Music Trade Review

Issue: 1919 Vol. 68 N. 25

JUNE
'THE
21, 1919
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
11
HOT WEATHER HAS LITTLE EFFECT ON ST. LOUIS TRADE
Why Not
Retailers Report Sales Averages' Bein.g> Maintained-Harry A . Kieselhorst Joins the Benedicts­
Piano Moving Charges Take a Jump---Aeolian Hall Redecorated-Estey Line With Wurlitzer
ST. LoUIS, Mo., June 16.- The pian o business
of St. Louis is in its lirst grapple with S t.
Louis summ e r weather, and whi le it wou ld not be
correct t o say tha t b usines s is having all the
b es t of th e a rgum ent it can be said that it
is holding its own pretty well. While most
dealer s admit that ther e has been a slackening,
as is ex pected at this season, man y sa y that, a t
that, business is be tter than it was last month.
'Willi am P. Chris ler, m anage r of the Aeo lian
Co., is one who has no fault to lind with what
June is bri nging hi s way . T his is th e last
m ont h of the Aeolian lisca l year and it is very
gratifying t o Mana ge r Chr isler to find tha t it
is holding up the rec ord which has been made
every month thi s liscal year uy r un ning ah ea d
oi the corresponding month of th e year be­
fore and running farther ahe ad th a n any of
th e others. Whil e each mon th has excee ded its
mate in the year before the June reco rd, h e
says, is close to 100 per cent. ahe ad of t hat o f
June, 1918.
\1 ana ger J. B. Moran. o f th e 'vV urlit zer Co.,
is in cr eas ing hi s lines. He has taken the agency
for SI. Louis of the Estey pianos and play ers.
Two car load s ha ve arr ive d and are on t he 'vVur­
litze r fl oo rs. The V,'urlitzer sto re is ge ttin g
to look more like a p iano sto re e very day. Prior
t e. Mr. Moran's adv ent in th e managerial ca­
pacity pian os wen~ not greatly fea tur ed. The
Este y -l ine wa s formerly handled by the Famous
& Barr Co.
A . N. Engberg, man ager of the Thi ebes
P ian o Co., next doo r to Aeo lian Ha ll, is an ­
ot h er who is not mourning that summer days
have com e. Mr. En gb erg is 1i 1Ied with the en­
thusiasm as one may be who has recen tl y taken
on e nlarged respon sib iliti es and is getting re­
s ult s.
He says h e has every r easo n to be
satisfied with the business that lias been done
at th e Thiebes house so far thi s month , and
what is more h e does n o t ex pect any s umm e r
dulness this year.
He has an antidote for
it. He ca ll s it ju st p lain hard work and with
t he co-operation of his sa les fo rce h e expec ts
t o make it work. A. E . John so n, presiden't of
th e Haddorff P iano Co., Rockf ord, Ill. , which
recently took over th e Th ie bes bu siness, spent
two days here dur ing th e week and expressed
him self a s well pleased w ith the showing th at
is being made und e r the new contro l.
Joy b ell s a r e ringing at th e K iese lh orst store.
Harry A. Kiese lhorst, vice-president of the fir m,
took unto hi m self a w ife last Tuesday in the
person of Mi ss Lotti e E. Reinh ardt, daughter
oi Mr. and Mrs. F. Reinhardt, o f 3888 Utah
plac e. T he ceremony was performed by the
Rev. F. H. Magill, paster of the Oa k Hill Pres ­
byterian C hurch , at the parsonage.. Charles O.
Thompson, of the Kie selh orst s taff, was best
man and ' Miss G ertr ude D eyer was maid of
h onor.
Following the ceremony a w edding
breakfast was served at the Rein hardt h ome ,
attend ed by th e imme dia t e relati ves, including
Mr. and Mrs. E, A. Ki ese lhorst, o f SI. Louis,
and Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Kieselhorst , of Alton,
Ill. The couple de parted on a wedding trip
to the Paci lic Coast t o last si x weeks. On their
return they will make their h o nle for th e pres,
ent with the bride's pa r e nts.
