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effort with his knowledge of X-Ray equipment. During The Theatre Organ by Ken Tulloch I
the day he would be working on X-Ray gear and at night
would service cinema equipment, as skilled engineers in
this field were scarce. It wasn't long before the independ-
ents wanted him to do their work. 1 can tell you he was In the hey-day of the silent fi lm, when orchestras and pi-
really burning the candle at both ends. ano players were the main accompaniment to film, one
instrument came into being which put paid to this fom1 of
When war finished he set a workshop in Coventry Street assisting the motion picture's impact, but like most changes
in South Melbourne, in which he employed I 4 people and it threw a great number of people out of work. The instl-u-
from that workshop the theatres of Victoria and Tasmania ment was the "Theatre Organ", and it only needed one
and other interstate shows were able to stay on screen. man to operate it.

His next challenge came when CinemaScope was brought I would like to quote an article from the Moving Picture
to this country Hoyts again approached him to design a World of July 26 1919: The Robert Hope-Jones organ cost-
suitable bracket that could be easily swung into position ing $22,000 is capable of furnishing all of the accompani-
when a scope p1int was to be projected. This he did and it ment, but is augmented at night by an orchestra of 8 men
was in use for many years until the film platter and the conducted by the organist Carl Stalling.
one machine operation came in and ruined the skill of
operating 2 machines. Nowdays all you have to know is This organ is run by electric motor with pipes encased in
how to thread a machine then you sit back and bore your- two separate swell boxes (rooms) at either side of the stage.
self silly. This swell box for all pipes gives greater variety of tone,
the loudest stop thus !being turned into tbe softest of tones
He virtually worked night and day to manufacture the without change of manual (keyboard).
brackets and ship then all around the Commonwealth. 1
have known him to have worked 4 days straight without The stops being Open Diapason, Clarinet, Kinura, Orches-
sleep to keep up with the demand so was it any wonder tra Violin, Violin Celeste, Flute, Vox Humana, and Tuba
that he finished up with a massive breakdown but being a Horn are made more effective by the borrowing system
fighter he fought his way back to health. (meaning mixing other pipes to obtain a nicer sound) by
which four or five different tones may be produced.
It wasn't only in Australia that be was wanted but the Brit-
ish Phosphate Commission once a year used to fly him to The numerous traps are accessories for making the silent
Christmas Island to service their projectors it was the same dTama realistic. Besides the imitation of the various in-
with the Nauru government he would be flown to Nauru struments of the orchestra such as the Chrysoglott, Harp,
to service the equipment once a year. Chimes, Bells, Snare-dmm, Tambourines, Castanets, the
Chinese-block, Glockenspiel and Xylopbone.
He was also known by the big film studios in Singapore
which was run by the Shaw Brothers he would solve any There are the equally important car-hom blown at the dra-
problems they had. So you can see he was, and I say again matic moment, the Steamboat Whistle, the beat of Horses
one brilliant engineer. Hoofs used for the inevitable chase in the western drama,
the Clanging of the Fire Gong, the troublesome Telephone
1 don't think you could go into any projection room until Bell, the Tom-Tom and Bird Whistles.
recent times and not find A. K. PYERS on some piece of
equipment All these are necessary accessories, ald1ough a little out of
realism of music, but they are all performed from the or-
When l purchased two new Bauer l6mm projectors for gan.
my theatrette I asked Arthur if he could design a flip over
scope bracket for them, so he went to work and came up Melbourne Athenaeum Visit
with a brilliant piece of-engineering that one could say
was made for tl1e machine. lt doesn't look like an add on. Over fifty members and guests spent a most enjoyable
morning inspecting one of Melboume's oldest institutes,
He used to come to my place every Saturday night and we the Athenaeum Theatre and Library on 17/2/200 I.
would have a show, and he would come into the box and
admire the brackets and say"] am proud of them". He had Miss Leila Winchcombe. Secretary-Librarian. personally
every right to. Another thing he would say was "nothing conducted the comprehensive tour from the top to the bot-
is a challenge to me anymore" tom of the building, which dates from 1841 in some areas.

He passed away on the II th March 1996 and 1 can't help The entire theatre was inspected, including the library and
but say it was a privilege to bave known him and have Athenaeum 2, a fonner art gallery, which is now used for
been one of his friends. This is just a brief resume of his small plays and experimental theatre. The board room
acbievements. houses an excellent display of historical data. Morning
tea concluded a most successful visit.

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