Decision on Historic Pipe Organ May Reach Crescendo : Glendale: Council plans to decide whether to sell or donate instrument originally intended for the Alex Theatre.

After spending five years in storage and two months at the forefront of the City Council’s agenda, the historic Lanterman organ may soon get a new home and make music again.

Council members have said they intend to decide on Wednesday, at long last, whether to:

* Sell the organ to a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. that has ponied up $120,000 for the Art Deco electric instrument, or--

* Donate it to Glendale Community College and let a citizens group find a way to pay for its installation.

“This is an important issue to the council, and, yes, they have spent a lot of time with it,” said Sean Clark, a project manager with the Glendale Redevelopment Agency who has watched over the organ since the city bought it in 1990.

“But there are a lot of strong feelings about the organ in the community, and they don’t want to take it lightly.”

Built in 1925, the 36-rank Wurlitzer pipe organ can generate numerous sound effects, including a fog horn, a horse’s trot and other sounds, which came in handy for its original use accompanying silent movies at San Francisco’s Fox Theater, where it was installed in 1929. It was later acquired by the late Assemblyman Frank Lanterman, and Glendale eventually bought it from the city of La Canada-Flintridge for $50,000.

The city’s intent was to install the instrument at the Alex Theatre for silent film revivals and other performances. But in the early planning stages of the Alex’s restoration, a citizens’ committee decided that the cost of restoring and installing the huge organ was too great.

“The bottom line was, it seemed the Alex didn’t have enough space to accommodate the organ without having a major impact, in terms of construction, on the building,” Clark said.

Since it was purchased, the organ has never played a note in Glendale, and it has remained in storage, with the city’s total costs to purchase and maintain it now estimated at $160,000.

Even so, most council members say they would like to see it remain in Glendale for use in public performances. Those who favor installing the organ at the community college say they are confident the money to restore the organ and modify the college’s auditorium to fit it--an estimated $1 million--can be raised from corporate donors and grants.

Meanwhile, officials at Buena Vista Pictures have indicated they might rescind their $120,000 offer for the organ if the council does not make a decision soon. The company wants to buy a Wurlitzer organ to install in the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood to provide old-style organ music during movie intermissions, officials said.