Senate Theater - THE GENERAL - Buster Keaton - Silent Film

May 19, 2013 at 3 PM

Buster Keaton's classic silent film, THE GENERAL, and two other Keaton short films will be presented with live Wurlitzer theater organ accompaniment at Detroit's Senate Theater. Organist Dennis Scott is accompanying the movie. This program is suitable for all ages and will acquaint today's audiences with a silent film classic and the musical and sound effects background enjoyed by audiences in the early 20th century.

Tickets at the door. $10.00. Doors open at 2:00

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In 2013 the Senate Theater started showing movies again. Movies with sound and silent films too that feature live accompaniment on the 4/34 Wurlitzer theatre organ. A new wide movie screen is arriving around the middle of 2013. There are also live music shows and other events.


The organ concerts with Wurlitzer that have been presented for 50 years at Senate are also still happening.


2013 Pops Concert Series
Mar 17 – Simon Gledhill
Apr 21 – Tony Thomas
May 12 – Martin Ellis
June 23 – Mark Herman


Sept 22 – Justin Stahl
Oct 20 – Scott Smith
Nov 17 – Clark Wilson
Dec 8 – Joel Gary


All Sunday at 3:00 PM

Well for those of you unfamiliar with the Senate Theatre's organ... it was the famous Fisher Theatre 4/34 Wurlitzer organ that is a unique organ. The Fisher brothers, some of whom played their family church's organ, had a special organ commissioned in 1928 that combined the attributes of a theatre organ with some features of a church organ, thus producing this one of a kind instrument.

Sadly, the Fisher Theatre was disemboweled and had almost all of the fancy Mayanesque plasterwork ripped out of the old theatre in 1960-61, to replace the impossibly wonderful 2,975 seat Mayanesque design with a smaller tame 2,089 seat modern brass, teak and marble substitute [[which is today more dated than the original would have been, had it survived).

The survivor of the old Mayanesque design is the relocated Fisher Organ console, which still has its' colorful Mayan cartouches, as well as the thousands of pipes... in the renovated Senate Theatre space.

Of the 5 great theatre organs in Detroit, only the Fox's 4/36 Wurlitzer and the former Fisher's 4/34, still survive in the city. The Michigan's great 5/32 Wurlitzer is now in a private residence in Racine WI, and much of the Publix 1 Wurlitzer's of the Capitol and State Theatres are in the Oakland CA Paramount, and San Francisco CA Castro Theatres respectively.

We almost lost the Fisher Organ to either Ann Arbor or a suburban Detroit location. But with the improving fortunes of SW Detroit... hopefully the Fisher Organ will remain at a functioning Senate Theatre for a long time to come.

Help Detroit keep its' grand organ by frequenting the Senate Theatre for organ and film functions!! :D

Have to tell the Wife about this, Never been there.. It's always a wish...

It's a very cool place! They've done wonders on a shoestring budget. Be sure to take the backstage organ tour after the movie, if it's offered, they don't make 'em like they used to. Thanx for posting this.

This is great stuff. I actually teared up the few times I've been able to see classic silent movies with live organ accompaniment. Just to be able to see a movie in the same way as my grandparents and great-grandparents did is a sure thrill for a history-head like me, to say nothing of the movies themselves.

And The General is a great, still hilarious, movie, with an amazingly choreographed [[non-CGI) train chase that is, believe it or not, based on an actual Civil War incident. Strangely, the movie was not a success on its initial release, even though it now shows up in numerous "greatest movies of all-time" polls.

Thanks everyone for nice comments.

Honky Tonk, Money continues to be a big problem. Just the utility bills on such a large theater add up very quickly. Volunteers mainly help at the Senate. That keeps costs down. Some volunteers travel from 1-2 hours away on show days. Specialized jobs, like electrical work, and some performers at live music shows do require hiring. Fortunately $ donations come in when special projects pop up. For example for the new 40 ft wide movie screen arriving later in 2013.

We are finding many people have never heard of or been to the Senate Theater. Having a larger attendance at shows will help lots to keep the ticket and snack prices low and also help keep the theater open at all.

We encourage you to let all your friends know about the fun things happening at the Senate, visit for shows, and to help out in any way you can. There are many more movies and concerts to enjoy this year.

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EastsideAl, The Wurlitzer at the Senate is unique and special historically. Here a picture of it if you haven't seen it live yet. Thrilling to see and hear make music. One of the largest organs of this type ever made. Almost all of the instrument is on original 1928 factory specifications and still works great.

Many more Wurlitzer pictures at https://www.facebook.com/DTOSonFB

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