- (narrator) Fo r many of us, one of life's great memories is our first ride on a carousel.

The flashing colors, the prancing horses, and the world, whizzing by in a blur of motion.

But this memory is missing a soundtrack.

[lively organ music] That sound has been called the happiest music on earth, and it's played by a 19th century machine called a band organ.

This is the story of one man, whose childhood love for that music led him to the restoration of a marvelous musical instrument called Madam Laura.

[upbeat organ music] Funding for "The Resurrection of Madam Laura" is provided by viewers like you, thank you.

On a steamy September afternoon, a large box truck has pulled up to a studio loading dock.

After more than 18 months of restoration, Madam Laura has come home.

The workers struggle with the sheer bulk of her 1,500 pounds.

In fact, she's so large, she had to be transported in pieces.

Inside the studio, the job of assembling Madam Laura's 221 pipes, her percussion instruments, and the animated figures on her facade will take hours.

And tuning those pipes representing flutes, violins, cellos, trombones, saxophones, violas, piccolos, and more, will take the rest of the day.

Madam Laura is a survivor from the 19th century, an era when mechanical music fascinated and entertained adoring crowds.

[gentle organ music] Ever since the invention of musical instruments, people have endeavored to create self-playing mechanical music.

This diagram of a water powered barrel organ dates to the mid 15th century.

In the mid 16th century, Villa d'Este in Tivoli, Italy featured the Fontana dell'Organo, a massive fountain, using its hydraulic power to play organ pipes.

The music box was likely invented in the 1770s in Switzerland, and by the early 19th century, it was a popular household instrument.

The same mechanism employed by the music box was scaled up and used in 19th century barrel organs, sometimes called street organs.

Organ grinders became popular across Europe in the late 18th century, entertaining crowds on the street with their tunes.

Small capuchin monkeys became a part of the act, entertaining the audience with tricks, and collecting money from them as well.

By the 1850s, the invention of the steam engine enabled steam power to replace water or human power.

The first steam calliope was invented in 1855, and calliopes eventually found a home on the steam powered riverboats of the day, using steam to blow air through tuned whistles to make music.

Steam engines became the power source for everything from cars to the new carnival rides of the era.

By the 1860s, steam began to replace human powered band organs, providing musical accompaniment to fairground rides, and sideshows.

The sound of the music was so lively and bright that at many dance halls across Europe, the music was provided by a band organ, rather than a live orchestra.

To house the mechanisms and pipework, the band organ's case had to be quite large, thus creating a palette for an elaborately ornate facade.

And steam power enabled the organ builders to add mechanical wooden figures that moved with the music to the delight of the audience.

By the end of the 19th century, music books like this one replaced the old barrel system in band organs.

The holes in these cardboard pages functioned like the pins on the drum of a barrel organ.

The advantage of the books was twofold.

It was much quicker to change books, versus replacing the entire drum on the organ.

And songs could now be mass produced in book form, dramatically expanding the organ's repertoire.

The period from the 1880s until the end of World War I was the golden age for band organs.

During this era, dozens of band organ manufacturers existed, like the Gavioli of Paris, France, and the Wurlitzer Company of New York, among the largest producers of the organs.

By the turn of the century, band organs, now powered by electricity, had found a home in fairgrounds and amusement parks around the world.

Their music was loud enough to be heard over the din of the crowds, and the whirring machinery, and more than one wide-eyed child was drawn to the carousel by the energetic sounds of a band organ.

[lively organ music] In her history, Madam Laura has done a lot of traveling before she arrived at the studio on that September day.

Unfortunately, her exact provenance is a bit of an enigma.

Was she of European origin?

She bears some similarities to the famous Gavioli organs of the era, but she has no serial numbers or identifying marks.

So, where did she come from?

- We can trace it back to a 1912 catalog put out by the John Muzzio Company in New York.

But a lot of things about the organ, including the stories, said that it came from Europe.

- Muzzio Organ Works was a minor player in the business, and it's possible that Madam Laura was imported to America as components, and then customized by Muzzio.

But there is another tantalizing clue to her origin that was uncovered during her most recent restoration.

- Inside to seal parts of the organ were glued newspapers.

One was in Flemish, to be distributed in Belgium.

One was in French, to be distributed in Belgium.

So we are very sure, and one had a clear date of November 1892.

So we know the components of Madam Laura were built in the late 19th century.

