An 1885 Mortier organ?
I have been listening to recordings of the nice "Emperor" Mortier organ that was once owned by Paul Eakins and displayed at his "Gay 90's Melody Museum" in St. Louis. There are some interesting things written about the organ, not the least of which the claim Mr. Eakins made that it was built in 1885(!) and was originally a barrel organ(!). Now, I know Mortier was not building organs in 1885, nor did they ever make any cylinder organs. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about this). The rear view photo of the organ does not appear to show a former cylinder organ. It appears to be more-or-less normal Mortier. However, there are a couple unusual things about this organ. It has a vox humana register, which I don't think is usual for Mortier, and the xylophone is mounted vertically in the front center, rather than horizontally in the top section. Both of these features are more typical of Hooghuys dance organs, and indeed, someone in the past asked about whether this organ had something to do with Hooghuys. Since this forum seems to have the most fairground organ experts, perhaps you can weigh in on this? Here are some photos: (I don't have a good copy of the photo as it was originally built; it had a very large facade decorated with eagles etc.) With Paul and Laura Eakins: back view of the organ: another back view of the organ: Final version of the organ with some new trim pieces made for the facade: Organ as sold by Mechantiques as part of the 1997 Walt Disney World auction: Recent photo of "The Emperor", now in a large private collection in the Eastern U.S. Here are some links to recordings etc. of the organ: http://cdbaby.com/cd/belgianbandorgan http://cdbaby.com/cd/belgianbandorgan2 http://cdbaby.com/cd/twlco http://www.bandorganmusic.com/machines/index.htm#emperor http://www.bandorganmusic.com/pcd2011_harem.htm http://www.bandorganmusic.com/pcd2044_belgian_band_organ_1.htm http://www.bandorganmusic.com/pcd2050_belgian_band_organ_2.htm http://www.bandorganmusic.com/PCD2010_BELGIAN.htm http://www.bandorganmusic.com/pcd2041world_famous_belgian_band_organ_5.htm http://www.bandorganmusic.com/PCD2042_world_famous_belgian_band_organ_6.htm (I'm not trying to do free advertising here; I figure that by listening to the sound clips of different tunes, the experts might more easily discern the parentage of this organ)

Now that you mention it I do think that could be a Hogguys(it might be a Gavioli or a Limonare). Looking at the back this might have been a barrel operated organ. The Vox Humana Is a feature found on Hooguys but also the earlier Limonare organs. This would be an excellant feature to any band organ rally, and if you ask my opinion if this was at the GDSF, this would send the other organs running for the hills. This is most possibly a Hogguys. The Erkins(when they where still alive) confused a lot of thier organs, incluidng Saide Mae a Deklist barrel organ, not even a Limonare,

That said, I do aggre the 1950's has it's up's and down's about mechanical music.

I like the old photo of that organ :>

I'm still convinced parts of this organ are of Hooghuys origin (namely the vox humana and xylophone). I've received lots of photos of the organ in its current condition, but I'm not a technical expert, so I'm only relying on the sound, but there's only one vox humana that sounds like the one this Mortier, and that's a Hooghuys one!

You know I am beggining think this organ might be a mix(concerning the Jazz flute rank), who knows?

I'm not totally sure of this, but I wouldn't be surprised that this instrument came through the Gymonprez shop. Their specialty was reworking dance organs for the export market in the 1950-60's.

A most bizarre organ indeed! It sounds just like a Hooghuys when the Vox Humana is in play yet when other ranks of pipes play it has much more of the Mortier characteristics to it. Could this be a 'bitza' organ I wonder? It could be either a Hooghuys or Mortier (or maybe something else!) which has had pipework removed and/or replaced over the years.

QDB Encyclopedia p896 picture #5 : the "Emperor" before it was wood-butchered. The female statuettes are just faux-nostalgia junk added later. Eakins had the central cases only. Sound scheme is quite usual for an early Mortier as is the xylophone - similar suriving examples to be heard on Youtube. Hooghuys? Nah - just wishful thinking, I personally can't hear it myself at all. The QDB book really should the first port-of-call. As to that LP - it really has the most lifeless arrangements imaginable and clearly in the hands of an expert arranger the instrument was capable of greater things.

Paul Eakins, with whom I once had the pleasure of conversation in the early 1980s, had an imagination as good as Walt Disney and was fond of embroidering the provenance of instruments in his 'Gay Nineties Village' exhibition. He claimed that this early (c1910) Mortier the 'Emperor' had been a barrel organ (untrue) and once, during an American tv broadcast from his museum, claimed that there was only ONE person left in the World who knew the secret of making the music books for "these old band organs". When the interviewer asked Paul who that was he replied that "there's an old lady in Belgium who does it". He would not reveal her name, he said, because she would give up doing it otherwise! In fact most of the 'Emperor' music books and those of its stablemates, Big Bertha (Limonaire), Madame Laura, Loudmouth Sadie Mae and Pinkey (all Gaviolis) were either original or Arthur Prinsen's arrangements.

Just a quick reply to a few of the post. -The organ was restored by Paul Eakins and Ozzie Wurdeman in the early 1960's. Ozzie was asked to help out restoring the organ as to get it done for before appearances in New York City in 1963. -The organ had the large figures on it when Paul Eakins purchased the organ, and it was painted tan with the the Mortier name painted on it. -I am unsure of what a Vox Humana looks like, but I do have a lot of slides showing the restoration of the organ from the early 1960's. Maybe if someone can explain it to me, I can take a look. The slides basically show the organ apart and all in internal mechanisms. Once I get caught up, I will be posting more soon. Thanks, Chris Carlisle Paul Eakins' Grandson _

God bless you Mr.Carlisle, I saw Big Bertha in quite a state when I saw her on my spring vacation to florida, in a resturant in the Grand Floridian Hotel in Disney World. -Justin

Big Bertha
Big Bertha......she sounds terrible. If you are intersted, I just released the Best of Big Bertha Vol 1 on CD and vol. 2 as a digital download on Itunes and CDbaby.com. CHRIS

Well I cannot disagree with you there, really. When I went to listen to the organ, is was very quiet, I could not recognize the tune's that where played, it was tuned down to just the melody(or even just the counter melody) flutes where playing. The facade was awful, it even said "Gavioli" on the top. One of the waiters,(whom I corrected, after he called it a calliope) told me that It was turned down beacuse of volume(typical of Disney). He also mentioned that Disney kept other organs in a wherehouse some where. The Conversion to the Wurly 165 scale was just awful, I hope the organ is saved, put out in the open and reverted to book music.