~------------------
JANSSEN
The Most Talked About
Piano in the Trade
BEN H. JANSSEN
Manufacturer
82 Brown Place
New York
E. C. Storer, sa les ma nager of the Bald win
Co., is a memb e r of the flotilla committee which
is welcoming to St. Lo uis a fleet of s ubmarin es,
subma rin e chasers a nd hydr op lanes which ar­
rived in SI. Louis Friday to stimulate recruiting.
He repre se nt s the Advertising Club of St.
Lou is,
E , A. Kies e lh o r s t, pres ident of the Kiese l­
hor s t Piano Co., has a pocketful of railr oad
ticket s for the flight of the Kieselhorst famil y
next Friday to Santa Fe, N. M. M r. and Mrs.
Kieselhors t will stay there three week or a
month an d w ill th en go to Ca liforni a fo r the
r es t of th e sum mer.
The advanced wages won last week by t he
pi ano haulers by a thr ea t to strike a r e bein g co l­
lected from th e dealers. The advance cha rged
to the dealers is 50 cent s for each instrument
handl ed in the city and $1 add ed to the coun ­
ty hauling charge·. This has result ed in a
co rrespon d ing in creas e in the c harge for each
hand ling of a rente d instrum ent.
G. H. Day, manager of the S t a rck Pian o Co.,
left Friday night on a business tr ip to Chicago
to be gone a few days.
Fred Coleman, of 5747 Eas ton avenue, ha s
bee n appointed chairman of the Rec ord Trans­
fer Bureau of th e Victor Tri-State Dealers'
f\ sso ciation.
T he red ecora tion of Aeolian Hall in brighter
tints than have b een known before at that
seda te hous e has bee n co mplet ed a nd the im­
provement effected in the inte ri or appearance
is very grea t.
A. H. Di ckhau s, o f th e Famo us 8;: Ba rr CO.'5
piano department, is spending his vaca tion in
\1 ichigan.
S I. Loui s is fasts advanc in g to fir st pl ac e as a
convention ci ty and its advance in the future
will be mor e rapid by reason of t he libera lity
oi the Associated Retailers, w ith whi ch most
of th e p iano ni erch ants are connected. Th e as ­
sociati on has subscribed $34,250 t owa rd th e
$ 100,000 be ing ra ised by the Conventions Bu­
reau for t he purpose of mor e thor oug hly ad­
vertising the city an d bringing more an d large r
conve nti ons here.
I ? •
Vv. E. Po tter, of Lyon & Healy, rec e n tly took
a trip to the Paci fic Coa st.
It's Easy With
i
i
§
i i
I
Seeburg's StyleK
"Midget Orchestrion"
= (Coin-Operated)
'f,l1lllIlIIIIIIIIIIII I W
It's the greatest little
money maker ever of­
fered the music dealer.
It isn't necessary for
you to "sell" this
little instrument to your
prospects-just tell
them it's an entire 'or­
chestra Hall in one"
that takes up no more
room than an ordinary
piano and it pays for
itself in a short time.
If you don't know the
Style K write us today
""" for further information
FREE STORAGE IN SWEDEN OFFERED
T he Daynes- Beebe Music Co. , Sa lt Lak e City,
Utah, rec en tly open ed it s new a nne x in that
city. The op en ing was an elaborate affair 'an d
the store was decorated with many fl ow ers and
plants w hi ch added gre a tl y to th e artistic in­
terior of the estab lishment.
? •
Prohibition
! ! Pay -! !
I
Dr. J osep h M. Go ldstei n, professor of po ­
liti ca l econo my o f the H igh Institute of Trad e
and Econ omy of th e L niver sity of Moscow, ha s
prepared a survey o f the condi ti on s in Russia,
whic h ha s been issu ed by the R ussian Bureau
of Information here, to show tb e financial as­
sistance wb :ch will be r eq uir:ed to rehabilitate
H.ussi a after Bolshevism has died out. This
survey s hows that a great n umber o-f musical
in s trum ents of a ll kinds wi ll be required dur~
ing this period to supply the na tional need for
music.
