CASABLANCA meets Nickelodeon
and a Blue Angel
Francis Crossley
Following last year's workshop held in the North of England, the second
Casablanca Convention was held in July at Ashorne Hall in Warwickshire.
Enthusiasts came from Wales, the Midlands and throughout the south of
England, proving the interest as well as the need to learn. Seminars
and demonstrations covered various facets of the Casablanca system.
Ashorne Hall is home to the Nickelodeon collection. This is a collection
of Britain's rarest mechanically played musical instruments. It brings
back to life the sounds, nostalgia and atmosphere of mechanical musical
entertainment from many countries, restored and demonstrated to visitors.
The self-playing of drums, xylophones, accordions, violins and harps
was achieved pneumatically around the 1900s. In America the term Nickelodeon
was born, for the early American picture house. The audience paid
a nickel to go into the Odeon (odeon being the Greek word for theatre)
where these instruments were often used to accompany silent films.
The instruments swallowed up coins in America and Europe, in return
for a musical treat that enjoyed considerable popularity between the
two World Wars.
The Nickelodeon collection is a private collection belonging to Graham
and Pat Whitehead. Other than the flagship of the collection, the
mighty cinema organ that rises up through the stage, all of the instruments
are played without the need for a human musician. However, the collection
does need a dedicated engineer, and that role is lead by Graham Whitehead,
who left school to train as a cinema projectionist at the Coventry
Gaumont, which seated 2400. His ambition to become a cinema engineer
was thwarted by the demise of the cinema in the face of television.
Following a career in his own printing business, he began to collect
small mechanical musical instruments, his collection steadily growing
both in number, as well as in the size of the instruments. The first
home for the collection was opened in a former Methodist Chapel in
1972. Eventually a rambling country house in parkland was bought,
near Warwick. After two years' intensive work, Ashorne House opened
to the public in 1991.
The graciously appointed hall that houses the larger items of the
Nickelodeon collection, takes the form of a vintage cinema with 35mm
projectors, and is fitted with grills, ceiling, balustrading and other
features from cinemas in Warwick, Bedford and elsewhere. The stage
and walls display major items of the collection. The hall also functions
as a restaurant, ballroom and conference centre. Outside the hall
is an eighteen-bell Carillon that plays tunes on the hour.
The collection includes the Blue Angel robot organ from Zindhoven,
Holland, a Compton cinema organ, and the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ.
There is an ornate 82 key scale Mortier organ, 27' wide by 15' high.
Also a Violina Phonoliszt built in Leipzig in 1912, which plays three
violins and a piano and was hailed as the greatest musical invention
of all time. At the other end of the scale is a musical box in a tea
caddy.
Pat Whitehead may be spotted serving teas and Graham Whitehead may
be there to take your fares and drive the diesel or steam-hauled train
on "the Nickelodeon Line" narrow gauge railway on most Sundays from
Easter to October. The railway and gardens (and teas of course) alone
make a popular family visit. Information may be found by telephoning
01926-651444. The all-year programme includes conducted tours of the
collection, mighty cinema organ shows, musical tea/dinner parties
and concerts.
The Casablanca Convention was organised and run by Dalco-uk of Hull.
It was a chance to see what the Casablanca editor is capable of -
hints, tips, unknown features, Blue Box and so on. It covered the
Casablanca range, comprising the basic Avio, Avio Pro and Kron. Dalco
brought two visitors from the USA - Ed Resener and Tim Kennelly, both
renowned in their skills in the use of Casablanca. Ed advocates experimenting,
and works on his Casablanca at his Colorado farm from the very early
hours, joined by his young daughter as soon as she is awake. She doesn't
have long, as she has to go out to milk the cows before school. At
a local schools convention in the use of editing computers, schoolteachers
were amazed to see his daughter making some specialised presentations
to support Ed's seminar. She has earned herself the name of "digital
milkmaid".
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