Our last official job for Aeolian-Skinner was First Presbyterian in Laurel, Mississippi. The church’s original organ was an Austin, and we had maintained it for many years, which gave us reason to learn an entirely new vocabulary of curse words. Two attorneys in the church’s choir were the main ramrods for getting things accomplished in the church. They decided the organ needed to be refurbished in the late 1960s, and we did the job for Aeolian-Skinner. Because money was tight, we saved on costs by using some of the old chests, pipework, and console, and by carrying out the project in two phases. Roy came down and decided which stops to keep and which ones to discard, and designed the rebuilt organ, which is a real knockout. Roy was fond of “Glockenspiel,” or “Carillon” mixtures, and wanted one in the Laurel organ. He said he needed it for playing what he called “hotchatooty” music. We had installed several of them in other organs. When we received the Carillon pipes from Aeolian-Skinner for the Laurel organ, the breaks were not to Roy and Jimmy’s specifications, so Jimmy called Gillett on it. Jimmy received a letter from Gillett, which said,
Looking back through the files, I find that I personally set out the Glockenspiel, as I felt what we did with the breaks was more practical and logical than as suggested by you. As you can well understand, there can only be one tonal director in this company at one time. And, since we are not a supply house, I hardly consider my composition of the Glockenspiel to be a ‘goof’ on our part, as you mentioned over the phone several times. Please do let us know how this rebuild turns out on the tonal end. You never saw somebody run to the telephone as fast as J.C. Williams did! He called the company and said, “As of this minute, I resign. I am no longer associated with Aeolian-Skinner.” That statement about there only being one tonal director did it. He immediately called two job prospects that were ready to sign contracts with Aeolian-Skinner to let them know he had resigned, and explained the situation—that he would not be involved with the installation. This was 1969. Aeolian-Skinner lost those two contracts as a result.
The Laurel organ did turn out to be a brilliant success, and we eventually replaced all the old Austin chests. Madison Lindsey and Troy Scott carried out the final phase under our supervision, and “The Boys” now maintain it and do an excellent job. Madison and Troy were very good to Jimmy and me, and are good organ men. They were very receptive to learning from Jimmy, and they went along with us on many jobs. They do very high quality work, and they back it up. Towards the end of our career, Jimmy and I had four jobs we were very concerned about—the “stars in our crown,” as it were. “The Boys” were able to take over all four, and that was a great relief to us—knowing the organs were in good hands.
LM: You had your own independent Williams Organ Company, too. Did you build your own Williams organs at the same time you were installing for Aeolian-Skinner?
NW: Yes, we built many organs on our own, separate from the company. That was our arrangement with the company from the very beginning. Jimmy wanted to remain independent, and did not want to limit us with an exclusive association. Aeolian-Skinner furnished most of our pipework in the beginning. Later on, when the company went downhill, we used Organ Supply and others. We built the organs and put our name on them but never gave them opus numbers, so there isn’t an opus list.
LM: Wasn’t Aeolian-Skinner jealous of your Williams organs?
NW: They couldn’t afford to be. We were helping keep their doors open, so they were perfectly happy to help us. Mr. Harrison always said, “Whatever Williams wants, Williams gets. We want to keep this guy on our side.” Everything worked out smoothly for all of us.
LM: What were some of your Williams organ installations?
NW: We built one for Joseph Bramlett’s house in Malibu, California. Joseph was a close friend of Roy Perry’s, and was from Longview. We built his house organ in our shop in New Orleans, and figured it would take about three weeks to set it up in his home in Malibu. It took three MONTHS! We ended up having to cook and prepare for all of Joseph’s big parties, which were elaborate and full of famous stars, and want-to-be stars. Jerome Lawrence, the playwright, was Joseph’s next-door neighbor. He wrote “Inherit the Wind” and “Auntie Mame.” Anytime Joseph had someone famous coming over for dinner, he would invite Jerry for cocktails and dinner, and Jimmy and I would do all the shopping and cooking for them. Many times Jerry would bring over his star of the evening, too. Jean Arthur came to one of the parties, and so did Hermione Gingold. She enjoyed dinner so much she asked for a doggy bag “to take home for tomorrow.” We later found out that this was her specialty, asking for take-home so she would not have to cook the next day. There were many parties at Joseph’s, and that is why it took us three months to set up the organ. We would be working on the organ, and Joseph would come in and say, “Oh, I’ve done something terrible. I have invited eighteen people over for dinner. What am I going to do?” So, we would have to stop work, go do all the shopping and then cook dinner for eighteen people.
