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NOVEMBER 13, 1926
The Music Trade Review
Distribution of Angelus Reproducing
Piano Steadily Developing Nationally
First Ten Months of Present Control of the Hallet & Davis Piano Co. Marked With Direct
Progress—Walter C. Hepperla Tells of the Policies of the Company With the Dealer
/^%NE of the outstanding features of the past
^ ^ ten months with the Hallet & Davis Piano
Co., New York, according to a recent interview
of Walter C. Hepperla with The Review, has
been the steady advance this firm has made in
developing its distribution on a national basis.
The Hallet & Davis line, which includes the
Angelus reproducing grand piano, has been
placed in such cities as Boston, Detroit, Chicago,
Cleveland, Providence, Los Angeles, Columbus,
Toledo, Atlanta, Birmingham, Scranton, New
Haven, Passaic, Schenectady and Amsterdam,
N. Y., to name only some of the new franchises
allotted since the company came under its new
control. National distribution with piano mer-
chants of the better type is being progressively
developed, a campaign that is backed, first by a
W. C. Hepperla
steady technical improvement in the product
and secondly by intelligent and comprehensive
co-operation on the part of the manufacturer
with the dealer.
"Angelus, of course," said Mr. Hepperla, "is
one of the best-known names in the field of the
automatic musical instrument so far as it con-
cerns the self-playing type of piano. It was a
pioneer away back in the early days of the
cabinet player, one of the first to be nationally
advertised and nationally distributed. All that
work of years has developed what may be
termed a great hidden market for the Angelus
reproducing instrument of to-day. Dealers who
handle the Angelus time and again tell us of
the influence which this accumulated name value
has on sales of the present day and what a
powerful factor it is in lowering sales resist-
ance. Lowered sales resistance is naturally re-
flected in lower selling expense, which in turn
means an increased margin for the retail dealer.
This has been no small factor in the steady de
11
further appearances. Wherever she has ap-
peared, dealers have not only built up an im-
pressive list of live prospects, but have also
made immediate actual sales.
"Here I want to take the opportunity of ex-
pressing my appreciation of the way in which
the retail trade has met our efforts, and the co-
operation we are receiving from the dealers who
hold our franchises. It has all been 100 per
cent and that is the best evidence that what we
are trying to do, we are fully succeeding in
doing."
velopment of Hallet & Davis and Angelus dis-
tribution since the company came under its
present control.
"A second point, of no less importance, has
been the steady technical progress of the in-
strument. Made in a plant that is devoted
solely to the grand piano and in an atmosphere
of craftsmanship which is inherent in the pro-
duction of this type, there have been a number
of changes made in the instruments, both in the
scales and in structural improvements. At the New York Organization Cites Several Cases
Wherein the Practice Was Checked Upon
same time through wider production facilities,
Proper Representation by the Bureau
which we have at our service, we have been
able to make appreciable reductions in price,
The Better Business Bureau of New York
not at the expense of quality, of course, but
through increased volume and more efficient City is continuing to check up on cases of bait
methods. As for the Angelus itself, the trade advertising in the local piano trade and to check
is familiar with the technical simplicity of the the practice wherever possible, for the bureau
single unit type of installation and knows the holds that bait advertising defined as the offer-
way in which this solves the service problem, ing of merchandise by advertisement, when the
one of the most important confronting the re- practice is to try not to sell it but to switch the
tail piano merchant who carries a reproducing customer to other merchandise higher in price,
is subtle and insidious.
instrument.
The Better Business Bureau has conducted
"Then there is the new basis upon which the
Angelus library is manufactured and distributed, continuous investigations of such piano practices
and which, since it has been arranged, has on the ground that it is misleading to the public
proven highly successful. Recordings are made and unfair to competitors. That some piano
in our laboratories at Meriden, Conn., under the merchants have prospered as the result of such
personal supervision of P. K. Van Yorx, who is advertising is an established fact; for that rea-
recognized as one of the leading recording ex- son they have continued the practice.
The bureau has discussed with a number of
ecutives in the industry. The Angelus repro-
ducing rolls arc manufactured and distributed stores the findings developed by investigations
by the Q R S Music Co., the largest roll dis- of their sales devices. These friendly confer-
tributing organization in the industry. As a ences have yielded some good results. One store
result the owner of the Angelus reproducer has doing a noteworthy volume in low-price pianos,
perhaps the greatest number of dealers in the whose advertising once savored of bait and
trade from whom to purchase rolls for his in- whose salesmen not infrequently used "switch-
ing" and contract-breaking methods—has mate-
strument.
"The library is being steadily enlarged. And rially revamped its selling procedure.
Another store advertised in an Italian paper
here I think it would be interesting to mention
that we recently brought Leopold Godowsky that it would give a customer a piano for $1
all the way from Europe to make a number of with the purchase of every new piano. The
recordings for the library, that artist remaining bureau found that the offer applied only to a
here just long enough to make the recording's special piano with a stenciled name and that
and then returning immediately to Europe. the purchaser received for his additional dollar
There he is booked for a long recital tour, dur- a used piano valued at one-tenth the purchase
ing which he will make a number of appearances price of the new piano. This store also adver-
in Soviet Russia at the direct invitation of the tised, "From Factory to You," even though the
government, an honor that is unique among company had closed its factories and its recent
purchases had been made in the open market.
musicians of the present day.
The piano concern acknowledged the repre-
"It is the policy of the Hallet & Davis Piano
Co. to consider a transaction begun instead of sentations in the Italian paper to be misleading
completed when instruments made by it are and promised to refrain from such decoys in the
sold to dealers handling the line. We know future. Assurances were also given that the
that our responsibility continues until those in- phrases "From Factory to You" and "Lowest in
struments are removed from his floor, via the the City Prices," which were also used, would be
route of sale to a customer. That is the basis discontinued.
of our dealer co-operation. During the last ten
months some of the outstanding features of our
work in this direction have been the appear-
ances of Herma Menth, the widely known pian-
DETROIT, MICH., November 6.—Grinnell Bros,
iste, who was so successful in Europe this
Summer, in comparison concerts with the An- have just taken a lease on the store property
gelus in a number of cities, including Buffalo, at 1514 Broadway, this city, and a new store
New York and Detroit. Her program during was opened at that location this week, making
the next three months includes a number of twelve music stores operated by Grinnell Bros,
within the limits of Greater Detroit.
Better Business Bureau
Acts on Bait Advertising
New Grinnell Bros. Store