Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted By V. D. Walsh
If You're 111 Try Victoria, Canada,
and You'll Forget Your Pains and Aches
So Says Maurice Richmond, Head of the Richmond Music Supply Corp., New York, After a Visit
to the Music Trade There—Healthiest City in the World to Liv« in, He Proclaims
V I C T O R I A , April 3.—Victoria, Queen resi-
dential city of Canada, is one of the healthiest
cities of the world to live in. This magic portal to
one thousand miles of wonderland, including its
suburbs, has a popula-
tion of about 60,000.
Situated on the south-
ern end of Vancouver
Island, that is beautiful,
with fine vistas of sea,
mountain, shore line
and bay, magnificent
and picturesque, Vic-
toria i s m o d e r n i n
everything that goes to
make up an up-to-date
city. There is perhaps
no city possessing a
combination of features
necessary to an ideal
Maurice Richmond
place of residence that
can compare with Victoria. They say to the
traveler: "Tie a tag on your bag, then follow
the birds to Victoria, Canada's most delightful
Winter resort."
Fletcher Bros., Ltd.
This music house, established a little over
fifty years ago, is located at 1110 Douglas street,
in a class A-A building, entirely of steel and
concrete construction, costing over $100,000.
This is the result of the fire in 1923, which
destroyed the entire plant. The old institution
was considered to be one of the most complete
music houses in the Canadian Northwest.
James H. Fletcher is the president and
Thomas C. Fletcher, treasurer. T. W. Fletcher,
the head of the firm, is eighty-six years old, and
not now actively engaged in the business. The
general offices of the firm are in Victoria. It
has a branch at Vancouver, B. C , of which
Frank Furk is the manager, and one in
Nanaimo, B. C, managed by George A. Fletcher.
During my interview with Thomas C. Fletcher
he escorted me through the entire building,
which is finished in cream color throughout
the four floors. The artistic color schemes car-
ried out in the piano rooms are the ideas of
Frederick King, who has been in the piano de-
partment of this firm for ten years. Mr.
Fletcher had this to say with reference to the
business:
"We had a phenomenal holiday trade in 1925
and our piano business was very good. We
are looking for a good year, indeed, in 1926.
The Orthophonic Victrola has given the phono-
graph business a new lease on life. Soon we
will be back to the good old days when we
could fill all requirements in this line. W e
have many thousands of dollars' worth of busi-
ness booked on Victor goods which we hope to
take care of soon."
Mr. Fletcher is a director of the Rotary Club,
and the Chamber of Commerce. He was very
proud of the fact that his son, Walter J.
Fletcher, a grandson of the founder, and a big
husky just out of college tipping the scale at
almost 180, is now actively engaged in the busi-
ness and making good.
Fletcher Bros, are agents for the Steinway,
Gerard Heintzman, Nordheimer and several
other makes of pianos. The piano and instru-
ment department is under the direction of W.
IT. Davis, who has been with the firm for
sixteen years. The spacious and extremely at-
tractive Duo-Art room, with its expensive dec-
orations and improved rugs, is decidedly ef-
fective. Mr. Fletcher made the fact known to
me that the house had recently celebrated its
fiftieth birthday in business.
Cecil W. Heaton
At David Spencer, Ltd., there is one of the
busiest sheet music, phonograph and musical
instrument departments on the Canadian Wesl
Coast. While I have seen a great many de-
partments with a lot more space, I doubt
whether there are very many having more ac-
tivity than is seen here. The facts and figures
given to me by Cecil W. Heaton plainly show
that his department has made a remarkable
gain year after year. Cecil moved here several
years ago from Eastern Canada. He wanted
a good place "To-ron-to" so he went out to
Victoria. His holiday business last year was
the best he has had since he has been on the
West Coast. Cecil believes in unique advertis-
ing and the following was a placard hung on
his wall:
SONGS THAT SELL
Always—(Irving Berlin)—New.
Remember (Irving' Berlin)
Don't Walt Too Long: (Irving Berlin)
Venetian Isles (Irving Berlin)
Then I'll lie Happy
I Never Knew
That Certain Party
In the Middle of the Night
I Wonder Where My Baby Is To-night
Poor Papa (Has Got Nuthin' at All)
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (If I Knew
I'd Find You)
Gimme a Little Kiss (Will Ya-Huh?)
