The Barton Organ at Chicago Stadium

[albert6500]

@Mornac

This may be an ignorant question but, where is the organ today?

After the Blackhawks current organist Frank Pellico fed Bill Wirtz a story about it going to cost $11 million to move the organ, it was stored in a warehouse and subsequently severely damaged in a fire. It has since been restored and last I knew it’s in Vegas.

[albert6500]

@TouchMeKnot

I am a long-time hockey fan and think Al Melgard was the best. Do you have all 7 albums? I only have 4. They were recorded from the original albums to CD, and the albums were subsequently lost. I was wondering if you could post the titles of all 7 albums so I could look for them. Thank you.

Sorry I didn’t reply in a more timely manner, I just lost touch with this site. It would be great if one could receive e-mail notification of new postings. There are four albums on the Audio Fidelity label; Volumes 1-3 plus the Military Marches album. On the Replica label there are two; Volumes 1 & 2. (there is a 3rd Replica album; This Is Melgard, but it was recorded on a Wurlitzer organ in a studio) And there is one album recorded on a Halifax label. It’s cover is very similar to volume 2 on the Replica label, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t an acquisition of Replica’s. This Halifax album escaped the transfer to CD, possibly because it is the most difficult one to find. The Replica volume 1 album is the one containing “My Vision” which was Al’s own composition that became his closing tune after hockey games. It was originally written for Sojna Hene.

[TubaDiva]

@albert6500

After the Blackhawks current organist Frank Pellico fed Bill Wirtz a story about it going to cost $11 million to move the organ, it was stored in a warehouse and subsequently severely damaged in a fire. It has since been restored and last I knew it’s in Vegas.

Apparently all but the console was lost in the fire.

The console is now hooked up to other stuff in Phil Maloof’s house in Las Vegas.

http://theatreorgans.com/barton/

It just ain’t the same.

Frank Pellico

[TouchMeKnot]

@albert6500

Sorry I didn’t reply in a more timely manner, I just lost touch with this site. It would be great if one could receive e-mail notification of new postings. There are four albums on the Audio Fidelity label; Volumes 1-3 plus the Military Marches album. On the Replica label there are two; Volumes 1 & 2. (there is a 3rd Replica album; This Is Melgard, but it was recorded on a Wurlitzer organ in a studio) And there is one album recorded on a Halifax label. It’s cover is very similar to volume 2 on the Replica label, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t an acquisition of Replica’s. This Halifax album escaped the transfer to CD, possibly because it is the most difficult one to find. The Replica volume 1 album is the one containing “My Vision” which was Al’s own composition that became his closing tune after hockey games. It was originally written for Sojna Hene.

I have This is Melgard. I can’t believe it was recorded in a studio with a Wurlitzer. I’m not arguing with you, but Danny Boy is on that and I just cannot believe that isnt the Barton. I have Volumes 1&2. I have the one with the magnificent, incomparable My Vision. I learned it by ear and played it at my father’s funeral, as it was his favorite song. I don’t have any album names as my Dad had the records converted to CD by a professional. They did label This is Melgard, and the other CD they labeled Vols 1 & 2. And I can’t remember the other album; my CD’s aren’t handy. Can I ask where you learned all your information; is there a site, or are you remembering from experience. I would like to have them all if I can track them down. Do you by any chance know what year My Vision was written? Thank you for your help.

[TouchMeKnot]

@albert6500

Sorry I didn’t reply in a more timely manner, I just lost touch with this site. It would be great if one could receive e-mail notification of new postings. There are four albums on the Audio Fidelity label; Volumes 1-3 plus the Military Marches album. On the Replica label there are two; Volumes 1 & 2. (there is a 3rd Replica album; This Is Melgard, but it was recorded on a Wurlitzer organ in a studio) And there is one album recorded on a Halifax label. It’s cover is very similar to volume 2 on the Replica label, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t an acquisition of Replica’s. This Halifax album escaped the transfer to CD, possibly because it is the most difficult one to find. The Replica volume 1 album is the one containing “My Vision” which was Al’s own composition that became his closing tune after hockey games. It was originally written for Sojna Hene.

I have This is Melgard. I can’t believe it was recorded in a studio with a Wurlitzer. I’m not arguing with you, but Danny Boy is on that and I just cannot believe that isnt the Barton. I have Volumes 1&2. I have the one with the magnificent, incomparable My Vision. I learned it by ear and played it at my father’s funeral, as it was his favorite song. I don’t have any album names as my Dad had the records converted to CD by a professional. They did label This is Melgard, and the other CD they labeled Vols 1 & 2. And I can’t remember the other album; my CD’s aren’t handy. Can I ask where you learned all your information; is there a site, or are you remembering from experience. I would like to have them all if I can track them down. Do you by any chance know what year My Vision was written? Thank you for your help.

