Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1912 Vol. 55 N. 23

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
GOOD AND BAD ADVERTISING CONTRASTED.
Pertinent Comments on Developments in Indianapolis—Baldwin Advertising That Attracted-
Sommers & Co. Open Piano Department—Schaeffer Line with Rapp & Lennox.
(.Special to The Review.)
Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 3, 1912.
An Indianapolis piano 'house which frequently ad-
vertises pianos at ridiculously low prices, recently
conducted a large sale. Prices were slashed, ac-
cording to the large advertisements in the local
papers, because the lessor of the rooms occupied by
the piano house had leased half of the room over
its head, and the piano company was "forced to
vacate."
This piano house is now in one-half the room
,it formerly occupied, the other half 'has been walled
off and a "For Rent" sign is in the window. The
passerby sees that the room was not leased "over
the head of the piano house." He draws the con-
clusion that the piano house had seen fit to lessen
the size of its quarters.
"How much better it would have been," said a
piano dealer who has grown up in the piano busi-
ness in Indianapolis, and who is known as one
of the "gentlemen of the old school," in discussing
"yellow" advertising, "how much better it would
have been if that piano house had told the public,
through the newspapers, that it did not need such
large quarters, and that to save the buying public
the money it was expending to maintain commodi-
ous quarters, it 'had decided to cut down its floor
space by one-half. Then it would have been telling
the truth and the campaign of advertising would
have done just as much and probably more good
than it did do."
The player-piano busii.-css is good. One piano
dealer has instructed his salesmen to regard every
customer as a player-piano prospect.
N. B. Pratt, of the Poole Piano Co., Boston,
spent Thanksgiving here and visited the Carlin
Music Co. He was on his way back East and had
covered considerable territory in the West ana
Southwest. He found the player business good,
but said he could not say as much for the regular
piano business. He thought the straight piano
business could stand some improvement.
A window display of the Baldwin Co.'s player-
piano, the Manualo, has been attracting attention
in the company's local store in North Pennsylvania
street. A mechanical doll has been operating the
instrument. The sidewalk was often blocked by
passersby, who argued as to whether the doll was
alive. Some even ventured inside to consult the
salesmen. The mechanical doll did his work well.
The manager whispered to the writer that the doll
really was "real," and not a dummy. The Bald-
win Co. employed the "doll" during the Corn Fes-
tival held at Terre Haute, Ind., several weeks ago.
His work there proved so successful that he was
brought to Indianapolis.
The Rapp & Lennox Piano Co. has taken the
agency for the Schaeffer pianos and players.
The Auto-Grand Co. of Indiana, which handles
the Krell Auto-Grand at 118-120 East New York
street, had a Thanksgiving eve recital in its rooms.
The pupils of Mrs. Ora E. Rundell took part in
the recital.
C. C. Thomas, local manager of the Aeolian Co.,
says the recent sale of second-hand pianos by the
company is the greatest in the history of the local
branch. Page "ads." told the public of the sale,
and the result was a genuine "cleaning up." The
pianos sold were those taken in trade on Pianola
players.
The Aeolian Hall Tuesday afternoon recitals have
been discontinued until after the holidays. Mr.
Thomas found that the Tuesday matinee was prov-
ing too much for his help on account of the in-
creased holiday trade. The regular Friday night
recital is being continued with great success.
D. Sommers & Co., furniture dealers, have opened
up a piano department and announce that the Stultz,
Ivers & Pond, Thompson, Starck, Johnson and
Weser pianos will be sold. The department is in
charge of O. L. Bragg, who has been in the piano
business in Indianapolis for a number of years.
SOME NOTARLEJBEHNING SALES
Consummated This Week at the Fifth Avenue
Warerooms—Players and Grands in Favor.
A noticeable feature of the business consum-
mated the past week at the Behning warerooms,
425 Fifth avenue, New York, was the number of
sales made to persons prominent in various walks
of life. Among these was a beautiful Behning
player to Mrs. E. V. Neal, a prominent New
Yorker, whose temporary address is the Hotel
Astor, New York. Mrs. Neal contemplates taking
the player to Europe before the end of the month,
and made a thorough investigation of many other
makes before finally selecting the Behning as best
suited to meet her requirements. Another sale of
particular interest was that of an expensive player
to Frederick Wright, the famous New York por-
trait painter, who is known from coast to coast
as one of the leaders in his profession.
