1957 HAMMOND ORGAN SALES DEMO

Year Published: 1957

Format: 16mm

Description: This 1957 color promotional film, one of several created by Dallas Jones Productions for Chicago’s Hammond organ company, uses the characters of a church organist (Porter Heaps), a young protégé, and his layman father to dramatise the practical benefits of an electronic, console-style Hammond organ, highlighting the ability of its drawbar design to produce a diversity of tones and effects for any occasion (26:37). Opening titles: "The Hammond Organ Company presents, The Kind of Music You Want" (0:28). Exterior: A Christian church with a cornice and pillars. Congregants enter. Inside the chapel, organ music is heard as men and women in their sunday best file into pews. A narrator identifies himself as the organist and choirmaster (0:38). A choir practice. Boys sing in closeup. The choirmaster dismisses them. Most leave with excitement, but one boy, "Tommy" lingers, interested by the organ as multiple voices are demonstrated (1:35). Tommy takes a seat at the Hammond C-3 organ bench and plays (2:50). A man in a suit and hat arrives at home, carrying a briefcase. "Helen, I’m home!" He finds an empty living room. No Tommy, despite a pair of baseball game tickets. Tom Sr. kisses his wife on the cheek and telephones a neighbor (3:48). The father goes out looking for Tommy in suburbia. After passing an empty baseball diamond, he heads to the church, and is startled to find Tommy at an organ: "What’s the big idea?" Tommy hangs his head in shame (5:06). Father suggests getting Tommy a "more practical," more secular instrument. The organist makes a case for the practicality of his instrument (6:45). A ¾ view of the keyboard reveals two 61-note manuals and drawbars, which are adjusted to change the instrument’s harmonic voicing between bass and treble clef (7:47). Father approves, but only for Sundays. Drawbars are pushed in for a full demonstration. One drawbar provides a fundamental tone. Harmonics are added to produce a warm, reedy, clarinet-like sound. With another adjustment, the tone shifts to a shrill, vibrato-laden, "string" effect (8:26). Father remembers "stops or buttons" from pump organs of old. "Wouldn’t it be better just to push a button for the tone you want?" (9:50). 18 reverse-colored preset keys are introduced. The organist drives a hard bargain for the "tone typewriter," explaining the customization afforded by drawbars (10:10). Tommy is sold. A percussive, staccato xylophone effect and smooth french horn voices are demonstrated, then combined for an orchestral style "Blue Danube" waltz (11:35). A "ballgame" setting. Flashback to a ballpark box office, bleachers, Toms Jr. and Sr. at a baseball game. Tommy remembers the tickets and his dad produces them (13:31). Mr. Heaps demonstrates a setting for accompanying a barbershop quartet at the local Elks Lodge. Men singing in four-part harmony (14:24). Tommy recalls seeing a Hammond organ at a local restaurant. Crossfade to a tossed salad. Diners are served by a waiter in epaulets, who passes a written request to a B-3 organist (15:16). A drowsy man returns home to his wife playing "Beautiful Dreamer" (17:07). A single man plays a more compact model (18:19). A teenage girl plays a bouncy number while wholesome teenagers drink cola and dance in a living room (18:59). A school organ accompanies a phys ed class of girls doing jumping jacks. Teens sing "My Country, ‘Tis of Thee." A punchbowl at a gymnasium dance (19:54). A girl and her organ teacher wear earphones for silent practice (21:12). A school band. A vacant tuba. Tommy rushes from his locker to a Model E organ. Bass pedals are tapped with his feet in closeup (22:13). Back at church, Heaps reveals a hand injury, Tommy at the keys of a Hammond C-2 (25:18). The Hammond organ was invented American engineer Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert. It was first manufactured in 1935. The original version generated sound using a metal tonewheel and then, starting in 1975, using integrated circuits. The company went out of business in 1985. Organist Porter W. Heaps (1906-1999) was an Illinois native and organ teacher at Northwestern University. In the 1930s, he began a 40-year association with the Hammond organ company, aiding in the development of their unique drawbar design. Heaps toured the U.S. as a representative of Hammond, recording demonstration records and giving concert performances.

