The "Mammoth" Gavioli 112-keyless Fair Organ (conv. to 98-key ca.1917–18), GV26, also known as "White Bros." Gavioli was built in 1903 by the renowned French manufacturer Gavioli et Cie — the eighth of nine models supplied by the firm to England in the early 20th century, and, reportedly, the largest-ever built by Gavioli. It was ordered by a Welsh fairground proprietor Sydney White from Cardiff. The manufacturing date was given in "A Century of Tobers" (Vol 1, No. 2, January 1978) newsletter by The Fairground Association of Great Britain (FAGB). However, the organ is typically described as the "1909 model," referring to the purchase date in the UK; the newly acquired "Mammoth" was freighted by the railroad in December 1908 from London to Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, where it debuted for the Christmas season at the Iron Bridge Merthyr showground.
The mechanical organs became popular among British fairground proprietors in the mid-19th century (for the sake of convenience, at first, as it was a versatile "all-in-one" device to cover musical needs for any fair or traveling show). Around 1901, as the groundbreaking Electric Bioscope Cinematograph Moving Picture Show first came to England, the competition instantly became fierce, with the leading showrunners striving to capture the audience's attention with the largest, brightest, and loudest possible presentation of the licensed spectacle: Alfred Ball with "Lyceum Theatre of Pictures and Variety," James Crighton's "No 2. Bioscope," John Proctor with "Royal Bioscope," Henry Studt's "Coliseum Bioscope," William Haggar's "Electric Coliseum," as well as J. Wingate & Sons, James Dooner, William Murphy, and Mammy Paine, to name a few. Massive, ornate organs with dancing and moving figures both provided the soundtrack for silent film projections and served as the show's eye-catching façade. At the time, [url=https://discogs.com/artist/14705877]Gavioli & Co.[/url], officially Société Des Anciens Établissements Gavioli, was the world's leading fairground organ manufacturer. The French company had offices in London and Manchester, happy to fulfill the orders for their exorbitantly expensive, lavishly decorated 110-key and 112-keyless mechanical organs. Sydney White, who launched his "Coliseum Bioscope" show in 1908, scored the largest and finest build.
The instrument's subsequent fate was indicative of other "mammoth" Gaviolis in the UK. Rapidly spreading movie theaters soon made traveling cinema spectacles obsolete, and most owners repurposed their massive organs to "Scenic Railways" (one of the most popular fads of the 1910s), roller coasters, steam-powered carousels, and gallopers; some were mounted on wheeled carriages and steam engines. Often, the organs were reduced and converted to a more compact 98-key or 89-key function in the process. Likewise, Sydney White's 112-keyless "Mammoth" was inherited by his sons and reduced to 98-key as it became the centerpiece of the Welsh Dragons Scenic Railway. White Brothers continued to use Mammoth Gavioli across various South Wales fairs until 1930, when it was permanently installed at the Cosy Corner Amusement Park on Barry Island, Glamorgan. The park was closed in 1939, during the Second World War, but was never reopened and, effectively, left abandoned. (Unfortunately, some of the Gavioli organs were lost at this point; unless local enthusiasts and collectors identified and rescued these priceless artifacts, they ended up decaying with the rest of the old equipment at abandoned amusement parks and fairgrounds.)
Luckily, the White Bros. Mammoth survived. In 1954, the commission to dismantle Cosy Corner Park went to Jack Reohorn, who happened to be a nephew of the younger White brothers. Thus, he recognized Gavioli's historical significance and purchased the organ, saving it from destruction. Reohorn passed the instrument to George R. Parmley (1914—1989), a British collector and conservator based in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, who repaired the organ. In 1956, the fully functional 98-key "Mammoth" made its debut at a local steam engines rally. Over the next two decades, the organ was maintained and managed by the Show Organ Society, regularly appearing at various gatherings of the steam preservation movement, including the 1964 Great Steam Fair in Shottesbrooke, Berkshire. Between 1964 and 1967, a series of critically acclaimed LPs and 7" records featuring the instrument came out on [url=https://discogs.com/label/96171]Decca Record Company[/url].
In 2000, Jack Reohorn's family sold the instrument to Neil Corner, a member of the Show Organ Society, who kept the historical instrument in the country, maintained and preserved by Norman Smith. After Smith died in January 2013, the instrument was again offered for sale, subsequently acquired in December 2017 by Tom Mayhew in Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