- So Madam Laura originated in Europe circa 1892.

Then came to America by 1912.

Inside Madam Laura's case, there is another clue to her travels.

- There is a date, 1914, and a signature inside the organ herself from a Christopher Eifler.

In the 1890s, the concept of book music was invented.

That is like a player piano roll, only on accordion fold cardboard books of music.

This organ was converted to book music in 1914.

- Shortly after her conversion to book music, Madam Laura was sold to Ramona Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she spent the next 50 years on a carousel.

- The rides all went away in about 1955, and that's when she went into storage.

She wasn't in real good shape.

Both of the conductors had lost their arms, and had to be repaired, and she was in pretty dismal shape.

There's one picture of her from the time of storage, and Paul Eakins brought her back to life, made her the big red Valentine that she is.

[audience applauds] - (game show host) Now may we have our next contestant please, will you come in?

- (narrator) In the summer of 1960, Paul Eakins appeared on "I've Got a Secret," and stumped the panel.

- Play more in an organ, or some other instrument besides a piano?

- Yes.

- It does?

Does it-- [buzzer rings] - Oh Betsy, you were so close.

Mr. Eakins not only has an unusual secret, he also has a remarkable hobby.

He has the world's largest collection of coin operated musical instruments.

And this music roll comes from his collection in Sikeston, where he has a tourist attraction called The Gay '90s Village, and wait 'til you hear what this music roll can do.

[lively organ music] [audience applauds] - (narrator) Paul's passion for restoring antique musical instruments began in the 1950s while on a family trip.

On the way to Tucson, Arizona they stopped in a small town in New Mexico to see a Billy the Kid museum at the La Paloma Bar.

- The little bar was kind of a museum.

We walked in, and there sat a nickelodeon, and I'd forgotten 'em you know, for like 20, 25 years.

I put a nickel in the thing, and it didn't work, and I thought gee, if I could find one maybe I could get it to play.

Well, we found one, and got it to play.

- Paul Eakins was an engineer by trade, but restoring antique mechanical instruments was a hobby that his doctor ordered.

- His ulcer was always acting up, and the doctor told him he needed to, he needed to do something for recreation.

He was so diligent in his work.

He was there every day, and just if you wanted Dad, that's where you went to look because that's where he was.

- Paul's hobby quickly became a small business as he bought more and more instruments, amassing organs, player pianos, orchestrions, calliopes, and penny arcade machines like Mutoscopes, and animated fortune tellers.

In the 1950s, Paul and his wife Laura opened a tourist attraction in Sikeston, Missouri called the Indian Trading Post.

With the accumulation of the mechanical instruments, the attraction morphed into The Gay '90s Village, housing Paul's collection.

Chris Carlisle is Paul Eakins' grandson, and he remembers the childhood joy of playing at the village.

- Someone had said The Gay '90s Village was like the Disneyland of the Midwest.

For me it was, because I had full run.

I could go anywhere, play all the arcade machines, get into Al Capone's car, pretend like I was a gangster.

You know, it was a joyful childhood for me.

- In 1966, Paul purchased three organs that had been at Ramona Park in Michigan, and set about restoring them.

One was called Sadie Mae, and can be seen and heard in this footage from a fair in Hartford, Connecticut.

[lively organ music] In addition to Sadie Mae, Paul restored Big Bertha, a Limonaire organ made in France in the late 1800s.

The third organ, seen here, arrived in Paul's workshop in pieces.

It took Paul three and a half years to restore these organs.

- And he would let me, excuse me, help him.

But when he was restoring it, if he had pieces of leather to punch out, I would get to do that in the workshop, and glue things for him.

And we just had a good time doing that, just being together and when it was all said and done, I just thought it was just a jewel.

It was just beautiful.

- During his restoration, Paul transformed the organ in several ways.

He removed the stained glass that had been installed during the organ's time at Ramona Park, redesigned the top crest, and replaced the missing brass columns with wooden ones.

This picture, taken when Paul purchased the organ, clearly shows the white enamel with gold and silver accents that she wore when she first left the Muzzio factory.

Paul chose to paint her a bright red, with gold tassels and multicolored columns.

This picture also shows the organ's name at the time Paul bought her.

C. Eifler, Darby, Pennsylvania.

Christopher Eifler had converted the organ to play book music in 1914, and he put his name on the organ.

Paul had a new name in mind.

- In our little family there, they were members of the family.

