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THE MUSIC TRADE
NOVEMBER 23, 1918
BALTIMORE DEALERS VIEW THE FUTURE WITH OPTIMISM
Prospects for Prosperity in the Piano Trade Are Abundant, and Local Dealers Are Preparing to
Get Their Full Share—Stieff Branches Busy—Christman Agency With Grafonola Shop
BALTIMORE, Ma, November 18.—Now that the
war is over it would be hard to find a happier
set of men than that formed by the piano and
player dealers of this city. These men have
been looking forward to a long war, and now
that it has come to a close they are happy be-
cause they feel that they are going to do busi-
ness and already trading has opened up in a way
that indicates that this year is going to result
in a wonderful Christmas business. Dealers
realize that it is impossible to get all the goods
they need, but some of the firms have been able
to get some stock ahead, while during the past
week some liberal shipments arrived.
Dealers realize that an adjustment of condi-
tions must come about. They know that the
big munition plants with the large payrolls will
soon be a memory, but in their places the ship-
yards around this city, which have never been
able to get the amount of help needed, will be
able to take care of all of the skilled mechanics
that may lose out in the munition works. The
big steel plants here also need workers, and this
department will be rapidly filled. Dealers do
not feel that the readjustment that is bound to
come in the laboring world is going to have any
material effect on the buying public.
The trade also realizes that in the readjust-
ment the piano and player factories will be able
to get back their former workers and this will
result in more goods coming to them. They are
more anxious about obtaining the necessary
goods to do business with than with what the
business outlook really is.
S. P. Walker, general manager for Charles M.
Stieff, Inc., has just returned from a visit to
Lynchburg and Richmond, Va. He found busi-
ness good at both places, and these two Stieff
stores are just pleading for more goods. Re-
ports from the various sixteen stores of Stieff
in all parts of the country show very good busi-
ness with collections also good. Conditions at
both the Stieff and Shaw factories are reported
to be steadily improving.
The H. D. French Piano Co., the W. W. Kim-
ball Co. representatives, is completing the trans-
fer of its stock from its Howard street store to
its new quarters at Franklin and Eutaw streets,
just around the corner. Mr. French was forced
to change his location'because of a lease to a
book depository company.
The Grafonola Shop, which is conducted by
the Oldewurtel Brothers on North Howard
street, and which has been an exclusive Colum-
bia talking machine shop, has joined the ranks
of the piano and player dealers. The firm have
become the representatives of the Christman
line. They also have taken on a line of Q R S
rolls. This is the second Baltimore firm within
a month to take on a line of pianos and players,
the other being the Highland Music Shop, in
East Baltimore. The Grafonola Shop is right
in tjie heart of the business district.
Olde-
wurtel Brothers have two stores on South
Broadway, one of the East Baltimore shopping
centers, and it is not at all unlikely that they-
may also place pianos there.
Joseph M. Mann, of the Mann Piano Co., the
Cable Company representatives, is well pleased
with the way business is going. He looks for
RAYMOND
PIANOS
Known to the Public for over
a w yi
50 YEARS :u o f" THE BEST
We have a fine offer to
make to live wire dealer »
Raymond Piano Co.
88 Brown Place
New York
11
REVIEW
a wonderful business this Christmas and does
not expect to see any serious disturbance of
the labor market, although he anticipates that
some of the extraordinary salaries that have
been made in munition plants around Baltimore
will take a drop.
W. J. Loomis, manager of Cohen & Hughes
piano and player department, is gratified with
general business. Mr. Loomis says it has been
really better than he thought it would be and ex-
pects to see it continue to show improvement.
W. B. Turlington, manager for Sanders &
Stayman, Inc., says business is going very well,
and he is prepared for a big holiday trade, which
he believes will surely show up on time.
C. B. Noon, manager of Kranz-Smith Piano
Co., is now displaying the famous Mason &
Hamlin line of pianos, which was recently taken
on by the firm. The firm is now featuring a
Christmas club piano sale, which is meeting with
a large degree of success.
M. J. Rogers, manager of the music depart-
ment of The Hub, finds no room for complaint,
and expects to be able to announce shortly that
he has obtained a needed stock of instruments
to meet demands.
The Mazor Piano Co., South Broadway, have
just received a shipment of pianos and players
and are ready for the Christmas rush.
Knabe Warerooms, Inc., are conducting their
anniversary sale and things are going well with
the firm.
WARREN C. WHITNEY TO WED
Engagement to Mrs. Blanche Da Costa Beerman
Announced Recently
His many friends in the trade will be inter-
ested to learn that Warren C. Whitney, vice-
president of the A. B. Chase Co., Norwalk, O.,
has become engaged to Mrs. Blanche Da Costa
Beerman, according to an announcement made
public recently. The date of the ceremony is
understood to be some time in December, after
which the couple will probably reside in New
Orleans, during the period that Mr. Whitney
will act as director of training camp activities,
a position to which he was recently appointed
by the Government. Mrs. Beerman has been a
prominent figure in musical circles here and
abroad for some time. She went to Europe in
1911, accompanying Mme. Schumann-Heink, and
remained there until 1917, studying voice cul-
ture, and appearing in grand opera. She recent-
ly has been appearing in New York City with
the Society of American Singers. She is an
accomplished pianist as well, having graduated
under Rudolf Ganz at the Chicago Musical Col-
lege.
Why Wilmington's
Militia chose the
Hardman
Before the war, Company C,
Delaware Militia, Wilmington,
bought a Hardman. If a fighting
army is a singing army, we'll do
our practicing to a Hardman ac-
companiment, thought they.
Armory life is hard on the aver-
age piano. Aside from occasional
hard usage, it has to stand a lot
from the weather. In winter,
particularly, the widely varying
temperatures are very trying to
tone and action.
Company C knew these things,
so it bought a Hardman. There
was something soldierly about the
Hardman's amazing durability
that appealed to them.
The unsurpassed tone, that
Caruso calls wonderful and the
Metropolitan Opera House en-
dorses officially, became doubly
interesting and valuable from
their standpoint, because it lasts
and lasts.
This phenomenal durability
and these pronounced artistic
qualities are found throughout
the Hardman line, which com-
prises six instruments: the
Hardman, the Harrington, the
Hensel, the Autotone, the
Playoione, and the Standard
Player Piano—in a range of
prices that is further assur-
ance of their popularity and
profit to you.
TWO NEW MEHLIN AGENCIES
Piano Houses in San Antonio and Dallas, Tex.,
to Feature the Mehlin Line
Paul G. Mehlin & Sons have announced the
placing of two agencies in the Southwest with
two of the leading piano houses in that section
of the country.
The Southern Texas Music
Co., of San Antonio, Tex., will represent the
Mehlin line in that city, and Manager Leon N.
Walthall has already received a number of or-
ders for Mehlin instruments, among which is
an order for a Louis X I V art grand, and also
an order for a Philharmonic player in a specially
finished case.
The Western Automatic Music Co., of Dallas,
Tex., has also secured the Mehlin agency. D.
L Whittle, president, and J. L. Henderson,
manager of the piano department, are enthusi-
astic over the prospects of doing an excellent
business with the Mehlin instruments, and their
concern has already placed a large order with
the Mehlin factory.
' •••
Hardman, Peck & Co.
Founded 1842
HARDMAN HOUSE
433 Fifth Ave., New York
Chicago Office and Warerooms, where there is a complete
stock, Republic Building, corner of Adams- and State -Street*.