The pipes, the pipes are calling.

A mere 95 years ago, Page Organ Company of Lima, Ohio, installed the Grande Page Pipe Organ in Embassy Theatre, known as Emboyd Theatre at the time. 

As one of just three organs built of its size, the pipe organ has become iconic in Fort Wayne, leading the Embassy to showcase it whenever it can. The organ was in the spotlight during the Buddy Nolan Memorial Concert on May 20. It’s next shot to shine will be when it’s used for its original purpose, supplying sound to a silent film.

“When the Embassy opened up, they were doing silent films and vaudeville performances,” Embassy Marketing Director Crissy Moloney said. “So, it’s been a part of our history as long as we’ve been here, 95 years.

“It was designed to pair with silent movies,” she added. “So it has all the sound effects, like the trains, the birds, and the whistles. There are 1,300 pipes, and all of them have a different sound.”

Clark Wilson will be at the organ on June 11 during a screening of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. On June 25, Cletus Goens will accompany Our Hospitality and One Week. Wilson returns for the final two performances in the series, playing for The Ten Commandments on July 16 and Why Worry? and Bumping Into Broadway on Aug. 6.

Heart of the embassy

Shining during the silent-film and vaudeville era, Emboyd Theatre welcomed in the top stars of the day, including Perry Como, Lawrence Welk, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. As the “talkies” began to enter the fray, demand faded. The Emboyd was sold to Alliance Amusement Corporation and renamed Embassy Theatre.

As the organ began to take a backseat as talkies became more prevalent, Nolan was among a devout group that helped maintain “Miss Page.”

Following the closure of the accompanying Indiana Hotel in 1971, the Embassy was staring demolition in the face until a group led by Robert Goldstine formed the Embassy Theatre Foundation. 

The group raised $250,000 through its Save the Embassy campaign, although the campaign might as well have been known as Save the Grand Page Pipe Organ.

“The whole reason it was saved was because of the pipe organ, because the pipe organ is actually built into the walls of the Embassy,” Moloney said. “The folks that saved the Embassy were actually trying to save the pipe organ. By saving the pipe organ, they saved the Embassy. We just try to celebrate that and highlight the pipe organ with different shows, because it is very important to our history.”

Not outshining the movie

Someone well aware of the historic and musical significance of the pipe organ is Goens, who has been playing it since 1983 and calls it “a one-man orchestra.”

“It’s a sound like no other,” he said. “It was one of the Page company’s largest. They built three that were the size of ours. One went into a broadcasting station in Chicago. The other went into (Avalon Theatre in the Catalina Casino) on Catalina Island in California.”

What makes the pipe organ so special is how much it can do through its more than 1,100 pipes that range between 16 feet and 7 inches. Along with music, players also push buttons for sound effects.

“It’s loads of fun,” Goens said. “You do have to prepare. By the time I score a film for a public audience, I have spent hours watching that film, learning where the cues are, where the pratfalls are, where the suspenseful moments are. For all intents and purposes, I try to use period-friendly music. I may not use music from exactly that year. I don’t necessarily use the original score, because in many cases, the score is not always available. I do all of my own scoring work.”

Although the pipe organ is a star, Goens says it should not be the star.

“The movie is the star,” he said. “My accompaniment should be under the movie and supporting the movie all the way through.”

Movie schedule

To get whisked back in time, tickets for the silent films are just $10, which includes a small popcorn. Even better, members get in free, as do those 12 and under and those 65 and older.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 film starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo. The renowned Chaney went on to star in The Phantom of the Opera, while his son, Lon Chaney Jr., became a horror genre icon.

“On June 25, we’re going to do a Grand­parents Day so people can bring their grandchildren and hopefully cultivate that memory that they will want to keep coming back,” Moloney said.

If you do make the day a family affair at the Embassy, Goens will play Miss Page alongside the 1923 comedy Our Hospitality, starring Buster Keaton. Keaton also stars in One Week, which will precede Our Hospitality.

“Our Hospitality is actually a long film, it’s a full feature. It’s 75 minutes,” Goens said. “That’s a lot of notes on a keyboard. So, I have to know where the film goes, what the main themes and sub-themes are throughout.”

Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 film The Ten Commandments will be shown on July 16. The grandiose Biblical film cost Paramount $600,000 to make, but was its highest-grossing film until DeMille’s 1949 film Samson and Delilah.

The series closes with another short preceding the feature, with Bumping Into Broadway leading into the comedy Why Worry? starring Harold Lloyd.

“We try to pick movies that have some popularity and throw one in that has a cult following,” he said.

While the movies are the stars, the Grande Page Pipe Organ will also be shining. And if you have not had the pleasure of hearing it in all its glory, here’s your chance.

“There’s a common phrase in the pipe organ world, and that is, ‘An organ always sounds its best in the building it was designed for.’ I will absolutely agree with that,” Goens said. “I don’t know if you can take the Embassy organ out of the Embassy and put it in another building, I don’t care where that building is, and make it sound as good as it does right there in its original home.”