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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
HOW "KNABE" J FOOLED KUBELIK.
J. Harry Estey Banquets Manager and Sales-
men of Estey Branch—Ben Janssen a Vis-
itor—Crown Mission Style Admired—Jesse
French
Brochure—Rubinstein
Plays—A
Balmer-Weber Opening in March—Dinner
for Richard McMahon Other Items.
The Clever Young Violinist and Now Father of
Three Was Much Upset Over a Despatch
from Mr. Knabe—Had Hopes That Last One
Was a Knabe Instead of a Girl.
Somebody played a joke the other day on Jan
Kubelik, the well-known violinist, who is now
touring this country, and it cost him $40 in long-
(Special to The lieview.)
distance telephoning and a variety of emotions be-
St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 13, 1906.
fore he found it out.
Another quiet week has prevailed among the
His friends have been aware for some time that
piano dealers, and with the exception of consider- he was expecting news of an interesting event
able activity in the sheet music trade, there is m his family, so when a postcard from some ac-
nothing to say regarding trade conditions.
quaintance in Prague bearing New Year's wishes
J. Harry Estey, treasurer of the Estey Co., gave for the violinist arrived here at his New York
a banquet to Manager E. M. Read, and the sales- mail address, a friend, Mr. Knabe, in whose care
men of the local Estey branch last Wednesday the violinist's letters come, evolved from his
night on the eve of his departure for Atlanta, merry consciousness an idea.
Ga., for which point he left last Thursday. The
The postcard chanced to tear on the back the
banquet was held at McTeague's cafe, one of our picture of a stork, so the wicked friend tele-
most popular and prominent cafes, and proved a graphed to the violinist, who was in Pittsburg:
very enjoyable affair.
"Jan Kubelik, Pittsburg, Pa.:
Ben H. Janssen, the well-known manufacturer,
"Stork arrived. Knabe."'
arrived here last Saturday on a visit after an
Now, Knabe in German means boy. And you
eight years' absence. He was very much amazed notice Knabe does not appear as a signature, but
with the great improvement that had taken place part of the dispatch.
in the city since his last visit. Mr. Janssen was
The receipt of this telegram sent Mr. Kubelik
on his way to the Coast, and left here last night immediately to a long-distance telephone. He
(Monday) for New Orleans. He stated that busi- called up Hugo Gorlitz, one of his managers, who
ness was very good.
was here at the Hotel Manhattan, but Mr. Gor-
The Kieselhorst Piano Co. have a very fine win- litz could not be found. Mr. Kubelik kept the
dow display this week of a mission wood Crown wire going most of the evening in a "hang-the-
art piano and bench, and a Kimball L'Art expense" style, trying to locate Mr. Gorlitz, but
Nouveau grand. This firm reports the sale of a that gentleman was at the opera, and it was not
Kimball grand on Saturday, and one yesterday. until he returned from the performance that a
The Jesse French Piano & Organ Co. have one conversation, in substance as follows, took place
of the new Starr mission model pianos as a win- over the wire:
dow display this week. It is the first one of its
Mr. Kubelik in Pittsburg—Hello! that you Gor-
kind to arrive in this State, and it is commanding litz? Why the
(words to that effect) did
a great deal of admiration. This firm are get- you not send me on at once the particulars of
ting out a very handsome brochure of 34 pages, the birth of my son?
containing portraits of its officers, salesmen,
Mr. Gorlitz, in New York—What?
branch houses, etc. It will be ready for distribu-
Mr. K. repeats.
tion at an early date.
Mr. G. tries to understand.
Arthur Rubinstein, the well-known pianist, gave
Mr. K. repeats a second, and a third time.
a concert here at the Garrick Theater yesterday,
Mr. G.—Read me the telegram.
using the Knabe piano, which was furnished by
Mr. K. reads—"Stork arrived, Knabe." That
the Jesse French Piano & Organ Co.
means boy, you know."
E. A. Kieselhorst, president of the Kieselhorst
Mr. Gorlitz (thinks)—Oh, I see! he exclaims at
Piano Co., received a postal card from Charles H. last. "It must be a joke."
