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8
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1918
concern ordinarily conducts a clearance sale of
used pianos in September, but this year is com-
pletely sold out of these instruments. The op-
portunity sale, which will continue throughout
September, has therefore been substituted..
Page ads in the newspapers, backed up by dis-
plays in the store's Main street windows, are
giving the event wide publicity. Large signs
advertising the sale are used in the piano de-
partment and throughout the store.
In the
piano section is a large platform on which are
willow furniture and a player. This corre-
sponds with a similar layout represented in the
advertising by a well-drawn cut.
"The weather and everything else were just
right for the success of this sale," said S. J.
Butler, manager of the piano department. "Cus-
tomers were obliged to make a minimum down
payment of $35 and the contracts were closed
with the usual number of monthly payments.
There was no deviation from our down-pay-
ment rule. Our trade was very active, even on
a rainy day."
R. C. Schermerhorn has resigned as manager
of Robert L. Loud's piano store, and has ac-
cepted an executive position with the Quarter-
master's Department in Washington, D. C. He
will enter the service as a civilian and will
probably seek a commission later. Mr. Scher-
merhorn has been associated in business with
Mr. Loud for the past twenty-three years.
There are thousands of musical instruments
in Buffalo that are being kept as mementos that
would bring a whole lot of sunshine into the
lives of "the boys over there." A request for
such instruments has been made through the
Central Y. M. C. A., of this city, by George P.
Sawyer. All instruments thus contributed will
be sent to France by secretaries of the associa-
tion and distributed among the various Ameri-
can divisions.
William H. Daniels, of Denton, Cottier &
Daniels, has returned from his vacation at New
London, Conn. C. H. Heineke, manager of the
Victrola department of this store, has received
word that Frank Farrar, Jr., former salesman
for the company, is now a member of the new
aviation unit at Great Lakes, 111. This store
has been redecorated throughout. Other im-
provements include three large Victrola rooms,
which, according to Manager Heineke, were
very much needed.
The store of the Utley Piano Corp. has added
more display room.
This has been accom-
plished by moving the office from the front to
the center of the store. New lights have also
been added.
HIGH PRAISE FOR MEHLIN PIANO
SCHMIDT CO. ANNUAL SALE
Dealers Still Appreciate New Developments in
Pianos, Declares G. N. Snyder
Davenport Music House Holds Fifty-sixth An-
nual Sale of Used Pianos—Sale Featured in
Some Exceedingly High-Class Advertising
" GASLESS SUNDAY" BENEFITS BUFFALO MUSIC TRADE
Enforcement of Stay-at-Home Order Will Bring an Increasing Demand for Musical Instruments,
Say Local Piano Men—Adam & Co. Sale Proves Successful—News of the Week
BUFFALO, N. Y., September 9.—"Gasless Sun-
days" are helping the piano business in the
Buffalo territory.
Thousands of motorists,
whose minds were formerly centered on week-
end trips out-of-town, have become stay-at-
homes on the first day 'of the week. They are
devising ways and means to make their homes
more attractive and in these plans they are not
overlooking the charms of good music. Their
thoughts therefore logically turn to pianos,
players and talking machines to help supply the
comforts required by shut-ins. This condition
in turn is being studied by the dealers, who are
quick to sense any tendency that will increase
their list of prospects.
Robert L. Hollinshead, of Detroit, Mich., for-
merly of the sales force of J. N. Adam & Co.'s
piano department, was married recently to Miss
Ursula Dietrich, of Denver, concert pianist for
the Melville Clark Piano Co. Mr. and Mrs.
Hollinshead spent part of their honeymoon in
Buffalo, where they received the felicitations of
many friends.
Prof. George Szag, expert reconstructor of
old violins, and director of the Szag School of
Music of this city, died recently at his home,
646 Elmwood avenue. Prof. Szag, who was
fifty-four years old, was a prominent violinist.
