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Your Questions... Answered
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HOW DID THE MIDMER-LOSH FIRM GET SELECTED TO BUILD THE CONVENTION HALL ORGAN AND DID IT GO BUST AS A RESULT?
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The contract to build the Main Auditorium organ for Atlantic City Convention Hall organ was put out to tender, and Midmer-Losh submitted the lowest bid, i.e. $347,200. There were two other bidders, Kimball ($467,716) and Möller ($418,850). It is rumored that Wurlitzer also bid but this is untrue.
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The fact that Midmer-Losh got the contract was really no surprise, as the organ's designer, Emerson Richards, had collaborated with Seibert Losh on a number of organs previously. Richards even told Losh that submissions over $350,000 would be rejected and urged him to "bid to get it" (although he had no knowlegde of what price the firm tendered until the bids were opened). He also advanced Losh the $25,000 that bidders had to provide as proof of their firm's financial stability.
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With the benefit of hindsight, it can be seen that timing was crucial. If awarding the contract had been delayed by just a few months, the Great Depression would have hit and the chances of work starting on the instrument would have been reduced, almost overnight, to zero.
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Midmer-Losh did eventually go bust, and not long after completing the Auditorium organ. However, without the work at Convention Hall, the chances are it would have gone bust sooner. The firm was quickly resurrected by Seibert's brother, George, who ran it until he retired in 1973.
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ATLANTIC CITY CONVENTION HALL ORGAN SOCIETY, INC.
1009 BAY RIDGE AVENUE PMB 108, ANNAPOLIS, MD 21403, U.S.A.
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© 2011 ACCHOS, Inc. Please read Copyright Notice
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