Join us for National Silent Film Day featuring Lon Chaney in The Phantom Of The Opera.  The film will be accompanied by Ken Double

Bio: KEN DOUBLE – for September 29, 2023 – National Silent Film Day

A memorable night in the Spring of 1997 found the Paramount Theatre in Anderson, IN filled to capacity to celebrate the return of the Grande Page theatre pipe organ. The restored and augmented pipe organ, a mainstay in the atmospheric theatre since it opened in 1929, made a thrilling return. At the organ for that concert was Ken Double, not only a concert artist on the theatre organ, but also a popular TV sportscaster. And it’s Ken Double returning to the Paramount Page on Friday, September 29th, for a National Silent Film Day performance.

The homegrown Chicagoan is the last of six boys, and was enamored of Jack Brickhouse, the longtime Chicago sportscaster, and Ken determined at an early age sportscasting would be his career. But a second career took roots as an eight-year-old who started taking lessons on an electronic organ.

The Butler University graduate worked in Marion and Lafayette before landing a job at WRTV in Indianapolis. From there, it was play-by-play for the Indiana Pacers, Purdue basketball, Indianapolis Ice hockey, and a spot at Turn Two for the Indianapolis 500 Radio network.

But the theatre pipe organ was never far behind. He was the first organist at Market Square Arena when it opened in 1974. His first concert was at the Embassy Theatre in Ft. Wayne in 1978. And in 1982, he premiered the Wurlitzer organ at Long Center in Lafayette, where he has played 41 consecutive annual concerts. He played at the Paramount Music Palace on the east side of Indianapolis; has toured Australia and New Zealand eight times; has more than 20 recordings to his credit (including one on the Grande Page); and after retiring from the sports business, he spent ten years as the national President of the American Theatre Organ Society.

Currently, Ken plays Mighty Mo, the great Möller pipe organ at the Atlanta Fox Theatre.

His performance September 29th will feature a mini-concert, plus the screening of the silent classic Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney. Not just a part of National Silent Film Day, this concert also celebrates the Bicentennial of the City of Anderson.

Sportscaster; concert organist; administrator; entertainer; Ken Double has worn a lot of “hats” in his career, but always tells people he has been fortunate – twice! – sportscasting and music, to have fun and get paid for it. As the song goes, “Nice work if you can get it.”