LEN RAWLE
THE PROFESSIONAL AMATEUR
& ORGANIST SUPREME
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PAGE SIX:
A THEATRE ORGAN IN THE HOUSE
Reproduced from the Valley of the Sun Chapter of the ATCOS website
Awaiting permission to reproduce here
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Len says that his father was brought up in his parents home where there was a large Harmonium. Len remembers from his boyhood days in Wales, that his father often spoke of this and always held a dream of having a pipe organ in their home and maintaining the pipes under the staircase!
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A Harmonium is also referred to as a Melodeon, Reed Organ or Pump Organ, is a keyboard instrument rather like an organ. Sound is produced by blowing air through reeds, which are tuned to different pitches to make musical notes. This is joined to a mechanism that operates a bellows, sending air to the reeds, which can be operated by either hands or feet.
(Left) Victorian Pump Organ (feet); (Right) Indian Modern Portable Harmonium (hand)
An instrument operated by the feet was first produced in France by Alexandre-Francois Debain (1809-1877) in 1840 while a hand-operated instrument was introduced by Dwarkanath Ghose and has proven to be very popular in the East.
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Orchestral Reed Organ (Harmonium) – Ein feste Burg ist unser G-tt (A Mighty Fortress is Our G-d)
Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan (1952-2003; Harmonium) playing Aankh Uthi Mohabbat ne Angar Li
The Beatles playing We Can Work it out (where John Lennon (1940-1980) plays
a Mannborg Harmonium)
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Len said that he was always astonished both by the variety of sounds available from the little reeds, and at the same time, the grandeur of a full organ that could be produced on the instrument.
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The Rawle’s Harmonium eventually was moved to his grandmother’s house in Hove, Sussex. In her later years, someone came to play the instrument for her on Sunday mornings, and when they were unable to fulfill this task, Len would be asked to come and fill in.
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SO YOU WANT TO PLAY THE ORGAN
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When Len was seen, and heard, to be making good progress with his piano studies and had also come to understand about the design of the Theatre Organ, his father raised the idea that perhaps it would be beneficial for Len to have such a instrument at home to practice on, and also serve to fulfill his own boyhood dream of having an Organ in the house!
St. Paul’s Church, Ruislip Manor
However, until this could be achieved, Len was content to play the pipe organ on Monday evenings at St. Paul’s Church Ruislip Manor.
A Dream Theatre Organ, Way Out Back of Old House at Midnight
(Smithsonian American Art Museum)
by Gayleen Aiken (1934-2005)
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Once Len’s potential as a Theatre Organist was recognised the Theatre Organ Society (TOC; see Page 4), some of its members stepped in and kindly arranged for him to have access to the Console of the Christie Theatre Organ (2-Manual; 7-Ranks) of the Granada Theatre Willesden on a Saturday morning……. and it was here that Len began to seriously develop his skills as an organist!
Len Rawle at the Christie Theatre Organ of the Granada Theatre Willesden
This photograph was provided by Mr. Rawle
Len had access to the Theatre Organ of the Granada Theatre Willesden from 1954 until 1956 when he was required to do his National Service. During this time, he used to practice on it in the period of time following the Children’s Saturday Morning Matinee and the start of the afternoon screening.
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DANCE HALL and CINEMA CLOSINGS
&
THE REMOVAL OF THEATRE ORGANS
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Come Dancing through the years
With the advent of the 1950s, musical tastes began to change. The popularity of The Big Band Sound of the 1930s and 1940s had began to wane, as had that of the Theatre Organ Interlude in many cinemas. By the late 1950s, many of the country’s Dance Halls/Palaise de Dance were closing and many smaller musical groups were being formed that were able to play the kind of music that had gained popularity after the coming of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
By the late 1950s, the number of television sets in homes was increasing. And by the 1960s, sales had grown dramatically, allowing people to remain at home rather than take trips to the cinema for their entertainment. Once cinema ticket sales began to decline, many cinemas were forced to close due to the lack in patronage. This, in turn, led to the removal of more and more of the once popular Theatre Organ.
Tragically, many of the discarded Theatre Organs were broken up for sold for scrap. Parts of some were used in the repair and maintenance of other instruments. Others were saved from such fates by being purchased by individuals or groups and installed at another venue and even in private homes.
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WHAT IF WE BOUGHT A THEATRE ORGAN?
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Len recalls that when the family became members of the Theatre Organ Club (TOC), the other members were not aware that it was his father’s long time wish for the family to own a theatre organ, and that it was he, who was the motivating force in their eventual bringing one into their home. Initially, this was little more than an idea (a pipe dream?) that his father had kept at the back of his mind for some time. However, at this time, the family had little idea where to buy an organ, and if they did, where to house its various components in a domestic home other than under the stairs and in a garage!
