Tennessee WurliTzer Beauty Shot

The 3/17 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee sits regally with the lift in the down position, waiting to be played. This gloreous console is one of only two such instruments remaining in the world having red and gold leaf woodwork in a french moorish motif. The gold colour is actual gold foil carefully hammered into the woodwork. The WurliTzer catalogue of 1928 referred to this organ as a Balaban 2. These were commissioned by Jim Eberson for the Publix chain of theatres. Eighteen movie houses were built for the chain, and now, only two remain, one being the Tennessee in Knoxville, and the other being the Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama. The Alabama has the larger of the two organs, with four manuals and 28 ranks of pipes.