When you talked about an organ, you didn't say oh there's the Limonaire, or the Wurlitzer.

You say, oh there's Sadie Mae, or there's Big Bertha, you know?

And this one is especially nice because it was named after my grandmother, Laura.

And I think she got a kick out of it.

- Laura Eakins shared her husband's passion for mechanical instruments.

She would help him in the workshop, or in the Gay '90s Village, while often smoking her trademark cigar.

And she accompanied him when he took his collection on tours to fairs around the country.

After naming the organ for his wife, Paul had one more tribute in mind.

- Somebody noticed, I don't know who it was, that his wife Laura had a resemblance to the conductor.

So they repainted the hair of the conductor when they repainted everything else, and turned her into a big, red Valentine for Laura Eakins.

- Madam Laura, along with Big Bertha and Sadie Mae, were finished in time for the opening of Paul Eakins' new attraction, the Gay '90s Melody Museum in St. Louis in 1966.

Paul and his wife Laura took a collection of their mechanical instruments on tour to state fairs in Arizona, Iowa, and Illinois, as well as the New York World's Fair.

They made a stop at the Mid-South Fair in Memphis, Tennessee in 1969 to promote an album of band organ music that Paul had recorded entitled "The Emperor and His Harem," featuring all three of his newly restored organs.

The St. Louis museum closed in 1970, and the organs returned to Sikeston.

Shortly afterward, Paul began to sell off his collection, with a number of instruments going to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

In 1974, Madam Laura was sold to Walt Bellm and taken to his auto and music museum in Sarasota, Florida.

In 1997, the museum sold all their musical collection, and by 2000, a private collector had purchased her.

That's where Chris Carlisle, Paul Eakins' grandson, found her.

- I drove out to North Carolina when I first heard that she was for sale, and the gentleman who owned her took me to a storage unit, and he lifted up the door and I'm just like, whoa.

You can see, like the wood I could stick my finger right through some of it.

And it was just pitiful looking, and I just said right there, I can't leave her there to rot.

- As much as he wanted to, Chris Carlisle couldn't find the time to restore Madam Laura.

That chore would be left to her next owner, Vincent Astor.

[upbeat organ music] (narrator) Vincent Astor was born with a love of music, specifically organ music.

- Well I heard it every Sunday.

At Blessed Sacrament they had one of those, I guess a Hammond B3, or one of the big church Hammonds, and I grew up hearing that.

We had a parlor pumper.

A pump organ with an ornate shell and some lampstands.

That was in the storage building out back, and I used to go out there and play it all the time.

So, I really grew up with organ music.

- Vincent's love and fascination with organs led him to become an experienced player, so much so that by the early '70s he had become the head organist at the Orpheum.

- You're sailing up out of the pit, playing some fast piece of music, and everybody's impressed, and they're all applauding, and we used to talk on the microphone, and talk about things between the pieces of music, so it was a show.

- In the mid '60s, Vincent developed a love for another kind of organ music.

In 1965, he attended the Mid-South Fair, and went into the Gay '90s Village tent.

Paul and Laura Eakins had brought a number of organs and arcade machines from their Sikeston museum to the fair.

Shortly after this, Vincent was on a family vacation to St. Louis, when they stopped at the Gay '90s Melody Museum.

His father allowed him to buy one record that day, and he chose "The Emperor and His Harem."

- And on that record was a great big red band organ that there was only two songs, and I liked what I heard so much I played 'em over and over and over and over again.

And in 1969, she came to the Mid-South Fair, and I have been following her from a distance ever since.

- It would take nearly 50 years before Vincent could be reunited with Madam Laura.

And it all started with a casual Facebook conversation with his friend, Ch ris Carlisle.

- He, I just said in passing, you know I could have a band organ now if I wanted one.

He said, "You want Madam Laura?"

And I said, "How much?"

So, I went up there, made the arrangements to have her rebuilt by the people from Piano World, who picked her up while I was there.

[lively organ music] - (narrator) After spending years in storage in Florida and North Carolina, Madam Laura was ready for another restoration.

But the time spent in the heat and humidity of these southern climates had taken a toll.

During her time in Florida, the music books had been damaged.

The conductor's fingertips were broken, and her baton was missing.

But that turned out to be the least of her problems.

Vincent hired Doug Bullock at Piano World in Alton, Illinois to supervise the restoration.