[TouchMeKnot]

@TouchMeKnot

I have This is Melgard. I can’t believe it was recorded in a studio with a Wurlitzer. I’m not arguing with you, but Danny Boy is on that and I just cannot believe that isnt the Barton. I have Volumes 1&2. I have the one with the magnificent, incomparable My Vision. I learned it by ear and played it at my father’s funeral, as it was his favorite song. I don’t have any album names as my Dad had the records converted to CD by a professional. They did label This is Melgard, and the other CD they labeled Vols 1 & 2. And I can’t remember the other album; my CD’s aren’t handy. Can I ask where you learned all your information; is there a site, or are you remembering from experience. I would like to have them all if I can track them down. Do you by any chance know what year My Vision was written? Thank you for your help.

ETA: I can’t manage to work this forum very well. I want to edit my last post to say that I might have my records confused. And to post this link which I am absolutely positive is the Stadium organ.

- YouTube

I have been researching organs, and the pipes are “voiced” (similar to tuning a piano) only they are played in their environment and alterations are made. I just can’t imagine that the Wurlitzer could capture this subtly in a song of this scope. But I think I’m confused on my records because I don’t have the name or label name (only this is Melgard and Vols 1&2).

The Barton is known for its tonal quality, that purity of sound.

[davenportblue]

@TouchMeKnot

Well, congratulations on doing so well on your thesis. I’m actually an engineer who does military work for Combatant Commanders, or did for the last 20 years; and I’m currently laid up with an injury. I found some clips of
music from the Chicago Stadium on YouTube, and started writing to a guy that is a professional and accomplished pipe organist, that was Melgard’s student. I just hung on the edge of my seat as his story unfolded and he talked about Melgard. He had a script of his biography that he shared with me. As I read it, I could just feel how the history of the Barton organ, the biography of Al Melgard, and how many people it affected could be woven into his story and just the whole Chicago Stadium experience.

The more I looked and talked to people, I decided that I could get enough information to maybe write an “oral history” or something similar, weaving the stories of the organist and the organ together. There are bits and pieces all over, but Dan Barton is the one guy I can’t get to that I would have loved to interview, particularly on how he set about desgning the organ. As I said before, I am both an engineer and a musician, but the PURE SCOPE of designing a mighty organ like the Chicago Stadium Barton in the 1920’s was just a spectacular feat. I’d like to know what he was thinking as he went about designing that organ, and what would be needed. I’d like his own musical background from childhood on to when he started designing organs. I have found a few tidbits on different websites, but I would love to read your interview notes on him.

I’m mostly free-forming the book; being an engineer means I generally think outside the box. In fact, I don’t have a “box.” Oddly enough, my template is the book Seabiscuit, a story about a race horse. The author did an absolutely marvelous job of weaving together the unfolding stories of the horse, the jockey and the owner. The book is far better than the movie, and she really did background research. That is kind of what I have in mind. I was at the Stadium and heard Melgard in person, so I know where he ended up. I just have to go backward to the building of the organ, really I’d like to go back even further into Dan Barton’s personal bio and how he came to design such a magnificent instrument. And I still have to learn who Melgard studied under, because his talent was incomparable. It just can’t be coincidence that Melgard ended up at that organ.

I’m glad to see that Al Melgard made Wikipedia, his music is INCREDIBLE. I had a formal education on the organ, mine is an Allen organ. But my biggest influence on the style I play comes from Al Melgard. If I could play at his caliber, and I am above-average in my playing, but not that high–you’d think it was Melgard because I memorized all the naunces that Melgard put in the music, like Danny Boy. I’m currently writing to two of Melgard’s students, that are giving me email notes as they have time, describing their experiences. They have been extremely generous with their time and information.

If I knew how to put clips on YouTube, I would put his song My Vision out there. I don’t know all the copyright details or how to get that one clip off CD. There’s a few other really REALLY good Melgard songs. You won’t be the same after you’ve heard his version of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling on the Barton. I think that Barton was the BEST ORGAN with the BEST PURITY OF SOUND ever built. It was just terrible that they tore down our old stadium, which Chicago fans LOVED their stadium and their organ–as well as their hockey. My book would sort of be a tribute to Dan Barton, Al Melgard, and as detailed a history as I could get about the organ.

You asked for some color about the hockey music. I remember as a child, the beer came in big cups, and as we left the Stadium at the end of the game, the beautiful strains of My Vision would be floating out over the ice, and you could hear the echo of people “popping the beer cups” by stepping on them just so. It would make a loud POW noise that echoed through the Stadium, and I hear the beer cups popping in my mind while I listen to his music.

I have only a brief outline for a book. I’m not sure how I’m going to weave the tale together, but it focuses on Al Melgard, the Barton organ, and Dan Barton. And some personal interviews of how it affected people in their music and philosophy of writing music, playing music, and Melgard’s fans and how MUCH they loved the music.

