Barton Organ Company

The Bartola Musical Instrument Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, was a producer of theater pipe organs during the age of silent movies.

The company was founded in 1918 by Dan Barton, who was from Amherst, Wisconsin. The sixth largest builder of theater instruments in the nation, Bartola focused almost exclusively on the Midwest market. Barton later recalled, "We decided to work only a limited territory so we could give prompt service to all our installations. [This territory included] Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. No installation was more than an overnight sleeper ride from Chicago." For this reason, the instruments were almost unknown outside of this relatively small area until later years, long after manufacture had ceased, when many were moved from their original homes into venues around the United States. The company built about 250 theater organs from 1918 to 1931.

Barton's first successful experiment in producing equipment to accompany silent films was a set of electrically operated bells that formed a musical scale. Mounted around the interior of the theater, these were operated by the pit drummer who was performing foley and various other sound effects for the picture. After seeing the highly enthusiastic reception of his invention, Barton began toying with the idea of a more elaborate mechanism employing additional percussion instruments and organ pipes.

In 1918, the Bartola Musical Instrument Company was formed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Barton was assisted by Butch Littlefield and Walter Gollnick and was financed in the early days by a partner, W. G. Maxcy. Barton turned his attention to the development and manufacture of the "Bartola", one of several precursors of the theatre organ generically referred to as photoplayers. Like other photoplayers, the Bartola was designed around an upright piano, and consisted of several ranks of organ pipes and various percussion instruments and sound effects housed in a case, all installed in the theatre's orchestra pit. There were four models. The larger ones had several cases–one for organ pipe ranks and the other for percussions and sound effects. The traps and other percussions were powered directly by electric solenoids and not pneumatically as was the case with most other photoplayers. Also, while most other photoplayers were designed to play mechancially from a punched paper roll, the Bartola was equipped with a divided keyboard that could be swung in front of and above the piano's keyboard, enabling live performance by a musician. A footboard placed around the piano pedals was used to play the effects. The benefits of being able to tailor the music and sound effects to the action on the screen were obvious, and the Bartola was an immediate success.

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