[ARSCLIST] ARSC Conference: Day 3

[Cary Ginell <SoundThink@xxxxxxx>]

Well, it's been more than 48 hours after our day at the Sanfilippo  Victorian 
Palace and I'm still at somewhat of a loss for words on how to  describe the 
place. The best I can come up with is to ask you to imagine what  Citizen Kane 
would have done had he been a collector of automated music  machines. This 
isn't really fair to Jasper Sanfilippo because this retiring,  modest gentleman 
is as far removed from the megalomaniac portrayed by Orson  Welles as you can 
get. OK, let's put it this way - you have two kinds of people:  those with 
unlimited funds (not us) and those with great taste, sensitivity, an  eye for 
quality and the heart of a preservationist (us). Rarely do you find  someone who 
can put those two things together. That's who Jasper is.
 
The Sanfilippo estate is set out in the country about 40 miles from  Chicago. 
If you search the Internet, you'll find a few stories on the place in  
magazines like Forbes or in The New York Times. There are two major buildings  
involved; one is the Victorian mansion (dubbed "La Place de Musique" - an  
understatement if there ever was one) and what is known as the Carousel House.  The 
latter is basically an airplane hangar, built to contain the largest pieces  of 
Jasper's collection: antique steam engines, a Victorian locomotive with a  
plush passenger train, a series of exquisitely restored dance organs &  
orchestrions placed on the circumference of the building, and, the Eden Palais,  a 
fully restored European salon carousel. The facade of the carousel is what  hits 
you when you walk into the unassuming building. It's as long as a  basketball 
court and half as high. Carved figures, stained glass, a painting by  Gallet 
copied from a Boucher original in the Louvre graces the top. It even has  the 
original ticket booth and entry doors with etched and frosted glass windows.  
The equally elaborate dance organs played music from "Darktown Strutters' Ball"  
to "Rock Around the Clock," and one even played an unabridged version of  
"The Blue Danube Waltz," with carved figures waltzing inside the machine. Our  
lunch was a buffet of picnic food: hamburgers, brats, potato salad, and fruit.  
In light of this magnificence, the impressive presentations by Austrian Helmut 
 Kowar and Philip Carli presented fascinating information about musical 
automota  (a word I hadn't heard of before this conference) and how lavish 
orchestrions  were used by the well-heeled as grand status symbols. 
 
>From there, we walked down the road to "La Place de Musique," whose  contents 
are divided into a series of extraordinary rooms. There were Victrolas  
seemingly everywhere, their horns gleaming and standing at attention.  Orchestrions 
were on nearly every wall, plus two ranks of vintage mutoscopes,  machines 
that played violins, mandolins, and banjos, slot machines, record  players 
disguised as lamps, music boxes, and in the Music Room, an 8,000 pipe,  80 rank 
theater organ. Curator Robert Ridgeway demonstrated many of these  instruments in 
an afternoon talk and then we were given free reign to explore  the house and 
hear some of the countless machines tucked away in every nook and  cranny of 
the house. Access to the various floors was provided by either  gracefully 
curving staircases or an ornate elevator.
 
We returned to the Carousel House for the sumptuous banquet (chicken cordon  
bleu, beef tips, vegetable lasagna) followed by the ARSC Awards. From there, 
we  returned to the Place de Musique for an evening performance on the theatre 
organ  by Walt Strony, with selections ranging from a marvelous rendition of 
the  Victory at Sea suite by Richard Rodgers to an enchanting version of 
"Somewhere"  from "West Side Story" to variations on "I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer 
Wiener,"  played in a variety of styles - from the bombast of the 1812 Overture 
to a  cha-cha. An after-concert tour of the guts of the organ took us up four 
flights  of stairs, where we were able to witness the workings of the organ 
while  "Maleguena" was being played. 
 
I could go on and on about the things we saw on Saturday, but it's really  
pointless. If there ever was an argument for "ya hadda be there," this was it.  
I'm sure others will chime in (sorry) about their experience, but even to the  
jaded ARSCian, it was "Jaw-Dropping Time in Cook County." Here's one of 
several  articles on the estate that includes some photos of what I described. 
 
_http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/keng/kenhtml/SanFillippoEstateVisit.htm_ 
(http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/keng/kenhtml/SanFillippoEstateVisit.htm) 
 
We were told that our day-long stay at the estate was quite unusual, as  most 
tours are limited only to a few hours, so the ARSCers lucky enough to go on  
this excursion were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I, for one, 
will  never forget it.
 
Cary  Ginell
Origin Jazz  Library
www.originjazz.com



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