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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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VOL. LXVI. No. 19
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Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. May 11, 1918
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N less than a month from the time this issue of The Review reaches its readers, the doors will he thrown
open on the National Music Show at the Grand Central Palace, New York, with Governor Whitman of
New York presiding at the opening ceremonies.
At the present time the indications are that the Show will be a great success, and will he well
calculated to impress upon the public, as well as on the members of the trade itself, the tremendous importance
of the industry. Just to make the Show a big success, however, is not the whole thing. To have the proper
effect it must be put over with enthusiasm and must be thoroughly representative of the music industry in
every section of the country.
At the present time the majority of those who have contracted for space are Eastern concerns, with
only a very small representation from the West. This representation should, and probably will be, much more
extensive before the books are finally closed, as the manufacturers realize what a big impressive Show will
mean, under existing conditions, in educating the public to the importance of the industry.
The National Music Show this year will have a significance that it has never before possessed. The
successful Show in Chicago last year was primarily a trade exhibition to allow the public, and particularly the
dealers, to see at close range the new things produced in the piano and talking machine factories. This year
the Show is to be regarded in the light of forwarding trade propaganda.
We have heard much since the war first began regarding the importance and value of music in war
times, and have ample evidence that not only the rank and file, but the leaders of our fighting men have a
lively appreciation of music as an entertainer and as a medium for overcoming any possible depression. The
Music Show, therefore, will afford the opportunity of proving to the public just how important music and musical
instruments are to the country in war times, as well as when peace prevails. Moreover, the fact that every
dollar taken in at the door will be devoted to the purchase of musical instruments and musical supplies for
American fighting men will give to the Show a patriotic appeal that should have a tremendous effect in arousing
general public interest.
New York has not had a Music Show for something like a decade, and, since the last Show here, the trade
in all its branches has made wonderful advancement that is not generally appreciated to the fullest extent,
even by those more or less closely associated with it. We have automobile shows, and shows representing
many other industries, but a Music Show, in view of the universal appeal for music itself, should prove to
even the blase metropolitanite a most welcome novelty.
When the question of a National Music Show for this year was first broached, conditions were, of course,
somewhat different than they are to-day, but once committed to the Show proposition, the thing to do is to
make it an overwhelming success. Those who, through existing circumstances, are unable to exhibit, can lend
their support in other directions. The Show must be regarded as something more than simply an exhibition
of musical instruments. It must be accepted as reflecting the status of the industry as a whole, and its success
or failure will reflect on the entire industry.
A perusal of the list of exhibitors at the present time indicates that practically every branch of the
industry will be represented in some form or another. Pianos, player-pianos, automatic pianos, talking
machines, music rolls, and supplies will all have their allotted spaces. From an educational viewpoint, there-
fore, the Show should possess unusual interest. Not only will the exhibits themselves be unusually elaborate,
but there will be a sufficient number of novelties introduced to appeal to practically every visitor. The thing
to do then is to crystallize this interest and make the most of the opportunity. Although only a portion of the
trade will, and, for that matter, can exhibit at the Show, the fact must not be lost sight of that it is a National
Music Show, and as such must be representative of the entire trade, not only in name but in spirit.