If you are downtown today around noon, stop by the Tennessee Theatre for the latest Mighty Musical Monday. Founder Dr. Bill Snyder passed away on September 23; Urban Guy interviewed Dr. Snyder in 2018 on the occasion of his retirement, and a re-read of that article captures many fantastic memories.
Last month’s Mighty Musical Monday honored Dr. Snyder’s legacy; yesterday, at Dr. Snyder’s request, a service and concert was held in his memory. For this story, current house organist Freddie Brabson and I discussed the program’s origins, significance and evolution as it approaches its 25th year. We also talked about Brabson’s chance meeting with Dr. Snyder at the age of 8 or 9 that led to his lifelong love of the organ and stepping into his role as house organist.
The Wurlitzer Rises
Watching the Wurlitzer rise from the orchestra pit is truly a wonder. Brabson emphasized the rarity of the combination of the Wurlitzer and the Tennessee Theatre. During the silent film era, organs were popular in Grand Palace theaters, but their role declined with the advent of talking pictures. At their peak, over a thousand Wurlitzers existed; many were later relocated or lost to decay. Today, fewer than 30 Grand Palaces like the Tennessee still house their original organs.
Brabson recalled that “the Wurlitzer was the flagship project for the renovation of the theater.” After the organ’s refurbishment, a dedicatory concert was held in October 2001, followed soon after by the First Monday program featuring Lyn Larsen. Dr. Snyder created the program so anyone could attend—brown bag lunch in hand—and enjoy the Wurlitzer and other performances for free.
During the Tennessee Theatre’s renovation from 2003 to 2005, the Wurlitzer was displayed in the Miller Building’s lobby with the pipes remaining in place, sealed in plastic. In 2005, the Wurlitzer returned with a police-escorted parade across Gay Street.
Falling in Love with Organ Music
Dr. Snyder was directly responsible for Brabson’s introduction to organ music. His father, a sound engineer, was visiting the theater around the time of the World’s Fair, and Dr. Snyder was playing for a sound check. Brabson remembered, “I heard a music like I’d never heard and then there was this motion happening down at the orchestra pit. The organ was coming up out of the floor.” Brabson’s father approached Dr. Snyder who remembered him as an engineering student in his classes.
He added, “I remember more of what I saw than what I heard, but it was all I could talk about.” Brabson’s grandmother took him to classic movies at the Tennessee Theatre with Dr. Snyder playing beforehand. A court reporter, his grandmother had cassette recorders, and Brabson used them to tape Snyder’s performances. To encourage his interest, his parents gifted Brabson a membership to the American Theatre Organ Society. He remembers being surprised in October of 1983 when the journal’s cover featured the Tennessee Theatre’s Wurlitzer. The cover “just cinched the deal.”
Brabson took piano lessons as a child but never had formal organ instruction (his grandfather is Jim Fisher, who owned Fisher’s Piano Shop on Cecil Avenue). Meeting Dr. Snyder made him take music seriously. Brabson and his father began learning songs like “In the Mood” together, using a Hammond B3 organ his father had stored in the garage from his rock-and-roll touring days. On Sundays, Brabson attended First Methodist with his mother and now-adopted dad, often sitting beside the organist, observing, occasionally pulling a stop or pressing a piston.
After returning to Knoxville, Brabson mentioned, over dinner with Dr. Snyder, his interest in performing at Mighty Musical Monday. Once Snyder confirmed he meant playing—not singing—he agreed, and Brabson made his debut in March 2010. Afterward, Snyder told the audience, “You’ll be hearing more from Freddie on the Mighty Musical Monday show.” Brabson recalled, “I floated for a few days just from the high of getting to do it.” A few days later, Snyder emailed him: “Freddie, that was great, and by the power vested in me by no one in particular, I’d like to invite you to be the associate house organist at the Tennessee Theatre.” For Brabson, Snyder’s word was all it took to make it official.
The two became partners in building and evolving the program.
The Evolution and Importance of Mighty Musical Monday
During that era, Mighty Musical Monday offered a wide range of performances, including lobby acts and sketches like Sammy Sawyer’s Barney Fife. Shows featured multiple acts and old-time radio ad parodies. Pre-COVID, attendance was so strong that the Christmas program required two performances. Brabson recalled deluxe holiday shows including The Ensemble Swing Time, Webb School Madrigal Singers, children’s choir, and a Santa Claus. “The only thing missing,” he joked, “were the East Tennessee Rockettes.” Each show ended with a Wurlitzer-accompanied gospel arrangement of “The Hallelujah Chorus” and “Joy to the World.”
