Antique Music World quite an experience

By Dave Zuchowski
NEW CASTLE NEWS (NEW CASTLE, Pa.)

NEW CASTLE, Pa. April 02, 2008 09:33 am

— If you stop in at the DeBence Antique Music World in Franklin, Pa., be prepared for a tuneful experience.
The collection of more than 100 self-playing mechanical musical instruments constitutes the largest museum of its type in the United States.
The museum staff guides visitors on live performance tours of instruments whose names are probably unfamiliar to a younger generation accustomed to CDs, iPods and MP3s.
There’s a certain charm in hearing what folks back in the late 1800s and early 1900s listened to for musical entertainment – such things as player pianos, nickelodeons, carousel organs and music boxes.
On a tour with executive director Scotty Greene, I learned that Jake and Elizabeth DeBence started collecting their antique music makers in the early 1940s and didn’t stop until Jake filled their entire barn on the outskirts of Franklin. Over the years, the couple discovered that people willing to pay to see their collection often brought in more money than their dairy farm operation.
“When Jake passed on in 1992, Elizabeth tried to carry on but found the museum too much to handle,” Greene said. “After two years, she decided to sell.”
Stories circulating around town claim that both Dolly Parton and Wayne Newton made offers to buy the collection and that a prospective Japanese buyer once arrived with $2 million in a suitcase. Elizabeth, though, wanted to keep the collection in the area and was delighted when a group of local citizens raised over $1 million to purchase the collection and moved it into an old G. C. Murphy store on historic Franklin’s main thoroughfare.
Lit by the DeBence’s collection of more than 40 Tiffany-style lamps, the collection includes many rarities, like the pride of the collection, a 1912-14 Berrywood A.O.W. Orchestrion. Encased in its teakwood cabinet and ornamented with art glass panels and lamps, it boasts 34 wood flute pipes, a kettle drum, castanets, crash cymbal, triangle, bass and snare drums, tambourine and mandolin. (The Smithsonian, it is said, would give its eye teeth to have it).
Another rarity, the museum’s Air-Calio Calliope, is one of only three manufactured by Artizan Factories of North Tonawanda, N.Y., between 1927 and 1928. As far as the museum staff can ascertain, it’s the last one still playing.
Speaking of one-of-a-kinds, the Wurlitzer 148, probably built in the early 1920s, was designed for the outdoors and has 129 brass pipes — 3 trombones, 15 trumpets, 16 clarinets, and 16 piccolos.
“The Wurlitzer Company thought it’d be sold to the army and played while the soldiers marched to its music,” said Greene. “The concept didn’t work, so it was sold to roller rinks and carousels instead.”
While the nearby 1896 Regina Grand Music Box, a 7-foot tall beauty once described by Mrs. DeBence as “the Cadillac of music boxes” may seem old to some, the museum’s hand-cranked barrel organ on wheels dates back to 1885.
One section of the museum shows the progression of early phonographs from mechanical wind-up cylinder playing devices to electrified double-sided record players. And while the Oddities Corner certainly has its share of unusual music devices, the 1911 Mills Violano Virtuoso, a machine that plays both piano and violin at the same time certainly gets my vote for being fascinatingly unusual. (President Taft once called it “one of the great inventions of the decade).”
In between demonstrations of the workings of musical wonders of yesteryear, be sure to catch a look at some of the non-musical artifacts the DeBences collected — like the dog-operated butter churn and the gold-robed, animated mechanical wizard that performs a magical slight-of-hand before your very eyes.

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IF YOU’RE GOING ...

•The DeBence Antique Music World, located at 1261 Liberty St. in Franklin, Pa. is open from April 1 to Oct. 31. For admission prices and hours of operation, call (814) 432-8350 or visit www.debencemusicworld.com.
•The museum schedules monthly series of special musical events and also accepts donations of antique instruments that may be exhibited in the collection. Museum staff also repair antique instruments for the public at reasonable rates.
•For a place to dine, Leonardo’s Restaurant and Pizzeria is located next door at 1267 Liberty St. Homemade sauces and bread, hand-tossed pizzas and reasonable prices make this casual, family-owned restaurant popular with the locals. The menu also includes pasta, chicken, seafood and steak. If longevity is any clue to quality, manager/owner Carlo Alfeo said his parents have run the operation for the past 23 years. Call (814) 432-8421.