After several opportunities of seeing inside a number of organ chambers at several of TOC meetings, the Rawle family quickly realised that, if they were to pursue his father’s dream, they would be heading towards something rather bigger than they had first imagined.
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When Len began to think seriously of the possibility of having an organ in the family home, he thought that perhaps one of the smaller Compton Theatre Organs might be to his father’s taste. However, although Mr. Rawle admired the ingenuity and craftsmanship displayed in the construction of these theatre organs, it was the SOUND of the Wurlitzer that both Len and his father preferred.
Len says that the family spent many hours talking with Mr. Ralph Bartlett, the driving force behind the TOC in the South of England, about their plan, and he soon joined them in their enthusiasm in achieving their aim of having a Wurlitzer in the house.
In his position at the TOC, Mr. Bartlett was responsible for arranging the line-up of the performers at the club meetings and being in regular contact with the executives of the Cinema Circuits including those at Granada.
Apparently, and quite by chance, while he was trying to arrange a club meeting at the Granada Theatre Wandsworth, he learned that its Theatre Organ was out of commission. Seemingly, the Console was submerged under water resulting from a burst pipe. Mr. Bartlett passed this information onto Len and his father, and following some further investigation, they learned that The Granada Theatre Circuit was not planning to repair the organ and that it was available for sale.
The Granada Theatre Wandsworth
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The Theatre Organ of the Granada Theatre Wandsworth was one of six similar Granada Wurlitzers with eight mellow Ranks of pipes and a Console with three Manuals. It had been installed at the Theatre in 1927, but when the Theatre was remodeled in 1936, it came under the control of The Granada Theatre Circuit and the organ was Wurlitzerised by Hill, Norman & Beard (i.e. The Christie Company) by adding French Pillars to the Console and increasing the number of Ranks.
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Len and his family soon realised that should they purchase a theatre organ, there would be a number of problems that needed to be overcome before the instrument could be installed in their home. Major among these problems were:
- finding a suitable instrument to purchase;
- learning how best to remove its components from its current home; and
- how best to install them in their home.
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After some discussion, the Rawle family decided to make an offer to purchase the Theatre Organ of the Granada Theatre Wandsworth. Their offer was immediately accepted together with confirmation that they could take as long as was needed with the necessary cleaning and removal process.
Now that the family had bought the organ, they began to look seriously for professional guidance in how best to tackle the various technical tasks that lay ahead of them.
As luck would have it, Len met Mr. Derek Batten, an employee of the John Compton Organ Company. Mr. Batten offered the family help with their tasks and was the first person to guide them through an understanding of the Relay System Wiring and what would be the best approach to dismantle and clean the entire organ before removing it from the Theatre.
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SO WHERE WOULD WE PUT THE PIPES?
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Now that the Rawle family had purchased a theatre organ and were learning how best to dismantle and eventually remove it from the Theatre, they next had to decide how best to arrange its various components in their house.
Len’s father had always assumed that the Console would find a suitable place in the lounge and that the pipes would fit under the stairs!
Things that have been done with the space under the stairs
Top Left: a place for a piano; Top right: another bedroom; Bottom: a dog house
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When the idea of owning a Theatre Organ began to take serious root in their minds, the Rawle Family quickly realised that the pipes were not going to fit under the stairs! They next discussed housing the organ’s various components in the detached garage of their current home, a terraced house at 73 Exmouth Road, South Ruislip, Middlesex.
However, it was not until later, after they had already purchased the organ, and began to appreciate the enormity of the project, that they came to realise that fitting the components into their detached garage was not a practical idea. They concluded that although their current home might well be suitable as a place to undertake some repair work and storage, unfortunately it was too small, and therefore unsuitable, to house a full instrument.
They next began to think about finding a hall or some other suitable venue close to their home where they could install the organ. However, these efforts proved unfruitful. As a result, they began to consider the possibility of constructing a new house with a purpose-built building where the organ might be installed.
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WHAT IF WE BUILT A HOUSE WITH A PURPOSE-BUILT BUILDING WHERE THE ORGAN MIGHT BE INSTALLED?
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It was during one of Len’s parents’ weekend visits to hear him play at one of his Sunday practice sessions on the Wurlitzer Theatre Organ of the Ritz-ABC Cinema Aldershot that his father gave him the good news that they would go ahead with the building of a new house with adequate room to install an organ.
Now that the decision was made, all that was left was for the family to do was to design a house that would fit their needs and to find a plot of land where it could be built!
