I've been listening to a lot of old.radio shows lately (thanks, SiriusXM Radio Classics channel). While some variety programs had full orchestras for their singers, a lot of the dramas, comedies, and suspense shows utilized only an organ player for all their background and intercession music. Why was this? Why not a piano, or some other instrument?
Good question. Several reasons:
Theatre organs were widely used to accompany silent films during the golden era of silent movies of the 1910s-1920s. After 'talkies' replaced silent movies, practically every movie theater got rid of their organs, which were now obsolete. The organs were purchased relatively cheaply by churches, musicians, museums, and sometimes radio stations. However, they were quite big and clunky, and fell out of fashion the same time the Hammond electric organs were produced.
As an instrument, the electric organ is quite versatile. The first Hammond organs, released in the 1930s, were pretty cutting edge for their time, and were really the first mainstream electric instrument. You can achieve a wide range of tones, timbres, and effects such as chorus and vibrato with the multitude of drawbars. The ability to sustain the notes (ie, pressing a key and the note ringing for a long time) in addition to controlling the volume of them with the volume pedal made them well suited for suspense and drama shows in order to emphasize tension. As radio was on the cutting edge of communication at the time, it makes sense to me that people involved in the industry would want to be using the cutting edge technologies in music as well. Additionally, organs - like pianos - have a wide musical scale (61 notes I believe) that makes them better equipped than, say, a guitar or a violin for solo performance. Not to mention that the bass pedals on an organ - something pianos don't have - allow the player to sound "big" by allowing every extremity on the human body to play notes/chords simultaneously. Freeing up the left hand from playing the bass notes and having the two keyboards stacked - compared to the linearity of a piano's keyboard - allows for different musical possibilities.
I own an old Hammond organ from the 1960s, and these things are really incredible instruments - they were built to last, they sound very cool, and they don't really require much maintenance.
Pianos, on the other hand, don't really have the tonal and atmospheric versatility that organs have. They take up more space, they are significantly more expensive, and they require regular maintenance.
Awesome answers, thanks!
It's just so interesting to think that nowadays, the sound of organ music usually means: 1) religious music, or 2) intense melodrama. It's such an old-fashioned sound.
I love listening to radio programs and hearing the sudden organ stings of surprise. Dun-dunnnnnn!