Then, COVID hit.
Numbers have declined somewhat since then. Mighty Musical Monday continues many of the core elements with artists primarily local to Knoxville. Touring Broadway shows have also focused the program with limited time to set up and break down the stage. I enjoyed larger productions in years past, but I really appreciate the simplified, modern structure.
Asked about the importance of Mighty Musical Monday, Brabson responded that, first, “We’re keeping the tradition of the theater organ alive.” Brabson “likes hanging around getting to talk with people and explain the organ. I love seeing young people come through who remind me of a young me.” I’ve often observed children walking with their parents to see the descended Wurlitzer and talk with Brabson.
The program affords both guests and artists a chance to experience the theater they might not otherwise have. Finally, he added that “in these days of everything being behind tiny little screens, it’s an opportunity for people to be together.” When he knows that he will have a good crowd (Independence Day, the holidays), he will schedule sing-alongs. He said, “It’s important for people to be together and to laugh together and to sing together and just have community.”
Demographics of attendees remain “folks who are downtown accessible, who are able to come in on a lunch hour on a Monday,” tourists who discover it, and “a large cohort of retirees.” Jennifer Krueger, life enrichment director at Shannondale of Maryville (who I see at the shows every month), explained that the program is an outing all levels of care (independent and assisted living as well as healthcare residents) can share.
“It’s something that a lot of our residents really enjoy” she said. “Not only that, but I think it’s the nostalgia of the Tennessee Theatre, the nostalgia of the organ coming out really just connects people together. And they are always asking, when is the next one? When can we go back?”
Her favorite memory was a patriotic tribute. “We had residents in wheelchairs, walkers, you name it,” Krueger continued. “As they played each military song, our residents, for their own (military) branches, without being told, stood. And you’re talking about residents…from a wheelchair, from…a walker. That was such an important moment for them to be able to stand and be recognized.”
She also acknowledged the staff of the Tennessee Theatre and police officers. Krueger said that staff are there to greet the residents and everyone steps in to “become part of our family and walk alongside us to make sure that those residents have a really special experience.”
One of Brabson’s cherished memories, really a “kind of sacred moment from the Mighty Musical Monday show,” was Snyder’s retirement show. “Snyder was not playing much by that point, but he wanted to play one last ‘Tennessee Waltz,’” Brabson said. “It was slower and it was a little more labored. He was having to work a little harder at it, and I don’t think he would mind me saying that. We all knew that it was slowing down. As we got to the last chorus, and he launched into it and reached over to hit the down button. I just sort of stood and I gently motioned for the audience to stand. And we all just sort of shared that moment. As the organ descended, it [held] him up. I still get a little misty.”
Memories and the Legacy of Dr. Bill Snyder
Asked about the legacy of Bill Snyder, Brabson responded, “Those theaters (like the Tennessee) were the cathedrals of entertainment. They were supposed to be the portal to another world, right? But the organs became the portal to the theater for a lot of folks. And so the fact that Bill was willing to hop on that bench and play some music, take a chance on ‘The Tennessee Waltz’ that first night in 1979 and start that tradition, people then associated the Tennessee Theatre not only with going to see some movies but with a living, breathing musical experience that just wraps itself around you.”
Tennessee Theatre executive director Becky Hancock led the October Mighty Musical Monday to honor Dr. Snyder. Brabson’s recording of Dr. Snyder from 1983 played, transitioning to Brabson playing songs from that set. Brabson inherited Dr. Snyder’s meticulous notebooks of music.
The first set was aptly titled For the Love of Bill (a play on Snyder’s set For the Love of Music). Songs included were “As Time Goes By,” “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “Try to Remember.” Hancock then interviewed guests about their memories of Dr. Snyder, and guest performers sang some of his favorites. Kathryn Paden performed “Climb Every Mountain” from The Sound of Music. Brent Thompson sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in honor of the movie San Francisco.
