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APRIL 16,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1921
SECOND MUSIC WEEK CELEBRATION FOR NEW YORK CITY
TO LIQUIDATE WITZMANN BUSINESS
Singing by Massed Choir in Central Park, Under Walter Damrosh, to Open Second Music Week
Celebration on Sunday, April 17—Many Organizations to Participate in Celebration
Provisions of Will of Late Emile Witzmenn De-
clared Responsible for the Move
City-wide ringing of chimes and church bells
will open New York's second Music Week, Sun-
day, April 17. Following this, at 5:45 o'clock
in the- afternoon, there will be singing by a
massed choir in the Mall in Central Park, under
the direction of Walter Damrosch, choirs from
many city churches participating.
During the week an Interborough contest will
be held among the orchestras of the various
schools, prizes being awarded for the winning
ensemble at a special meeting of school children
at the Capitol Theatre, Saturday morning,
April 23.
George H. Gartlan, director of music in the
public schools, announced that the students in
the upper grades will write essays on the sub-
ject, "What Music Week Means to Me," with
prizes to be given by the National Bureau for
the Advancement of Music. DeWitt Clinton
High School, which boasts one of the best or-
chestras in the system, will give a series of con-
certs in its auditorium to the graduating classes
of the public and parochial schools of its dis-
trict, which extends from Thirty-fourth street
to 125th street and from Fifth avenue to the
Hudson River.
Directors of music in Newark, Summit and
Trenton, N. J., Mamaroneck, Nyack, Dobbs Ferry
and Floral Park, N. Y., and Norwalk, Conn.,
have notified the committee that their schools
will participate by special assemblies devoted to
music, by attendance of pupils at public con-
certs, by lectures on the lives of composers il-
lustrated by the playing of their works, and
sometimes by more elaborate efforts. Private
schools and colleges will celebrate in much the
same way. Among those which already have
reported are: The College of the City of New
York, Columbia University, Packer Collegiate
Institute, Brooklyn, the Polytechnic Preparatory
School, the Finch School, the Berlitz School of
Languages, and the College of New Rochelle.
Women's clubs and musical societies which
will make specific contributions to Music Week
include the Verdi Club, to give a performance
of "Aida," the Chaminade, of Brooklyn, the
New York Women's Choir, the Treble Clef
Club, of Hackettstown, N. J., Englewood Wom-
en's Club, Political Study Club, of Bayonne,
N. J., the Neighborhood Club, of Flushing, and
many other out-of-town groups.
In the motion picture houses Music Week
will be observed by the showing of slides an-
nouncing the dates, urging every member of
the audience to participate in some way, and
containing the following quotation from Presi-
dent Harding:
"We cannot have too much music; we need
it—the world needs it—probably more than ever
before, and I am the friend of every effort to
give it its rightful place in our national life."
A special cover for Music Week programs has
been prepared by the committee and will be
used in some of the leading houses and clubs
planning Music Week.
On the East Side the Henry Street Settlement
will give a benefit performance the opening
Sunday for the Music League of the Peoples
Institute, which is organizing choruses, bands
and orchestras among the people of the vicinity.
That organization will also take advantage of
Music Week to launch a drive for music scores,
sheet music, etc., for the music library it is
building up.
Charles D. Isaacson, editor of "Our Family
Music Page," will contribute in a very material
way to the success of Music Week by giving a
large number of concerts in eleemosynary insti-
tutions, by holding daily noon-hour concerts at
Aeolian Hall throughout the week, and by some
big special events, details of which he is not
yet ready to divulge.
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 11.—It is announced that
the business of E. Witzmann & Co., Inc., at 99
North Second street, this city, which was estab-
lished in 1872, is to be liquidated in order to
comply with the provisions of the will of the late
Emile Witzmann, founder of the company, to the
effect that his estate be divided at a specified time
and that certain money be withdrawn from the
business.
It was felt by the active members of the com-
pany that the business should be expanded, the
buildings remodeled, or a more desirable location
selected if the business were expected to continue
to prosper. However, to increase capital stock
to provide" for a definite progiam of expansion
would have mean some friendly court actions
in which the family did not care to engage. The
final decision was to liquidate the business and
retire from the field rather than to sell the name
and good will to other interests.
The liquidation of the Witzmann business is
being widely advertised in the newspapers, and
the process is expected to take some time. Neither
Henry W. Witzmann, secretary-treasurer, nor
Frederick O. Gamble, vice-president and manager
of the company, is ready at this time to an-
nounce his future plans.