We also built a nice little organ in an Episcopal church in Opelousas, Louisiana. The rector of the church had been an assistant at St. Mark’s in Shreveport. When he took the job in Opelousas, the first thing he did was call Jimmy to say he had this new little church that had to have a pipe organ. J.C. and I stopped by, then went home and worked out a stoplist and layout, then built it—a little organ in its own freestanding case in the back of the church.
We got Bill Teague to come down and dedicate it for us. And, HONEY, we were buttoning up the bottom of the exposed Great chest while people started arriving at the church for the recital! We zipped out of there to get back to the motel, clean up, and change clothes. But, the first thing we had to do was have a drink of scotch to insulate ourselves. We didn’t get back to the church until after the intermission. Afterwards, we said to Bill, “Oh, that was a beautiful recital.” We never told him we had missed the entire first half.
We built a nice little residence organ for Bill Teague, and a practice organ for Austin College, in Sherman, Texas. There is also a nice one at Christ Church, Tyler, Texas. Tommy Anderson made the pipes for that one. First Baptist Church in Shreveport is one of our largest organs. Jimmy was so carried away there that he started playing “give away.” He kept saying it would be so much nicer if the organ had this or that stop, so we would go ahead and add the stops to its design, hoping the church might pay for them. Jimmy said, “If my name is going to be on it, I want it to sound the best it can. If we get the money, that is great. If not, at least we can leave the job with a clear conscience.” One of our biggest jobs was the rebuilding of the Walcker organ at the Cathedral in Merida, Mexico. Someone had donated an electronic organ to the seminary there, and a local Allen representative and a friend went down to install it. While they were there, this darling little priest named Padre Avila, from the cathedral, showed up at the seminary and told them the organ at the cathedral needed a lot of work, and asked if they could come repair it. They explained to Padre Avila that they were strictly electronic people and knew nothing about pipe organs, but they knew one of the best pipe organbuilders in the United States in New Orleans. They gave Jimmy’s address to Padre Avila, who wrote us to come evaluate the cathedral’s organ. So, off we went to Merida. We arrived to find all the blocks and key contacts in the console broken, and half the organ unplayable. We put a plan in place, and told the priest we could only work there in January, which is what we did. We ordered new contacts and other parts, and had them shipped down ahead of us, and soon enlisted Tommy Anderson and John Hendricksen to do pipework repair. The first thing you know, we were spending up to two months there at a time. We eventually replaced the console and added a 16¢ Principal to the pedal, and now Tom Cotner has done a lot of work replacing the old chests. There is only so much work one can do in installments, and there is no one down there who knows a thing about maintenance. But, the townspeople love the organ, and they really respond to it any time we have a recital on it. They treat us like royalty.
LM: What do you think of the current state of organbuilding in this country?
NW: I heard a new organ at an AGO regional convention just last week, built by a builder who is all the rage. The façade was beautiful, with several different bays—very impressive visually. But, the organist made the mistake of turning it on. My ears are still ringing.
I know that styles and tastes change through the years, but I am so grateful that my work was in what I consider the “Golden Age of Organbuilding” in this country. What I learned was the best. I do not appreciate these young twerps coming in and undoing our organs, either. Aeolian-Skinners are being pillaged all over the country, so much so that it is becoming difficult to find one that has not been tinkered with. I have recently learned that one of our installations in Abilene, Texas is being completely rebuilt and altered as we speak. Some of these organbuilders are so jealous of Aeolian-Skinner, or do not understand them in the first place, that they are just waiting in the sidelines for the first opportunity to pounce upon them. They change the organs to fit their own tastes, and this just does not work. They cannot see beyond their own egos. However, although many of our organs have now been rebuilt, I can still look back and appreciate the wonderful years and the work we did. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
