About this time, the Chapman family (prominent landowners in Orange County) had built an impressive 1300-seat performing arts auditorium and donated it to the Fullerton Union High School. The plans called for the installation of a concert organ. Oddly, Wurlitzer was contacted and the Opus 2103 previously designated for that theatre in Fullerton was instead selected, apparently under the direction of someone in the school's music department. It was delivered to what was later to become Plummer Auditorium.

The cover page from the original dedication program

Alexander Schreiner, organist at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, played the dedicatory programs on this new organ in June 1930. Although it is known that Schreiner could play in theatre organ style, he restricted his program to the classic repertoire.

This four-manual organ of 28 ranks was equipped with a number of very nice theatre ranks and many very soft classic ranks, but unification was minimal. There was one main scale tibia, no percussions (other than a chrysoglott-vibraphone and a set of chimes), and no traps. It contained a Philomela, which was louder than the Tibia. The organ had three chambers. The third "Ethereal" chamber was buried at the end of a long tone chute over the proscenium and most of its ranks were barely audible. The organ was used primarily for commencements, assemblies, and occasional concerts a few times each year.

More recently, the Fullerton Civic Light Opera Company used Plummer Auditorium. The organ console was located at the left side of the shallow orchestra pit, and its music rack and decorative French caps extended above the level of the stage floor. A member of the school board complained bitterly about this intrusion in her sight line so the caps and music rack were sawed off the organ console!

It was believed by many that the organ had the potential to become an important musical instrument, but it was seriously handicapped by its pseudo concert specification and lack of many theatre organ components. Everything but the butchered console was in good condition because the organ was always locked for protection. It had been totally releathered in the early 80s.

View from the stage into the 1300-seat auditorium

Under a Redevelopment Agency grant, the city of Fullerton had the auditorium completely renovated in 1992. In order to install a new orchestra pit lift, the organ console had to be removed. A decision had to be made whether to junk the organ or try to upgrade it so that it at least had a moveable console which could be placed on stage or on the lift when it was not in the storage room. The Trousdale Organ Company was selected to undertake this effort and to make some semblance of a theatre organ out of Opus 2103. Funds came from the High School Educational Foundation.

The organ specification by Gordon Kibbee increased the stop count to 276, a multi-level memory combination action was added, and a digital player system was included. Since the chambers were tight, many of the added elements such as percussions and pedal extensions were provided by electronics, and actual Wurlitzer instruments and pipes were sampled. It was discovered that the organ had been tuned to A435 since its installation and many pipes had to be cut shorter in order to bring them up to A440.

The contract work was completed, but the organ needed considerable refinement. The school had no funds to cover anything more than the cost of material. At this point, the Orange County Theatre Organ Society was formed by a group of dedicated volunteers who were anxious to see a functioning theatre organ in a public Orange County venue. The volunteer effort continues to this day.

Lyn Larsen played the inaugural concert on the upgraded Wurlitzer in April of 1994. He included some of the same pieces that Alexander Schreiner had played 64 years earlier when Opus 2103 was initially dedicated.

Copyright © 1996 The American Theatre Organ Society, Inc. All rights reserved.