Some interesting music filled the air during a four-hour stretch on the afternoon of Sept. 18 at the Lake County History Center in Painesville Township.
A band-organ rally was held on the grounds of the organization, which is located at 415 Riverside Drive in Painesville Township.
The Mid-America Chapter of Musical Box Society International conducted the event. Chapter Chairman Rob Pollock said the group has a connection to the Lake County History Center that dates back to the 1970s.
In fact, Lake County History Center is one of only a handful of U.S. museums that display some of MBSI’s musical boxes.
“(Lake County History Center) has been the longest serving location where we’ve had our museum items on display,” Pollock said. “And we’ve had people here trained to play them. So not only can you look at them, but you can also hear them.”
About 10 years ago, the Mid-America Chapter of MBSI held a rally at the Lake County History Center that featured large band organs.
“This time we brought the more manageable, smaller ones,” Pollock said. “With the big ones, most of our owners are older and they usually have their grandchildren help. But once school sets in, we don’t take (the large band organs) out that often.”
For the Sept. 18 rally, Pollock said nine members of the Mid-America Chapter of MBSI were scheduled to bring 16 different types of band organs or various other musical boxes to the Lake County History Center.
Pollock, who lives in Urbana, Ohio, brought two organs to the event. One was a hand organ from 1900 that is supported by a strap around the player’s neck.
“(The organ) was made by the Austro-Hungarian army to give to its invalids so they could earn money on the streets,” Pollock said. “They didn’t give pensions back in the day, so these organs were often rented by soldiers or invalids who would take them in the street and play some music. Some people would pay them for the music and some people would pay them to go away.”
The underside of the organ’s top cover also includes a hand-written sign listing a program of five songs that the organist would play for passers-by.
Meanwhile, band organs have proven to be a source of family enjoyment for Alice Bogert and her children.
Alice, of Corry, Pennsylvania, is the owner of a “monkey organ” built in 1990. Sitting on top the organ is toy monkey which also was made about six years later.
The monkey is named “Bardell,” which when spelled out, consists of the first initials of the names of her seven children.
Her son, Dawson, also attended the rally and demonstrated how the organ works.
Musical Box Society International, which was established in 1950, is “a group of worldwide enthusiasts for automated music machines whose origin pre-dates electrically amplified music,” according to the organization’s website.
“We are intrigued by musical instruments which play themselves using punched paper, punched discs, pinned cylinders, paper rolls, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and are powered by hand crank, springs or electric motors,” the website stated.
The Mid-America Chapter of MBSI covers a territory that includes states such as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. and Kentucky.
Pollock said the organization provides a great opportunity for members to share a common passion, as well as to socialize.
“Once you get into this, you run into people that have similar interests and likes, and after less than two or three years, it’s like me getting together with family,” he said. “It’s all convivial.”
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