UTAH STORE OPENS NEW ANNEX

Make
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FOR RUSSIA
It is learned that th e city of Stockholm,
Swed en, has notilied the l.' nit ed Stat es Depa rt ­
ment of Commerce that Amer;can exporters of
musical in st rum en ts m ay store their goo ds in
the free port wa r eho uses w hi c h were o pened
about the fi rst OIf this mont h . This is done
because of the expected demand fo r musical
instruments in Russia as soon as conditions
improve.
?
1""llifI.
J. P. Seeburg
i ;
PianoCompany
Leaders in the Automatic Field
Republic Building. 209 Soutb State Street
Factories,Seebw:g Building, 419 Wed Erie Street
CHICAGO
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12
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
GODOWSKY AND KNABE AMPICO IN LOS ANGELES CONCERT
Recital Held Under Auspices of Fitzgerald Music Co., and at Which Noted Pianist Appears in
Person in Comparison With His Ampico Records Proves a Sensation
Los .\ N GELE S, C AL., June 13. One of the most
important comparison recitals of the season,
in w hich Godowsky was th e fea tured a rtist
in conn ection with the Knabe Ampico re­
proLJ~~iano, was
held in the Trin ity
Auditorium on June 5, under the auspices of
the Fitzge ra ld Music Co., the aggressive Knabe
Amp ico repre sen tati ves in this city. The suc­
cess of the ·event will be r eadi ly appreciated
from the fact that although the recital was
advertis ed for less th an a week the hall, seat­
ing over 2,000., was crowded to capacity and
over 10,000 people who applied fo r ti cke ts were
compelled to .go away disappointed. The pre­
liminary announcement of the recital app eared
in Los A ngeles papers on June 1, an d requests
fo r ti ckets began to pou r in immediately.
Those who attended the r ec ital declare that
it is doubtful if a more interesting concert was
eve r given in Los Angeles, and the en thusia s m
of the audience both in the artistic and scien­
tific features of the affa ir even exceed ed the
ant icipatory interest s hown in the cOllcert by
the p'U blicat large. The fact that such a noted
pianist as Leopold Godowsky was to app ear in
itself proved a matter of exce ptional interest
to m~sic lovers of Los Angeles and vicinity, and
that h e· had .sufficient faith in the Knabe Ampico
reproducing piano to have a public comparison
made'. between his own playing and the repro·
duct ion of his own records by the A mpico
served to develop general interest to a tre­
m endous degree.
The program provided for the recital was
d is tinctly elaborate in charac.ter and in the na­
ture of a souveni·r, having been pr epa red with
great care, · with an al ytica l notes of the various
selec tion s which were to be pla yed . It is sig­
nificant that in a hall holding over 2,000 people
less than a hundred of the programs wer e col­
le cted aft e r th e concert, n early every member
o f the aud ien ce taking the program home.
The first number was Beethoven's Sonata
App ass ibn a ta in F Minor, played by Godowsky
in a manner tha t immediate ly aroused e nthu­
sias m. Nex t came Cho pin' s Ballade in A Flat,
which af ter being played by the pianist him­
self was repeated on the Ampico from a record
of Godowsky's own playing with a faithfulne ss
tha t proved a we-i nspiring to a grea t majori ty
o( th e audience. A fter playing Rachmaninoff's
Polka de W. R, dedicated to Godowsky by his
fellow artist, followed by ' Debu ssy's Rellets
dans l'Eau ~ th e pianist played E tude de Con­
cert by Li szt, whic h also wa s repeated on the
Ampico from a record of Mr. Godowsky's play­
ing, and served to give further proof of the po s­
sibilities and accomplishments of that instru­
ment.
After a Ch opi n Nocturne in F Sharp came the
final number, a Scherzo in C Sharp Minor, . by
the sa me composer, this number again being
repeated on the Amp ico, a nd serv ing to still
further impr ess th e audience.
