THE
OCTOBER 27, 1923
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
DEMAND TAKES SPURT WITH THE PHILADELPHIA TRADE
Concern Being Shown by Local Dealers Over Receiving Sufficient Instruments to Fill Their
Orders-C. J. Heppe & Son Hold Annual Meeting-Story & Clark Co. Anniversary
]>HJLADELPHIA, PA., October 23.-The one ele
ment which, as pointed out in these columns,
seemed to be the only one lacking to spur on
bll sines s-seasonable weather-made its wel
come appearance toward the close of last week
and continued over during the opening days of
this week with the result that in the rounds
of the trade made to -day not a de ale r on Piano
Row or in neighborhood centers whose attitude
was othcr th an satisfied or delighted.
Shortages Predicted
The house of ~. St etso n & Co., featuring- the
Stein way and therefore coming into contact
with the pur chasers of large r means, may be
regarded as a fair criterion of business condi
tion s. Certainly when buying of high-grade in
str um en ts involving conside rable expenditure is
lively there is virtual certainty that the market
for the lower-price goods also is active. Busi
ness with the Stetson firm during the closing
a nd major portion of the past week has been
of such character that actually it is more con
cerned over prompt r ecei pts of pianos from the
factory than it is over its ability to dispose of
them. At th e establishments of C. ]. Heppe
& Son, the Cunningham Piano Co., Weymann
& Son and oth er repr ese ntatives of the trade,
there was told to-day the same story of satis
faction with present-day buying; the indications
of co ntinuance and a climax in a big holiday
season.
All Heppe Officers Re-elected
The officials who for so many years hav e served
the organization of C. ]. Heppe & Son were
re-c1 ected during the week and the success
which they have achieved .was made evident by
the declar at ion of 6 per cent dividend. The
firm's authorized ca pital is $2,500,000. The per
so nnel of th e Heppe business will continue to
be F. ]. Heppe, pre si dent a nd treasurer; M. F.
McDow ell , vice-president; ,.valter
Harper,
assistant t reas ur er; G. \.v. \.vhitney, secretary,
I\hrcellus H eppe, assistant secretary. All these,
togethcr with R. F. Lehman, also constitute
the Board of Di rectors. President Heppe has
. been active in th e firm since 1877. Mr. Mc
Uow ell became associated with it in 1909 and
Mr. Harpe r, who heads the accounting depart
ment, has been active for thirt y- five years. The
se rvic es of Mr. Whitney, who served as ad ver
tising manager, have extended for ov er more
than a dec ade and of Marcellus Heppe for about
eig-ht years . Mr. Lehman, who is in charge
of the uptown store at Sixth and Thompson
s tr ee ts, where the H eppe business was estab
Itsh ed in 1865, ha s served for about forty years.
In 1882 the firm became one of the members
of the Piano Row colony, being first located
at 1106 Chestnut street, subsequently removing
to 1115 Chestnut street and occupying there
only one floor , but with continuous growth ex
tending into occupancy of all. the floors and
subsequently of the adjoining properties , 1117
a nd 1119 Chestnut street. During the week
Miss }vI. L. Boyd was added to the advertising
depa rtm ent.
Remodeling New Wurlitzer Quarters
Arti ~a n ~ busied themselves all the week 111
d tco rations and minor improvements to the
upp e r floors of the Almar Building, Chestnut
street below Eleventh, recently purchased by
Manager Toth, in charge of the Philadelphia
bra nch of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., ' now on
Che s tnut street below Ninth. The major im
provements, consisting of a mezzanine floor and
installation of an elevator, together with r eno
vations of the street level store fronts, have not
yet been begun, although plans by architects
are almost completed. To-day there came from
th e Wurlitzer factory in North Tonawanda
Farn ey Wur1itzer, who will probably finally re
vise the reconstruction plans.
Story & Clark Co. Anniversary Celebration
The Philadelphia store of the Story & Clark
Piano Co. brought to a close during the week
its anniversary celebration and special sale a nd
Manager Kohnheim pronounced them both en
tirely successful. Large sales und er the special
price offerings which were made were repo rt ed.
Trade Visitors who made the rounds during
the week included Frank Maclntyre, of the
Kohler Industries; E. M. Booth, of Jacob Doll
& Son s ; E. T. Dunham, of the Aeolian Co., and
J. T. J ac kson , of the Mi ess ner Piano Co.
AD MEN PRAISE BRAMBACH CAMPAIGN
"In this way, and only in this way, would
feel th a t I cou ld reap my personal shar e of
the ben efit of the money you arc spe nding' in my
behalf.
"It is intelligent work such as yo u are do
ing, Mr. Campbell, that a retai ler appreciates,
because it means selling piano.s and that is wh a t
he is in the busine ss to do."