He came to Buffalo from the Boston Symphony
Orchestra at the time of the Pan-American Ex-
position. Pie studied under some of the best-
known artists of Leipsic and Vienna and not-
ably Joachim of Berlin. He is survived by a
widow.
Mrs. Mai Davis Smith, of Buffalo, has ar-
ranged for the following concerts, which she
will manage here this season: September 23,
Galli-Curci; October 29, Mme. Helen Stanley and
Raoul Lapera, the Spanish composer-pianist;
November 28, Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
Ossip Gabrilowitsch, conductor; January 14,
Mischa Levitski and Maurice Damois; January
28, Jascha Heifetz; date to be announced later,
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Eugene Ysaye. In addition to this program
Caruso will sing at the Broadway Auditorium,
Buffalo, on Friday evening, October 11. The
other concerts will be given at Elmwood Music
Hall.
, J. N. Adam & Co. are conducting a "half-
yearly opportunity sale of player-pianos." This
SEPTEMBER 14,
Paul G. Mehlin & Sons, New York, recently
received the following unusual but pleasing let-
ter of commendation from G. N. Snyder, man-
ager of the store of M. P. Moller & Co., well-
known piano merchants of Hagerstown, Md.:
"At this day when many pianos are made only
to sell, it may not be amiss to encourage those
who are looking for better things that dealers
still appreciate such developments of a piano
as the Mehlin just received by us.
"I enjoy showing the Mehlin piano to mu-
sicians and the public, because it has such rea-
sonable improvements over the old, which crit-
ical musicians and the careful public so much
desire.
"This is one of the very few letters ever writ-
ten by me to manufacturers expressing my ap-
preciation of the most satisfactory tone which
has come under mv observation."
DAVENPORT, IA., September 9.—The Schmidt
Music Co., with stores in this city and Musca-
tine, recently held its fifty-sixth anniversary
sale. The concern has an established policy of
holding but one sale a year, the purpose of the
sale being to clear the floors of the used instru-
ments accumulated during the year in exchange
for new pianos. The sale was featured in four
excellently prepared advertisements published in
the local papers. The advertising copy was
noticeably free of the "prices slashed," "unheard-
of reductions," "great sacrifice" phrases too fre-
quently seen in connection with special sales.
The copy mentioned each used piano by name
and number, giving a complete description of
the same together with the price. The terms
were restricted to as little as six months in
some instances, and no sale was made for a
longer period than two years. The success of
the sale surpassed even the expectations of the
most sanguine members of the firm, and the
sales were greater during the period of the sale,
which lasted but one week, than during any for-
mer sale, which usually lasted for two weeks.
JAMES & HOLMSTROM FOR SHIP
Instrument of That Make Placed Aboard the
U. S. S. "Powhatan" Upon Recommendation
of Crew of the Battleship "North Dakota"
Ludwig Quality Will Be Maintained
In spite of the scarcity of high class materials and labor, due to
war conditions, our dealers may be certain that the quality of
Ludwig Pianos and Player-Pianos will be kept up to the high
standard they expect in instruments bearing the Ludwig name.
Makers of Uprights,
Grands and Players.
LUDWIG & CO.
136th St. and Willow Ave., New York
John J. Glynn, manager of the James & Holm-
strom warerooms at 23 East Fourteenth street,
reports among the week's sales the sale of a
James & Holmstrom upright for use on board
the U. S. S. "Powhatan."
The "Powhatan"
was formerly the "Hamburg" of the Hamburg-
American Line. The selection of a James &
Holmstrom piano for this ship was due to the
recommendation given this piano by the men
and officers of the U. S. battleship "North Da-
kota," in which a James & Holmstrom piano
was placed some time ago.
Mr. Glynn has joined his family at Ocean
Grove, N. J., for a brief vacation.
J. T. STOWERS A VISITOR
John T. Stowers, the prominent piano mer-
chant of Havana, Cuba, and who handles the
K. S. Howard Co. line in that country, was a
recent visitor to New York.