G&J carillon (Regal/Odeon, Marble Arch)

[Carl S. Zimmerman]

Unfortunately there seems to be no reliable information available 
about the fate of this instrument. One report which I heard 
third-hand said that the bells were destroyed in the Blitz; but since 
the Christie 4/36 theatre organ survived until its eventual removal 
in 1964, I think that unlikely. The tale of the bells going to 
Belgium seems likewise to be no more than a rumor, because a recent 
inventory of carillons in Belgium(*) has no mention of such bells. 
(The G&J bells in the carillons of Louvain and Liege are contemporary 
with the Marble Arch bells, though.) If the bells did go to Belgium, 
then either they were broken up or they were redirected elsewhere and 
haven't yet been rediscovered.

An American source for a recording of this organ and carillon is the 
Organ Historical Society.

Carl


* Beiaarden en Torens in België, ed. Gilbert Huybens, Musea Nostra, 
Gent, 1994, ISBN 90-5544-018-3