Newark Symphony Hall ™
3/15 Griffith Beach Theatre Organ Organ Work and History

In 1920, local New Jersey organ builder Earl Beach installed a 4 manual 15 rank theatre pipe organ in the Salaam Shrine Temple on Broad Street in Newark.  The 2800 seat Temple was later to be called the Mosque Theatre, and today is known as Newark Symphony Hall. Specializing in consoles, Beach had been a one time employee of Robert Hope Jones when he was building the Ocean Grove organ and various theatre, school and lodge organs in our area. Striking out on his own, Beach received financial backing from Mr. Griffith, a noted local piano and music dealer.  The Griffith showroom was on the west side of Broad Street in central Newark, and was in operation at least into the 1960's. The abandoned building is still there with the name engraved in the facade. Thus, the Griffith-Beach organ company was born.  

It appears that Beach fabricated his own consoles and bought most other parts from a variety of manufacturers.  To my knowledge, there are only three remaining Griffith-Beach theatre organs in operation today: the 3/24 in my home( salvaged from the Masonic Temple in Elizabeth), the organ at St.Jude’s RC Church, Lake Hopatcong (salvaged from a high school in Newark), and due to our efforts, the original installation at Newark Symphony Hall. In 1987 the Newark theatre was slated to get a complete redecoration job, and I decided to explore a rumor I had heard years before that there was an organ there. I met with the long time maintenance supervisor, and he told me that the cable had been cut and the console removed in the 1950's, but the organ was still intact.   

We explored the chambers, and much to my amazement the instrument looked in great shape except for years of dirt, a missing bass drum, and one missing 16' tuba pipe. The blower room revealed 2 kinetic blowers, a main and a spare.  We threw the blower switch on. Nothing happened. The old maintenance man then licked his fingers, momentarily touched the 220 input and said "no power". (Do NOT try this yourself, kids, you will be DEAD!!). We then decided to examine the electrical panels in the boiler room. One was labeled "organ", but was clearly hooked up to an old abandoned boiler. Opening the electrical panel, the maintenance man found three loose wires.  He hooked them up to the bus bars and were turned to the blower room. A flip of the switch and the #1 blower came to life after decades of sleep!!

Expecting to hear a great many ciphers, I was surprised to find that only 1 or 2 pipes sounded. Entering the theatre proper, we heard a great rushing of wind. Upon further investigation it was determined that a joint had separated in the wind line which runs over the top of the proscenium between chambers. I made arrangements to do a temporary repair, and returned with Pete Polito, Jim Donald, and Fred Portz to fix the wind leak.  The leak was fixed,but during the repair I fell ill and ended up in the emergency room with a heart problem. Grounded, I thought that any hopes of ever hearing the organ play were all but shattered.   About 10 years later, I had learned to live with my mostly healed heart, and in the meanwhile had built the music room in my home and had fun installing the 3/24 Griffith Beach there. Cathy, my wife, was now President of GSTOS and brought up the Newark organ.  We went to the hall and talked to the present operators, who had to be convinced that they owned a theatre pipe organ. Only by actually climbing the chamber ladders were they made aware of their hidden treasure!

It wasn't long before GSTOS had a contract to restore the organ.  Jack Decker, Tom Sarkauskas, Ron Valencourt and I formed the initial crew. We discovered that someone had walked on the proscenium wind line, and the entire line had to be replaced. Then we dropped a few bottom boards and discovered that there had been a roof leak in one section of the solo chamber and quite a bit of releathering had to be done.  The original pneumatic relay was kept and releathered. I would estimate that 2/3 of the leather in the organ has now been replaced.  While snooping around one day, I opened a hatch door in the main theatre colonnade and, to my surprise, there was the missing 16' tuba pipe!!   

As work progressed, we picked up some more dedicated crew members: Mike Fox, Ralph Ringstad, Sr., Joe Vanore, Bill Londell and Ralph Ringstad, Jr.   A 3 manual Marr and Colton french style theatre console was donated by Barbara Reynolds, from the estate of her brother, former GSTOS member Don Plenkers. Its original home was the Dyker Theatre in Brooklyn. This console was missing the pedalboard, but we were able to utilize the one that came with the old original Beach console in my home.  We refinished the console in antique white, with our gilder,  crew member Jinny Vanore, restoring the gold ormolu decorations. The original 4 manual setup was respecified to 3, basically retaining the original Solo and Accompaniment manuals, and combining the middle keyboards into a new Great manual. Electric stop switches and new engraved stop tabs were installed along with new wiring. An Emutek multiplexing system, enabling a small wire connection to the old  relay was added, thus making the console moveable. The original console location was in the center of the orchestra pit.


The new console works well on the stage for concerts, but is not usable for playing silent movies in that location.  Plans are to place it in the pit on tracks, so it can be safely slid under the stage when not in use, and easily moved out front for playing. The organ is well situated for the excellent acoustics of the room, speaking from the top corners of the proscenium and into the circular dome with it's crystal chandelier.  The instrument  produces a very "big" sound! The NJ Symphony Orchestra and Opera Company rehearse in the theatre because of the excellent acoustics, and we are looking forward to doing an organ concert with the symphony. 

Silent for over 50 years, the organ was first heard in public on Saturday, October 28, 2000 when GSTOS members shook down the instrument at an open console with theatre organ guests from upstate New York. It recently was used for several events, including a Newark high school graduation ceremony. 

We are currently restoring the percussions, and putting on the finishing touches.   The grand rededication event with Ralph Ringstad, Jr. at the console is scheduled for Saturday, November 10th at 2:30 PM.  Be there as we celebrate the resumption of glorious organ music during the 75th anniversary year of this beautifully restored venue!

Bob Martin, Crew Chief - July, 2001

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