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Theatre OrganA theatre organ is an organ installed in a movie theatre, most often of a type originally devised by Robert Hope-Jones, which he called a "unit orchestra." Such instruments were typically built to provide the greatest possible variety of timbres with the fewest possible pipes, and often had pianos and other percussion instruments built in, as well as a variety of sound effects. Although a large number of organbuilders supplied instruments to theatres, the Wurlitzer company, to whom Hope-Jones licenced his name, was the most famous manufacturer, and the phrase, "Mighty Wurlitzer" is virtually synonymous with the theatre organ. During the silent movie era, theatre organs were built in large numbers, in a variety of sizes, and filled the gap between a simple piano accompaniment and a full orchestra. Indeed, even when theatre owners hired orchestras to accompany silent movies, they usually also used an organ to provide relief to the orchestra, and to play for less-expensive showings. After the development of sound movies, theatre organs were still occasionally retained to provide live music between features; many others were scrapped, or sold to churches, private homes, museums, ice rinks, rollatoriums, and restaurants (especially pizzerias). In that era, many of the tonal characteristics of theatre organs became somewhat more exaggerated than they had been in the silent movie era.
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