{"id":769,"date":"2026-05-23T08:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hamiltonpianocompany.nz\/?page_id=769"},"modified":"2026-08-30T08:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:13:28","slug":"photoplayer1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hamiltonpianocompany.nz\/index.php\/photoplayer1\/","title":{"rendered":"Photoplayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"1915<\/span>
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This beautiful instrument was a restoration project that was found in a garden shed sitting on bare earth for 25 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Photoplayers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Photoplayers were the beating heart of early movie theatres long before films had voices of their own. Built mainly between 1910 and the late 1920s, these remarkable machines combined a player\u2011piano mechanism with organ pipes, percussion effects, and hand\u2011operated controls that allowed a single musician to create an entire soundscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their day, they were marvels of engineering: belts, pneumatics, bellows, and hundreds of moving parts all working in perfect coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1911 and 1926, around 4,500 photoplayers were manufactured and used in theatres. The American Photo Player Company produced the Fotoplayer; the Operators Piano Company of Chicago produced the Reproduco; the Bartola Company of Wisconsin made the Bartola; and Wurlitzer took up crafting Photoplayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wurlitzer Model K<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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