Videos | Eric Cordé

The famous Christie organ, now installed in the Pavillon Baltard, was originally built for the Parisian cinema Gaumont-Palace (Place Clichy). In 1900, this building was a hippodrome hosting circus shows and large historical reenactments. It only truly became a cinema when Léon Gaumont bought it in 1910. He adapted the venue and enlarged it in 1930 into a 6,000-seat Art Deco theatre, making it the largest cinema in the world at the time. The Christie organ was installed in 1931. It was built by the Hill, Norman & Beard workshops in London (their theatre- organ division was branded “Christie”, after the factory owner John Christie). Around 1969–1970, the organ was cleaned and slightly modified by organist Jacques Probst, under the supervision of organist Gilbert Le Roy, to bring its tonal character closer to that of Wurlitzer theatre organs (enlarging the Tibia by shifting ranks, adjusting tremolo speeds, and modifying the attack of the percussion stops). In 1971, the closure of the Gaumont-Palace was announced; it took effect in 1972. The cinema hall was demolished, and the organ might have suffered the same fate if Alain Villain had not intervened. As head of the STIL music publishing house and a filmmaker, Villain had fallen in love with the Gaumont-Palace organ and could not imagine its disappearance. Before the demolition, he recorded a disc and a short film there, with Tommy Desserre at the console. He then stored the instrument in the film archives at Bois- d’Arcy, hoping to give it a new life. Faced with complete indifference from both the organ world and the film world, Villain finally decided to sell the organ at auction in 1976 at Drouot Rive Gauche. In a last-minute rush, on the morning of the sale, the instrument was provisionally listed as a *Monument Historique* to prevent it from leaving France. It was officially listed in 1977. The organ was bought by the City of Nogent-sur-Marne, thanks to the efforts of the then mayor, Roland Nungesser. Between 1978 and 1980, the organ was restored and reinstalled (with numerous errors) in the Pavillon Baltard (the only survivor of the Paris Halles, demolished in 1971) by the Danion-Gonzalez firm. It was inaugurated in 1980 by Simone Bernard and Gilbert Le Roy (former Gaumont-Palace organists), with the participation of Pierre Cochereau. Bernard Dargassies, who had taken part in the reinstallation work, became the resident organist from 1985 onwards. He led several campaigns of work and improvements to correct the mistakes made during the 1980 reinstallation, as well as those from 1970, bringing the instrument as close as possible to its original state. To add more power and precision of attack, Dargassies added a Post Horn reed stop; he financed this work entirely himself. From 2005 onwards, the instrument was neglected and then completely abandoned, with no maintenance at all. This period of silence lasted almost 15 years, during which access to the organ was not possible. It was not until 2019 that the instrument could be used and maintained again, albeit very sporadically. Although still playable, the instrument is now in an extremely alarming condition and awaits a complete restoration. Many thanks to Eric Cordé for the additional information. More information Video L'orgue de cinéma Christie du Gaumont Palace au Pavillon Baltard Bruno Lhuissier.