The Behning period pianos are known in the
trade for their handsome and artistic appearance
and tonal qualities, and Manager Kessler was
greatly pleased this week to receive an order for
a beautiful high-priced Louis XVI grand to be
finished in a costly gold leaf case. This order
was given by a person prominent in the theatrical
world who was greatly impressed by the many
splendid attributes and merits of the Behning
grand.
HOLD OPENING OF HARTFORD STORE.
The Hallet & Davis Piano Co., which recently
took over the stock of the Yeager Piano Co., in
Hartford, Conn., held the formal opening of its
n^w warerooms in that city last week, visitors be-
ing entertained by two concerts, at which the
Virtuolo was featured. The warerooms are at
231 Asylum street.
THE CASE OF THE PIANO
—is just the piano case, of
course. But you can't dispose of
case-making with a supercilious
quip. A fine piano is worthy of
a fine housing, one that expresses
adequately the beauty of the spirit
within. Cable-Nelson case-work
is noted. It is staunch, to endure;
it is satisfying in outline and pro-
portion; it is beautiful in color
and finish. So Cable-Nelsons are
not only good pianos—they are
easy to sell. Write us to-day.
CABLE-NELSON STYLE "O"
CABLE-NELSON PIANO COMPANY
Republic Building, CHICAGO
Factory: SOUTH HAVEN, MICH.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MU3IC TRADE
REVIEW
DETROIT PIANO MEN GETTING AFTER HOLIDAY TRADE.
Detroit Making Strong Bid for Business and Is Getting It—Creatore Praises the Starr Grand-
W. C. Simon Enters New Field—Some Recent Visitors.
(Special to The Review.)
Detroit, Mich., Dec. 3, 1912.
Christmas trade opened up here the day after
Thanksgiving faded into history with big adver-
tisements of several piano houses. One of the
most conspicuous was the least meritorious—it was
that of the chronic trade demoralizer broken loose
again. This time he was worse than is his custom.
"Was $250, now $28," is his special 'holiday ration
of deterioration this time. Two dollars down
and a dollar a month is all that is needed for the
delivery of the piano.
In spite of this sort of a drawback, the legitimate
houses are making a good start on what promises
to be the biggest holiday trade they ever knew.
Prosperity does not seem to have been affected in
the least by the result of the election. The demand
for grands and players, especially the high priced
players, insists on growing with the seeming perma-
nance of an oak tree. In most of the houses
which handle straight pianos and players, the player
sales have reached almost fifty per cent, of the total
business.
The Starr Piano* Co.'s branch 'here is displaying
in its warerooms a printed reproduction of a. letter
written by Bandmaster Creatore to the Starr Piano
NEW STORE ]TTLOS ANGELES.
(Special to The Review.)
Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 30, 1912.
The Platt Music Co., Los Angeles, Cal., is mak-
ing arrangements to open a new store at 929 South
Broadway, that city. The new warerooms are be-
ing handsomely decorated and fitted up for the
use of the company and will measure 24 x 140 feet
in size. The old Platt Co.'s store at 314-316 West
Seventh street, will be continued until the end
of the present lease, which still has two years to
run. The company has been doing business in
Los Angeles since 1900, and maintains several
branches in the surrounding territory. The new
Co., telling why he chose a Starr for his personal
use. The letter is as follows:
"I feel deeply impressed with the tone of the
Starr piano. It has appealed to me from an artis-
tic standpoint as being truly worthy of the high
position it holds throughout the world to-day. I
have purchased a Starr piano for my own studio
because of its superior tone quality and wonder-
fully even scale, which must appeal to me first and
last in passing upon a musical instrument. Consci-
entiously I can and will recommend the Starr piano
wherever I go. Yours truly, Creatore."
W. C. Simon, manager of the Germain Piano
Co.,'s store here, resigned on the first of December
and has retired from the piano business altogether.
He had an offer to enter a real estate firm which
looked too good to him to let get away. His
successor with the Germain house has not yet been
announced. The Germain establishment is the sell-
ing end of the Germain manufacturing plant in
Saginaw, but it also handles the A. B. Chase line,
the Angelus player lines and other instruments.
Among the prominent visitors to the Detroit
trade this week were J. C. Amie, of Sohmer & Co.,
and W. B. Williams, of the Sterling Co. Grinnell
Brothers handle both these lines.
store of the company will be under the manage-
ment of E. M. Bonnell, formerly sales manager
of the Fitzgerald Music Co.
CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY.
Gram-Richtsteig Piano Co. Five Years Old,
and Special Sale to Mark Event.
(Special to The Review.)
Milwaukee, Wis., Dec. 3, 1912.
November 25 marked the fifth anniversary of the
Gram-Richtsteig Piano Co., and Edmund Gram
and Max Richtsteig, officials of the enterprising
and growing Milwaukee manufacturing concern,
observed the day by inaugurating a special sale of
Gram-Richtsteig uprights, baby grands and players,
Four or five Carloads of the instruments were put
on sale at the new establishment of the Edmund
Gram Music House, and the week that followed
was even more successful than had be:n anticipated.
Milwaukeeans were well informed of the event
by half and full page advertisements in the local
papers. Harry H. Heming, enterprising advertis-
ing manager of the Gram house, turned out "copy"
for this sale that attracted wide and favorable com-
ment.
NEW BRADBURYBUILDING OPENED.
Distinguished Visitors Congratulate F. G. Smith
on Taking Possession of These Handsome
Premises—Full Line of Pianos and Colum-
bia Grafonolas Shown—Large Shipments
from Webster Plant at Leominster.
F. G. Smith, Mr. Crosby and F. G. Smith, III,
in company with E. D. Easton, president, and
George W. Lyle, general manager of the Colum-
bia Phonograph Co., inspected on Monday of this
week the new Bradbury building at 60 Flatbush
avenue, which is now open for business. The
building is most complete, being four stories in
height and well lighted and laid out for the dis-
play of Bradbury, Webster, Henning pianos, player-
pianos and the Columbia line of talking machines.
It is right in the heart of the busy piano section
of Brooklyn and has been made more prominent
by a large electric sign bearing the inscription,
"Bradbury Pianos," and below it the Columbia
trade-mark.
N. M. Crosby, general manager of the piano
manufacturing interests of F. G. Smith, whose
headquarters are at 774 Fulton street, Brooklyn,
said this week that the rush at the plant of the
Webster Piano Co. in Leominster, Mass., has been
something phenomenal. "Last week," said he, "we
shipped from that factory 84 pianos and player-
pianos. That is just a sample of how it has been
going with us this fall. The summer trade was a
great deal more than we expected and kept us
going to the limit. Now it has meant overtime
work in order to meet the demand."
The new Bradbury classic piano which was
shown in The Review recently is fast becoming
popular, and Mr. Crosby says that he has some
plans under way which when announced will be
interesting to Bradbury dealers.
NEW CONCERN_FOR LOUISVILLE.
R. S. Hill, for some time past secretary and
general manager of the Beckwith Organ Co., Louis-
ville, has resigned for the purpose of organizing
a new company for the purpose of manufacturing
pianos and organs here. The details regarding
the new company have not yet been announced.
FAILURES IN NOVEMBER.
The Largest Number Recorded Since July—
Compares Unfavorably with November of the
Three Preceding Years.
The dealer who does not
know the L A U T E R -
HUMANA has still to get
acquainted with a player-
p i a n o of exceptionally
beautiful quality.
LAUTER-HU MANAS
now go into practically every
country in the world, and
they secure the warmest
praise of those who own
them.
We invite inquiries.
LAUTER CO.
NEWARK. NEW JERSEY
According to R. G. Dun & Co. there were 1,175
commercial failures during the month of Novem-
ber. While this number has been exceeded in
several of the earlier months of this year, it is
the largest since July, and it compares unfavor-
ably with November of the three preceding years,
namely, 1,105 in 1911, 1,003 in 1910, and 903 in
1909. The amount of the liabilities of these com-
mercial failures in November was $15,640,105, com-
paring with $15,266,337 in 1911, and $11,324,010 in
1910. The failure record thus continues to be an
exhibit of a high number of defaults combined
with a large total of liabilities, a ' development
which is in marked contrast to the other records
of the business situation. The high total of de-
faults is chiefly due to the large number of small
failures, those for less than $100,000. Of these
small failures there were 1,153 during the month,
the largest total in a number of years. The total
liabilities of these small defaults amounted to $9,-
895,390, which also breaks the record of recent
years. Of the larger defaults, those for $100,000
or more, there were 22, aggregating $5,750,715,
which is considerably less than last year, when the
'total was $7,017,772, and also less than in 1907 and
in 1903, but in excess of other recent years. -"-.
9
Q
UhW YORK,
BOSTOR*

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