ACUTE STAGE IN TAX FIGHT
LATEST ISSUE OF "THE KEYNOTE"
Campaign to Relieve Music Industry of Excise
Tax Burdens Centers in Washington
Salesmanship Number of Baldwin Co. House
Organ Is Full of Real Meat
Insofar as the music industry is concerned,
the tax fight is reaching an acute stage. The
battle has shifted from skirmishes in all parts of
the country to one big attack at Washington,
and the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce,
while maintaining its campaign in remote parts,
particularly in the home districts of the new
members of the Ways and Means Committee
of the House, has strengthened its position at
Washington.
The industry is vitally interested in the fight
which is likely to come up in the Finance Com-
mittee of the Senate over Senator Smoot's bill.
George W. Pound, general counsel of the
Chamber, has been in Washington a large part
of the time for two weeks. From now on he
will remain permanently on the ground to watch
every move of the contending forces.
As many of the legislators are undecided what
stand they will take on tax legislation and have
their ears to the ground for the sentiment of
their constituents, the Chamber urges the trade
everywhere to do everything possible to inform
them.
Overlooking no opportunity to align all organi-
zations which may aid in the tax fight, the Cham-
ber this week sent special letters to the Asso-
ciation of Music Supervisors, the Musicians'
Union and the organists enlisting their services.
The latest number of The Keynote, the
handsome new house organ of the Baldwin Piano
Co., is termed a salesmanship number, and it
is no misnomer, for the pages are full of ma-
terial of direct and practical value to the piano
and player-piano salesman. Most of the articles
are based on actual experience and teach lessons
in successful selling that cannot be overlooked.
The Keynote, by the way, is proving of un-
usual interest to dealers. It is produced on an
elaborate scale, copiously illustrated with half-
tones and cartoons, and is a genuine magazine
of business.
The Cable Piano Co. branch in Macon, Ga.,
has just opened a talking machine department
featuring the Victor line. The new department
is under the management of Miss Bessie Camp.
The American Piano Trading Corp., of Man-
hattan, has been incorporated with a capital
stock of $100,000. Those interested are L. H.
Newkirk, P. 'I". Davis and A. Ohlsen.
THE BEST KNOWN
MUSICAL
NAME
IN THE. WORLD.
GIFFORD OPENS NEW STORE
John J. Gifford & Co., of Charlotte, N. C, have
lately moved into their new store at No. 33 West
Fourth street, that city, where they will con-
tinue to handle a complete line of musical in-
struments and sheet music. Their old quar-
ters were located at No. 3 West Fourth street,
where they did a thriving business, specializing
in phonographs and records. John J. Gifford
is manager of the firm. The usual high stand-
ard maintained by the firm will obtain even in
greater degree at the new establishment.
NEW INCORPORATION
BIG MUSIC WEEK PLANS FOR DALLAS
Music Merchants Taking a Prominent Part in the
Arrangements—Those Invited
DALLAS, TEX., April 9.—The Music Merchants'
Association of Texas, through Henry P. Mayer,
of Paris, the president, and Robert N. Watkin,
of this city, secretary and treasurer, is taking an
active part in the carrying out of the plans for
the elaborate celebration of Music Week here
during the week of May 1-7. This year's celebra-
tion is expected to surpass all previous records,
and a number of people prominent in the musical
world have been invited to attend, among them
being R. B. Aldcroftt, president of the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce; C. M. Tre-
maine, director of the National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music; E. Paul Hamilton, presi-
dent of the National Association of Music Mer-
chants, and several others.
NEW KIMBALL REPRESENTATIVE
Geo. M. W. Kobbe to Represent Entire Kimball
Line in Eastern Territory
The W. W. Kimball Co., Chicago, 111., has an-
nounced the appointment of Geo. M. W. Kobbe,
formerly vice-president of the Crescent Talking
Machine Co., as its Eastern representative, in
charge of sales of Kimball pianos, player-pianos
and talking machines in the Eastern territory.
Mr. Kobbe will establish sales offices and show-
rooms in the course of the next week or so and
full details regarding his plans will be announced
later. The Kimball organ will continue to be
represented, as heretofore, at the company's
offices at 507 Fifth avenue, New York, and Mr.
Kobbe's activities will not include the develop-
ment of organ business.
WATKIN TO ADDRESS ORGANISTS
Will A. Watkin, president of the Will A. Wat-
kin Co., Dallas, Tex., is scheduled to be one of
the chief speakers at a celebration at Dallas, Tex.,
on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, to
mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the found-
ing of the American Guild of Organists.
J. B. White has opened a music store in
Sedalia, Mo.
THE BEST PROFIT
PRODUCER FOR THE
DEALER IN THE TRADE