PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BOB ALDER COLLECTION
Johnny DeMello works the organ at the Waikiki Theatre in 1955. Parts of the historical organ, now disassembled, sit in a Honolulu storage unit.
Historical Waikiki
organ fades out
in disassemblyRelocating the whole 82-year-old
pipe organ to a Big Island theater
proves too expensive
An 82-year-old Waikiki pipe organ that had entertained stars such as Shirley Temple, Bob Hope and Tom Selleck has been disassembled and scattered to three island locations.
"It was probably the singular most important part of entertainment history for Hawaii," said Bob Alder, an organist who played the Waikiki Theatre instrument for almost 20 years until 1997.
"It's sad because it was a very complete instrument, and it performed its function extremely well."
A nonprofit group had hoped to install the organ in Hilo's historic Palace Theatre. But only the organ's console ever made it from the soon-to-be-demolished Waikiki Theatre to the Big Island, said Friends of the Palace President Cheryl Moore.
The nonprofit is working to renovate the Palace Theatre, which was built in 1925, and had wanted to have the organ as a fixture in its performance hall.
The organ's pipes and some other mechanisms sit in a Honolulu storage unit. A few of its components were used as replacement pieces for a refurbished organ -- the Waikiki instrument's sister -- at Hawaii Theatre.
Alder estimates that the organ played for 28 million patrons over the years, not counting those who heard it on a radio broadcast that lasted until the late 1940s.
The instrument was heard at a number of movie premieres at the Waikiki Theatre, he said.
"I feel very lucky to have been part of this legacy," he said.
Consolidated Amusement Co., which owns the Waikiki Theatre, donated the organ to the Palace Theatre in 2001.
But shipping the organ to Hilo would have cost thousands and filled a 40-foot-long shipping container. The organ's pipes alone range from the size of a pencil to 16 feet long.
"It's just sitting there" in storage, said Eileen Mortenson for Consolidated.
"The Palace Theatre wasn't interested because it was going to cost lots of money to get from here to there. There is no discussion with anybody" to get it out.
Moore said besides the money, the logistics of dealing with the organ's transport and installation was just too much on top of refurbishing the Palace Theatre.
Alder said donations totaling about $500 got the organ's console from Oahu to the Big Island.
"I'll be happy if the console survives," he said. "I'm just sad that it's not all together."
The organ was first housed in the Hawaii Theatre, where it was played during silent movies and for intermission features. In the late 1930s the organ was moved to the then-newly opened Waikiki Theatre.
Meanwhile, the organ's twin was installed at the Princess Theatre. When the Princess was destroyed in 1969, the Hawaii Theatre was able to acquire the Princess's organ.
Burton White, the Hawaii Theatre's artistic director and general manager, said Consolidated officials offered him the Waikiki organ's pipes and other mechanisms.
But the Hawaii Theatre had been working for years to refurbish its own organ and by that time had already almost completely restored it.
