So George will continue to entertain us with his musical wizardry for some time to come."īe Sure to view: The Complete George Wright Discography by Mark & Carrie Renwickįrom Terry Cutshall, president of Banda Records: The good news is that many unreleased tapes have been found. "He continued to (play at concerts) and make recordings right to the end. "During his lifetime he made sixty-plus recordings," said another friend, Ken Petersen. Wright's organ recordings were distributed on the Banda, HiFi, SOLO and DOT labels. He performed at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, the Paramount Theater in New York City, the Fox Theater in San Francisco and the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena, Suffel said.
WURLITZER ORGAN WITH CASSETTE RECORDER INSTALL
"George graduated from Grant in 1938, and helped install their theater organ, which still is operating"' Suffel said. He was always swapping pipes, changing it around." Wright's home organ "was assembled from various sets of pipes he picked up over the years. "He was known for his very inventive arrangements and lightning fast 'stop changes,' " Suffel said.ĭonn Linton of the Los Angeles Theater Organ Society said Mr. George Wright played a key role in reviving interest in theater organ music, according to Bob Suffel, a friend. From the "Sacramento Bee" of May 17, 1998 Wright's request, there will be no memorial service. He is survived by his son, Tom, of Hollywood. He finished his last album - Salon" - just 60 days before his desth. Wright owned a Mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ which was installed in his home in the Hollywood hills and played until just a few days before he died. He redefined the standards by which performances in this genre are judged, creating a new quality scale on which he immediately sssumed and (in the minds of most) retained the top position." Imitated by many, equaled by none, he was indeed a legendary figure, whose profound and far-reaching influence on current perceptions of what constitutes good theater organ cannot be overstated. Wright's death: With the passing of The Living Legend of the Theater Organ a significant -perhaps the significant - chapter in the history of the theater pipe orgen and its music has drawn to a close. Simon Gledhill, a writer for a British music magazine and an organist himself, said on learning of Mr. In 1995, he won the first lifetime achievement award from The American Theatre Organ Society. During these years, he also played countless concerts and continued an active recording career.
WURLITZER ORGAN WITH CASSETTE RECORDER TV
There, he played with many of the great Jazz and pop artists of the time, including Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and Ella Fitzgerald.Īfter he returned to California, he went to work for ABC radio and television where he was musical director and live studio organist for the long-running TV serial, General Hospital. Wright later moved to New York, where he was hired as the house organist at the Paramount Theater. In 1941 he joined radio station KFRC and landed a Job at the Fox Theater, where he played to sold-out audiences during the early 1940s. The organ was an integral part of the show snd was heard nightly on a local radio station. In 1938 he had his first playing Job at a Chinese night club in Oakland called the Shaghei Terrace Bowl which boasted a 2/6 Wurlitzer. He grew up in Stockton and Sacramento, where he graduated from Grant Union High School. Wright learned to play the piano as a child from his mother, who was a private music teacher. He also recorded more than 60 albums, some of which sold more than a million copies between the early 1950s and 1960s.īorn in Orland in the Sacramento Valley in 1920, Mr. Wright was in constant demand during the 1940s,'50s and early'60s, playing at concerts and recitals around the world. He was 77.īest known for his virtuoso performances on the huge Wurlitzer theater pipe organs at the famed Fox Theater on Market Street and the ornate Parnmount Theaters in both New York and Oakland, Mr. George Wright, one of the last of the great theater organists of the Golden Age of movies, died of heart failure May 10 at Glendale Memorial Hospital near his home in the Hollywood hills. The following appeared in the "San Francisco Chronicle " on June 1st and is reprinted courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle. George Wright was well known across the country as evidenced by the appearance of obituaries in many major newspapers including "The New York Times". The George Wright Memorial Home Page The George Wright Memorial Home PageĪ George Wright Discography by Tom Custer
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