During its centennial celebration, which occurred in March, Balboa Theatre committed to using its organ more. As part of this effort, San Diego Theatres presents Silent Movie Mondays, a six-film series taking audiences back to Balboa Theatre’s roots in vaudeville and silent cinemas. Already, 900 tickets have been sold to its inaugural show of “Phantom of the Opera” (1925), featuring Lon Chaney, on Oct. 28.
Local silent film accompaniment expert Russ Peck created the haunting score for the film and will perform it. Before the show, he will discuss with the audience his process for creating silent film scores. He is of the school of thought that only music from the same year or before a film’s release should be used to accompany it, whether that be classical pieces or pop tunes. From various musical sources, he puts together a compilation to match the events taking place on screen with some original music added. “I’m confident this is an authentic way,” Peck said.
From the décor to the music and film, audiences will step back in time to when Balboa Theatre was built. When Balboa Theatre reopened in 2008 after decades of abandonment, it featured original details found in old photographs and a preserved corner of the house which were used to recreate the stage curtain, murals, light fixtures, ceilings, and more. “This is the look that it would have had in 1924 when we started,” said general manager Brendan Farley. While its fountains crafted to look like California mountains and detailed molding on the walls might look fancy to the modern eye, Farley said compared to the newly renamed Jacobs Music Center, which holds the largest theater organ in San Diego, Balboa Theatre is much less ornate. “This was definitely a theater of the people, for the people in 1924 when it was built.”
The history of theater organs explains why the unique instrument was once such an important part of the golden era of film. As silent films rose in popularity and theaters grew to accommodate large crowds, venues hosted showings multiple times per day. It was too expensive to pay for an entire orchestra, so instead it became the practice to install a theater organ with sound effects and wind-powered instruments meant to emulate the sound of a full orchestra while only requiring one player. Think of it as the analog synthesizer before digital keyboards were available. As the player presses keys on the console on the stage, electrical signals are sent to the “big box of whistles” located above the grate on the fifth story of Balboa Theatre. Wind is blown through the pipes or through pneumatics to hit percussion instruments. In addition to aping orchestral sound, theater organists had a variety of sound effects to heighten the film score, like sirens, tweeting birds and horse clopping.
“This is the 1920s. They couldn’t digitally reproduce these things, so the real xylophone, the real marimba, the real glockenspiel, real tambourines and castanets are all up in that pipe chamber. And they can all be activated through the keyboard,” said Ken Double, organist at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. “That made us not just musicians and keyboard players, but orchestrators and arrangers for silent films.”
San Diego has a total of three silent film venues with theater organs. In addition to the symphony’s home at Jacobs Music Center and Balboa Theatre, Trinity Presbyterian in Spring Valley has one of the instruments, which is more versatile than a typical church organ. Peck, who as a technician restores and maintains organs in addition to his work composing and playing on them, noted Balboa Theatre’s Wonder Morton theater organ has a jazzy sound. “No two theater pipe organs sound alike,” he said. “This organ is very special to me.”
Robert Morton Organ Company, located in Van Nuys, was once the second-largest producer of theater organs in the states. The Wonder Mortons are a set of five crafted for Loews’ theaters in boroughs in New York City and one in New Jersey. The Wonder Morton inside Balboa Theatre was built in 1929 for Valencia Theatre in Queens. After silent films were replaced by talkies, it was stored in New Jersey. Balboa Theatre purchased the organ in 2009, transporting it by truck across the country then it was restored in Romana over two years. “It’s great fun to play. It has some real history to it,” said Double. After leading the 2022 American Theatre Organ Society’s annual convention held in San Diego, he was brought on as a consultant to revive Balboa Theatre’s organ program. The film series is part of that effort.
“It’s just going to be a really fantastic series specially designed to bring in more of our community, embrace families, children, and just [be] a fun place for everybody to come and enjoy the art of the theater organ and the art of silent films,” said Abigail Buell, vice president of San Diego Theatres.
Double will be performing in two of the events. On Dec. 9, he will perform during “Cops” (1922) and “Big Business” (1929). He returns on April 14, 2025, for “The Mark of Zorro” (1920). In addition to “Phantom of the Opera,” Peck will arrange music and perform during a showing of “The Gold Rush” (1925) on Feb. 24, 2025, and “Flesh and the Devil” (1926) on June 9, 2025. General admission is $24. Details at sandiegotheatres.org/silent-movie-mondays.
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