The Arcadia Theatre Pipe Organ (1930 - 1974)

(JPG, 107KB)

When I was 4 years old my father took me to the Arcadia Picture Theatre at Chatswood to see a “Mickey Mouse” cartoon. Before the performance and during the intermission the pipe organ was played by Nicholas Robbins. I was more fascinated with Robbins playing the theatre pipe organ than in the cartoon. My one ambition at that time and for some years afterwards was to get to play that instrument. I have loved pipe organ music ever since!

In early 1935 I started piano lessons with Miss Pender who lived at 10 Lea Avenue, Willoughby. Whilst living above the shop at 373 Victoria Avenue my mother would take on extra work scrubbing floors to pay for my music lessons. Miss Pender used to hit me over the knuckles if I used the wrong fingering. She didn’t mind you playing a wrong note, but the fingering was all important – I had to use the correct finger for each note.

Many years later I appreciated this when playing in the dance band as, unless you use the correct fingering, you often could not play the piece.

I never had any inclination to dance but I enjoyed the music and as a teenager my friends would say, when we got together at one of their houses, “play us a tune” and that suited me. So I played the tunes while they dance. The war was on and there was nothing much to do so I used to sit down and play the piano for hours. My father bought me a couple of Irving Berlin’s albums and I had learnt to read music so I used to teach myself to play all these tunes.

Tutt Coltman’s band used to play on Thursday nights at the Dispensary Hall at Chatswood for a number of years, and during the war particularly. The place would be packed. This was in the days before television, of course. A fellow called Gross used to put on a dance in the Masonic Hall, which was later demolished to make way for the 1973 Chatswood Town Hall. There were a lot of functions held in the original Chatswood Town Hall, and people came from all over Sydney to dance here, because it was a sprung floor and it was the only one in the northern suburbs. The dancers would tell you it was a joy and delight to dance on. I played there many a time before they demolished the old Town Hall.

From the time I was 17 until I was 62 I played in a dance band – 38 years with the one leader. We played around the area for all those years. The last job was in November 1988 when we played at the Christmas party at the Roseville RSL. That was it … the band retired then. Our band leader was a Scotsman, Alex Langlands. He was very fond of Nat Ganella’s band in England and Scotland which was called the Georgians, so the band was called the Georgians sometimes, but mostly just Alec’s Dance Band. We never ever advertised it. It ranged from anywhere on the North Shore to Bondi. Sometimes in the city and as far west as Bankstown.

When they built the second Chatswood Town Hall, Bernie Brien’s Band did the opening Lady Mayoress’ Ball in 1973 and our band did the job in 1974 and 1975. In 1974 Bob Dougherty and his wife were the Mayor and Mayoress. I will never forget the beautiful Wurlitzer organ from the Arcadia, which had been donated by the Crisp family and installed in the Concert Hall, because of the night I played at the Lady Mayoress’ Ball in 1974. The band was having a break during suppertime and Bob Dougherty came along and said “Come on, while the boys are having a break,” he said, “you can play me a tune on the big machine”. And my heart was nearly leaping out of my pocket. Oh, I thought I’d made it! So I said “There are 127 stops on that instrument. I wouldn’t know which stops to use”. He said “I’ll fix the stops, you just play the tunes”. So I started playing a couple of tunes. And oh… all sorts of squawks were coming out of it. Bob was playing the stops, and because it’s a strange thing to play, there was about a one beat delay in it from the time you pressed that key. Now and again I’d play a wrong chord or a wrong note and I’d know, and I was waiting for it to go aaaak! I found it quite a strange experience.

It was a joy and delight to get to play the Wurlitzer organ that night and to have fulfilled my boyhood dream.