Senior Technical Director Tim Burns and Dr. Snyder both started on Oct. 18, 1979. He recalled Snyder playing the organ as he worked on a projection screen. Saturday Night On the Town was taking place on Gay Street that weekend, and Bob Frost wanted a signature closing song. Burns looked at Frost and said, “Well, what do you think about ‘The Tennessee Waltz’?”
Frost relayed the song to Dr. Snyder, adding “you might not be ready for it on Saturday, but what about ‘The Tennessee Waltz?’” Snyder began playing it. That Saturday, the movie San Francisco, the first of the Frost era, screened, followed by Dr. Snyder descending with “The Tennessee Waltz” to thunderous applause. Burns recalled that he came back up and said, “Well, I guess we have a closer now.”
One of Burn’s “capers” with Dr. Snyder saw Snyder sending the Wurlitzer up (the riser is controlled by the organist) with Burns noticing that it wasn’t stopping. The riser was stopped by blown fuses. Afterwards, Snyder said, “I didn’t know if that thing was gonna stop or if I was going to the ceiling!”
Tennessee Theatre Organist Paul Swiderski told the audience, “Bill was professor of engineering and then he became the department head and dean of students and eventually the chancellor. He was always known for his leadership and influence and ability to inspire cooperation and collaboration.” He said that Snyder was not afraid to get his hands dirty, building boxes for the pipes to be sent to Reno, Nevada for restoration.
He added that “Bill had a way of creating leadership with the board of directors and getting the right people inspired to restore and make this a world-class venue.” It took somebody like Dr. Snyder, he said, to create the legacy for the future.
The final performers were Natalee and Lillee Elkins. Natalee has a picture of Lillee sitting in her baby carrier next to the organ. Three summers later, Synder asked for Lillee, who had just turned three, to sing “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” She added, “Today we’re singing ‘For Good’ for our dear friend Dr. Bill. Lillee and I wanted to sing this because I really do feel like he has left a handprint on all of us.”
Dr. Snyder built something with Mighty Musical Monday that was for the good of Knoxville for generations to come, and he left a final word at his service.
A Final Message from Dr. Snyder
On Sunday, Nov. 2, Dr. Snyder left a message for the people of Knoxville in the form of both a concert and service. The Reverend Lyn Oakley led the audience in remembering Dr. Snyder by reading his favorite Bible verse, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that begins To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Dr. Snyder’s season with us left a legacy which was shared by family and friends during the service and after. Kelly Shipe reminded the crowd of Dr. Snyder’s fun side with her memories of him as Williamina in the Rocky Horror Picture Show pre-show. I fondly remember those pre-shows and the fun he seemed to have with them.
R. Jelani Eddington, who became friends with Dr. Snyder after playing during the 2005 Tennessee Theatre renovation dedication, was asked to perform the organ concert in his memory. Noting that Dr. Snyder enjoyed the variety of tunes the organ can play, he started with “Some People” from the musical Gypsy and then followed it with the “National Emblem March.” Eddington said of Dr. Snyder, “I always very much enjoyed my time with him. He had such a wonderful wit, a great lover of music, and just a great person to interact with and just be able to count among my colleague, one of my colleagues and one of my friends” before playing a stirring rendition of “Londonderry Air,” more commonly performed as “Danny Boy.” He continued with one of Dr. Snyder’s favorites, a medley of George Gershwin tunes. To demonstrate the power of the Wurlitzer, Eddington played a sweeping rendition of “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.
Before Freddie Brabson closed the service with one more “Tennessee Waltz,” Reverend Oakley read a letter that Dr. Snyder left for the people who were coming to remember him. Any additional commentary by me is unneccesary. Here are his words, as read during the service:
I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to come to this celebration of life and music. It may seem strange and unconventional to receive a message from me today, but consider that I am on a journey at the time of an important event in which I would want to participate if I were here. For such an occasion, it seems appropriate for me to share a message with you. It is certainly appropriate for you to feel sad, and temporarily, even to cry. But from your temporary grief and sadness, I hope will spring a commitment to renewed love, caring and support for those who are dear to you. As you leave this service, give someone a hug as a symbol of appreciation and celebration of your lives. I had a good, meaningful life, always open to new experiences, my work, my music, my family, my faith, and the love I received from many special people were sources of joy and support.”
Come visit a Mighty Musical Monday in remembrance of Dr. Snyder. You can find the events on the Tennessee Theatre calendar.
