Helene and John McGuire are an unlikely pairing – John’s a major Star Trek fan, and Helene is really into Star Wars. And yet, through their love of music and pipe organs, they have somehow managed to endure!
When asked “Which is Better”, Helene jumped right in: “Star Wars is Better!”, to which John replied “I Like Star Trek – Live Long and Prosper!”
But, this documentary is about the Organ Grinder! (Although the themes from numerous films and TV shows, including Star Wars and Star Trek, were regularly performed at the Organ Grinder.) So, for our Denver Road Trip, we asked the pair about more than just their favorite science fiction franchises.
Helene and John were among the final people working at the Denver location, maintaining the gigantic Wurlitzer pipe organ.
Back around 1985, John was called in to do an emergency repair on the swell shades (the large vertical shutters that the organist uses to control the sound coming from the pipe chambers). John asked his then-fiancee Helene if she wanted to help out, and as an organist herself, she was eager to assist. From that emergency repair forward, John and Helene were hired to perform regular maintenance on the instrument.
John had been indirectly involved with the Denver Organ Grinder prior to that emergency. After a long stint at Western Electric (supplier of telephone equipment to the Bell System), John opened his own TV and radio shop, and also began performing occasional work for the electronic organ dealer down the street, which was affiliated with the Rodgers organ company. (Rodgers was headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon, and a number of Rodgers employees were involved with the creation of the Organ Grinder”
“It was kind of a play toy for all of them, really. Bill Splane built a relay. George Kirkwood, senior engineer up there, did the lighting system for the thing, and I worked on both of those.”
After helping out by playing the Wurlitzer while John did maintenance and repairs, Helene would practice more and more during those after-hours times at the Organ Grinder, and learned the Theatre Organ style:
“I became an organist at the Organ Grinder, because John had to go fix it. Well, I’m going to come along and play, and then we’d spend so many nights there, and I’d just start practicing and working on theater organ, because I’m a classic organist, and theater is just so different, and it’s a great challenge. I don’t think anybody hired me. I was just, just volunteer whenever, come over and play.”
The McGuires continued to work on the instrument until the final days of the restaurant, when attendance had become sparse, and operating funds were in short supply. And then a fateful phone call came:
John recalled, “We were just there in the middle of the afternoon working on the organ and I got the phone call to shut it down … So everybody grabbed as much stuff as they could, that said Organ Grinder on it, and ran out the door with it.”
Helene added, “I very directly remember because he was working on the organ and I was outside and I had the different colors of paints, and I was so carefully painting everything, and then we get the message ‘hey guys, the place is closing, pack up leave, we’re done’. and you just stand for a second = ‘what did I just hear?’, you know, you don’t want to believe it. But yeah, they’re closing, and if we had known that they were really closing closing closing, I would have taken a whole lot more Organ Grinder stuff, as memoirs.”
One thing that makes the shutdown of the Denver Organ Grinder different from Portland was that there was no warning to patrons – no chance to give the place a send-off or see it one last time. This is a recurring theme in the Denver interviews – people did not get to experience closure, and often get emotional recalling the beloved restaurant.
The McGuires are still hopeful that new generations will think big and build unique places like the Organ Grinder. Helene stated “If you have a big, weird idea to chase a dream, go for it. Don’t let people stop you. You want to do something. You want to become the best football player, the best musician, the best pianist. Go for it. Don’t let anybody stop you. Fight to get your dream and work hard, honestly and hard to get it, and you’ll get there.”
Helene continues her career as an organist, still playing at church today. And John, although retired, continues to perform occasional maintenance work on pipe organs.
You can help support the project by purchasing from the Crowdfunding Shop.
