# Happy Birthday played on a big pipe organ! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 4, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760 "2012-03-04T22:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760/1 "2012-03-04T22:39:46Z")
The first Sunday of each month, at my church, it is the custom to have everyone who has a birthday that month to go up front, and a special prayer, from the Book of Common Prayer, is said over them. But March is special, because one of the celebrants in March is the oldest member of our congregation. Mr. Sloan just turned 103, and is in church as often as he is able, at least a couple times a month. Of course he gets special treatment!😛 We sing “Happy Birthday” to him, played by our music director on our pipe organ. You haven’t sung it until you’ve done it that way!😃 As I whispered to a fellow member, “all we have to do to get the same is live to 100!” Mundane and pointless this may be, but it makes me feel good. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760/2 "2012-03-04T23:18:27Z")
There is a lady in our congregation who is around the same age as Mr. Sloan. I can easily understand why this made you smile. Mrs. Smith (no, really) is more chipper and alert than I am many days. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760/3 "2012-03-05T21:22:19Z")
I’m guessing that it was a great show. There used to be a pizza place near Lansing, MI that had a 1920’s era Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ there, with all the pipes arranged around the dining hall. You basically were sitting INSIDE the organ. This one had the hydraulic lift in place, so that when the organist started playing, the whole shebang rose up out of a pit in the floor and into view. In the hands of the right organist, it was truly an amazing experience. They had a lot of standards that were always requested - the Micky Mouse March, Happy Birthday, the 1812 Overture, the William Tell Overture, and a raft of others. Hang in there, **Baker** - it’d be worth it to make it that far. Or at least come back every March when Mr. Sloan has another birthday! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760/4 "2012-03-06T00:10:58Z")
I only have forty three more birthdays to go to reach it!😃 When was that organ in Lansing? In the late 80’s I lived in East Lansing. I’d gone up there for a job at MSU. I’d loved to have heard it. I did tour the restored Fox Theater in Detroit, that had what was alleged to be the second largest Wurlitzer. It did that “rising out of the pit” thing too, down front. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-played-on-a-big-pipe-organ/614760/5 "2012-03-06T12:58:56Z")
The place was in Okemos, just east of the Meridian Mall. It was a pizza joint called “Roaring 20’s”. Decent pizza, but the organ was what brought in the crowd. I started working at MSU in 1979, but it was there for only a couple more years - maybe 'til 82 or 83.