Wagener, vice-president of the Melville Clark
But Mr. Kubelik insisted that this was no jok-
Piano Co., from Burton-on-Trent, indicating that ing matter. "Knabe is the German word for
the latter gentleman was enjoying himself.
boy," he kept repeating, "and it must be a boy,
The Balmer & Weber Music House Co. are mak- and I want to know all about the cablegram, Gor-
ing active preparations for the formal opening of litz."
their new store, which will take place the first
Mr. Gorlitz—But it isn't a cablegram. It's a
week in March.
ten days' old postal card, with a picture of a stork
James B. Moran, salesman for the Conroy Piano on it, and Knabe telegraphed you about the pos-
Co., gave a dinner to Richard McMahon, an old tal card's arrival. Say, Kubelik, old man, don't
piano salesman, last night at the Blue Grass you see? Don't you see it's one of Knabe's jokes?
Hotel. Covers were laid for twenty, and the
Then Mr. Kubelik hung up the receiver in the
evening passed off in a very entertaining manner. Pittsburg office—and settled the bill.—New York
W. L. Bush, of Bush & Gerts, accompanied by Herald.
his wife, was a visitor here this week on his way
South on a pleasure trip.
EXTREMELY STRENUOUS SPRING.
W. E. Heaton, of the O. K. Houck Piano Co., re-
turned on Sunday from a week's trip through
The big piano factory of Weser Bros., at 520-
Southern Illinois.
r>28 West 43d street, New York, is having an ex-
Other visitors here recently were: William B. tremely strenuous spring. Winfield Weser, in
Williams, Sterling Piano Co.; Mr. Brown, J. & speaking of the demand for their well-known
C. Fischer, and G. N. Mayor, San Antonio Music product, said to The Review on Thursday: "While
Co., San Antonio, Tex.
we anticipated the year would open good, we
The post office inspectors were advised recently were not over sanguine, and we are very agree-
of the arrest of H. D. Rector, of Ira, Mo., on the ably disappointed. Otto Heinzman, our travel-
charge of using the mails in a scheme to defraud. ing man, is sending us in some fine orders from
Among the people he swindled was a piano house the middle West, and dealers are ordering by
of Kansas City, getting a piano and selling it for mail. Our product has stood the test of time so
?70.
well that the trade find it almost indispensable
Kubelik, the famous violinist, played here Fri- to their stock, and with the up-to-date attach-
day night at the Odeon, and it is stated at least ments with which it is equipped, it stands in a
1,000 people were unable to get in. It is an- class by itself."
nounced that he will play a return engagement
on March 8. Last Friday morning he received a
CENTRAL MUSIC CO. ORGANIZE.
cablegram frotn his European home stating that
The Central Music Co., of Kansas City, has
a new daughter had been born to him.
been incorporated with the Secretary of the State
D. G. Pfeiffer, of Washington, D. C, has opened of: Missouri, with a capital stock of $20,000. In-
a branch store in Greensboro, N. C, with Mrs. corporators, Ed. Kuhn, F. J. Kast, D. A. Brown
W. M. Stoner in charge.
and others.
A $300 piano
isn t in it
with a Victor so far as sales
and profits are concerned.
A big statement to make,
but not so big after all
when you come to reason
it out.
It's just as easy to sell
five Victors as one piano,
and the profit on the $250
sales of Victors amounts
to more than what you
make on a $300 piano.
But that's only half the
story.
The customers that buy
a $50 Victor will each
spend about five times that
much for Victor Records—
$250 more business from
each customer for you,
with liberal and assured
profits on every sale.
These figures are borne
out by actual facts.
Your $300-piano custo-
mer will, of course, buy
some S.M. from you, but
you'll never in the wide
world sell him anywhere
near $1500 worth of S.M.
The Victor is clearly a
better proposition than
pianos, but they can both
be handled together and
the Victor will help your
piano, S.M., and small
goods sales.
Victor Talking Machine
Company
Camden,
N. J.