Th e local press wa s practically as a unit in
giving to the recital the con sid e ration it de­
s e rved as a musical event of unusual interest
and importance, and nearly every L os .\n ge les
Leopold Godowsky
21, 1919
through the music of the Knabe A,mpico's repro­
.duction. It was marvelous and should be in
every home. The one thing it failed to do was
to autograph my progra.\11, which Godowsky did."
.\ lfred Hertz, conductor of the San Francisco
Symphon y Orchestra, said : "Delighted with
performance; enjoyed rec ital enormously," and
J ca n De Chau venet, of Pa ris, memb e r of the
International Congress of Music, summed up
his impressions by sa yi ng: "The reproduction
is indeed wonderful ; m y te acher, De Pachmann,
wou ld say 'Col ossa l'."
'fhe newspapers were u nanimous in th eir
praise of the musical and s cie ntific achievement
attained by thi s concert. The charact eris ti c
n otice is the fo llowing extract from the critic al"
notice which appeared in the Examiner:
"The Beethoven Sonata was followed by the
Chopin Ballade in A Flat. En th us iasm broke
a ll boun ds at the conclusion of this numb er
and when the arti s t returned and bowed his
ap preciatio n of the plaudits th e great pian o on
th e p latform , a s t hou gh supercharged w ith the
vitality and magnetism of the solo ist, s uddenly
began, apparently of its own volition, to r e pro­
dL:ce note for n ote th e number exact ly as the
pia nist ha d given it.
"T hu s cleve rly the A.mpico repr oducing pian o
was introdu ced to the great audi en ce and its
faithful discharge of so br illiant a r esp on sib ility
is som ethin g for artists and music pa trons alike
to consider. Shad in gs, evanescent rhythms and
dynamics were p rese nt ed exactly as th e artist
himself had g iven them but a moment before.
Th e hou se sat spellb ound as the marvels of this
gr ea t in ve nti on were revealed."
GERMAN GOODS STORED NEAR ITALY
paper carried extencled articles on the affair.
Many notable persons attended the concert, in­
cluding artists and te ac hers of far more than
loc a l reputation, and the Fitzgerald Mu s ic Co .
has been in receipt of numerous expressions of
congratulation from the se nota bles, some of
w hom came full of the spirit of ske pticism and
w ent away enthusiastic converts.
After the concert YV. F. Skeele, dean of the
College of Music of the University of California,
said: "I think it is a very wonderful demon­
stration." Thilo Becker, famous pianist and
teacher, declared, "I am converted and aston­
ished by the almost o ccult reproducing pow er of
the Ampico and am particularly impressed by
the great edu cat ional va lue at tachi ng to this
invention." L. E. Behymer, president of the
Gamut Club and Musical Man agers ' Association
of the United States and Canada, sa id: "Mos t
satisfying and remarkable. I know Mr. Godow­
sk y personally and when I closed my eyes I
felt his presence ' and personality re-cr ea ted
WICKHAM
JUNE
versus
A great number of pianos and organs are
now stol'ed in warehouses on the frontier be­
tween Italy and Switzerland by German mer­
chants, according to an official w ho has ju s t
returned to Washington. It is believed that
Germany will make a decided atte mpt to resume
he r form er trade w ith Italy and other countries
in the near future and regain, as far as pos sibl e,
her lost pre stige.
ST. LOUIS STORE ENLARGES AGAIN
Barthel & Du esenberg, ];}roprietors of the
Con co rdi a Mu sic House, St. Louis , Mo., have
agai n made an addition to their store. This
is the se cond enlargement in two yea rs and
shows th e gro wing trade of this co ncern.
Player-pianos are featured in the new quarters
and the repair shop has also b een extens·ively
improved to tak e care of the dem and s macle
upon this department.
x
It is well known that the symbol of an unknown
quantity is X
It is equally well known that the symbol of per­
fection in piano plates is WICKHAM
The case is before you for your decision
Wickham United Industries
Wickham Plano Plate Co.
The Wickham Co. 01 New Jersey
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
MATAWAN, NEW JERSEY

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