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48
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
OCTOBER 31,
1925
Richmond Finds Sheet Music Trade Is Good—(Continued from page 47)
for Grant, either. As he puts it: "The fact that
I have a coat of tan on my face doesn't mean
that I was born sunburnt." I was told that
Grant plays a good deal of golf' so I asked
him what his favorite course was.
He said:
"Fish." I said "No, no, I mean links." He
said, "Oh, now I've got you—oh, yes, I like
Frankfurters best." Grant told me he heard of
an inventor on the other side who had just pro-
duced a golf ball which squeaks when it is lost.
At the present time, though, it is Grant who
does the squeaking.
Speaking ,of Grant's success, I might also
say that it is due to the fact that he has sev-
eral shock absorbers, if I can make that clear
to you. I once heard a doctor say, "The human
life is a series of shocks. To absorb the shocks
of work and worry, you must have a shock ab-
sorber." I believe that golf is one of our
friend Grant's absorbers.
Many of us have been trained to be efficient
but have not been shown how to use lei-
sure. In other words, we are often wiser in
our vocations that with our vacations. As the
old doctor says: "The business man must have
a hobby, even if it is reading Nick Carter's
novels." If you can become absolutely absorb-
ed in them, they can be your shock absorber.
Grant thinks the fatal mistake that many a
business man makes is that he does not grow
as fast as his business. The fatal mistake of
some promoters is the fact that they make their
proposition sound too good. "Today the big
problem with many of us," Mr. Ege said, "isn't
so much the getting of new ideas—most of us
don't need new ideas as much as we need help
in carrying out the old ones. Ideas aren't
worth anything unless they are used."
Oh, I forgot to tell you that when I first
made my appearance at Grant Ege's office I
walked right in without knocking. He stood
right up and greeted me—and as he did, he
said, "You look great, Maurice, what are you
doing to yourself?" My immediate reply was
"I don't know how I look, but I feel great—
I feel like $100,000 in cash and I've got it too.
The trouble is I can't get at it. I keep it down
at Mr. Morgan's private • vault on Wall Street
and his big pile is on top of mine."
Mr. Ege has surrounded himself with a lot
of good people. I can't help but introduce a
few of them to you. Harry C. Knowles is the
head stock man. He knows a lot and if you
take the "1" away, he "knows" a great deal more.
The responsibility of getting up all trade bul-
letins for the wholesale and retail end of the
business is with Mr. Knowles, who is doing it
very nicely. We know that Mr. Ege trains
his people in the right way. Al Groene was
born and raised in Cincinnati—right in the
music business—but later on drifted out to
California. Finally he got lost in Texas and a
cyclone brought him as far north as Kansas
City to the Jenkins house. He is now in charge
of the band and orchestra department, and
from all evidences, he must be making good.
Al is a hustler without a doubt and should
make a mark for himself with this firm. I for-
got to tell Al that I have just found a new
hair restorer but if he wants the name of the
manufacturer, I'll be glad to send it to him.
Mrs. LeRoy Ranch, Mr. Ege's secretary, is
a very able lady and may I thank Mrs. Ranch
at this time for having been so nice to me.
Every time I come to Kansas City, she offers
her services and is always very happy to help
me out with some of my past due correspon-
dence. I happened to be talking to Mrs. Ranch
about Florida and she confided to me that she
has "lots of lots" down there. I hope they're
good—but she confessed she doesn't know
whether they are on the surface or under
water. When I go down to Florida next win-
ter I am going to look the property up, even
if I have to put on a diver's uniform to find it.
The professional end of the publishing de-
partment is under the personal supervision of
Miss Martha Young. Anybody with such a
sweet name can't help but be exceptionally
good. Besides, Mr. Ege picked her, so how
could she be otherwise. In order to get the
doings of the publishing department, I thought
it best to have a little chat with Miss Young.
She told me that "Deep Elm, You Tell 'Em I'm
Blue" is the biggest number in the catalog.
"Peaceful Valley" is a close second.
Both
songs were written by Willard Robison, Paul
Whiteman's pianist. They are his first two
numbers published. Other numbers in demand
from this catalog are "Louise You Tease," a
new Deni tune; "Gypsy of the Night," a beau-
tiful ballad; and "The World Is Such a Lone-
some Place Since I Lost You." Miss Young
said she was really proud of the catalog. "It
is the best we ever had." She is the type of
girl who goes back stage in a sort of "tom-
boy" fashion. Nothing fazes her, yet she is
always dignified in her manner. She has 3
thorough knowledge of music, knows what she
is talking about and has a splendid understand-
ing of teaching songs to the profession.
There are ever so many valuable men and
women in the Jenkins outfit—really too num-
erous to mention, but it is very evident that
every link within the chain is as near right as
possible in the music division under Mr. Ege's
personal supervision.
Wunderlich Piano Co.
The Wunderlich Piano Co., occupying three
floors, is a well-established music house at 1015
Grand avenue, handling the Ampico, Mason &
Hamlin pianos, Brunswick and Victor lines of
phonographs. The sheet music department is
managed by Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell, a musical
couple who have made music their life study.
Mr. Rockwell, aside from his duties at the store,
is director of the suburban orchestra at the
Murray Theatre. Mrs. Ethel Rockwell is de-
voting a great deal of time to training juvenile
artists, or rather teaching a lot of youngsters
and furnishing splendid entertainment for many
affairs. These children, under Mrs. Rockwell's
tuition, learn character dancing and singing-ec-
centric dancing, character work and various
other types of entertainment. She has put on
any number of shows and revues in Kansas
City and surrounding territory with great suc-
cess. From the reports about town, Gus Ed-
wards has nothing on this charming lady for
ability, talent and being able to take raw mate-
rial and put it in semi-professional form.
The space occupied by the music department
at the Wunderlich store is rather limited, but
it has all appearances of a nicely planned dis-
play and is considered in good standing in the
city.
Mrs. Rockwell looked remarkably well and I
couldn't help but mention it to her. Without
wanting to embarrass her, I said, "You must be
taking good care of yourself. There's nothing
like a happy couple." She said, "That's right.
We are happy in our domestic life and in our
commercial life as well. As for my looking
well, I'll tell you what a well-known physi-
cian prescribed. 'To give the face good color,
get a box of rouge and a rabbit's foot. Bury
them three miles from home and walk there
every day, or every other day, to see if they
are still there'."
Mr. Rockwell has an appearance such as a
systematic fellow would have. The pencil was
ready to make a number of pointed remarks
about the sponge being soaked all day and the
calendar looked much fresher after having had
a month off. The blotter was lying around,
taking it all in.
Crawford-Rutan Co.
"The Kansas City Band and Orchestra
House," "The House of Personal Service,"
the Crawford-Rutan Co., was organized in
June of 1921 by C. P. Crawford, president, and
J. A. Rutan, vice-president.
Both men are
thoroughly experienced in band and orchestra
instruments. Mr. Crawford was formerly with
the Holton Band Instrument Co., and later
with J. W. Jenkins' Sons for eight years. Mr.
Rutan was manager of Jenkins' retail depart-
ment for twelve years.
This concern specializes in all the well-
known band and orchestra instruments, such
as the Buescher line, Vega banjos, Ludwig
drums, etc. Mr. Crawford proudly showed me
through their store, which is all very attractive
and complete. The showrooms are fitted out
nicely; the stockroom is well supplied with
surplus merchandise to take care of the supply
and demand. There is a unique repair shop
which can heal any sickness from a rusty fiddle
to, a dusty sax.
E. Agnew, the old veteran music dealer of
Des Moines, has harnessed himself to the music
(Continued on page 49)