Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
OCTOBER 9, 1926
Now We Have With Us the Season of State and County Fairs
(Continued from page 3)
salesmen in attendance have little oppor-
tunity for developing the most desirable per-
sonal contact. One of those who disagree is
Charles M. Zitzer, of Mansfield, O., who, while
exhibiting pianos, phonographs and band instru-
ments at fairs in his vicinity, keeps the amount
of free music offered to a minimum despite
the fact that the employes of his house have
organized a very competent band which plays
in schools, before clubs and elsewhere.
It is the opinion of Mr. Zitzer that the com-
petent salesman can do much better work if he
depends upon that portion of the fair attend-
ance that visits the booth attracted by the in-
struments themselves. Under general condi-
tions there will not be more than a half dozen
or so people in the booth at a time, which
makes possible personal conversation. This is
quite in cont.ast in trying to interest even
remotely one or two members of a crowd of
several hundred jammed in and about the booth.
Mr. Zitzer says that the no-demonstration plan
has proven most effective in getting worth-while
prospects.
The means for capitalizing on a fair exhibit
through the making of sales and the obtaining
of prospects are many and varied, some of
them efficient, and some of which could be mate-
rially improved. A favorite method is to dis-
tribute inexpensive souvenirs to all those who
will visit the booth and register their names
and addresses, generally with some information
as to the musical instruments in their homes.
Another plan is to offer two or three worth-
while instruments to holders of lucky numbers.
Under this plan registration cards are provided
upon which the entrant puts down name, ad-
dress and such other information as is desired.
By providing that only those cards fully filled
out will be placed in the final drawing, it is pos-
sible to secure a considerable amount of worth-
while information regarding the prospects regis-
tered.
Any drawing or contest of that nature must
of necessity be confined to the fair itself, for
under the postal laws such a competition, hav-
ing an element of chance, cannot be advertised
in publications that are sent through the mails.
Inasmuch as these drawings are confined to
actual fair visitors, this limitation of publicity
represents no real handicap.
That fair exhibits prove profitable is indi-
cated not only by the number of music mer-
chants who have exhibits regularly, but by the
manner in which the elaborate character of
those exhibits is enhanced each year. The plain,
fenced-in space with a few instruments and a
couple of advertising cards spread about is a
thing of the past and, taking the industry as a
whole, many thousands of dollars are spent each
Fall in the decoration of booths, with draperies,
paneled walls, attractive furniture and decora-
tions, and ofttimes soundproof rooms for inti-
mate demonstration purposes.
To what lengths retailers will go in making
an impression upon fair visitors is illustrated
in the case of the Clark Music Co., Syracuse,
which at the New York State Fair recently had
erected an artistic little cottage facing the main
entrance to the fair grounds and termed "The
Little House That Clark Built." The cottage
was attractively decorated and furnished and
provided an effective setting for the Ampico
and the other pianos shown, the phonographs,
including the Brunswick Panatrope, Conn band
instruments and the other musical products. The
Clark entertainers, two clever instrumentalists,
furnished numerous programs, and Miss Claudia
Race, a talented young harpist, played selec-
tions on the Clark and Lyon & Healy harps.
During the interval between the personal ap-
pearance of entertainers, a large Radiola,
equipped with powerful loud speaker, furnished
music for the crowds and the cottage was a
center of activity throughout the hours that the
fair was open.
An excellent example of what can be done
without great expense on an inside exhibit space
was offered recently by McCoy's House of
Music, of Hartford, Conn., which occupied con-
siderable space at the Connecticut State Fair held
last month. Here the space was not enclosed
except by a railing, but suitable draperies pro-
vided an attractive setting for the various makes
of pianos, phonographs and radio receivers dis-
played. The space was of official size to ac-
commodate a sizable crowd and frequent
demonstrations kept it well filled throughout
the period of the fair.
Seeburg Big Feature
in Philadelphia Home
big business is expected on masterworks and
celebrity selections. This store does a big popu-
lar record business also, and sold eighty of the
Columbia dance record "Baby Face" the first
Saturday its department was opened, according
to reports.
