Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1917 Vol. 65 N. 22

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President, J. B. Spillane,
373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, J. Raymond Bill, 373 Fourth Ave.,
New York; Secretary and Treasurer, August J. Timpe, 373 Fourth Ave., New York.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
Business Manager
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
B. BEITTAIM WILSON, CARLETON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH,
WM. BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
JOHN H. WILION, 324 Washington St. E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Republic Building.
Telephone, Main 6950.
209 So. State St. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
H. SCOTT KINGWILL, Assistant Manager.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $4.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $130.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
Plavoi*
Piann and
Ild
JCl -riallU
allU
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concern-
ing which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.. .Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5082—6983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable address: "Elblll, New York."
NEW Y O R K ,
DECEMBER
1, 1 9 1 7
EDITORIAL
REVIEW
It is the intention of the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce to co-operate with the Government in the closest possible
way and to present the claims of the music trade industry for the
consideration of the authorities.
DISTINCT forward move in the progress of trade accept-
A ances
throughout the country was revealed at the meeting
of the American Trade Acceptance Council held in New York
last week. The council has been in existence only since the
business war convention held at Atlantic City in September,
yet since that time much has been accomplished toward estab-
lishing an organization, national in scope, to advance the move-
ment. Numerous committees have been formed and are actively
campaigning, and this is regarded as only a beginning. Every
effort will be put forth during the next few months to arouse
general interest in the trade acceptance and introduce it as a
means of aiding large and small business over the period of
financial strain which the Government's war program will in-
volve.
preparations for trade after the war are being
G ERMAN
scrutinized carefully by experts in the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce, of the Department of Commerce, and
the recent important report on the subject of "German Foreign-
Trade Organization," by Chauncey D. Snow, which touched on
this point, has been in such great demand as to establish a new
sales record for Government trade reports.
Since the war eliminated Germany from world trade, the
United States has improved its position in foreign markets in
spite of the shipping shortage and other abnormal restrictive
factors. Department officials point out that the future prosperity
of the country will depend in part on Germany's loss of good-
will in practically all foreign markets and in part upon American
ability to maintain our new prestige. American business must
not make the mistake of seeing only one side of this situation
and thus underestimating the German capacity for foreign trade,
nor the energy, application and craft with which German busi-
ness will address itself to the task of regaining favor in markets
in which it once prospered.
N
OTHING in the history of music or musical instrument cre-
HERE is no need to indulge in hysteria in considering the
ation in America parallels the success scored by the repro-
attitude of the Government toward the music trade industry.
ducing type of piano introduced in two concerts recently held in
R. S. Lovett, the chairman of the Priority Board, and H. A. Gar- New York. As already recorded reportorially in The Review,
field, the Fuel Administrator in Washington, are on record as
the Duo-Art piano was the soloist with the New York Sym-
stating that they will place every safeguard about industry, and
phony Orchestra, directed by Walter Damrosch, in the Saint-
that no action will be taken "without reasonable notice and an Saens Concerto in G Minor from a Duo-Art recording made by
opportunity to be heard."
Harold Bauer, while the Ampico Reproducing piano, assisted by
Meanwhile, it is now up to the members of the entire in-
the Rialto Symphony Orchestra, led by Dr. Hugo RiesenfehL
dustry, whether manufacturers, dealers, traveling men, sales- "was heard in an Ampico record of the Grieg A Minor Concerto,
men, or anybody else interested, to get right behind the Music
made by Marguerite Volavy.
Industries Chamber of Commerce and its general manager, Geo.
Both occasions were not only novel, but historical, for they
W. Pound, so that they may present to the Government such
chronicle the first public appearance of the reproducing piano as
facts as will convince those in, authority that musical instru-
soloist with a great musical organization in America. Those
ment production is an absolute necessity during war times.
who had the privilege of being present, apart from the critics
The facts in favor of music as an essential to the morale of of the daily press, were a unit in declaring that the instruments
our army and navy, and a necessity in the home, are so over-
filled the role of soloists in a manner so perfect and so satisfac-
whelming that they only need collating and presentation, backed
tory as to inspire the audiences to extremes of enthusiasm.
with such figures as will be deemed authoritative, to secure the
The recordings of both Bauer and Volavy were so personal,
favorable consideration which they merit from the Government.
so exactingly accurate in every nuance, in every shade of artistic
Whatever is done, however, must be done quickly, and no finish, in sublimity and grandeur of expression, with that
one having the interests of the industry at heart should neglect
union between orchestra and artist that one would hardly ex-
to extend his best support and manifest a keen personal inter-
pect when the soloist happens to be an inanimate object, that it
est in the work of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce
aroused not only surprise, but established beyond peradventure
and its manager, Mr. Pound.
that we had entered upon a new era in the musical domain. For
This whole subject, however, can be considered without in-
instance, one noted critic stated that Mr. Bauer himself might
dulging in sensational statements that tend to unsettle the in- have been sitting at the keyboard, so extraordinarily faithful to
dustry. It means the application of common sense and good
the original, so photographically correct, one might say, was
judgment, and what is most necessary, immediate action. It is
this Duo-Art achievement, while Bodanzky, the conductor of
not the time when the alarmist should be in the saddle.
the Metropolitan Opera Co., in referring to the Knabe-Ampico
It is absurd to consider that the Government desires to ruin
reproducing piano entitled it—"a great phenomenon in the world
the industries of the country despite the exaggerated stories
of miracles."
reaching the daily newspapers from Washington. Their regula-
Nothing that has ever occurred in trade history can equal
tion by the Government is, of course, necessary to meet war con- these concerts as a means of bringing to public attention the
ditions.
amazing advance made in the art of reproducing or photograph-
T
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ing on paper the artist's exact conception of how a musical num-
ber should be played, and establishing the fact that reproducing
pianos have been so perfected that they interpret with the most
absolute accuracy and perfection the playing of great artists and
minor ones as well.