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The family now turned its attention to the size and design of a house necessary to accommodate both their required living space as well as that required for the organ. When considering its design, the family agreed that a double garage would be necessary: one to house the family car and the Organ Blower and Relay System and a second to house the organ pipe work, which needed to be adjacent to the lounge where the Organ Console would be installed.
Once they decided what was vital to the house, they began to search through the various designs of detached houses, and after discussion, settled on a standard three-bedroom property with a through-lounge (i.e. a lounge that extends from the front to the back of a house) together with the double garage alongside.
A Through-Lounge
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Now that the size and design of the house had been decided upon, the family turned to the next challenge ……. the finding of a suitable plot of land of sufficient width to accommodate both a house and a double garage. In his quest to find such a plot of land, Len cycled around the area where the family currently lived in the hope of finding a site. At this time, a family friend mentioned that he had seen an empty a plot of land, which he believed might prove ideal for their needs, on what was once a horse racing track in Northolt.
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Northolt is a historic town in the London Borough of Ealing and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Northall (corresponding to the settlement of Southall) and was held by Geoffrey de Mandeville (died ~11th Century). a was a Constable of the Tower of London. There is archaeological evidence suggesting that there was a Saxon village at the location from the 8th Century onwards. Northolt was basically a farming area until the 1920s when suburban development began. In 1915, the Royal Air Force (RAF) station, RAF Northolt was built, making it the oldest such station in the U.K. The station became an active base during the Second World War for both the RAF and Polish Air Force squadrons. Today the airport is still in use both for military and private use, and since 2013, is the overnight base of London Air Ambulance when it moved here from Denham Aerodrome.
Reproduced from Northolt Park Racecourse with permission
Northolt was once famous for the pony racing which took place in Northolt Park where a one-and-a-half-mile (2.4 km) racecourse had been constructed by Sir William Bass (1879-1952) and Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1882-1947, and opened in 1929. During the Second World War the area was used as an army depot and prison-of-war camp.
Northolt Park Racetrack in 1934 – reproduced from Northolt Park Racecourse with permission
After the war, attempts to revive horse racing here failed and the area was given over to housing construction and the formation of The Racecourse Estate, consisting of 1,400 houses, was built between 1951 and 1955 by Eailing Borough (1,200 homes) and Harrow Borough (200 homes) Councils.
The Racecourse Estate today
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Len says that as a teenager, he used to deliver grocery orders from his father’s shop to homes in the area by bicycle. After a while, he developed a good knowledge and insight into the layout and development of the immediate area and environs of the region where they had moved to from South Wales. Amongst the areas that he came to know well, and which held a particular interest to him were Northolt Aerodrome (RAF Northolt) and The Racecourse Estate.
Aerial View of RAF Northolt
The Racecourse in 1935 showing The Stands
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In 1958, there was a marked shortage of land in the area with only a few places available for private housing construction. Knowing this, Len planned to scour the area in the hope of finding a plot of land that would fit the family needs. Since Ealing and Harrow Borough Councils had built a number of houses on the old race course in Northolt Park forming The Racecourse Estate, the area appeared to be fully developed. However, Len noticed one short road, Doncaster Drive, where individually private properties for mostly less well-off clientele had been built. Len noted that at the far end of the road was a large house occupied by a doctor and his surgery, and adjacent to which, was a good-sized piece of land that was laying vacant and was fenced off. This plot of land was the one mentioned by their family friend and it proved to be the last piece of ground undeveloped on the former racecourse.
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Although it was late in the evening, Len decided to knock at the Doctor’s house, and after introducing himself to him, ask if he had any knowledge of the adjacent vacant plot of land. The doctor, Dr. Foote, proved to be most helpful and pleasant. He explained that it was his belief that no private developer would want to live next to a surgery where there was much coming-and going. Dr. Foote also believed that there were other issues with the land that made it less interesting to prospective buyers. Len was later to learn from Ealing Borough Council that pipes belonging to the main water and gas supplies ran beneath the ground and were likely to interfere with the foundations of any new property. In addition, Len learned that a wartime building had once stood on the site, which gave the plot some special significance, but which was never revealed.
Len was not daunted by the presence of water and gas pipes under the ground or by a wartime building erstwhile presence and rushed home to tell his parents of his find. After some serious discussion with his parents, it was agreed that he should go to the Council to enquire if the plot of land was on-the-market and for sale. The next day, Len learned that it was!
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The family managed to secure the site and were also able to quickly obtain planning permission. Once all the necessary paperwork was signed and they took possession of the site.
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Good musical examples of what were very often underrated musical instruments.
In her latter years in Hove, Sussex my grandmother still retained the Harmonium and when a local organist was not available to play to her on a Sunday morning, I would be called upon to deputise.