In
1929, the Fullerton High School District started construction of
a 1300 seat auditorium, later to be called Plummer Auditorium. At the
same time, a "concert" configured organ was provided by the Wurlitzer
Pipe
Organ Company in 1929, about the time that demand for theatre instruments
was waning due both to the depression and to the introduction of sound
motion picture films. Up to that time, silent films were accompanied by pit
orchestras, pianos, photoplayers or theatre organs. Wurlitzer was left with
a large inventory of theatre pipe ranks and chestwork, which were used in
the construction of the Plummer organ.
In 1930, the same year that the auditorium
was dedicated, the debut
concert on the organ was accomplished by Dr. Alexander Schreiner,
the famous
organist of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah.The
organ then had four 61-note keyboards, a 32-note pedalboard, 150
stopkeys, four swell pedals, one crescendo pedal, 28 ranks of pipes,
a chrysoglott and a set of chimes. The pipes and percussion instruments
were located in three chambers. Each pipe and instrument hammer was
controlled by an individual magnet, so there was, as a result, a
need for an elaborate switching system (called a "relay"). To our knowledge, the Plummer Organ had
the only remaining example of a "remote capture action" built by
Wurlitzer. The concept was that the organist could quickly and
easily modify which stops were changed in response to pressing a piston
while sitting at the organ. All other Wurlitzer organ combination actions
could not "capture"; i.e., the selected stops had to be programmed
by means
of setting a series of small switches located inside the back of the
console. This style is called a "setterboard" action. It is not known whether the Plummer remote capture action ever was
fully
operational. It was realized, however, that it was
extremely rare, and so it was carefully disassembled and shipped to
Barrington, Illinois, where it will be displayed in a music museum
being constructed by Jasper Sanfilippo (owner of the largest theater
pipe organ in the world). The
original “concert” configuration and the limited
number of stopkeys on
the console made it difficult for the organist to play a broad range of
literature. But it nevertheless basically was a very good quality
instrument with some very nice theater ranks of pipes along with
some ultra-soft "classic" ranks. Because of the limitations, the
organ was rarely used and then played only for such events as
commencements, an occasional concert, and organ classes offered by
the high school and Fullerton College located across the street.
When
Plummer Auditorium was used by the Fullerton Light Opera Association
for stage presentations, live orchestras were employed rather than
the pipe organ, which still is the arrangement to this day. Since
the French-style console was located at the left end of the orchestra
pit and featured French caps which extended above the stage
level, they caused an unnamed member of the school board to bitterly
complain that they obstructed her sight-line of the stage, so they
were unceremoniously sawed off and replaced with 1/4" plywood
and a new top. The original elaborate music rack was scrapped and replaced
with a dinky electronic spinet organ rack.
Even the scrollwork located beneath, and to the left and right of the
manuals, was butchered.