While these concerts cannot help but bring prestige and
honor to the Aeolian Co. and the American Piano Co., under
whose auspices they were given, yet they have a much broader
significance, inasmuch as they elevate the entire industry and
bring to public attention the wonderful progress made in the per-
fection o^ the music record, and the interpretative media there-
for, thus adding in a most emphatic way to the fame and pres-
tige of the industry as a whole.
T
HE pooling agreement entered into by the railroads should
prove of tremendous value at this particular time in solving,
in a measure at least, present difficulties surrounding freight
transportation. By working together, by using cars immediately
available instead of waiting for those belonging to certain lines
and by transporting freight from one point to another by the
most direct and speediest line, the railroads will be able to save
an enormous waste in time, and while their action may not
solve the war time transportation problem, it will at least help
to improve conditions. The suggestion that motor trucks and
trolley lines be used wherever possible for short haul freight
should also meet with approval, for it will serve to release cars
from short haul duty for the handling of long distance freight.
It is quite apparent that any inconvenience occasioned to ship-
pers in certain directions will be more than offset by the ad-
vantages arising in other directions.
It is expected that the new arrangement will have the effect
of cleaning up somewhat the congestion now existing in railroad
yards, particularly those located at terminal points, and the
cars thus freed can do good service in relieving the car shortage
along the line.
I
N connection with business management and development no
one branch is receiving more consideration these days than
that of salesmanship, and one wise manager very aptly points
out that the successful salesman is the order maker—not the
order taker. The more thorough his knowledge of his custom-
ers' requirements the more business he is morally certain to
do. Knowledge of his own goods is vitally important, but knowl-
edge of the use his customer can make of those goods is equally
important. In the foregoing is found one of the most important
and far-reaching precepts of modern merchandising. Particularly
is the probable use the customer can make of the goods a valu-
able point. To the retail salesman on the floor this should not-
be very difficult. A little tact, a great deal of observation and
some imagination should accomplish wonders. With the in-
formation in the salesman's possession as to why the purchaser
is desirous of buying this, that or the other, just at this time,
a bigger sale than would ordinarily follow should result.
FTER reading daily paper despatches from Washington re-
A
lating to new rules and regulations concerning the various
industries put into effect, or about to be put into effect, by the
Federal Government, and then learning the actual facts upon
which reports are based, it would seem that the Washington
correspondents are more anxious to create a scare among busi-
ness men than they are to promote a feeling of security and con-
fidence in what the Government plans to do.
On several occasions recently when despatches have told of
drastic action about to be taken to curtail supplies of certain
industries, to place embargoes on certain shipments, and other-
wise to hamper or cripple business, the word pianos has ap-
peared in the despatches all too frequently, and if all the things
reported had actually taken place the piano manufacturing busi-
ness right now would be but a memory.
As a matter of fact the officials in charge of the various
Government committees and commissions on war work have
given frequent assurances, not only through the press but in-
dividually to representatives of the industry, that action along
various lines would be taken only when absolutely necessary
and then only after formal hearings and full consideration of
ways and means for carrying out plans without placing an un-
expected or undesired burden on any one particular class of
business activity.
It is not wise, of course, to rest in a sense of false security,
for the situation demands watchfulness, but it is likewise foolish
to spread the cry of "wolf" when there is no necessity therefor.
The giving of actual news regarding contemplated Government
action is right and proper, but the correspondents should at
least endeavor to base their reports upon definite facts and not
upon their own suppositions as to what lines the action will prob-
ably take.
a number of the manufacturing, wholesale and retail
Q UITE
houses in the music trade have taken occasion to fly from
their buildings service flags, the familiar red-bordered flags with
white field and a blue star for each member of the organization
who has entered the military service of the nation. The idea
is an excellent one, for the flags not only prove to the general
public that the employes of that particular house are actively
engaged in the war, but serves as a constant stimulus to those
who remain behind. To announce that a half dozen or a dozen
or a score members of an organization have joined the Army
and Navy is not half so impressive as to show a flag bearing a
star for each of those men. It is good advertising in both a
patriotic and business sense.
GETTING DOWN TO PLAIN PLAYER FACTS
The education of the public along player lines is a necessity for the expansion of the player business.
There is no doubt of that; and education of the piano merchants and salesmen is also a vital necessity,
because through them will come a powerful force in the education of the public; and right here we wish to
remark that we have produced a line of books upon the player-piano which comprehensively covers the
entire player situation.
In this respect this trade newspaper stands alone, for it has been the principal source from which player
information has been available for piano merchants and salesmen for a period of years. Our latest book,
"The Player-Piano Up to Date"
is the best of the series. It contains upwards of 220 pages of matter bearing directly upon the player.
Every piano merchant and piano salesman should have a copy of this book within easy reach. It
gives to readers a fund of information not obtainable elsewhere.
It contains a series of original drawings and a vast amount of instructive and educational matter, as
well as a detailed description of some of the principal player mechanisms.
It costs $1.50 to have this book delivered to any address in the United States, and your money will be
refunded if you are not satisfied with the book after examination. No one yet has availed himself of this
opportunity. Foreign countries, 15c. to cover extra postage, should be added.
Estate of EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
373 Fourth Ave., New York

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