Loew's Spooner Theater


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Loew's Spooner Theatre

961 Southern Boulevard near East 163rd Street
The Bronx, N.Y. 10459

Organ Specifications:
► III/32 M.P. Möller, Op. 4378 (1925)
• III/ Midmer-Losh Organ Company (1920)

The 1,807-seat Spooner Theatre, located in the East Morrisania section of the Bronx, opened in 1910. It was leased by Charles E. Blaney for his wife, Cecil Spooner, an actress and feminist, who led the Spooner Stock Company. When the lease expired in 1913, the theatre was purchased by Lee and Jacob Shubert (the Loew's chain), who kept the Spooner name. As Loew's also operated the larger Boulevard Theatre located nearby on busy Westchester Avenue, the Spooner was made a subsequent-run house for its entire lifetime, which lasted into the late 1960s or early 70s. At some point, the building was gutted and rebuilt for retail use.

M.P. Möller, Inc.
Hagerstown, Md. – Opus 4378 (1925)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 154 registers, 32 ranks

The organ in Loew's Spooner Theatre was built in 1925 by the M.P. Möller company of Hagerstown, MD, at a cost of $18,390. This organ was one five identical organs built by Möller for Loew's theatres in New York City. Each of the five organs had three manuals and 32 ranks, and had a bat-wing style mahogany console with 154 registers. Wind pressures were 7" and 12".

The identical organs were Op. 4373, installed in Loew's 83rd Street Theatre in Manhattan; Op. 4376, installed in Loew's Alhambra Theatre in Brooklyn; Op. 4377, installed in Loew's Astoria Theatre in Astoria, Queens; Op. 4378, installed in Loew's Spooner Theatre in the Bronx; and Op. 4379, installed in Loew's Rio Theatre in Manhattan.

Click here to view the Möller Factory Specifications of Op. 4373 in the Loew's 83rd Street Theatre.

Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes

Open Diapason

Tuba

—

Octave Principle [sic]

—

Clarion

—

Gross Flute

Cor Anglais (TC)

—

Doppel Flute

English Horn

Clarabella

Corno de Bassetto [sic]

Flute Celeste (TC)

French Trumpet

Stopped Flute

Kinura

Solo Flute

—

Major Vox Humana

Claribel Flute

—

Cathedral Chimes

25 Tubes

Flute d'Amour

Xylophone (TC)

49 Bars

Mixture III ranks

derived

Tremulant

Violin

Two Blank Stop Keys

Solo Violin

—

Violina

—

Second Touch

2 2/3

String Twelfth

—

Gross Flute

String Fifteenth

—

Major Violin

Orchestral Violin

Tuba

Viole Celeste (TC)

English Horn

Major Violin

French Trumpet

Bass Tuba

Xylophone

Orchestral Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes

Bourdon

English Horn

Stopped Diapason

—

Horn Octave

Flute d'Amour

—

Sub Vox Humana (TC)

—

2 2/3

Octave Quint

—

Vox Humana

Flautina

—

Concert Harp (TC)

—

Orchestral Oboe (Syn.)

—

Octave Harp

61 Bars

Saxaphone [sic] (Syn.)

—

Glockenspiel

—

Harmonic Flute

Bells

—

Flute

—

Snare Drum

Major Violin

Castinets

Mezzo Violin

Tambourine

Violina

Tom Tom

String Fifteenth

Sleigh Bells

Orchestral Violin

Indian Block

Viole Celeste

Triangle

Quintadena

Tremulant

Tuba

Two Blank Stop Keys

Clarinet

Solo Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes

Stentorphone *

Fagotto

Gross Flute *

Oboe

—

Tibia Sub *

Oboe Clarion

—

Tibia Clausa

—

Sub Vox Humana (TC)

—

Tibia Super

—

Mezzo Vox Humana

2 2/3

Quint

—

Concert Marimba (Repeat)

49 Bars

Flautina

—

Single Stroke Marimba

—

Concert Flute

Orchestra Bells (Single Stroke)

37 Bars

Flute Harmonic

Orchestra Bells (Repeat)

Piccolo

—

Tremulant

Fern Flute

—

Gross Gamba *

Second Touch

Gross Gam. Celeste (TC) *

Tibia Plena

Violin d'Orchestre [sic]

Tibia Clausa

Viole Celeste (TC)

Gross Gamba

Violina

—

Cornopean

Cornopean *

French Horn

Corno

—

Marimba (Repeat)

French Horn *

Pedal Organ – 32 notes

Resultant

—

Cello

Open Diapason * [ext. GT]

Tuba

Tibia * [ext. Tibia Plena]

Chimes

Contra Tibia Clausa

Bass Drum

Bourdon

Snare Drum

Bass Violin

Tympany Roll [Bass Drum]

Tuba

Triangle

Contra Fagotto

Cymbal

Tibia Plena

Tom Tom

Gross Flute

Castanets

Flute Dolce

Tambourine

Major Violin

Sleigh Bells

* stops on 12" wind pressure

Affected by Pistons

Thunder Sheet

Song Birds (2)

Cymbal Crash

Chinese Gong

Grand Crash

Tubular Bell (Sharp)

Indian Block

Tubular Bell (Flat)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8', 4'

Orchestral to Solo 16', 8', 4'

Solo to Pedal 8', 4'

Great 16', 4', Unison Separation

Orchestral to Pedal 8'

Swell 16', 4', Unison Separation

Solo to Great 16', 8', 4'

Orch. 16', 4', Unison Separation

Orchestral to Great 16', 8', 4'

Compound Coupler [Released by Pistons]

Solo to Orchestral 16', 8', 4'

Adjustable Combinations

Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6

affecting Solo

Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6

affecting Great

Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6

affecting Orchestral

Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6

affecting Pedal

Pistons 1-2-3-4

affecting Full Organ

Corresponding Pedal to Manuals Pistons [by switch in jambs, left side]

Pedal Movements

Great to Pedal Reversible

Solo to Pedal Reversible

Balanced Solo Expression Pedal

[Balanced Great-Orchestral Expression Pedal] – not on contract

Grand Crescendo Pedal, Super and Sub Couplers Sforzando on double touch

Midmer-Losh Organ Company
Merrick, N.Y. (1920)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals

The first organ installed in the Spooner Theatre was built in 1920 by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, N.Y. Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.

Sources:
     Cinema Treasures website: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7468
     Junchen, David L. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 1. Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1985.
     "The Real Estate Field; Shuberts Buy Bronx Theatre in $900,000 Deal," The New York Times (Apr. 24, 1914.)
     Trupiano, Larry. Factory Specification of M.P. Möller organ, Op. 4373 (1926).

Illustration:
     Back in the Bronx website: http://www.backinthebronx.com. Exterior.

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