L. .'\. VI/ eave r, a dvertising manager of Good
Houseke ep in g, was a lso greatly impressed with
the campaign, regard in g which he wrote:
"This is'indeed very intere st ing and complete
and there is no question in my mind but that
if your dealers and your selling organization use
this material as you have outlined it th eir re
turns will be very satisfactory.
Hi\. dealer stocks a product because he believes
it will se ll. He bel ieves that a certain number
of people in his community will want that prod
uct and will come to his store to buy it. His
~.ttitude toward s the product and the amount of
effort he himself will put into it depends upon
the s tren gth of this belief. Th e Brambach
Piano Co. as the manufacturers, therefore, prove
co nclusively that th ey. are creating a real con
sumer dema nd for th eir product and ar e using
every me ans to secure th e most complete
and enthusiastic co-operat ion from their di s
tributors."
c.
Advertising Managers of National Magazines
Offer Enthusiastic Comments Regarding the
Brambach November Advertising Campaign
The 1923 Brambach November advertising
campaig n, which follow s alon g the lines of pre
vious campaigns of similar cha racte r, but is
planned on a much broader basi s, has naturally
attracted co nsid era bl e att ention throughout thc
trade a nd has won favorable comment in many
quarters, particularly from the Brambach deal
ers who have already experienced the results of
such wi despread advertising.
It is interest ing to lea rn, however, that ad
ve rtisin g men outside the trade h a ve been
gr ea tl y impressed with the exte nt and excellent
char ac ter of the Brambach campaign, among
them being \N ell s Drorbaugh, Eastern advertis
in g man ager of Hou se and Garden, who wrote
LO Mark P. Campbell, president of the Bram
bach Piano Co., the following:
" It has been my privilege. to see the very
beau tiful a nd h elpful presentation of the Bram
bach Baby Grand Nov em ber Campaign of 1923
which you a re sendiug' to the trade.
"If I were a retail dealer handling your pianos
I would certainly make th e most intensive use
possible of so helpful a thing. Knowing that
the Brambach message was going to every good
piano prospect in my town through the pages of
the leading magaz ines, I would hasten to iden
tify my store in the minds of these same pros
pects as the place where they could find the
Brambach, both by means of my local news
papers and direct by mail.
9
Player-Pia'no
NOTES
FROM THE LAUTER-HUMANA
FACTORY, NEWARK, N. J.
DEALERS VALUE LAUTER
ADVERTISING SERVICE
Electrotypes Sent Free Each Month
Ads Are Prepared by Lauter Retail Advertising
Department-Dealer's Viewpoints Emphasized
Complete co-op era tion with its dealers is
always in evidence in the operation of the Lau
ter-Humana Co. This concern doe s not merely
take orclers a nd then deliver the in s trument s
it helps the dealer to mo ve hi s s tock.
,\s an instance of the completeness of the
servi ce, each Laute r d ea le r receives a seri es of
caref ully prepar ed a d vertise ments ever y month.
Th es e ads are stron g in typographical make-up
and arc particularly suited for loca l newspapers,
~,j
The Lauter-Humana is
the Largest-Selling High Grade
Player Piano in the World!
N EVERY FIELD
of endeavor there is
I always one thing that is accorded
the distinction of being called" the
best." In the world of player piano
music, the Lauter·Humana occupies
such a position. This instrument has
much to recommend it-so much, in
fact, that a recital of some of its
features can convey but a slight idea
of its excellence. To be completely
appreciated, it must be played!
DEALER'S NAME HERE
~
100 MAIN STREET
~
LA llTER DEALER ADVERTISEMENT
where th e quality of the printing is not always
ap t to be perfect. They range in size from one
co lumn, five inches to three columns, twelve
in ch es, and are all attractively illustrat ed.
These advertisements are e'ntircly different
from the dealer services that are sent out by
most manufacturers. They are 'prepared by the
L au ter retail advertising department and have
all been successfully used by the Lauter retail
s tores.
The advertisement reproduced above was one
of the October service. Dealers may order it
by referrin g to Electro No. 230.
WITHDRAWS FROM PARTNERSHIP
Wholesale Manager A. E. Schmalzigan vis
ited Charles Hereth, Buffalo, N . Y., and Daniel
so n' s Musi c House, J ame stown, N. Y., last
week. Both of th ese concerns look forward
to an excellent holiday trade and report a brisk
demand for the Lauter-Humana.
READING, FA., October 23.- Ralph E. Hangen
has recently withdrawn from the partnership
existing bet we en Edgar P. Hangen, Paul S.
H a ngen a nd himself, tradin g as Han ge n's Music
House.
A. W. Musser, who has been traveling in
Penn sylvania, sen t in orders fro m O. W. Hanson,
at Kan e, and A. G. Dittmer, at Butler, both of
whom feature the Lauter-Humana as their
leader.