(22 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philadelphia – 22 March 2025
1. Various of an organist playing Wanamaker organ
2. Audience clapping
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ray Biswanger, Friends of the Wanamaker Organ:
“Well, this is Philadelphia’s crossroads, and it’s one of the few places where there’s public music every day. And people get to hear music, they would have to pay money to go to the orchestra to hear. The finest music is performed here, and people have come to love it. It’s a natural meeting place. Crossroads of the subways. Crossroads of the city. The city hall is here. It’s Philadelphia’s living room.”
4. Tilt-down from the grand court
5. Audience listening to music
6. Wide of store with closing signs
7. SOUNDBITE (English) David Anderson, visitor from New Jersey:
“I’ve always loved the organ in music. I don’t hear it as much as I would like to. I wish I had taken more advantage of coming here to the Wanamaker building. I’ve been here. This is my fifth day in a row this week. I’m planning on being here most of the day today. I just love it. It just it’s so unique. There’s no other musical experience like this. Where do you have an instrument, that is six stories high, you know?”
8. Tilt-down of organ’s pipes in the grand court
9. Close up of a decorative figure on the pipes
10. SOUNDBITE (English) David Anderson, visitor from New Jersey:
“Hopefully this would be reserved. Everybody seems to think it’s going to be. The sad part really, is losing this store. I moved to this area when in the 80s, and this store, there was nothing like it. There’s no other store I’ve ever been in the world that was like Wanamaker’s was.“
11. Exterior of store with closing signs
12. Shoppers inside store
13. Bronze eagle statue
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Venue Murphy, Philadelphia resident:
“Oh, it’s a sad end of an era. It’s a sad end. And it’s. I’m sorry, I just hope they keep the eagle in Oregon. Whatever they’re going to do with this building because this is like a truly landmark for Philadelphia.”
15. Wide of an organist playing
16. Close up of taps on the organ
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Staisiunas, organist:
“It’s great to see this much turnout from the city. People have come from, you know, not just locally but from internationally all over the place just to hear this organ. So, it’s great to see this much support for a piece of history that’s, you know, always been here and it sort of here before us and will here be here long after us.”
18. Various of audience
STORYLINE:
The closure of the Center City Macy’s store in Philadelphia — one of dozens the company decided to shutter across the country — means an end, at least for now, to another fixture that had drawn shoppers and other listeners: the near-daily playing of the massive Wanamaker Organ, which wraps up Saturday with a full day of recitals.
The sounds, played from the largest fully functioning pipe organ in the world, filled the Grand Court of Macy’s on Saturday. The audience, who came to bid farewell to Philadelphia’s beloved tradition, filled the room while shoppers carried out items on sale from the store before it closed its doors on Sunday.
Ray Biswanger from the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, a charity set up to preserve the heritage of the National Historic Landmark, said that while the daily concerts will end for now, the organ isn’t going anywhere. The building’s new owner has stated that it is committed to preserving the organ and will ensure that it remains a cherished part of the space.
AP Video by Tassanee Vejpongsa
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