PURPOSE AND SCOPE Popular entertainment mediums encourage personal isolation. Television, video, Internet browsing and electronic games reduce our interaction with one another on important social levels. In contrast, in the era of the Exposition Organ, entertainment was largely a community experience. The buzz and excitement around an organ recital was akin to the fanfare that promotes the release of a major motion picture today. Organists were stars and pipe organs were awesomely powerful and complex machines. These beautifully engineered, cutting-edge instruments were in essence the computers of their time. Processing commands via keys, switches, pedals and levers, the instrument--usually at a great distance away from the organist sitting at the console--spoke from thousands of individual voices or pipes. This sound enveloped the listener in a sonic blanket of frequencies higher then any other instrument and so low, one only felt its rumble. The auditorium became part of the instrument as well. Its acoustics would help shape the fidelity of the sound, and in ideal situations, the reverberation would last for several seconds after the final note was released. Working with a large palette of colors, an organist would "paint" with great precision meditative- ambient music, complex multi-thematic masterpieces or deliver the wrath of God. Mozart once referred to the organ as "...the king of instruments." Public venues for entertainment certainly exist in the twenty-first century, but few inspire the awe or community spirit that the grand organs of yesteryear delivered. Unlike the violin, trumpet or piano, a concert pipe organ is an institution, it only exists as a result of a body of people working to establish and maintain it. The installation of the historic Exposition Organ at San Francisco's new Music Concourse will offer a community experience unlike any other seen by The City's new generation. Only time will tell if San Franciscans of today will appreciate that which has been brought back from a San Francisco of yesterday. Behind The Velvet Curtain aims to bring attention to this legacy from the past. Through a new found respect, many hope that this will be the final installation of the Exposition Organ and that it will be enjoyed by citizens of The City and all who visit for many generations to come. Within an approximate running time of 56 minutes, Behind The Velvet Curtain will achieve four important goals: 1. Promote pipe organs and organ music in their historic and evolving roles 2. Encourage viewers to participate in the preservation of their community treasures 3. Document the history and upcoming installation of this large complex instrument 4. Touch and educate people of all ages who value the power of community spirit.