Frank Matthew
His Musical Life in Words

Early Life

Frank Matthew was born in the County of Durham in North East England in the late 1890s. With a particularly fine singing voice, he gained a scholarship at Durham Cathedral at the age of only seven. As well as his duties as a chorister, he studied piano and organ under the then Cathedral organist, Dr Armes.

He served as a young officer in the Royal Flying Corps (now known as the Royal Air Force) during the First World War but returned to music when hostilities ended. With his solid classical organ grounding, he entered the world of music for the cinema which, at that time in the UK, was played by small orchestras and/or pipe organs of an orchestral design. One of his earliest appointments was to the Stoll Picture Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, playing a II/11 stop Nicholson & Lord — a straight pipe organ, but they had a major emphasis on music.

Theatre Organ Playing

His first big break came in 1926 when he performed at the opening of the II/8 Wurlitzer Model F, Opus 1317 (1926), in the Havelock Picture House, Sunderland. He was an instant hit with the audience, not only for his obvious organ playing and arranging abilities, but he also had a microphone set up at the console so that he could sing the words to his own accompaniment. He was immediately picked up by the BBC and commenced regular broadcasts from the Havelock Wurlitzer.

He left Sunderland in 1928 when he was transferred to open the II/8 Wurlitzer in the Regent Theatre, Bristol. He remained there for two years then left to open the new II/9 Christie theatre organ in the Electric Theatre, Bournemouth. Then it was back up north to open a II/7 Compton at the Court Cinema, Wigan in 1930. Such was his immense talent that he was in huge demand to perform at theatre openings. In 1931 alone he opened three new Christie theatre organs: a III/10 at the Capitol, Didsbury, a IIIc/9* Christie at the Pavilion, Wylde Green, and a IIIc/7(8) Christie at the Victoria, Cambridge. In 1932 he opened a III/7 Compton at the Majestic, Darlington, and in 1936 a III/6 Compton at the Havana Theatre, Romford, and III/7 Christie at the Century, Clacton on Sea Christie.

Arranging and Broadcasting

Frank Matthew was an excellent arranger of music, be it orchestral, classical, or popular songs of the day and also composed many pieces of his own. Some of these were published commercially and, thankfully, most of his original manuscripts of both published and unpublished works have survived in my own archives.

In 1936 he was engaged by Harold Ramsay to be a part of the team of touring organists employed by the Union/Ritz chain of cinemas and gave a number of very successful broadcasts from the superb IVc/10(11) Compton in the Ritz, Belfast in Ireland. In 1937 he became resident on the IIIc/8 Wurlitzer at the Ritz, Ipswich, back over in England staying until Union were taken over by Associated British Cinemas in 1938. He gave many broadcasts all of the time he was playing theatre organs including from the BBC’s own theatre organ, a IV/22(24) Compton installed specifically for broadcasting and recording in their studio in St George’s Hall, Langham Place in London. Regarded by most as the finest ever Compton theatre organ, this instrument was a gem in Compton’s crown. (Sadly it had a very short life, being totally destroyed during the war).

Other high profile appointments included the Regal Theatre, Edmonton, a IV/14(15) Christie, and Granada Theatre, Walthamstow, a III/10(11) Christie, and he finished his theatre organ career on the at the Paramount Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he presided over the gorgeous III/19 Wurlitzer from December 1942 until 1946. He remained in Newcastle upon Tyne and continued to give classical recitals after he left the theatre organ world. He died in hospital in 1969 after a short illness.

* A “c” after the number of manuals denotes the top manual was a coupler manual only with no individual stops of its own. Sizes listed as, for example “10(11)” denote 10 units with 11 ranks of pipes (that is, the organ has a double rank of strings drawn as one stop).

Joe Marsh
Theatre Organist and Historian