Music Hall Theatre - 4/16 Robert Morton
Seattle, Washington
 
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From The Bombarde, December 1964:
 
SEATTLE'S LOSS IS SACRAMENTO'S GAIN
 
"It is with sadness that Seattle musicians and audiences watch her passing from the scene, but she has been assured a good home and will once again thrill audiences with her glorious voice.
 
This excerpt from the program for the Farewell Concert held on November 15, 1963, at the Seattle Music Hall sums up local sentiment toward removal of an instrument which had become so familiar that "she" was considered part of the Seattle buffs' family.
 

Dick Schrum at the console
 
When it was learned that "she" had been sold and would soon be removed, there just had to be one more blast. Dick Schrum,who pumps a plug-in in a plush Seattle gastronomy parlor, took the bull by the horns and hired the Music Hall, strictly on his own. He sold tickets, had programs printed and hoped he would break even.
 
Dick was sad about the sale of the organ. He told Seattle Times writer Byron Fish, "It was the last of the big theatre organs installed in the Pacific Northwest---and the most versatile." Installed in 1929 by Balcom and Vaughan for the April 19 opening of the then Fox Theatre, it first felt the heat of the arc spotlight under the guidance of the late Jamie Erickson, one of the most popular West Coast organists of the era. That was long before Dick Schrum was born. He was introduced to the Morton some years ago. It was love at first sight. Now Dick could take small comfort in the assurance that his long-time friend would soon be "a conversation piece on a national level" according to the Carl Greer Inn management. Dick was probably hoping he could guest at the new location in order to renew his long-standing affair with some tons of beloved pipes.
 
The closing concert was covered for the BOMBARDE by organfan H. F Mason of Seattle. He writes:
 
"A capacity crowd filed into the Music Hall for the Farewell Concert tonight. Dick Schrum led off appropriately with a rousing 'California Here I Come', then lost no time in showing what the organ can do. 'The Surrey With the Fringe on Top' was complete with horse trot effect; 'Stormy Weather' was punctuated by great peals of organ thunder and stage hand 'lightning. ' The varied program covered many types of music. Standout was a haunting melody (whose title escaped me) played on the big, mellow Marimba. At intermission the audience was requested not to crowd too closely around the console because of the danger that someone might get pushed into the pit. Dick explained that with the organ sold, he didn't want anything to happen to it (such as falling body damage ? Ed.). Among the requests played was one from a man who had attended the opening of the theatre and heard Jamie Erickson play 'Rosita. ' He wrote in that he would like to hear it once more. Dick played it in the grand fashion of 30 years ago on which theatre organs grew and thrived. 'That's a-Plenty' ended the concert except for a run of encores. The applause continued long after the music ceased, echoing an enthusiastic 'well done.' All present hoped the organ would be happy in its new home--but wished it could have remained in Seattle."
 
Thus ends the Mason report on the last chapter in the 4/16 Morton's 35 year history in Seattle. Early in 1964 Sandy Balcom and crew arrived to score the first notes of the instrument's Northern California story.