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film era had to follow closely along with the movie and in many cases improvise a score to set the mood and tone, as well as provide
the sound effects on top of that.
“There’s stories about organists playing and becoming so engrossed in the film they’re watching that their playing starts to trail off,
and the audience — who were great hecklers — would throw popcorn and yell at them to play again.”
After the theatre flooded in 1952, the Kimball Theatre Organ sat in six inches of water, losing its finish and leaving the ivory keys
worn through to the wood.
Luckily for the Kimball, Glenn D. White Jr., a 23-year-old guided-missile engineer for Boeing, bought the organ for only $1,000 (less
than one tenth of its original value), and in seven trips, transported the theatre organ and its various parts to his parent’s house. He set
it up in the basement, chipped out a section of the basement concrete wall to get it to fit, and bent the taller pipes of the organ so it
could stand upright in the basement.
White Jr. happened to enjoy installing and repairing pipe organs in his spare time, and helped restore it to its former glory. But when
he got married and moved out, his parents were stuck with it. It changed ownership a few times before eventually being donated to the
NMC by Alberta-based organist Carol Otto.
Today it has a happy home in the NMC where it’s a treasured artifact. Some components like the chime stands and legs were
rebuilt, but most of it is in its original condition. The pipes are still bent because it doesn’t really affect the tone — and are part of the
provenance of the instrument.
The year was 1966. The place was Maple Leaf Gardens in
Toronto. And the fight was between George Chuvalo and
Muhammad Ali.
While Ali won the world title, Chuvalo become a legend —
he was still on his feet when the bell ended their fight after 15
rounds. That bell now lives in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
“There’s so much history attached to it,” says Helena Deng,
manager of exhibits and collections for Canada’s Sports Hall of
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where.ca
MAY/JUNE 2018
THE BELL THAT RANG
WHEN GEORGE CHUVALO
FOUGHT MUHAMMAD ALI