Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 25, 1926
The Music Trade Review
Northern California Association Plans
Series of Dinner Meetings During Year
First Will Be Held on January 12 and Will Be Devoted to Discussion of Talking Machine Prob-
lems—C. G. Kavanaugh Expected to Visit Local Trade
C A N FRANCISCO, CAL. r December 16.—A
series of dinner meetings is being planned
for the coming year by the Music Trade Asso-
ciation of Northern California. The president,
Shirley Walker, said this morning that the first
of these meetings is to take place on Wednes-
day, January 12, and will be devoted to dis-
cussion of talking machine and phonograph
problems. The second dinner meeting on Feb-
ruary 11 will be addressed by Herbert Wither-
spoon, president of the Chicago Musical Col-
lege, on Music and Musical Education. The
annual meeting will take place on Tuesday,
March 8, and will also take the form of a din-
ner meeting. They will all be held at the
Stewart Hotel.
City Gives Christmas Music Festival
San Francisco's Christmas open air musical
celebration has become almost a tradition, but
this year there will be unique musical features.
For the first time the municipal chorus will sing
with the municipal orchestra on Christmas Eve,
giving choruses from the "Messiah."
The
municipal band will also play and some noted
singer whose name is yet to be announced will
give solos in the Civic Center. A large and
completely equipped stage is to be built on
the stairway leading to the city hall on the Civic
Center side. This is for the school children's
musical pageant in which 150 children will par-
ticipate with scenery, costumes and lighting
effects of high excellence. Music merchants of
this city are impressed with the idea that this
celebration will help to foster a love for music
in the throngs of citizens who will be in the
Civic Center on Christmas Eve. Arrangements
are in the hands of Chester W. Rosekrans,
chairman of the San Francisco Civic Associa-
tion.
Foster-Armstrong President Expected Here
The Wiley B. Allen Co. is expecting a visit
in the middle of January from G. C. Kavanaugh,
president
of
the
Foster-Armstrong
Co.,
Rochester, N. Y. James J. Black, treasurer of
the Allen Co., said that Mr. Kavanaugh will call
upon the various dealers who handle products of
the American Piano Co. Mr. Black also said
that phonograph business has been excellent
with them, and the month of December will
• show a substantial increase over December,
1925. The competition for a name for the new
mechanical Brunswick has kept the talking
machine organization of the Wiley B. Allen Co.
busy answering questions and filing names and
slogans.
Clever Way of Saving Postage
Long & Allen, music dealers of San Ber-
nardino, Cal., have an ingenious method of
reducing transportation costs on player music
rolls and doubtless on other merchandise going
through the mails, stated A. L. Quinn, Coast
manager for the Q R S Music Co. The Q R S
Music Co. has a highly valued account with
Long & Allen, who always request that the
Q R S Co., in making shipments by mail, as
they do every few days, use stamps of the
denominations 13 cents, 14 cents and 17 cents
on their packages. The Long & Allen Co.
explain this by saying that these stamps have
a large resale value to stamp collectors and
that disposing of them materially reduces ship-
ping charges, which, of course, are added to the
Q R S Co.'s bill.
Goes Back for Yearly Conference
Every year aDout this season 15. I\ Sibley,
president of the Western Piano Corp., goes East
to the factories for a conference. Mr. Sibley
is leaving with Mrs. Sibley and they will spend
Christmas with Mrs. Sibley's relatives in
Wellesley, Mass., the conference taking place
later. Mr. Sibley is not expected back till late
in January.
Installs Window for Competition
A window showing "cut-out" effects of trees,
house, etc., and colored in very attractive style,
has been installed in one of the windows of
Sherman, Clay & Co. by Jesse Glick. It is
a contribution to the competition of Sam Fox,
music publisher, who has offered a prize for
the best window featuring one of his song hits.
The song is shown prominently in the window
and the scenic effects carry out the suggestion
of being among the mountains, conveyed in the
title of the song.
President of C. G. Conn, Ltd., Expected
C. D. Greenleaf, president of the C G. Conn,
Ltd., is expected here in February by Daniel
Miller, president of the Conn San Francisco
Co. Mr. Miller said that their new branches,
the Stockton Band Instrument Co., of Stock-
ton, and the Olmstead Band Instrument Co., of
San Jose, are both doing well. Both branches
sell Conn instruments exclusively.
Oakland Headquarters of New Corporation
The Musical Accessories Corp. is the
name of a new concern, articles of incorporation
of which have just been filed. The principal
place of business is Oakland, Cal., and the
capitalization $10,000. The directors are M.
