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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
(Chicago Section)
11
The Piano Club of Chicago as a Social Factor.
Has Been a Distinct Factor in Bringing the Trade of the Western Capital
Into the Friendliest Relations—Broadening the Viewpoint of Members
and Establishing a Spirit of Bon Camaraderie that is Most Delightful.
For some years past, and especially after the or-
ganization of the Piano Club of New York, there
were many suggestions looking toward the forma-
tion of a club for the piano men of Chicago, a
place where the members of the trade could meet
socially at the luncheon hour and on other oc-
casions and to which they could bring their friends
in the trade from out-of-town.
The club spirit in the trade had an excellent
Schneider, treasurer; Lee S. Roberts, secretary;
board of governors, James F. Broderick, Paul B.
Klugh, Adam Schneider, Lee S. Roberts, E. H.
Uhl, E. B. Bartlett, Fred Hill, Frank Albright,
George J. Dowling, William Bauer, Otto Schultz,
William Collins, J. H. Ludden, J. P. Seeburg and
George P. Bent.
Handsome quarters were secured on the second
floor of the Lakeview Club Building, 116 Michigan
present is quite a creditable one nevertheless.
Although not a year old, the club has 175 mem-
bers and is growing steadily. Visitors from the
East are constantly seen at the club and are lavish
in their praise of its management.
The cordial feeling existing between the Piano
Club of Chicago and the Piano Club of New York
has developed steadily since the formation of the
former and has been further increased through
•
The Office and Members' W r i t i n g Desks.
foundation in the Roasters' Club, the title given
the gathering of piano men which met for lunch
for a number of years at various of the prominent
hotels. But the Roasters' Club did not meet the
requirements fully. It was an irregular body with
no definite organization and though it resulted in
increasing friendliness among the piano men it
succeeded only in stimulating those interested to
greater efforts in organizing and developing a club
worthy of the name and of the trade.
The Piano Club of Chicago was organized in
At the Piano Club of Chicago "All the Comforts of Home."
avenue, and were fitted up in a comfortable
manner with billiard room, writing rooms, card
rooms and all the other features that are found in
the well regulated club house.
The club has been a distinct success in every
way and has done much to establish a spirit of
bon camaraderie among the members of the trade
in Chicago. The fraternal feeling is very strong,
and the actual benefits include many not contem-
plated by the constitution and by-laws. Many a
srvod man has secured a good "job" through the
At the Piano Club "Knocking the Ivories About.'
the spring of 1913 largely through the efforts of
James F. Broderick, who for years by tacit con-
sent had been the presiding functionary at the
noon-day luncheons o.f the informal Roasters'
Club, which met formerly at the Wellington and
latterly at the Stratford Hotel.
The officers and board of directors then elected
were re-elected at the annual meeting last Oc-
tober and are still serving with ability and distinc-
tion. They are as fo,llows: James F. Broderick,
president; Paul B. Klugh, vice-president; Adam
influence of fellow club members, and manufac-
turers can always be put on the track of capable
men by communicating with the president or sec-
retary. This is only, one of many incidental
benefits.
The table d'hote and a la carte services at the
noon meal are excellent and inexpensive.
The members were early invited to contribute
their photographs for a place in the club's art
gallery on the north wall, but comparatively few
have as yet responded, although the showing at
the exchange of courtesies to members. The first
formal exchange of courtesies between the bodies
as clubs will take place in New York, where the
members of the piano club in that city will enter-
tain their Chicago brethren on the evening follow-
ing the close of the conventions, Thursday, June 11.
An illuminating article on the social side of the
Chicago trade by the club's president, James F.
Broderick, will be found elsewhere in this number,
but the results of the establishment of the piano
club have been practical rather than theoretical.
Typical Noon Scene at the Club.
The club has served to unite, socially, the members
of the trade not only of Chicago, but of every part
of the country, or at least such proportion of the
trade as finds its way to Chicago at regular or ir-
regular intervals.
The number of piano men who gather in the club
rooms at the luncheon hour or on other occasions
is on the increase steadily, which fact may be taken
to mark not only the success of the club, but of the
growing spirit of camaraderie in the Chicago trade
as a whole.