:

    There is at least one left.: Bill Field of El Segundo, California’s Old Town Music Hall and its Mighty Wurlitzer. Wonderful small theatre near LAX that shows classic films including organ-accompanied silents. Mr. Field plays the organ before each film, silent or spoken.

    http://oldtownmusichall.org/history.html
    http://oldtownmusichall.org/index.html

  • Dr Presume says:

    There’s a fine organist by the name of Richard Hills who regularly accompanies silent films at, i.a. London’s Regent Street Cinema – they’ve got a vintage 1936 Compton cinema organ there, and in recent months, Hills has accompanied Keaton shorts, Hitchcock’s The Lodger, and Murnau’s Sunrise.

  • John says:

    I want to think that at least in the US there’s still some strong interest among organists. http://www.atos.org

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