Symphony Benefit to Feature Organist

Where do you go, in these complicated times, for an old-fashioned Wurlitzer sing-along?

Pasadena City College. Saturday evening to be exact.

The Burbank Symphony Assn., which raises funds for the Burbank Symphony Orchestra, which usually performs at Forest Lawn, will host a Wurlitzer performance starring Gaylord Carter, one of Southern California’s oldest and best-loved organists.

This is the third year in a row that Carter will display his talents for the benefit of the symphony association.

“He’s the absolute tops and, approaching 86, he hasn’t lost a bit of his touch either with the instrument or his patter in-between songs,” said Bill Kneisel, the association’s executive director.

For his “Flicker Fingers” performance, Carter will lead a “follow-the-bouncing-ball” sing-along. He will also accompany silent films by Monte Banks, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd.

The organist began playing professionally in 1922, scoring silent movies and radio programs during his early years at the console of the Mighty Wurlitzer. He performed the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” theme song and a piece for “Gone With the Wind.”

In a career that has spanned seven decades and landed him in the Theatre Organ Hall of Fame, Carter has appeared everywhere from Catalina Island to Madison, Wis. He was also featured on the “Pinky Lee Show” and the “Pat Sajak Show.”

As Times columnist Jack Smith once said, Carter is “a national treasure and ought to be designated a historical monument.”

“Flicker Fingers” begins at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Sexson Auditorium, Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. Tickets: $10.