The Music Of The Grand Gavioli

If I can remember correctly, there were about three outfits that
always visited this part of Britain, there were Underwoods, Harry
Grays, and termed the best was Kenny Grays. Kenny had the joy of
all, he had a nice set of what the English refer to as, steam
driven gallopers. I think that this was a Savage machine, but the
years have gone by and time tends to dim ones memory, although I
can always remember my Great Grandfather asking me, ‘Did you
get a road on the big steam hoses yet’.

What fascinated me, I think, the most was the organ with its
moving carved figures and drum sticks that always were in time with
the music. I can remember seeing the almost endless belt of slotted
card going through some sort of box, that, at that period of my
life, I had no idea of its identity. The organ was the center piece
and this seemed to give everything the correct atmosphere, for a
carousel without an organ is sort of like a record-player with no
needle. It goes round and round and nothing comes out. At 
times the smoke would drift down from the engine stacks and the
attendants of the coconut shy’s were shouting always the same
words that go along with the song; ‘What a lovely bunch of
coconuts a penny a pitch’. There would be the roar of the crowd
along with the cracking of rifles in the shooting gallery, the
clicking of the rods of the engines and the steady hum from their
generators. Then, above all this came the melody of a Strauss waltz
reproduced by the mechanics of that Italian genius, Ludovic
Gavioli.

Gavioli was the greatest organ maker of all, and as his organs
became more and more popular at the European galas and fairs, he
moved his works from Modena to Paris, France in 1845. There he was
more localized to cope with an increasing market. With the
development of the British steam driven merry-go-round, there
became a much greater demand, and it seemed as though the organs
got larger and larger. It may also be of interest to know that
nearly all of the crown jewels of Queen Isabella of Spain were
smuggled out of the country inside of one.

There are many names given to these machines and the first one
always makes me sort of revolt, that is the name, Calliope. There
is Pipe Organ and Hurdy Gurdy, and I have also heard mine called a
Calliola. I suppose that in these modern days it could be referred
to as an automatic pneumatic organ, but for a better name, I think,
that band organ is a much more appropriate definition. Programming
was carried out in the earlier machines by a large barrel into
which were inserted pegs that lifted up the keys of the valves that
admitted the air to the various pipes and movements. This however,
had its limitations, for only five tunes could be pegged and the
change from one tune to the other was done by sliding the whole
barrel endways bringing the next row of pegs under the
corresponding keys.

Whether Gavioli actually invented the key board and the slotted
cards; or books, as they are referred to, I am not sure, but it is
certain that he must have modified it to suit his organs. Some of
the other makers used a paper roll much like the player piano, some
used the card books with what was called a keyless keyboard, but
Gavioli seemed to favor the keyed type. To describe any of the
above would take a very lengthy article so I will just adhere to a
brief description.

With the advent of electronically produced music, these machines
became obsolete and in many cases, were literally dumped. In recent
years there has been a great enthusiasm in the restoration of them
both here in the U.S.A. and Great Britain, where the largest of all
are to be found. I have many pictures of them and my pet organ is
the machine that belongs to a Mr. Arthur Mills of Northampton,
England. This is with 89 keys and was built in 1904 for the James
Crighton Bioscope show and not a carousel. The bioscope show being
a carnival version of the movie house before they became a
permanent place of entertainment.

On my last visit to the jolly old U.K. I visited a steam show
near Northampton, and there Mr. Mills had his organ on display.
There I made recordings of it and had a nice chat with Arthur. To
own such a machine as this, even if I could find one, would be far
beyond my financial ability, but in the back of my mind there
always seemed the possibility that a fair simulation could be
constructed. I came back from England with this in mind, and the
accompanying photograph was the result.

The main construction is 1/2 ins. plywood and, so it can be
moved without much trouble, the whole is put together with 1/4 ins.
wing nuts. The end of the lower section is fitted with hinges and
upon dismantling, folds inwards. The center section is the only
large piece and this contains the drums, part of the pipe display
and the mechanism on the inside that drives the cams for the
operation of the drums and figures. By unscrewing 8 wing nuts, the
head board and the columns are removed, with figures and cymbal
likewise.

What appears to be carving, is really designs cut out of 1/4
ins. plywood, and to get the effect, one designed piece is nailed
on the top of another. The two rather antique looking mirrors I
picked in a five and dime store and all the painting I did myself
including the English carnival scene. I think the figures took me
the longest time for not only did they have to look right but the
arms and heads had to be able to move. The cymbal was once a Ford
hub-cap and the horns were made from children’s plastic toy
trumpets, with the whole front being lit up with 2 sets of
Christmas tree lights. The size of my creation is 8 ft. long and 6
ft. high.

For the music I use a Grundig tape deck, Stereo, with a speaker
behind each drum. The small electric motor that drives the cams for
the movements is rheostatically controlled so that as the beat of
the music changes, so can the beats of the bandmaster and the
drums, be changed. At the change of a tune, a button on the control
box is pressed and the movement stops. This is the very thing that
gives everything its most realism, for the audio and the vision
start and stop at the same time.

Many times I have been congratulated for performing such a grand
job of restoration, as it was thought that my creation was real.
While it was on display at the 25th Kinzers reunion, one old fellow
sat for an hour and watched and listened, and then he came over to
me and said, ‘If you tighten that bass drum up a little,
I’ll be able to hear it better’. I did not have the heart
to spoil his nostalgic feeling.

I have never collected a penny for the many times it has been
exhibited, though it has helped to raise quite a lot of money for
several of our local organizations. On one occasion the school kids
organized a gay nineties ice cream social for their playground
fund. With the aid of the home made band organ, over $500 was
raised.

To conclude, there are such things as Calliope’s, Hurdy
Gurdy’s and Calliola’s, but there is a vast difference
between them and a Gavioli band organ.