[Bell Historians] The Regal, Marble Arch ...again!

[Alan Buswell]

According to the Tuning Books of G&J, the Regal Cinema at Marble Arch had 32 bells (I might be wrong here) dated 1927/28. All the bells were returned to the factory and used as Stock Bells. Some went to Japan and others elsewhere. This is not to be confused with the 1930 M.A. carillon of 32 which were shipped to Belgium in the mid 1960's. Where I got this info from, I'm not too sure but I do have the info of the bells .
AAJB 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Richard Offen 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 7:58 AM
  Subject: [Bell Historians] The Regal, Marble Arch ...again!


  Whilst browsing for some information on the web site of Mander Organs 
  just now, I found the following posting on their message board:

  "I think that it was in about 1966 that the Regal Marble Arch was 
  demolished, and just prior to its demise the 36 rank Hill Norman & 
  Beard "Christie" organ designed by Quentin Maclean was removed into 
  storage. It has remained in that state in a trailer (I gather located 
  in a barn) in Cornwall ever since. I am sure that this situation has 
  just about driven a generation of theatre organ fans crazy ! 
  Apparently its owner who never succeeded in doing anything with his 
  container of bits was (probably for quite reasonable reasons) not 
  keen to encourage all manner of theatre organ anoraks to his home, 
  but now he has died and the Marble Arch organ has re-surfaced (as it 
  were). 

  Whilst it is restorable, its condition is far from good, and the 
  photographs of it reveal that there is a considerable amount of 
  restoration work required that would keep many organ builders busy 
  for many months. There are a number of photographs of it in its 
  present state - it will most certainly need its keyboards re-building!

  The organ apparently wasn't a great success in the cinema in spite of 
  its great size, but it has recorded well - particularly by Sidney 
  Torch.

  So far as the future is concerned, of course the issue with it its 
  size. With organ preservation societies up and down the land 
  struggling to find venues in which to re-install various Wurlitzers 
  (and two homeless four manual instruments spring readily to mind), a 
  1920s orchestral pipe organ I guess will stand little chance short of 
  a miracle and someone with a huge bank balance. 

  (It included a 44 bell carillon in its spec which created such a 
  noise that an injunction was issued forbidding or at least severely 
  restricting its use!)

  The present state of the Marble Arch Christie can be seen via the 
  yahoo group UKTheatreOrgans which is moderated by Peter Hammond. For 
  those interested in such things I have definitely found this to be 
  far and away the best theatre organ group on the net. 

  Quentin Bellamy - who along with many theatre organ nuts is hopeful 
  of a miracle!"

  So it looks as if the carillon has been sitting in Cornwall all these 
  years (sorry for doubting you Dickon!) and we may yet hear its tones 
  again.

  Richard



              
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20070226/496206bd/attachment.html>