bjgreen
By Betsy J. Green
Several articles in the local paper in March 1915, about a $5,000 “photoplayer” at the Palace Theater (904 State Street) caught my attention. It was referred to as an organ, but it looks more like a piano with the music produced by a paper roll. During a silent movie, the person in charge of the instrument flipped switches to change the tone of the sound and pulled some cords for special effects such as train whistles. There were also drums and other instruments attached to the device. The photoplayer was shipped from Los Angeles in three pieces and measured 17 feet wide.
As time went on, these photoplayers morphed into even fancier and more sophisticated theater organs such as the 1928 theater organ that lives in the orchestra pit at our Arlington Theatre. This organ rises up out of the floor every so often to accompany a silent movie thanks to the SB Theatre Organ Society.
