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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MARCH 5, 1921
FEBRUARY PROVES GOOD MONTH FOR ST. LOUIS TRADE
Gradual Improvement in Business Encourages Local Music Dealers—Advertising Creating Re-
newed Interest in Musical Instruments—Personals and News of the Week
ST. LOUIS, MO., February 28.—For a short month
February was a pretty good month, generally
speaking, for St. Louis music merchants. It
started off with a very slight improvement. The
second week was slightly better than the first
and the improvement, very gentle and gradual,
continued through the month. That is, general-
ly speaking, for the improvement was not uni-
form or consistent. It is necessary to count up
the month's results to show an improvement.
Even at that it is more of a promise than an
accomplishment. Dealers are hoping and ex-
pecting that the gradual improvement will
continue.
One encouraging thing is that advertisements
are beginning to pull, after a long period of
ineffectiveness. Manager J. E. Dockstader, of
the Stix, Baer & Fuller piano department,
advertised some used instruments of good
makes and some new ones of cheap makes, and
brought in a lot of inquirers of the middle class,
who knew what they wanted and would not
take anything else. What they wanted was
cheapness. They preferred used instruments of
good makes to new ones of inferior makes. The
first day there were five sales and the ensuing
days measured up well.
Manager Russell Elam, of the Scruggs, Van-
dervoort & Barney piano department, had the
same experience with an advertisement of used
instruments as a month-end inducement. He
says the response was good and sales were
readily made.
The Music Merchants' Association of St.
Louis has subscribed $150 toward the deficit of
the St. Louis Symphony Society and will in ad-
dition give 25 per cent of its income for the rest
of the year.
Harry Hunter, manager of the Lehman Piano
Co. since September, has gone to Chicago with
the expectation of establishing a connection
with one of the houses there. G. R. Harris, who
has been connected with the sales force, has
been appointed sales manager.
E. A. Kieselhorst, president of the Kieselhorst
Piano Co., has purchased a $40,000 home at
Southmoor, an exclusive suburb, and will move
in this week. Mr. and Mrs. Kieselhorst have
been living at the Rranscome apartment hotel.
CHARACTER
"Admirable Quality; Acknowledged Reputation"
—{Standard Dictionary)
PIANOS
Manufactured by
Smith, Barnes
and
Strohber Co.
have for 33 years
justified their right
to be called
Pianos of Character
FACTORIES
North Milwaukee, Wis.
Chicago, III.
A. Dalrymple, treasurer of the Estey Piano
Co., New York, was in St. Louis last week in
connection with the St. Louis Estey agency.
D. D. Luxton, of Vose &. Sons Piano Co.,
Boston, was a St. Louis visitor last week.
Charles Thompson, of the Henry G. Johnson
Piano Co., Bellevue, la., was here last week
calling the attention of the trade to a sample
player which he had at the Jefferson Hotel.
A. E. Whitaker has closed his upstairs piano
parlors in the Arcade Building and has taken
a position with the Scruggs, Vandervoort &
Barney piano department. Before he started
the upstairs experiment he was manager of the
F. G. Smith piano store here and later was in
charge of the piano department of the Smith-
Reis Piano Co. Mrs. J. B. Jefferis, who was
associated with the Whitaker parlors, also has
taken a position with the Vandervoort depart-
ment.
Manager J. E. Dockstader, of the Stix, Baer
& Fuller piano department, was in Chicago
most of last week buying pianos and players.
KRELL PIANO CO. SUED
WHITELEY RESIGNS AS MANAGER
Suit Filed by Banking Institution in Cincinnati
—E. E. Roberts Recovered From Recent Ill-
ness—Otto Grau a Grandpa—Other News
U), N. Y., February 28.—G. N. Whiteley,
who for some time past has been general man-
ager of the Buffalo branch of the Rudolph Wur-
litzer Co., resigned from that position last week.
Mr. Whiteley has gone to New York. He stated
before leaving that his plans for the future had
not yet been definitely decided.
CINCINNATI, O., February 28.—Seeking judgment
for a total of $53,000 and interest the "Fifth-Third
National Bank filed suit in the Common Pleas
Court on Thursday against the Krell Piano Co.
through Attorneys Maxwell and Ramsey. The
suit is based on three notes for a total of
$68,000, given in 1917, upon which, it is alleged,
there is a balance of $53,000 still due.
Manager E. E. Roberts, of the Baldwin Co.,
has returned to his desk after several weeks'
absence due to illness. He is feeling decidedly
better and is ready to make up for lost time.
In figuring up the February sales he finds busi-
ness has kept up very satisfactorily. Lucien
Wulsin, treasurer of the Baldwin Co., is in St.
Louis looking after business interests in that
city.
Otto Grau is wearing a very broad smile these
days and can see the Grau Piano Co. lasting
through another new generation. A young man
has been added to the Grau family and firm
who will call Mr. Grau grandpa so soon as he
manages to learn a few words. The young man
was born on the birthday of Mr. Grau's son,
Henry Grau. The Grau Co. will hold its an-
nual stockholders' meeting some time during this
week. The company is making quite a lot of
improvements in the salesrooms on the second
floor, and expects to have the finest showrooms
in the city when the improvements are com-
pleted. The whole second floor will be redec-
orated and new lighting fixtures, tapestries and
furniture installed. George E. Mansfield, for-
merly with the Ludwig Co. but now with C.
Kurtzmann & Co., was a Grau visitor during the
week and reports business very encouraging.
Manager B. Falconer, of the John Church Co.,
reported a very good, week in the sales depart-
ment. While business is not what he would
like, he states, it has been showing signs of
picking up and February sales were as good as
those of last year and better than 1 those of
January. Falconer has noticed what other com-
panies have also remarked about and that is
that sales being made now are to an exception-
ally good class of customers.
Manager R. E. Wells, of Steinway & Sons, is
still in the East and is not expected to return
for another week or so.
The Cincinnati piano dealers are treating
their Piano Dealers' Association with about the
same contempt the voters did the President's
League of Nations. Inquiries as to when the
association is to hold a meeting or what it is
planning to do are met with hoarse hoots and
loud laughter. It is very evident the piano
dealers prefer self-determination to any cov-
enant and feel that so long as they are all man-
aging to live and thrive and do business and
keep a friendly spirit among the dealers there is
no use bothering with an association. Hence,
until something comes up that will require them
to unite their forces to fight there will be no
attempt made to arouse the poor old associa-
tion from its sleeping sickness.
G. H. VAUGHAN, JR., ARRIVES
G. H. Vaughan, the genial Eastern repre-
sentative of the Ohio Veneer Co., is wearing
a broader smile than usual these days. It's a
boy, which arrived at the Vaughan home in
Palisades Park, N. J., last Monday and now
bears his father's name.
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Consult the universal Want Directory of
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