George Wright

Reflections by Edward Millington Stout
Excerpted from Theatre Organ, July/August 1998

Walk with me as we wipe away the dusty cobwebs of the theatre organ past for an insight to George Wright during his later activities at the San Francisco Fox and Paramount theatres.


George Wright, San Francisco Fox Theatre, 1943
The first midnight concert at the San Francisco Fox Theatre drew a full house of nearly 4,700 people. As the console rose slowly out of the pit with his album arrangement of There's No Business Like Show Business, the sound of the organ was far from what the audience had heard on the recorded version. The full house absorbed so much of the upper work; the beautiful ensemble seemed very distant and the organ was further crippled by windchest problems. The dedicated volunteer help was not able to correct important dead notes throughout the manual chests.

Following the first concert, George Wright requested that his devoted friend and organ man, Paul Schoenstein, undertake the pre-concert work at the Fox Theatre. Paul had taken care of the Fox Wurlitzer for George Wright in the 1940s and now felt he needed the assistance of a younger helper. As a former apprentice, I was pleased to be asked to join him at the Fox. Tom Hazleton, who was the new staff organist at the San Francisco Paramount, proved to be an excellent key holder.

After several nights work replacing magnets, releathering critical notes, and doing extensive tuning, the organ was ready for George's rehearsal. It was also decided that the organ should be helped with low-level amplification by placing microphones outside of the chambers and feeding the signal through the three Voice of the Theatre stations on the stage. That work was undertaken by Bill Larken, the theatre's RCA Photophone engineer. The level was so low that the only giveaway was the old upright piano, located outside of the main chamber. With the microphone pickup, it sounded like a grand.

Most of the rehearsals at the Fox and Paramount were delightful sessions that began at midnight and lasted until dawn ... or until the six-packs ran out. George Wright did not prepare set arrangements for the upcoming concert; he just played tunes as they came to mind and listened to the marriage between the organ and the house. On more than one occasion, he asked young Tom Hazleton to "play the box" so he could check balances in the auditorium.


George Wright, Oakland Paramount
All of the midnight concerts sold out, and for good reason. George Wright's impromptu arrangements kept those in the audience on the edge of their seats. Unlike most other organists, he was able to take great chances during the creation of an arrangement. He could go way out on a limb and the branches kept breaking, but just at the last second, he was able to scamper back to the trunk. His personality and music held audiences captive throughout the two hour events. His profound respect for the composer and interpretation of the lyrics allowed each tune to soar from the console and blossom throughout the house.

After the second concert at the Fox, George asked me to meet him at the theatre later that morning to help him load his Howard seat into his automobile. After loading the iron, we had a three-hour breakfast at the old Whitcome Hotel, where he shared many thoughts about the music business and his career. To my surprise, he felt some regret that he had not become more active in the classical organ world. I believe this was in part due to his respect for Richard Purvis, the well-known organist/composer at Grace Cathedral. In his youth, Dick Purvis had played a weekly theatre organ program from the Chapel of the Chimes. During this last San Francisco Paramount concert, George dedicated and played Purvis' old radio theme, I'll Take an Option on You. I believe that George knew in his heart that he could have never achieved the freedom of expressing his musical soul within the boundaries established by the hide-bound traditions of the classical organ world.

George Wright's right hand was the greatest keyboard vocalist of all time and his deft left hand was the best of John Scott Trotter or Nelson Riddle. We are fortunate that many of George's classic recordings have been remastered and are still available today.