Asbury
Park
Convention Hall
3/17 Kilgen Theatre Organ
Asbury
Park, NJ
The Kilgen Theatre Organ was installed in Convention Hall in 1931 when its original home, the Earl Carroll Theatre on Broadway, was closed down. It was featured at weekly concerts during the summer until 1992 until parts of the organ were partially dismantled and placed in storage in 1992.
Other pictures and tour of repair and installation work:
- Console Refinishing - July 2001
- Back to the Main Asbury Park Kilgen Page
- Urban Enterprise Zone board agrees to fund organ repairs
- Asbury Park, Then and Now Information about Asbury Park Convention Hall
Ashley Miller playing the Kilgen (Pictures by Greg Owen)
The Organ
The Kilgen was originally
installed in the Earl Carroll Theatre (Broadway), New York.
3/6 Kilgen Wonder Organ 1929 Opus 4258 Style U016X
(A 1926 Kilgen list price sheet listed the price as $23,400.00)
In 1931 other Kilgen additions were made as part of the reinstallation.
| Opus | Size | |
|---|---|---|
| 4610 | 3/7 | Parts |
| 4613 | 3/7 | Generator |
| 4619 | 3/7 | Swell shades |
| 4646 | 3/7 | Parts |
| 4717 | 3/7 | Rebuild Relay |
| 16'
Flute 1-24, #1 pedal bourdon scale; 25-97, #1 melodia scale 16' Tuba 1-12, 10" scale; 13-85 8' String 1-85, 65 scale 8' Tibia Clausa 1-73, #2 scale 8' Vox Humana 1-73, regular scale 8' Kinura 1-61 37 note Marimba 37 note Xylophone 5 chimes tamborine castanets tom tom siren birds sleigh bells 37 note glockenspiel/orchestra bells pedal and accompaniment traps Console has 2nd touch |
 |
Current Chamber Layout (From chamber survey 7/14/00)
|
Left
|
Right
|
|
Vox Humana I
(8') -
Original Kilgen |
Vox
Humana II (8') Viol D' Orchestre (8') - Original Kilgen Viol Celeste I (4') Flute/Bourdon (16') - Original Kilgen Diapason (8') Tibia Clausa II (4') Tuba I (16') - Original Kilgen Tuba II (8') Voicer David Arthur 10" - Original Kilgen Crysoglott Traps In storage: 16' wooden string (CCC - CC) |
Key: Original Kilgen = Red; GSTOS Added & Owned = Green
The Diaphone is from a 1921 3/15 Kimball in the Arcadia Theatre (510 N. Market Street Wilmington, DE) which seated 1305. The Arcadia was listed all during the 1920's, up until the 1960's in Film Daily Yearbooks.
References:
- Info about the original Kilgen from "Encylopedia of The American Theatre Organ Volume I", by David L. Junchen
- GSTOS Organ Survey
- Theatre Organ Home Page - Original Theatre Organ Installation Database
- Info from "A
Guide to North American Organbuilders" by David H. Fox. It's
available from the Organ Historical Society
Reed voicer: David Arthur Born in England, with Wurlitzer in 1911, with Estey before that, with Welte-Mignon of NYC in 1925. Died in California, 1933 - GSTOS Newsletters
- Kilduff's Theatre Index
- Trivo Co Inc., Hagerstown, MD
- Don Hansen
