LUMBERTON — A new DVD lets music lovers relive Mark Andersen’s recent organ performance at the Carolina Civic Center.
On Feb. 18, the venue’s “Mighty” Morton theater organ came roaring back to life as part of a musical tribute to the 1920s. Specialists from the Piedmont Organ Society spent several years working to restore the vintage instrument, which is one of the last functional units of its kind.
Theater organs like the “Mighty” Morton were a staple of early movie palaces, which once employed large orchestras to provide music and sound effects during silent films. Cinema owners found a much cheaper alternative in the versatile organs, which allowed a single musician to play an array of actual instruments hidden from sight in traps and chambers.
“There’s probably less than 100 of these left in theaters throughout the world, when at one point there were thousands and thousands of them,” Andersen said during a recent interview. “The organ here was not getting a lot of use and it kind of deteriorated.”
More than 400 people turned out to see the organ’s second act. Andersen, a Lumberton native who has performed with the Boston Symphony, scored the 1914 Charlie Chaplin short “Laughing Gas” during the show. He also performed a medley of ragtime, jazz and early Broadway songs.
Some of the songs featured vocal accompaniment by Laura Britt Morgan, a former Lumberton resident who now lives in Pinehurst.
A recording of the sold-out concert has since aired on “Crescendo,” a television show hosted by Andersen that focuses on performing arts.
The DVD of the performance is $20 and can be purchased in-person at the theater or by calling 910-738-4339. For information, visit carolinaciviccenter.org.
