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Odeon Leicester Square
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Five manual Compton 5c/16 organ
The extraordinary illuminated surround of the organ reflects the design on the walls of the theatre
The instrument is the only five-manual organ built by Compton and the chambers are housed
under the stage
Some think the instrument has a curse on it
One organist, James Bell, died in mid–broadcast
Frank Olsen suffered a massive heart attack during his opening number at a concert and fell backwards all the way down to the orchestra pit floor, and Gerald Shaw took his own life
The organ lift is extraordinary in that not only does it go down from concert position to movie accompanying position on the floor of the pit, but can also be sent down to “parking” a floor below
and covered over so that a full orchestra can play in the pit
The John Compton Organ Company patented an electronic device called the Melotone and featured it on many of their theatre organs, presumably to make them sound more lush and so compete with the Wurlitzers that many people thought had better sounding tibias
Compton tibias were usually made of metal, rather than wood
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