K. and W. K. Pearce, of Piedmont, and D.
Gardner, of Hollywood, Cal. The corporation
was formed for the manufacture and sale of
instruments and accessories.
Instrument Sale That Sweetened Christmas
St. Francis' School for Boys has bought an
outfit of band instruments from the retail small
goods department of Sherman, Clay & Co.
The selection of King band instruments was
made after a careful investigation of various
makes, according to E. J. Delano, manager
of the department, who added that Christmas
had been sweetened by selling the instruments
to the school, which bought instruments to the
extent of $2,500.
Cleveland Better Business Bureau Begins
Campaign Against Unfair Methods in City
Local Body Inserts Advertising in Four Cleveland Newspapers Warning Buying Public to Deal
Only With Fair-Deal'ng Piano Merchants
/CLEVELAND, O., December 20.—The Cleve-
^ land Better Business Bureau, Inc., com-
menced its campaign to warn the public
against unfair practices of some piano dealers
on Saturday, December 18. The advertisements
appeared in the Plain Dealer and the Times
in the morning and in the Press and the News
in the evening. It was the intention of the
Bureau to have the ads in the papers Friday,
but owing to the heavy advertising the evening
papers could not carry it, and it was put over
until the next day. At least two more adver-
tisements will be used and they will appear
in the near future.
The Bureau has shopped the various stores
around town and found conditions undesirable
only in a few instances, but these are bad
enough to warrant putting the public on guard,
it is claimed. While the trade feel none too
good over the matter, it is hoped that the
results from the advertising will be such that
tlie practices complained of will cease and that
the campaign will not affect the business of
the representative dealers, as has been the case
in other cities.
The first advertisement of the series, which
occupied space three columns wide and eight
inches deep, read:
"Buy From Fair-Dealing Piano Merchants
"In every business group there are a few
who put dollars above principle and who profit
temporarily by taking advantage of the con-
fidence built up by the advertising and fair
dealing of reputable merchants in that group—
merchants who know 'honesty is the best
policy.'
"It is unfair that the honest merchant should
be subjected to the competition of such tricky
dealers. The Better Business Bureau, there-
fore, proposes through a series of advertise-
ments to describe to the piano buyers of
Cleveland the tricks used by those few piano
stores. Here is an example of brie of these
tricks: This is known as
"The 'Trade Out' or 'Switching' Trick
"Here is how it works. You are offered,
either through advertising or by a salesman
calling upon you at your home, a piano at a
very low price. This is actually a bargain and
no doubt about it. So you decide to buy. Tin-
contract is signed, the down payment made
and delivery promised.
"Before delivery, however, you are called and
told that the piano you have bought has been
found full of 'defects' and that for this reason
the store refuses to sell it to you. Then the
switching begins.
"Every effort will be made to 'switch' you to
a higher-priced piano.
"In November, 1925, we had a complaint
against a certain store who had used this trick
on a customer. In this case we made a record
of the name and number of the 'cheap' instru-
ment that was supposed to have been found
full of 'defects.'
"In July, 1926, we had a very similar com-
plaint against the same store, but from another
individual. We also made a record of the
name and number of the 'bargain' piano in this
case, which developed 'defects' after the sale
had been made.
"We found that the same piano had been
used for the 'bait' in both cases.
"If you have an experience like this get in
touch with us.
"The Cleveland Better Business Bureau, Inc.,
"609 Federal Reserve Bank Bldg.
"(Superior Avenue Entrance)"
A Cleveland visitor this week was George
Wilson, from the Baldwin factory, who called
on the Euclid Music Co., local Baldwin agent.
Herbert Whitney, sales manager of the small
goods department of the downtown store of
the Eucid Music Co., was on the sick list this
week, being a sufferer from a severe attack of
grippe. The company reports quite a few sales
of pianos for the holidays, including that of a
Hamilton instrument to the McKinley School.
The business of J. Kremzar & Son, of 6806
St. Clair avenue, will be operated in the future
by J. Kremzar, as the son has taken up an-
other line of business.
The Story Band Instrument Co. has taken
space with the Starr Piano Co. for the sale of
Conn band instruments, for which it is dis-
tributor for Cleveland and adjoining territory.
The firm w r as previously located on the second
floor of the Starr Building, but moved to the
McMillan Co.'s store on Superior avenue. It
is understood that this will remain headquar-
ters and that the space in the Starr Co.
miaiters will be more for retail purposes. The
Starr Piano Co. has leased the second floor
<>f its Huron road building to a well-known
furniture concern and featured the fact that
most everything pertaining to art is on sale,