Doug has a degree in music history, and is an expert at restoring and rebuilding antique musical instruments.

One look at Madam Laura, and he knew that her restoration would be extensive.

- One of the first problems we found was the obvious, and that's the termite damage.

The whole cabinet from this corner to that corner on three sides of the organ was just riddled with termite channels.

And so when I realized that I could push a screwdriver completely through the one inch thick wood and have it stick out the other side, I realized this organ is too heavy to have a case that's riddled with vacant air.

We had a very accomplished cabinet maker who is accustomed to building organs build a whole new case exactly like the original.

- Even though Madam Laura did have extensive damage, most of her inner workings were intact and repairable or replaceable.

- We have a chest underneath all these pipes that has channels, and a wood wall between the channels, and there were three or four of those wood walls that have been totally eaten up, so this channel had to be completely replaced from end to end, and there was three or four of 'em that needed that.

- Madam Laura has 221 pipes, and fortunately only the piccolos had suffered enough damage that they required replacement.

- These were a problem because they're right in the front, and some kid had been poking stuff in the little holes, and all you had to do is flake off a little piece of wood and that pipe didn't play anymore, so there was only three or four of those pipes that played when we got it.

- Even though Madam Laura has a new case, most of her facade that is visible is original, as is about 70 to 80% of the instrument.

The animated figures on the front are among the oldest pieces on the organ, and after 125 years, they needed some attention.

- We had to rebuild the interior of all the characters.

The action figures, as we call 'em.

And she has both arms turn, and then the head turns, and so everything was cludgy when we got ahold of it, and fallin' apart, and we had to take it all apart and clean it up, and make a few new parts, and replace the rusted ones.

There was a lot of rust on 'em.

- With the conductor repaired, and a new baton replacing the missing one, it was time to begin the proces of re-keying Madam Laura.

- The key that we had to tell what note goes where was so dim, I could barely make out a lot of it.

But also, it was two or three notes off, and so one of the things that we did, if we're gonna have modern people taking care of this organ in the future, we need to label the pipes as what they are, not what they were.

And the note hasn't changed, it's just how they named it, and how it conformed to the standards of the book manufacturers.

- Several improvements completed Madam Laura's restoration.

The electric motor that drives the flywheel was mounted on top of the case.

Of course, you can still turn the crank and play music, but you'll need a lot of stamina to get through a song.

Clear plexiglass panels replaced the wooden ones on the back of the case, allowing the rear pipe work and action to be visible.

Some of the most important dates and names in the history of Madam Laura have been inscribed on the back side of the crest, and the rear panels.

And multicolored LED light strips were added both inside and ou tside the case to complete the organ's visual experience.

Madam Laura's distinct color scheme was touched up by a professional conservator.

- What I did was just continuation of the losses on the figurines and the medallions.

So that's the original part.

Was a very, I would say a mild conservation and cleaning process in order to get this result, and she looks authentic.

- The restoration of Madam Laura was now complete, and she was ready to travel yet again, this time to the home of her new owner, and her grand unveiling.

[upbeat organ music] (narrator) After nearly two years of restoration, Madam Laura was rolled into the studio to prepare for her first performance in decades.

With the organ assembled, it's time for Doug Bullock to begin the laborious process of tuning the pipes.

- Everything on this organ is a mixture.

If you're an organist, you know what that is.

That's instead of one pipe playing, it's like three pipes or four pipes playing the same note.

- A crowd gathers in the studio on a Saturday evening to witness the unveiling of a 125 year old mechanical organ that has traveled from Belgium, to America.

From New York, to Pennsylvania, to Michigan, then Alabama and Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, and finally Memphis, Tennessee.

- She has had a very checkered, yet lucky life.

And I have been following the history of this organ since I was 16 years old.

And to have her belong to me, and have her unveiled today is, as I said, one of the highlights of my life.

And I'll let her speak for herself.

[lively organ music] [audience applauds] - As Madam Laura plays publicly for the first time in over 30 years, the audience is invited to examine this marvelous 19th century instrument up close.

There are smiles all around, because this is the happiest music on earth.

And for Vincent Astor, this is a dream that has come true.

- This organ is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, or known.

I've been to Versailles.

I have been to Rome.

I have seen many, many beautiful things, but this is at the top.

[lively organ music] - Funding for "The Resurrection of Madam Laura" is provided by viewers like you, thank you.

[acoustic guitar chords]