Places Q R S Roll Order
by Long-Distance Phone
Instrument Brings Immediate Income When
Installed in Philadelphia Sailors' Shelter
As evidence that there are always new places
continually suggesting themselves for the use
of a Seeburg coin-operated piano or orchestrion
and emphasizing the limitless possibilities in
this field, an interesting letter has just been re-
ceived by the J. P. Seeburg Co., 1508 Dayton
street, Chicago, from W. H. Collins, sales man-
ager, who is in charge of the Seeburg exhibit at
the Sesqui-Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia:
"The Penn Music Co. has placed a Seeburg
style special instrument in the Home of Rest
where all foreign sailors who arrive and cannot
go ashore because of being under bond
assemble until the ships again clear the harbor.
A clergyman of the Episcopal faith is head of
this home. It was recently dedicated.
"The clergyman was very enthusiastic over
the instrument and remarked that this was just
exactly what was wanted. Doubt was expressed
as to payment, but he promised that one of his
wealthy parishioners would pay for it on his re-
turn from Europe.
"Rather than disappoint the home our dealer
,placed the instrument on commission and the
results were even more than expected. It is re-
ported that they never saw such a rush to get
music as they saw there. The sailors, of course,
were of all nationalities and not accustomed to
American music, but nevertheless seemed to like
it, and were actually fighting to see who could
put in the first coin.
"Needless to say, our dealer does not care now
whether it is purchased or not, as the income
will be unusually good. The men in the home
change often, as they continually return to
their own ships and new ones come in."
Kunkel Takes Columbia
Knabe for National Theatre
i in the City of Mexico
Instrument a Part of the Equipment of the
Magnificent New Playhouse That Has Al-
ready Cost 12,500,000 Mexican Dollars
One of the features of the National Theatre
in the City of Mexico, which is still in the
course of construction, is the Knabe piano
furnished to that elaborate edifice by J. F.
Knabe in Mexican National Theatre
Velazquez Y Hno. The instrument is shown in
the accompanying illustration placed before the
magnificent curtain made by Tiffany Studios,
New York, and displayed here before being
shipped to Mexico. The cost of the theatre to
date has been $12,500,000 (Mexican), and the
cost of the curtain alone was $250,000, which
gives some idea of the character of this beau-
tiful edifice.
BALTIMORE, MD., October 4.—The Kunkel Piano
Granville M. Fisher and Victor E. Olson
Co., 120 North Liberty street, recently secured
a franchise for the new Viva-tonal Columbia have opened a new music store at 140 West Mer-
and the Columbia new process records. Due to rick road, Amityville, L. I., handling pianos and
the high class of trade enjoyed by this store a phonographs.
Music Roll Department of H. A. Weymann &
Son, Inc., Philadelphia, Ships Rolls to Canada
on Special Telephonic Request
PHILADELPHIA, PA., October 4.—Frank Shelhorn,
the well-known and popular manager of the
Q R S music roll department of H. A. Wey-
mann & Son, Inc., Philadelphia, reports a
specially pleasing and profitable sale for Q R S
rolls made under rather unusual circumstances.
Mr. Shelhorn's many globe-trotting custom-
ers have often ordered rolls in the past by cable
from points as far distant as Scotland, Ber-
muda and Paris. This week Miss Marjorie
Bourne, who has just returned from Ferme du
Coteau, Deauville, France, telephoned from her
Summer home on Dark Island, Hammond, in
the St. Lawrence, and spent a costly half hour
at a high long-distance rate, naming more than
one hundred Q R S rolls which she wanted
rushed at once to her river chateau.
Although the order totaled $100.15 retail, it
was shipped complete the same day as received
through the co-operation of the local branch of
the Q R S Music Co., at 1017-19 Sansom street,
the largest branch warehouse operated by this
company.
This incident illustrates the limitless possibili-
ties of enlarging the scope of trade by cour-
teous service and personal attention to the
needs and tastes of individual customers. Mr.
Shelhorn has had marked success in developing
and holding this kind of patronage, and his
reward is the satisfaction of substantial orders
by phone, wire and cable from many parts of
the world where his Philadelphia customers are
traveling and find themselves lonesome for a
little of the good old American dance music.
Snyder Runs for U. S. Senate
READING, PA., October 4.—George W. Snyder, a
well-known piano tuner of Reading, was given
the place on the general election ballot as to the
Socialist candidate for United States Senator.
Mr. Snyder is well known in eastern Pennsyl-
vania and is an expert piano tuner.