Tentin' Down in Tennessee
But I Do (You Know I Do)
What! No Women
Pining for You
Somebody's Wyes
Chinky Butterfly
Say It Again
He Ain't Done Right by Nell
What Am I Supposed to Do?
The Wind Blew Thru His Whiskers
Cecilia
I Wish't I Was in Peorla
Yes, Sir! That's My Baby
Oh, How I Miss You To-night
The Rosen Brought Me You
Yearning:
Waltzing the Blues Away
Miami, You Owo a Lot to Me
When Autumn Leaves Are Falling-
Take This Rose
Tell Me W T hy You and I Should Be Strangers
The Day That I Met You
—
—
—
—
—
—
"Oh,
it's Springtime in the country, and it's Springtime in
the town
And down at Cecil Heaton's they sell music by the poun'.
Sometimes they play it short and sweet,
Sometimes long and not so neat;
And music of that kind should be measured by the yard—
yes, by the back-yard."
Cecil is a great card and a good old pard.
He is as free of care as a bird in the air and is
"some bird" of the male species. He's a great
favorite with the ladies. Perhaps he favors
them also. The bowler, derby, I mean the Knox
or the Stetson which he brought out with him
years ago from Toronto, flew into the bay when
he first landed and he has never worn a hat
since. And what a crop he has on his dome—
curly, too. Cecil told me one about his twelve-
year-old boy, Roy. They were discussing his-
tory and Cecil asked him: "Do you know when
Rome was built?" "Yes," said Roy, "at night."
"Why, how do you account for that?" Cecil
asked. "Well," Roy said, "haven't you often
heard it said that Rome wasn't built in a day?"
Cecil is extremely fond of his eighteen-year-
old daughter, a very charming and sweet girl.
She was not in the city when I was there, but
was spending a holiday in eastern Canada.
Cecil reminded me of a picture I once saw
of a fellow sitting on a pumpkin, the title of
which was "Your Pumpkin of Independence."
That is just like Cecil. He is very happy that
he is in business for himself. He would rather
sit on the pumpkin and fltave it all to himself
than to be crowded on a velvet cushion. As a
matter of fact, he saw on the dim horizon of the
future the vision of business ownership—the
pumpkin all to himself, which led to natural in-
dependence. Some achieve their mission, while
others, resting on the velvet cushion, are still
hoping for the day when the key to their own
business will be in their pocket without making
the effort.
Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Cecil's Or-
chestra is the real thing in Victoria. He plays
for all the high-brows. When the Prince of
Wales made a visit to Victoria he was enter-
tained by the elite, and Cecil was engaged to
play for him. As a result, the Prince gave him
a silver match-box.
Cecil claims there are no dull times in Vic-
toria so far as the music business is concerned.
"We have many holiday seekers in the Winter
42
BOOKS THAT SELL
X
New Universal Dance Folio
No. 11
Fidition Extraordinary—Just Out
Peterson's Ukulele Method
World's Favorite Songs
Tiddle De Ukes
Strum It With Crumit
Irving Berlin's Song Gems
From the Musical Comedy Sensation
"THE COCOANUTS"
A Little Bungalow
Florida By the Sea
We Should Care
The Monkey Doodle Doo
Lucky Boy
IRVING BERLIN, Inc.
1607 Broadway, New York
and tourists in the Summer." He has four ex-
perienced girls in the department, who keep in
time with Cecil's step. Being long-legged and
full of "pep" he has some stride, too. He
broadcasts through station CFCF regularly.
While my visit with Cecil was on a Saturday,
the busiest day of the week, he did not fail to
take me out for a ride around the town in his
car, so that I could inhale some of that A-l
ozone and what not. Cecil paid for the lunch a
total of 30 cents. We ate a. la carte, too, and
the girls would not accept any tips from Cecil's
friends. The food sure was appetizing and
tickled the palate. Try and do it in New York.
After a short rest, Cecil said: "Now, Maurice,
I want you to get some of this wonderful sun,
it's much better than seeing the doctor." We
spent exactly one hour about town, driving