Complete Record:

Transcription

Can't blame them for being uneasy, I suppose. But I'm the one who should feel strange. 16 years as organist and choir master in this church. And now I'm in the pews and someone else is up there. And only we three know the whole story. Started way back. One Friday at junior choir practice. Very fine, boys. Well, that'll be all for now. See you Sunday. Hey, Tommy, you going home, or what? No, I I think I'll stick around here for a while. Okay. See you at the game tomorrow. Hey, you've never shown me that before, Mr. Heath. Do you want to try it? Sure. All right. Just hold the chords down. That's it. Boy, that's fun. But now, what about some of my music? Last week you told me that Okay, okay, but we have to begin where we left off last week. Remember? Exercise 6 61. That's it. No, hands the other way around. Go down here. That's it. Helen. I'm home. Tommy. Tommy. Helen, where's Tommy? I got the tickets for that ball game. Hello, darling. Hi, dear. Look. Oh, wonderful. He was afraid they might be sold out. He's not home yet. Not home yet? Oh, every Friday it's the same thing. Last week he held up dinner and the week before that, too. Well, you know, choir rehearsal is a little late getting out sometimes. Yeah, but not every time. I'm going to call up Ike Barnes and see if his boy is home yet. Hello, Ike. Tom Layton. Johnny get home from choir practice yet? Over half hour ago? Well, I suppose Tommy's fooling around on the way home. Well, thanks, Ike. I'll see you Sunday. Should be home. I'm going to find that kid. Well, now, don't you be late for dinner, too. Well, hi, ya, Tom. Come on in. Let me pardon you. As for you, young man, what's the big idea? I've been searching all over the neighborhood for you. Gosh, Dad. I So, this is where he's been for the last few Fridays, hanging around here bothering you. Bothering me? Oh, it's no bother at all. But I thought you knew. Tommy enjoys listening to the organ so much, I thought he might like to try playing it. Oh. I thought all he really cared about was baseball. Well, he is pretty good at second base, that's right. But he showed an interest in music and that should be developed, too. Well, good. Glad to hear it. An all around boy, huh? Well, Porter, thanks for spending the time with him. One of these days we'll have to get him a practical instrument. Practical? What do you mean, practical? Don't get me wrong, Porter. Organ music is fine, but I think most youngsters want a different instrument. Something they can play outside of church. Something they can play just for fun. Like I said, uh practical instrument. Practical? Now, what makes an instrument practical? I've always thought it'd be an instrument that you could play all alone. For good solo music and enjoyment all by yourself. An instrument that can make any kind of music you want. Uh music to fit any mood, any place, any time. And also, to be completely practical, it should be a good accompaniment instrument and blend well with a band and with an orchestra. That right? Yeah, that's right. Well, let me show you. Beautiful. Really has the feeling of church. But that's for Sundays. Other times you want a different kind of music. That's what I mean. Well, that's what I mean, too. And here's how this organ can give you exactly the kind of music you want, any time, anywhere. The answer is in these draw bars. So, let's push all the draw bars in and start right from the beginning. One of the draw bars, this one, will give us the fundamental tone. That doesn't sound like any instrument I've heard. No, it needs something else. You identify a musical instrument by harmonics sounding along with the fundamental. Now, each of these draw bars adds a harmonic. So, let's set up the draw bars to add these harmonics to our fundamental tone. Gee, that sounds just like a clarinet. And just by resetting the draw bars, I can change the sound of a vibrating reed to the sound of a vibrating string. Pretty good. But it seems to me when I was a boy pumping the church organ, they used to have stops or buttons for the different tones. Wouldn't it be better just to push a button for the tone you want? Well, I can do that with this organ. On these keys, they're set in advance to give me 18 of the most frequently used tones. Seems to me you wouldn't need those drawbars at all. Just build an organ with a key for each tone you want. Oh, that's fine, but you might not like all the tones you got. The flute tone for instance. Do you like this? Or maybe this one. Or maybe any one of a hundred different flute tones in between. So how many buttons would you need to get exactly the tone of all the instruments you'd like? 50? 100? 