Original Catalogue Specifications:
-
No
Philipps serial or work number observed.
- Revolver Mechanism (roll changer) #???
- Date or date code cast into piano harp: ??????.
- Integral case and chassis format.
- Standard 6 station, friction drive revolver mechanism (roll changer).
- Round belt/countershaft pulley reduction for feeder (pump) crankshaft.
- Mechanical slider lock and cancel register controls.
- Uses (originally) Phillips PC (Pianella Caecilia) or Wurlitzer Concert
PianOrchestra rolls.
56 Note Musical Scale:
-
Piano
(??-note), with Mandolin attachment
- 42 Violins (wood violin pipes with brass freins)
- 12 Violas (wood viola pipes)
- 30 Violoncellos (wood violoncello pipes)
- 12 Piccolos (metal flute pipes)
- 18 Flutes (metal flute pipes)
- Xylophone, 30 bars (reiterating action)
- Chimes, 13 bars (orchestra bells)
- Snare drum (reiterating action)
- Bass drum, with cymbal
- Kettle drum (tympani effect using two beaters)
- Tambourine (reiterating action)
- Castanets (reiterating action)
Special Lighting Effects:
- The Pianella Pfau (or what appears to be a later version known as a
Philipps Model 47 or Wurlitzer style 47 PianOrchestra) combined all the
special lighting effects found on any one particular PianOrchestra.
- In a 1911/12 Philipps catalog a partial description of a Model
47 is as follows: "On the central panel of the cornice is a peacock with
the beautiful feathers of its tail erect, whilst a magic lamp illumines
either of the side panels. The center of the front wall shows a Light-effect
representing ...," which in the case of this machine is an animated fountain
scene.
- The "erect" tail feathers of the peacock are actually a set of slender
mirrors, which reflect the lighted peacock feathers painted on a tapered
glass cylinder that extends from the rear of the cast metal peacock's body.
When the instrument operates, an electric lamp illumines the glass cylinder
from the inside, thus causing the images of feathers to be projected onto
the arrangement of mirrors.
Notes:
- During restoration at Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., it was noted that what
appeared to be the original lead tubing between the tracker bar and main
valve chest was configured to use P.C. (:Philipps Pianella Caecilia or Wurlitzer
Concert PianOrchestra) type music rolls. However, it is possible that this
tubing arrangement noted was not original, as the machine had been extensively
repaired and/or remodeled at a much earlier date, and by someone who probably
had access to new and/or original parts and supplies. Therefore, it is not
known for certain which type of music roll the instrument originally used
(i.e., P.C. or P.M.).
- The pipework listed above is estimated, as catalogue information is
vague, and the actual pipe register information within the Model "Pfau"
has not been physically confirmed.
- A replica triangle with Philipps reiterating action was added during
restoration at Hathaway & Bowers, Inc.
-
Wurlitzer
advertised the style 47 PianOrchestra in a very distinctive later style
case, featuring modernistic lines (illustrated at right). Since no instruments
with that specific case style are known to exist, strictly speaking, it
could be argued that no style 47 PianOrchestras exist. However, this Philipps
Pianella Pfau seems to be essentially the same orchestrion, in an earlier
style case, and it has the same lighting effects, although the subject of
the animated scene is different, which in the Model 47 is an Alpine landscape
with ships moving along a river and an airship sailing through the sky.
- In a 1911/12 Philipps catalog the pipework in the Model 47 (pictured
at right) is listed as violins, bass viols, flutes, cello and clarinets.
These pipes are probably divided into three ranks as follows:
12 Violoncello (Bass Viol) + 30 Violin pipes
30 Flutes pipes
20 Clarinet + 22 Cello pipes
Chronological History:
Circa 1907-08
Manufactured by J.D. Philipps & Son, Bockenheim, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.
Circa 1908-10
Original location, Belgium.
Circa 1969
Roy Haning & Neal White collection, Troy, Ohio
About 1968-69 the Pianella Model Pfau (Peacock) was found
somewhere in Belgium by Eugene DeRoy, and subsequently sold to Roy Haning and
Neal White. During shipment of the orchestrion to the United States, it was
either bought or traded by Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., and shipped to Santa Fe
Springs, California.
Circa 1969
Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., Santa Fe Springs, California
Purchased from Roy Haning and Neal White, of Troy, Ohio, the
instrument was scrubbed clean and set up in the Hathaway & Bowers, Inc., showroom.
Circa 1970
Bronson collection, Michigan.
After
the purchase by Bud Bronson, the Model "Pfau" was restored in the Hathaway &
Bowers, Inc., shop. A replica Philipps repeating triangle action was installed
to round out the trapwork compliment. The instrument was originally tubed to
play Philipps PC (Wurlitzer Concert PianOrchestra) rolls, but was retubed to
play PM (Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra) rolls due to the much greater general
availability of this type of music roll. The musical scale was changed from
56-notes to 61-notes. Since the piano had unison coupled bass notes, it was
able to accommodate the change in scale compass without a problem. The original
Philipps main chest being in very poor condition was replaced by a new chest, copying
a more modern, "next generation," Philipps main chest design.
All the original lighting effects were missing. The two large
"magic lamps," also occasionally described by Philipps as "fancy lamps," were
duplicated by using proportionally scaled up patterns measured from the similar,
and considerably smaller, American version, the "Wonderlamp," as found on Wurlitzer
style LX 65-note orchestrions. The amount of upwards scaling was determined
by interpolating dimensions and proportions taken from the original "magic lamp"
holes in the Philipps case, as well as comparative measurements taken from Philipps
catalogues and advertising pictures which illustrated the Model "Pfau." The
center Peacock with lighted, revolving tail was a rescaled version of the Wurlitzer
"Peacock," as found on the style 12 PianOrchestra. The center, animated scene
was duplicated from catalogue illustrations and advertisements, with the mechanics
and lighting designed after similar instruments, such as the animation mechanism
in the Wurlitzer style 40 Mandolin PianOrchestra.
Credits:
Information provided by Terry Hathaway, B. Bronson and
Siegfried Wendel.
Photographs:
Circa 1909/10 Philipps poster/catalogue; Circa 1911/12
Philipps catalogue; Circa 1914 Wurlitzer advertising flyer; Q. David
Bowers and Dana Johnson.
