American Theatre Organ Society

Berkeley Community Theatre
A Wurlitzer Reborn in a City Auditorium

Excerpted from an article by Robert M. Gilbert and Rudy Frey
in the January/February 1991 issue of the ATOS journal, Theatre Organ

The word "community" in the name of a theatre usually brings to mind something resembling a 200-seat meeting hall. In the case of the Berkeley Community Theatre in the city of Berkeley, California, that impression is far from reality. Here is a 3500-seat theatre with a 100' x 55' fully-equipped professional stage... a 53'-wide orchestra platform on a lift... dual 35-mm sound movie projectors... and to top it off, the original design of the theatre included three pipe chambers, main wind line, blower room, relay room, and electrical conduit.

The "birdcage" stood unfinished because of WW ll from 1941 until construction resumed in 1948.
The Berkeley Community Theatre complex was completed by 1950.

Planning began in 1935 for this building complex which was to serve not only the needs of the Berkeley High School, but as a major performing arts center for the city and surrounding communities. Construction got underway in 1941, but work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. The structure's steel framework became popularly known as the '"birdcage" and it was a curious landmark until work was resumed in 1948. The building complex was finally dedicated in 1950. It included the main 3500-seat auditorium, a 600-seat Little Theatre, and facilities for the school music department.

The 100 x 55 foot stage

The three organ chambers and the relay room are located above the stage with the Main on the left, "Perfound" (Percussion/Foundation) in the center, and Solo on the right, with the relay room adjacent to the Solo. The chambers are reached from the stage by a series of three steel stairways and not the typical ladder up the wall. One enters the Main chamber and passes from chamber to chamber to relay room through full-size doors. All the chambers are just under 14' deep, and nearly 15' high. The Main and Solo chambers are nearly 20' wide, and the Perfound chamber is 22' wide. The floor and back wall are reinforced concrete.

The blower room is in the basement under the left side of the stage. A 21" main wind line rises 80' straight up from the blower room to the attic, then crosses 60' over the chambers. Each chamber has a 12" wind outlet in the center of its ceiling. Offstage on the right is a locked and fireproof room for storing the organ console and a grand piano. A steel platform above the stage behind the main curtain valence provides mounting space for the house loudspeakers, the organ's piano, and the 16' Tibia Plena octave. The organ chambers speak through a very large grille in the ceiling of the auditorium above the orchestra, allowing the organ to truly fill the theatre.

Swing-out shelves on the console contain computerized controls for many of the organ's mechanical functions.

The crown jewel of this theatre is the Wurlitzer organ. It began life as Opus 2006, a 4/20 Publix 1, installed in 1928 in the Paramount Theatre in Toledo, Ohio. A classified advertisement offering the instrument appeared in a 1985 issue of Theatre Organ. Lowell Wendell, then chairman of NorCal ATOS chapter, completed successful negotiations and the organ's owner, Gary Brookins, donated the instrument to NorCal. Perhaps the most important factor in obtaining the Toledo organ was the agreement the chapter had recently concluded with the Berkeley Unified School District, allowing it to house a chapter-owned organ in the theatre.

Erecting the Bombarde 16'

Each pipe of the Diaphone 32' sounds a second note a half tone higher when the trap door at the top of the resonator is opened. This is one of only two sets of these pipes made by Wurlitzer.

Of the original 20 ranks of pipes, 17 were used in the new installation. The Brass Saxophone was in poor condition and the two Solo Strings were designed for 10" pressure. A saxophone rank from Keith's Memorial Theatre in Boston and two strings on 15" from the Stanley Theatre in Jersey City were used instead. Additional ranks from various sources were added to the organ to bring it to a total of 35 ranks. The instrument contains 24 regulators and 16 tremulants. In refurbishing this organ, every part was restored to as near new condition as possible, both inside and out. Metal pipes were cleaned and polished; wood pipes, chests, regulators, tremulants, and framing lumber sanded and re-shellacked. All leather was replaced, and all new wood is poplar.

The 600-pound, 32' CCCC Diaphone hanging over the head of Judson H. Owens, manager of the Berkeley Community Theatre, is the largest pipe in this four-manual Wurlitzer. It took two full days for ten men to sand these wooden pipes in preparation for refinishing. Erecting these huge pipes in a gallery 33 feet above the floor was a monumental task.

The Toledo Publix used a 10-hp Spencer Orgoblo, which was insufficient for the new installation, so two 20-hp Spencers were purchased. To simplify winding, a 3-hp Spencer is used for the 32' Diaphones, which are located on the storage loft at the center stage rear. The blower and two regulators are installed adjacent to the pipes. All of the exposed percussions and traps, except the piano, are mounted on a platform in front of the chambers.