John McCall, a native of Vidalia, Georgia, got his first taste of the theatre organ through the recordings of George Wright—arguably the greatest theatre organist of them all. By the time his family relocated in Moultrie in 1960, he had an extensive library of theatre organ recordings and was hopelessly “hooked”. Early sightings of silenced organs in Georgia’s Albany and Fox theatres heightened his interest in movie palaces and their musical soul. In 1969, he finally heard his first theatre pipe organ at the Atlanta Fox with Bob Van Camp at the console. He promptly joined the American Theatre Organ Society and the Atlanta Chapter for which he served as president for two years.

McCall’s theatre organ technique is self-taught. His teaching tool was a two-manual pipe organ console supplied by ATOS members Dr. Edd and Norma Simmons. This pipeless console, though it did not produce sounds, helped the artist to get a feel for organ technique as he played recordings in his collection.

In 1986, he played for his first real audience prior to a screening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre. Shortly after, he was invited to play for an American Guild of Organists’ cock- tail reception at its convention in Charlotte, NC.

His second appearance in a theatre was not until July, 2000, when he played for the screening of Singin’ In the Rain at the Rylander Theatre, Americus, GA, where he followed with four American Echoes concerts with ATOS members Fred Boska and James Thrower in the summers of 2000 through 2004. With Thrower, he also played for a screening of Babes in Arms and for a live appearance by Mickey Rooney at the Rylander on July 14, 2001.

McCall was instrumental in securing the three-manual, eleven-rank Moller organ for the Rylander through the generosity of James Thrower and financial support of Anne and Bradley Hale. He has worked with the theatre’s former manager, Norman Easterbrook, and the current manager, Brooks Nettum to bring organ programming to the Rylander with appearances by Ron Rhode, Jonas Nordwall and Donna Parker, Ken Double, Tom Helms, Lyn Larsen, Walt Strony, Dan Bellomy, Barry Baker, and Simon Gledhill.

McCall earned a degree in Journalism from Georgia State University where he worked as an administrative assistant to the chairman of the Department of Music. While there, he produced the first Keyboard Colossus at the Atlanta Fox with twenty-four pianists at twelve pianos featuring Eugene List and organists Ron Rice and Bob Van Camp at the “Mighty Moller” organ. The concert was a near sell-out and over $9,000 was cleared toward the Save the Fox effort. His monograph on the theatre, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre: Mecca on Peachtree Street went through several printings and raised over $70,000 towards the campaign.

As a journalist, McCall has contributed articles on theatre history to the Atlanta Historical Society Bulletin, Theatre Organ, Marquee, The Console, and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. He co-authored a website on the history of Georgia’s Albany Theatre and recently edited a new book published on the history of Birmingham’s Alabama Theatre. In the interior design field he helped spearhead the publication of the first book on the work of his uncle, William Frank McCall, Jr. and wrote the foreword to The Architecture of William Frank McCall, Jr., FAIA: A Complete Designer in the Classical Tradition, by William R. Mitchell, Jr.

After receiving his MPA degree at Georgia State University in 1980, he accepted a position at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, as Director of Placement and Career Planning. He enrolled in the interior design master’s program there and became the founder and director of the University’s Office of Campus Planning and Design where he won regional and national awards from the American Society of Interior Designers. He later became assistant professor of interior design at Winthrop and, in 1981, established his business, John Clark McCall, Jr. Design Consultant, Inc. The firm was later relocated to the Valdosta, Georgia area and then to Moultrie, where he bases his operations today. McCall has completed over 390 interior design projects ranging from locations in Georgia and Florida, to Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. He served as a consultant in the interior design for St. Margaret’s Church, Moultrie where he has given two benefit organ concerts on his Allen 317-EX theatre organ.

McCall has donated two Allen theatre organs—one to St. Margaret’s and one to the Tift Theatre in Tifton, Georgia. He was formerly named to Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and was named to Who’s Who in America in 2001. He is a member of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Historic Preservation Commission, and the American Theatre Organ Society.

Recent appearances have included three concerts at the Alabama Theatre, Birmingham; four appearances at the Forker Memorial Wurlitzer in Grace Baptist Church, Sarasota; and a pre-matinee stint at London’s Odeon Leicester Square Theatre on the five- manual Compton organ in September, 2001. He has played numerous pre-shows at the Rylander Theatre, concerts for the Atlanta, Orlando, Manasota, and Central Florida ATOS Chapters and was featured, along with Ron Carter, in an old time radio program By the Philco Radio Players at Callanwolde, the Howard Candler mansion in Atlanta, in May, 2003.

In 2002, McCall was named winner of the American Theatre Organ Society’s Hobbyist Competition, accepting the award at the national convention in San Diego, California. He served as co-chairman for the Atlanta Fabulous Fox Organ Weekend, May 28-30, 2004.

McCall has released two theatre organ recordings, A Paramount Idea, and A Capitol Idea --both of which were reviewed favorably in Theatre Organ Journal. In February, 2008, he played for the screening of Man From Plains at the Rylander, Americus, GA, which which was attended by former President Jimmy Carter and his First Lady, Roasalynn. McCall is currently working on a third CD recording, Rehearsin’ at the Rylander.

John Clark McCall Jr.
1415 Crescent Drive
Moultrie, GA 31768-5920
(229) 891-2424
e-mail: Use this link to email John