Valentina
A labor of love underscores Larry Hibbard’s passion for Valentina, a 1919 Wurlitzer Model O photoplayer recently taking up long term residence at Chelan’s own Ruby Theatre. There Valentina reposes in all her glory on her hydraulic lift below the stage, waiting patiently for her next performance while her suitor attends diligently to her pneumatic, electronic and mechanical needs.
A photoplayer is a musical contraption that is beguiling in its simplicity and complexity. A player piano on steroids, a photoplayer relies on paper rolls of music that can automatically enliven a silent movie or alternatively be operated by a piano player at the keys.
The Maestro at his Machine
To add even more cacophony to the silent film adventures unfolding on the screen, photoplayers are equipped literally with all kinds of bells and whistles. Our interest of course is in Valentina, who comes quite capably equipped with a full piano keyboard, a percussion section in a cabinet to the left of the piano, four ranks of wooden pipes in a cabinet to the right, a set of bells under the keyboard, and various sound effects operated by buttons, pedals, and switches. Brilliant potential.
A performer sitting at the keys can add to the movie silently playing on the screen above with all sorts of percussion, wind instruments, and of course bells and whistles to perhaps underscore a chase scene, train robbery, or romantic scene. After viewing one such photoplayer maestro on You Tube, Joe Rinaudo, it’s questionable which is more interesting to watch, the now not so silent movie on the screen or the person behind the piano bench, hands pulling and pushing knobs and levers, feet jumping all over the pedals, giving the Wizard of Oz a run for his money.[1]
Enter Valentina
Larry Hibbard and Valentina
We were treated to one such impromptu performance at the museum’s 2023 annual meeting. At the event Larry Hibbard, owner of the Ruby Theatre and Valentina’s caretaker, raised Valentina on stage with a hydraulic lift that he designed and installed at the theater during the COVID pandemic. Once raised, she sits patiently as Larry carefully energizes Valentina. Under his loving care – much more orchestrated than just flipping a switch – she begins breathing through various air tubes that power and control the 88 piano keys, the bells below the keyboard, the flute pipes, violin pipes, bass drum, snare drum, castanets, horse trot, tom-tom, fire gong, electric doorbell, kettle drum, and bird whistle. A rank of wooden bass pipes provide additional depth of sound.
Valentina Keyboard with Pneumatic Tubes and Valves
Thus prepared, Larry engages the drive for the paper roll and an old time song begins playing. Off to the races we go, with Larry demonstrating the bells and whistles with gusto and verve. The audience laughs with delight and we are taken back to a time one hundred years ago when a silent movie would be accompanied by a Valentina and a Larry Hibbard at the keyboard.
Valentina Percussion Instruments
Valentina, like the Sony Walkman, eight track cassette decks, phonograph records, and my father’s 1976 Oldsmobile Toronado,[2] suffered the inevitable vicissitudes of technological progress when silent movies became talkies. In their heyday, “approximately 8,000 to 10,000 photoplayers were produced during the boom era of silent films, between 1910 and 1928. The popularity of the photoplayer sharply declined in the late 1920s as silent films were replaced by sound films, and few machines still exist today.”[3]
Wurlitzer Photoplayer Advertisement
Valentina Joins the Ruby Theatre
Larry purchased the Ruby Theatre in 1989; the 2014 History Notes article by Larry details the acquisition and subsequent restoration efforts to modernize the theater while preserving its unique standing as one of the oldest remaining movie theaters in the Pacific Northwest and the nation. Larry’s vision for preserving the Ruby and Valentina is evident in the care he and his wife, Mary Murphy, have put into the theatre to provide theatre patrons an authentic historic movie theatre experience.
Larry is uniquely qualified: a long term resident of the Chelan valley, an architect by training and profession, and a former orchardist who became adept at solving problems with orchard equipment. A tinkerer by avocation, Larry is skilled at fixing things and, when he can’t, finding friends who can assist and of course help others do the same.
Valentina requires such skills. With over 400 air valves, any leak will disable the machinery. Larry has replaced multiple valves and tubing. With his architectural vision and practical skills, Larry’s unique combination of experience and talents suit Valentina and the Ruby well.
Valentina had a predecessor at the Ruby. In 1922 the Ruby acquired an American Fotoplayer – a different brand of photoplayer than Valentina – which was played by Dorothy Peterson. She referred to it as an organ; its fate is unknown. By the late 1920’s “talkies” replaced the silent movies, and photoplayers became obsolete.
Valentina was manufactured by Wurlitzer in New York in 1919, a century before Larry acquired her. She subsequently headed south to Tennessee in 1920, Chicago in the 1950s, South Carolina in the 1970s where she was rebuilt, and ultimately ended up in Kirkland, Washington. Larry found her, brought Valentina back to Chelan, and began the long restoration process through trial, error and ingenuity.
After acquiring Valentina in 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Larry designed a hydraulic lift and retractable stage floor for Valentina. He then constructed the platform with the assistance of many others locally, an amazing feat of engineering in itself. The hydraulic lift allows Larry to raise Valentina from her residence beneath the stage on a separate platform until her performance begins. Truly a dramatic entrance that builds audience excitement and anticipation.
An Authentic Chelan Treasure
Larry’s goal is to preserve the character of the Ruby, returning the theater to what it was, photoplayer and all, a 109 year old theater with original silent movies and music. His goal is to build a sense of community and preserve a very unique historic movie house and photoplayer.
How unique? According to Larry, Valentina, all 1,400 pounds of her, is one of a few known Wurlitzer photoplayers of its kind in operation. Larry estimates there may be only 18 to 24 working photoplayers of all makes remaining worldwide. He knows of only one person doing full restoration who lives in Gold Beach, Oregon. A person in Florida repairs valves. Despite her rarity, Valentina has been brought back to life through Larry’s tinkering, trials, and hard work learning the intricacies of pneumatic tubes, valves, instruments, and parts.
This year, celebrating the Ruby’s 109th anniversary, Valentina rose to the occasion (literally) from the piano pit for a mini concert before being lowered to accompany the century old silent movies on screen. Today, Valentina’s future, under the care of her beau Larry, is bright.
A Photoplayer Renaissance?
On a somewhat heretical closing note, would it not be wonderful to acquire a musical paper roll of a classic rock song, say, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, accompanied by a raucous musical performance by Valentina and Larry? One can only hope. Or, as the original Wurlitzer description states, “We wonder if anything could be more ideal.”
Wurlitzer Photoplayer Catalog Cover
[1] Just google Joe Rinaudo. You won’t be disappointed.
[2] Some things of course should be consigned to obsolescence. Not Valentina.
[3] Photoplayer, from Wikipedia, accessed August 27, 2023, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplayer.
Reflections on the Mountain, people and places of the Pacific Northwest 