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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
APRIL 3, 1920
ST. LOUIS PIANO MEN OPTIMISTIC OVER PROSPECTS
Coming of Better Weather Brings More Active Business to Local Piano Dealers—Music Houses
Among the Largest Advertisers—Phil Lehman Returning From the Coast—Other New?
ST. LOUIS, MO., March 29.—Nearly all the music
Phil Lehman, president of the Lehman Piano
merchants were feeling a little better during Co., who has been basking under California
the past week and there was an air of cheerful- skies and picking oranges from the trees, as he
ness which has been lacking for some time. It relates on a fancy colored postcard, left San
was produced by a slight but perceptible im- Francisco Thursday, to return by way of New
provement in business and sustained by the Orleans, where he planned to stop off for a
hope, if not the expectation, that the improve- day or two, and will reach home about the iir.st
ment would continue. It doesn't take much of the month. Mrs. Lehman is with him.
to bring cheerfulness when business has been
Charles Howe, sales manager of the Apollo
breaking rather badly for a few months. Some Piano Co., DeKalb, 111., was in St. Louis
were inclined to call it a spurt, but a spurt is Wednesday on his way back from a Western
something to be thankful for, and there is al- trip.
ways the chance that a spurt will settle down
O. R. Bowman of Steger & Sons, Chicago,
to something steady. J. F. Ditzell, manager and Robert Harper, of the Q R S Music Roll
of the Famous & Barr Co. music department, Co., Chicago, spent part of the past week in
and Russell Elam, manager of the Scruggs, Van- < St. Louis.
dervoort & Barney piano department, were in
There was an arts and antiques display dur-
the East last week trying to get goods. Elam ing the past week on the fourth floor of the StJK,-
came back Monday after spending four days at Baer & Fuller Dry Goods Co.'s store, with a
the Sohmer, Milton, Fischer and Brambach fac- Hardman Welte-Mignon player as the musical
tories in New York, a day at Kurtzmann's in attraction. The exhibit was directly in front
Buffalo and a day at Chickering Bros, in Chi- of the elevators. The Wiltc-Mignon occupied
cago. Ditzell is making two weeks of it and the center of the display space. It was in charge
has not yet returned.
of Bruno Heintze of the piano department and
The monthly report of William McC. Martin, was constantly surrounded by crowds as it was
Federal Reserve agent for the Eighth Federal playing.
Reserve District, just made public, is more than
Mrs. Mary Silverstonc, mother of Mark Sil-
usually interesting. He declares his belief that vcrstone, president of the Silverstone Music
the peak of high prices has passed. He says Co., died Friday night at her home, following
that production is more nearly approximating an illness of two months. She was about seventy
{lemand, the spirit of conservatism that devel- years old. She was a large stockholder in the
oped during the first weeks of February still Silverstone company and was a member of the
is in evidence, business men are proceeding with board of directors.
greater caution, and the general public seems
O. A. Field, president of the Field-Lippman
to be making its purchases with greater dis- Piano Co., returned Saturday from a two weeks'
cretion. Purchasers, he says, are spending less visit to the Texas branches of the firm.
recklessly and demanding lower prices, with the
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kunkel celebrated their
result that there has been a falling off in sales golden wedding anniversary last week at their
as compared to the month before.
home. Mr. Kunkel is president of the KunkeJ
Eight music houses are included among the Bros. Piano Co., and is a gifted pianist.
fifty biggest advertisers in St. Louis, as shown
by the eleventh annual compilation of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. The Conroy Piano Co.
leads the procession with 115,430 lines in the Decide on New Tuning Rates and Discuss Free
Gift Problem—Working for Music Week
five newspapers. The Aeolian Co. used 108,020
lines; the Kieselhorst Piano Co., 93,905 lines;
ST. JOSEPH, MO., March 29.—At a meeting of the
Silver stone Music Co., 89,138; the Rudolph Wur-
litzer Co., 76,697; the Starck Piano Co.. 72,599; piano and talking machine dealers of this city
Wiedener's Grafonola Shop, 40,415, and the held here last week, as a result of a call sent
Artophone Co., 49,384 lines. The department out by Earl Elsham, manager of the piano and
stores, of course, are included in the fifty big- talking machine departments of the Leader De-
gest, but there is no separate compilation of partment Store, it was decided to advance the
the space allotted to their music departments. price of tuning from $3 to $3.50 for city work
Speaking about luck, how's this? Two car- and $5 for country work. Other matters af-
loads of H. C. Bay player-pianos, consigned to fecting the interests of dealers were also dis-
another point, were lost in transit and turned up cussed, among them being the dharging of
near East St. Louis, considerably off of their interest on piano and talking machine instalment
intended route. To shunt them back where sales and the elimination of free tuning, as well
they belonged meant more delay, so the ship- as free benches, scarfs, etc.
It is the first time the dealers of St. Joseph
pers called up the Conroy Piano Co. and asked
if they would like to take the two carloads. have gotten together on a hirge scale, and the
The deal was closed on the long distance tele- meeting was due directly to the efforts of Mr.
phone and within a few hours the two carloads Elsham, who entertained the party at luncheon.
Mr. Elsham was responsible for the recommen-
were delivered in St. Louis.
dation to the Chamber of Commerce that F. E.
Morton, acoustic engineer of the American Steel
& Wire Co., be brought to the city to address
the business men. Efforts are also being made
to put over a Music Week for St. Joseph and the
music dealers are enthusiastic regarding the
plans.
Among those who attended the meeting last
week were Fred Schneider, manager of the
piano department of Townscnd, Wyatt & Wall;
Manager Helsell, of the J. W. Jenkins' Sons
Music Co.; Manager Connor, of the Olney
Music Co., and S. E. Eshclman, of the Eshel-
nian Music Shop.
DEALERS MEET IN ST. JOSEPH, MO.
FOTOPLAYER
for the finest
Motion Picture
Theatres
AMERICAN PHOTO
PLAYER CO.
San Francisco
New York
Chicago
Suppose the
Profits Are
Equal
Wouldn't you rather
sell a first-class, "made
complete" instrument
than a cheap, assem-
bled brand, with a sten-
ciled name? Especially
when the price of the
superior piano puts it
well within the average
man's reach, yet allows
you a substantial profit.
It is much better busi-
ness to sell the product
of known quality y isn't it}
Back of you when you
handle the
LESTER
PIANOS
Grand, Upright, Player-
is our reputation, a third of
a century in the making.
We jealously guard our
record for fair-dealing.
Piano merchants in all parts
of America have built their
reputation upon the Lester
Line.
The Lester is a durable in-
strument, and its sterling
qualities are the result of
painstaking care, both in
the selection of materials,
in the designing and in
the making. There are no
"comebacks" on Lester
sales—it will pay you to
write to-day for full details.
NEW STORE OPENED
The Kelly Furniture and Musical Merchan-
dise Store, East St. Louis, 111., is now open for
business. This store is located in the Metro-
politan Building at Fourth and Missouri ave-
LESTER PIANO CO.
Philadelphia