Dennis Wolkowicz harnessed the sound of an entire symphony orchestra when he sat at a theater organ to accompany silent films.
“It’s a special organ, an entirely different animal than a church organ,” said his wife, Linda Stagner. “A theater organ was developed to replace a 24-piece symphony, with one man on one instrument that could create everything from the sound of a violin to a xylophone or the percussion sounds of ‘crash, boom, bang!’ if someone in the film fell to the ground.”
Mr. Wolkowicz renovated the Gateway Theatre inside the Copernicus Center, beginning in the 1980s, added a theater organ that he retrofitted for silent films, and regularly performed during the 18 years he ran programming there.
In 1998 he co-found the Silent Film Society of Chicago.
In 2006, he opened the Portage Theater after a two-year renovation. Mr. Wolkowicz, who leased the space, operated the theater until 2013, when a new owner bought out him and his partners.
His love affair with the organ never dimmed. He continued to play various pipe organs at theaters around Chicago.
“We were purists until one day a friend of his called him said, ‘Dennis, an electric organ has finally come out that really sounds like a pipe organ. You’ve got to come try it.’ And Dennis said, ‘I don’t want anything to do with it.’ His friend then said, ‘If you come over we’ll have steaks for dinner.’ and Dennis said, ‘What time?’ and he played four chords and said, ‘Oh my God!,’ ” his wife recalled.
Mr. Wolkowicz found he could easily travel in his car with a couple of digital keyboards and a pedal board that, along with speakers, replicated the sound of a theater organ.
Under the banner of the Silent Film Society of Chicago, he began to perform at silent film screenings at movie theaters, concert halls, libraries and cafes. He used the stage name “Jay Warren” because it was easier to pronounce.
Mr. Wolkowicz was preparing for one such gig at the City News Cafe in Portage Park on Feb. 24, when he suffered a heart attack and died. He was 74.
“Even at shows where there were 30 or 40 people, he took it real serious and gave it 100%, and then he’d stay after and talk to people,” said City News Cafe owner Joe Angelastri. “He would just smile and smile and always had stories about the history of the city’s old theaters.”
Mr. Wolkowicz had been slated to play a silent film at the Logan Theatre two days later.
“He was supposed to play ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ and the folks from the theater asked if it would be OK if they still [screened] the movie, but just in silence, as a tribute to Dennis, and I of course immediately started crying at the thought of such a nice tribute,” his wife said. “They said a few words about Dennis before playing the movie.”
Mr. Wolkowicz was born Jan. 5, 1951. His father, Walter, owned and operated a butcher shop. His mother, Irene, was an officer worker.
A home near Portage Park that was purchased by his grandfather in 1920 is where he grew up and lived as an adult. Mr. Wolkowicz attended Gordon Tech High School and was a Cubs fan and a Northwestern University football fan.
When his father died in 1973, he was training to be a military police officer in the Army but was granted a compassionate discharge to return and help his mother run the family business. When his mother died in 1985, he closed the butcher shop and focused on his love for music and theater.
Mr. Wolkowicz played accordion growing up but was largely a self-taught organist. In the ’70s he got involved with a group called the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts, which highlighted the work of silent film organists from the 1920s and invited those who were able to perform.
Mr. Wolkowicz was also very involved with the Six Corners Chamber of Commerce on the Northwest Side. His wife serves as executive director of the organization and he served on its board.
“He just wanted the best for this neighborhood,” she said. “There could be a tense meeting with different factions who wanted different things, and he could bring people together. Just his calm demeanor, his presence, could change the tone of a meeting and bring people back to the higher purpose at hand,” said Angelastri, who’s on the organization’s board.
He first tried his hand as a silent film organist after hearing another organist accompany a silent film at the Gateway Theatre and thinking to himself, “I could do it better than that,” his wife said.