Music Trade Review

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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
HOW GUESSING CONTESTS BEGAN.
The Inceptive Move Was in Washington Seventeen Years Ago and Was a Business Getter—Some
Interesting Facts Regarding the Early Days of the Now Much Discussed Contest Publicity
Plan—How the Small Acorn Has Grown Into a Dangerous Oak.
NEW MINNEAPOLIS PIANO HOUSE.
J. E. Frank Expects to Occupy Handsome New
Quarters by May 1—His Extensive Line.
(Special to The Review.)
Minneapolis, Minn., April 25, 1910.
Joseph E. Frank, who recently entered the re-
There are probably not three persons in the contest, and its exclusion was plainly stated to
tail piano field in this city under the name of
wide domain of the United States of America all competitors when they registered.
the Joseph E. Frank Music Co., will move into
This
registration
of
names,
which
was
obliga-
who could tell how the first piano word contest
tory, was the crux of the whole contest, so far the handsomely appointed new building on
originated, where it was held, who the authors
as it was of advertising value to the manufac- Eighth street on May 1, and will have an exten-
of it were, or what its particular object was.
sive line of pianos ready for exhibition at that
turers who gave the piano away.
As the writer was one of the original creators
time.
Mr. Frank has secured the agency for the
The
method
of
registration
consisted
of
ob-
of the piano word contest, it may not be out of
taining first the name and address of the intend- entire Baldwin Co. line of pianos, as well as the
place telling in a special article for the Review
ing contestant, and the piano clerk would inci- Howard, Lyon & Healy, Gram-Richtsteig and
the story of its inception.
dentally inquire: "Have you an instrument at other makes. He will also handle small goods,
Seventeen years ago a prominent piano manu-
the present time?" If not, in the days to come, Victor talking machines and sheet music, and
facturing company in Chicago having decided
to establish a branch store in Washington, when the excitement of the word contest had states that he will observe the one-price system
subsided our urbane piano man would call upon to the letter.
D. C, saw the absolute necessity of adopting
the late contestant, and while blandly extolling
advertising methods both original and interest-
ing to capture their share of piano patronage. the merits of the particular make of piano he
HARNESSED PIANOS BREAK LOOSE.
Consequently the local representatives hit upon represented would then and there try to sell an
Steger Pianos Received by Omaha House in
the expedient of giving a handsome new piano instrument to one who had entered the word
Damaged Condition.
contest but had failed to win.
free to the person who -made the largest list of
words out of the sentence "Blank pianos are
Many of the contestants possessed old instru-
Fourteen Steger pianos recently shipped as
best"; at the same time restricting the making
ments, sometimes a worthless organ, often an
a carload to the Schmoller & Mueller Music Co.,
of words to those found in the Webster and old square piano; it happened that occasionally
Omaha, Neb., and simply harnessed in the car,
Worcester dictionaries.
a contestant would confess to having been
were received by that concern in badly damaged
The plan of campaign once laid the next nat- "caught" by a mail-order house that had sold
condition. Every one of the pianos had broken
ural step was to place the piano word contest him a piano that had not turned out to be away from the harness and was loose in the
before the public. A display advertisement was quite as represented; anyhow, the list of com- car. Schmoller & Mueller are having the in-
prepared and printed in the local newspapers. petitors in the piano word contest was a valuable struments put into salable shape in their own
Frankly, the advertisement looked very unpre- nucleus for later business.
factories, and have filed a claim for damages
The piano manufacturing firm that donated
tentious, 'but five inches in length in single col-
with the railroad.
umn formation, and lastly it appeared but once. the piano were elated with the result of the
Why it was decided to place but one advertise- Washington piano word contest, and so satisfied
ment is explained by the fact that hardly had that they issued a cordial letter of appreciation MEMORIAL WINDOW FOR PIANO MAN.
the newspaper had time to reach the reading to all the contestants, and out of the fullness of
Widow of George H. Champlin Dedicates Work
public when they swept down upon the piano their hearts told their "friends, the competitors,"
of Art in All Saints' Church, Brookline,
warerooms in a perfect avalanche to learn all that the letter of appreciation would be ac-
Mass.
that was necessary to know to enable com- cepted as a "due bill" good for a certain amount
of dollars to be applied on the purchase of any
The widow of the late George H. Champlin, a
petitors to enter the fray.
prominent piano man of Boston, Mass., has dedi-
Two months time was given in which to pre- new piano in their Washington warerooms.
The volume of business that followed in the cated a memorial window to her husband in All
pare the lists, and during that period the Con-
Saints' Church, Brookline, Mass. The window
gressional Library was daily besieged by am- wake of the contest for the succeeding thirty
bitious and interested word-makers who availed days, which was the time permitted for the life is a beautiful and elaborate creation, and depicts
themselves of every dictionary the Congres- of the "due bill," caused many of the local piano the four martyr saints, Stephen, Peter, Paul and
James. Mr. Champlin was a prominent and de-
sional Library possessed. The sedate librarian dealers "to sit up and observe."
This all occurred in Washington just seven- voted member of All Saints' Church, and con-
was aroused from his official lethargy when he
was informed by the library attendants that teen years ago. Will it be believed when I state tributed liberally to the support of the church
it was useless returning the dictionaries to their that to-day there is hardly a State in the Union work.
shelves, as the daily crowd was at hand every that has not had a surfeit of word contests?
The Armstrong-Byrd Piano Co., Enid, Okla.,
morning before the doors were opened in order
to grasp the first dictionary to be obtained in
P. E. Bliss is a new piano dealer in Oakesdale, have moved to new quarters in the Gannon build-
the general scramble.
ing, that city.
Wash.
In due course the time allowed for the prep-
aration for the contest expired, and during the
last week the lists began rolling in almost over-
whelmingly; in all there were 2,155 lists sent
in, good, bad and indifferent. What a motley
assortment of ideas! One contestant misunder-
stood the contest entirely, believing the prize for
the one who could crowd the largest number of
words on one sheet of paper.
It will be interesting to know that the family
of one judge of the Supreme Court, also the
family of an assistant Secretary of the State
Department, entered the contest. The army and
navy, too, had representatives, indeed an army
officer won an organ which was given as our
auxiliary or consolation prize, his list of words
being very close to the-winner. Senators' and
Representatives' families enjoyed the competition
and contributed their quota of word lists.
Then came the judging. Three representative
citizens were selected after considerable thought,
Furnished with either Glass or Carved Wood Panels
whose literary attainments qualified them to de-
termine which list was entitled to win the prize
piano. The judges examined every list together
with the clerks they had appointed to aid them,
and after two weeks of arduous work the win-
ning list was decided upon and in due time
the piano was publicly awarded.
It is pleasant to state the contestants, with
one exception, were perfectly satisfied with the
decision; the dissenting gentleman had sent in
a list numerically some thousand words larger
Manufacturers
than the winning list, but he was disqualified
1444 Sangamon Street
CHICAGO, ILL.
on account of his having used the Century Dic-
tionary, which was excluded from use in the
THE CREMONA ELECTRIC PIANO
This superior instrument
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formerly existing in the piano
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pianos.
It is wonderfully simple in
construction, reducing the
necessity of repairs to a mini-
mum. AII the player parts
are inside the piano case—no
protruding boxes front or
back. Plays 10 to 20 pieces
on a roll. Is greatly in favor with clubs, dancing schools
and restaurants of the best class.
For catalog, prices and particulars regarding open terri-
tory, address
MARQUETTE PIANO CO.