Music Trade Review

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THE
11
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SUBSTANTIAL HOLIDAY TRADE PREVAILING IN DETROIT
Musical Instruments of All Kinds in Excellent Demand—Local Piano Men Advertising Heavily—
E. M. Adler Passes Away—Jay Grinnell to Help Christmas Charity—Other News
exact method of procedure. There was a large
DETROIT, MICH., December 17.—This being the
last week before Christmas, The Music Trade attendance. New officers will be elected at the
Review correspondent spent more than the usual January meeting.
Willard Bryant Music House, 218 Woodward
amount of time in the Detroit music and piano
stores—not talking with owners and depart- avenue, is making a very fine display of violin
ment managers but observing for himself the outfits, ukuleles, boy scout bugles and musical
number of people in these stores and the class instruments and cases of all kinds.
Jay Grinnell will sell newspapers at the corner
of merchandise they were buying. He can safely
predict one thing based upon this personal ob- of Woodward and State streets on Friday of
servation—this is going to be a good Christmas the current week, the money to be diverted to
year for the piano dealers and music dealers of a special fund to provide good things for the
Detroit. There is a lot of buying this year and poor at Christmas time. For the past three
it is extended to everything in the musical line. years the Old Detroit Newsboys have volun-
It is really surprising the way piano sales are teered to take up their former posts and loca-
holding up, and some mighty fine players and tions and sell newspapers for the poor. All of
grand pianos are being purchased as Christmas the Old Newsboys are well known and success-
gifts. Musical instruments, such as brass goods, ful business men. Mr. Grinnell is sales mana-
etc., music rolls, talking machines and records, ger of Grinnell Bros., piano dealers with twenty-
are all getting more than their normal amount four branch stores.
of play. On many articles dealers are already
R. E. Olds, millionaire automobile manufac-
out but are taking orders, promising deliveries turer of Michigan, has offered Ignace Paderew-
later. The gift idea has come into more promi- ski, the famous pianist, the free use of a 1,000-
nence this season than ever before^ At Grinnell acre training camp location at Oldsmar, Fla.,
Bros, gift certificates can be purchased for any for the 10,000 Poles whom Paderewski has re-
amount good in any part of the store and at cruited and trained to fight against Germany
Hudson's gift certificates are being used in the but who are threatened with disbandment be-
talking machine department. Liberty Bonds are cause of the inability of the War Department to
being accepted by most of the piano dealers, provide them with winter quarters.
either at par or slightly above par; dealers are
The coal situation is a serious menace to the
even urging people to make "your first payment" retail business in Michigan. The situation has
with Liberty Bonds.
really become acute and only the seizure by the
In the pjayer-piano field, the popular holiday Government of coal in other sections has par-
price for middle-class trade is around $350. Sev- tially assisted in relieving the local situation.
Even piano dealers and talking machine dealers
eral of the large furniture stores, and some of
the cut-rate piano stores, are making a feature report that" it is affecting them. There is little
of players around that price. In these days of encouragement in sight.
increasing costs, player prices should be much
Good news is contained in an announcement
higher, and yet in the face of all this talk of made this week by local business men that a new
increasing prices, the player-piano is being fea- company had been organized to make shells for
tured at a price which is considerably lower than the Government, orders having been promised
the price of former years.
that run into millions. The company is now
Detroit piano dealers are surely wide awake looking for a site and expects to give employ-
advertisers. The writer for the past two weeks ment to at least 5,000 men. The first order alone
has been scanning the advertising columns of will amount to $30,000,000.
The Battle Creek Recreation Board is en-
the leading newspapers all over the United
States and he has yet to run across any town deavoring to secure a piano for every one of the
that can even compare with this for the amount barracks at the Camp Custer Cantonment. There
of piano and-talking machine advertising. Even are three or four hundred barracks. A great
in this city the money being spent for piano and many pianos have been donated by patriotic so-
talking machine advertising is exceeded only by cieties and friends, others have been rented and
the motor car companies and the retail depart- still others purchased outright—all of them be-
ment and drygoods stores. Local piano dealers ing used instruments.
surely have confidence in the future and in the
stability of business conditions—their advertis-
BRAMBACH IN "FURS AND FRILLS"
ing proves it.
E. M. Adler, vice-president and general mana- Clark Music Co. "Features This Instrument in
Connection With Its Use in Musical Comedy
ger of Weil & Co., furniture and piano dealers,
died last Saturday from apoplexy. He was with
The Clark Music Co., Syracuse, N. Y., has re-
the concern for twenty-one years and was well
cently been inserting a series of handsome dis-
known in piano manufacturing circles.
The Detroit Talking Machine Dealers' Asso- play advertisements in the leading daily papers
ciation met last week and discussed further the of that city, illustrating Ernest Torrence and the
plan of giving a recital some time in February Violin Girls in "Furs and Frills," in connection
for some patriotic charitable fund. It has not with the exploiting of the Brambach baby grand
been definitely settled as to the date and the manufactured by the Brambach Piano Co., 639
West Forty-ninth street, New York.
When the musical comedy "Furs and Frills"
visited Syracuse, Mr. Torrence appealed to the
THE LEADING LINE
Clark Music Co., representative of the Bram-
bach Piano Co. in Syracuse, to place at his dis-
posal the Brambach baby grand for use on the
WEAVER PIANOS
stage. Accordingly the instrument became a
Glands, Uprights
leading feature in his act, and subsequently the
and Players
act and the piano were linked in the advertising
described above.
YORK PIANOS
Uprights and Players
LIVINGSTON
PIANOS
Uprights and Player-Pianos
If your competitor does not already have this
line, go arter it at once.
Weaver Piano Co., Inc.
FACTORY
YORK, PA.
Established 1870
AN ENLIGHTENING BALDWIN FOLDER
The publicity department of the Baldwin Piano
Co., Cincinnati, O., has mailed out a four-page
folder which gives a concise digest of the new
Income Tax Law, approved by Congress last
October. This folder contains timely informa-
tion anent this new law, and gives detailed data
which should prove of considerable interest to
business men generally in view of the law's many
technicalities.
Its Musical
Merit
Sells It
It is not alone because of
the scarcity of musical
talent that the demand is
increasing for the
OPERATORS
Midget
Orchestrion
Owners of cabarets, restau-
rants and movie theatres have
discovered that the Midget
Orchestrion produces effects
obtainable only by a large
orchestra.
Never before has there been
such a golden opportunity
for dealers to sell automatics
to this class of trade. Write
for details of our free trial
offer—write now.
OPERATORS
PIANO CO.
LOUIS M. SEVERSON, Pres.
Clybourn Ave. and Osgood St.
CHICAGO, ILL.