500? Let's put it this way. If you were going to build a typewriter with a key for every word, how many keys would you need? You see, no matter how careful you were selecting them, you'd never have enough keys for all the words you wanted. Instead, we have typewriters that can spell any word with letters. With this organ, we have what you might call a tone typewriter. A tone typewriter? Sure. Just as you spell the word you want with combinations of letters on a typewriter, I can spell the tone I want with combinations of harmonics. Can you spell us something, Mr. Heaps? All right. Uh how about xylophone? You can even get a French horn with orchestral accompaniment. Like this. Now, that's the French horn. Now let's add a couple of the other instruments in the orchestra. There we are. Now let's use everything. What do you say? That should be interesting. I never knew spelling could be so much fun. You see, Tom, by using different harmonics and then varying the volume of each one, you actually have thousands of tones at your command. Any kind of music you want, anytime, anywhere. That's why you may not have recognized this instrument when you've heard it around town. For instance, I don't know how many times I set them like this, and you heard it too. Listen. Gee, I didn't know you were the organist at the ballpark, Mr. Heaps. Well, that's not the only place. Tonight, around 8:30, I'll be setting the drawbars for a different kind of music at the lodge. Now, won't you Do they got one of these over at the Oaks? They sure have, and do they keep it busy. I play the ritual music of course, and sometimes for their dances, but if I'm not playing it, one of the other fellows is for almost every night in the week. Well, maybe our lodge ought to look into this. Didn't they have the same organ where we had dinner on Sunday? No, that was a special instrument. Where? At the Claridge? Yeah, in the dining room. Tommy's right. It's the same kind of organ. It just sounded different. Uh the drawbars were set up for the kind of music you want when you're enjoying good food. It's amazing, Porter. For a professional musician, I'd say this instrument beats them all. Oh, but it isn't just the professionals who enjoy this organ the most. Uh you know Dr. Morrison out on Spruce Drive? Sure, he's our doctor. Well, neither Dr. Morrison or his wife are professionals, but they know the kind of music they want. I know Dr. Morrison has a fine home, but I didn't know it was big enough for an organ. Big enough? Why, you don't need a lot of room for this kind of organ. Uh Jim Haggerty, you know him, don't you? Oh, sure. Well, he even has one in an apartment. Uh it's a little smaller than this one, but it works on the same principle and with the same drawbars. And I'll bet you tonight Jim will be setting up the drawbars for the kind of music he wants. Jim's not a professional organist either, but music will be helping him relax tonight. Wait a minute, this is Friday. Jim's bowling night. But I'll bet I know what will be happening. Jim's daughter, she'll be playing the kind of music she wants. For Jim's daughter, her kind of music has become the focal point for wholesome teenage fun. The The Haggertys sure keep these drawbars busy. But probably the busiest set of drawbars in town is out at the high school. Sure. I went to the carnival the high school kids put on in the gym. That's how they paid for their organ, partly. We kids earned all the money. And and now that they have an organ, they really put it to work. Throughout the school, they want many kinds of music. Since this organ can be played in any room with an electric outlet, it doesn't stay in any one location very long. Yes, the high school organ is certainly an all-purpose instrument. And because it's versatile and portable, the organ is becoming more and more important in music education. Earphones let students practice the organ without disturbing anyone. And they're learning an instrument with a future. So you see, Tom, this is not only the perfect instrument for church, but it satisfies the musical needs and desires all over town. But is it a practical instrument to own? Seems to me it would require a lot of upkeep. You'd be surprised. This organ requires practically no maintenance. Our service bill last year was only $2.75. And it uses no more current than a 100-W light bulb. And because it's an electric organ, it can't possibly get out of tune. Same principle as keeps an electric clock on time. Hm. I guess you wouldn't want it home. Wow, I'm as bad as Tommy when it comes to keeping track of time. Well, Tommy, I guess I can't blame you for being late the last few Fridays. So long and thanks. And Tommy, next week again. Okay. Well, I figured I'd planted a seed, but I didn't realize how it was going to grow. Regular lessons at the school and even the hours of practice were fun for Tommy. And in a surprisingly short time, Tommy was playing in the school band. Something new in music. You see, our high school band was no different from any other when it came to getting a strong bass section. Tuba players were hard to find. And most students want to learn instruments they can play outside of school. Students want to play instruments that have some carryover value in later life. And what instrument fills these requirements better than the organ? More and more band arrangements are including a score for the organ. With an organ playing all the bass parts, the school solves all its problems at once. With the addition of the organ, the band music becomes full-bodied. The school no longer had to worry about finding boys and girls to play the difficult bass instruments. With one easy-to-play instrument, they had a full, rich bass section. Tommy Layton was one student to benefit. For him, the organ opened up a new avenue of wholesome fun and personal satisfaction. And here I am, sitting in the pew on Sunday. Sure a strange feeling. First time in 16 years. Thanks to this. Oh, well, it could have been worse.


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