Did you like that video of the National Anthem at the Hawks game? It would make me cry when the music of the Barton just resonated inside me, and Wayne Messmer just BELTED OUT the National Anthem without any hesitation or loss of power in his voice, and the crowed revved him up by cheering through the entire song! It was SO EXCITING and ELECTRIFYING to feel the energy of all those people and the organ. I didn’t realize how unique the experience was, as I started going to Hawks games around 6 years old. Just at the end of Melgard’s years. My parents have been going since 1953. I just can’t believe how fortunate I was to be in the Stadium, with its oustanding accoustics, the mighty Barton organ, and Wayne Messmer (the vocalist) all in one place at one time. That was after Melgard years.

I don’t have the book you referred to, so I will trot over to Amazon and see if I can get it. I have most of what I need to write the story as I was there at the Stadium myself for many years and I have a brick from the Stadium when it was torn down; it in a place of honor on my fireplace hearth. So I need the earlier background of Melgard and Dan Barton. I would have been so honored to interview Dan Barton myself. I’m looking for two things that maybe you have. One is Dan Barton’s background in learning music and in his thought process of designing organs. And then I need Melgard’s early background on who he studied under and who influenced his own magnificent talent. I hope you might be able to help me with those areas.

I’m willing to share my hockey experiences with the organ if you are looking for more. You are probably a lot more disciplined about your research than I am. I’m free-forming, mostly just as a tribute to Melgard and the Barton organ and the designer of the organ. I write well, and I have done an extraordinary amount of technical writing. I just gather my facts and one day it all clicks into place! Let’s keep talking, ok?

I have wonderful memories of going to Blackhawk games from the early '60s (with my late father) and later from 1963 until the early '70s with my friends. The constants: the Hull Brothers, Mikita, Hall, Pilote, Vasko, Stapleton, Maki, Wharram, Mohns, Jarrett. And, of course, Al Melgard at the Barton organ.

My recollection of “My Vision” (although I never knew the name until recently) is very similar to yours. With the fans slowly trailing out of the old Stadium, we would be treated to Al playing that beautiful, melancholy song, punctuated by the occasional popping of a discarded beer cup. When I listen to “My Vision” on youtube, that popping is the only thing that is missing.

[Ike_Witt]

Could there be anything more Canadian than a university thesis that has something to do with hockey?

Why didn’t I think of that? :smack:

[antonio107]

@Ike_Witt

Could there be anything more Canadian than a university thesis that has something to do with hockey?

Why didn’t I think of that? :smack:

Lol, I still love seeing this thread get bumped. Are you a musicologist, too?

[Little_Pig]

I was born and raised in Chicago in the 50’s and thanks to this thread I now know about Al Melgard. Some of his work is available on iTunes

On 9/24/2011 the OP said, “I defended my thesis in June. Passed with distinction, was nominated for a senate medal.”

Was the thesis every posted where we can read it?

[antonio107]

@Little_Pig

I was born and raised in Chicago in the 50’s and thanks to this thread I now know about Al Melgard. Some of his work is available on iTunes

On 9/24/2011 the OP said, “I defended my thesis in June. Passed with distinction, was nominated for a senate medal.”

Was the thesis every posted where we can read it?

If you have access to an academic server like PROQUEST, yes. Otherwise, probably not. I keep thinking of getting it published as a coffee table book, but I think the book I want to publish needs a TON of photos, which I don’t have.

[remembertheroar]

In July,1993 the American Theatre Organ Society held their annual convention in Chicago. The highlight of that convention for many was getting to hear the Barton organ played solo,live by Frank Pellico and Walt Strony,two of Al Melgard’s students.
The opening number was this:https://soundcloud.com/andrew-moore-47/happy-days-are-here-again?in=iamrepete/sets/walt-strony-at-the-chicago/s-5IvYY
Being a first time poster,and seeing this thread was last active about 3 years ago,I don’t know if anyone’s still interested,but if so,I’ll be happy to share more. We knew that this was the last time we’d hear that organ in that building,but the tragic events that followed were just too much. I have never been and will never set foot in the United Center,unless they install a real organ.

[VHarzewski]

Carleton University has a link to the thesis: Diapason ice : the hockey organ, its history, and its performance practice traditions | CURVE

[steatopygia]

You forgot your password didn’t you.
and I can’t get it to load past the title page.

[SLOZANO]

Did you ever finish the thesis? Sergio

[pjd]

The original poster hasn’t been here for over 10 years. You’re unlikely
to get a response, although he does say he periodically checks in, so you
never know !!!
Welcome anyway.

[Mark_Finn]

I still remember the organist at the Montreal Forum playing “Three Blind Mice” when the (then three; today four) officials blew/missed a call. It was eventually banned.