Music Trade Review

Issue: 1927 Vol. 85 N. 27

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
8
The Music Trade Review
Broadside Tells of
Piano Promotion Work
Various Activities and Accomplishments of
Sales Promotion Committee Set Forth in Dis-
tinctly Impressive Manner
In order that those who are contributing to,
and who are co-operating with, the Sales Pro-
motion Campaign of the National Piano Manu-
facturers' Association may visualize what has
already been done for the cause of piano promo-
tion since the campaign was launched some-
thing over a year ago, there has been issued by
the committee a broadside describing and illus-
trating, mostly in color, the various activities
and their scope.
The broadside opens with a list of the Com-
mittee for the Advancement of Piano Study
made up of close to twoscore prominent musi-
cians and musical authorities, then comes a
description of the "Everybody's Look-and-Play
Piano Book," and details of the manner in
which the campaign has been tied up with music
teachers, conservatories, women's clubs, music
dubs, and various civic and social organizations,
interior decorators, piano tuners, etc.
Impressive, too, is the outline of the national
advertising campaign that has been and is being
carried on by the committee, there being used
at present six leading national magazines with
an aggregate circulation of over seven million
and including Ladies' Home Journal, Good
Housekeeping, the American, Better Homes and
Gardens, The Etude, and Children.
A paragraph, too, is given to "Piano Facts
and Fancies," the news sheet that is at present
being sent out regularly to some 1,500 news-
papers throughout the country and containing
material which is reprinted in generous quanti-
ties. The piano-playing contest and class piano
instruction are also included among the activi-
ties of the campaign, as are prepared advertise-
ments to enable dealers to tie up with the na-
tional advertising, close to a thousand of them
having taken advantage of that opportunity.
There are also provided an interesting series of
"POPULAR
as MUSIC ITSELF"
DECEMBER 31, 1927
follow-up folders, chiefly on the piano and the
child, over a million copies of which have been
distributed up to the present time.
One of the outside pages is given over to a
list of the companies in the trade who are con-
tributing to the support of the campaign and
the membership of the Sales Promotion Com-
mittee, of which Max J. deRochemont is chair-
man and Edward C. Boykin executive secretary.
The whole broadside is calculated to give to the
trade members a new picture of the extent of
this work, the importance of which is set forth
in the following letter received by Mr. Boykin
from C. J. Roberts, president of the National
Association of Music Merchants.
"Your favor of the 13th inst. accompanying
six copies of a broadside outlining the work
of the sales promotion committee has been re-
ceived. I have examined the folder very care-
fully and certainly heartily approve of it. You
have been doing some splendid work. It is
not only necessary to do splendid work, but
it is also necessary to let those most interested
know all about it, and you certainly have
brought the principal activities of the Com-
mittee before the trade in a most forceful and
comprehensive manner.
"I have distributed the extra copies where I
think they will do the most good. I will ap-
preciate it if you will send me about six more
copies."
New Brunswick Record
Prices Boost Demand
Prompt Payments and
How to Qet Them
There are two ways to realize cash in exchange for your
stock of pianos.
The first way is to wait patiently for the customer who
wants a piano—any kind of piano.
The second and more certain way is to stock the pros-
perity Line, manufactured by Winter & Co.
A piano of the Prosperity Line is worth more to the
average American family than the money that must be
paid to own one, because of its exceptional quality, its
fine appearance and its excellent reputation as an instru-
ment of precision.
Our new cooperative sales plan for 1928 is worth inves-
tigating. Write for particulars.
Our Wish for Your Happy New Year
May the New Year Bring You
an Abundance of Prosperity
Also Makers of Rudolf and Heller & Co.
Pianos and Player Pianos
853 East 141st Street
NEW YORK
Style "F"—3 ft. 8 in. High
Popular Prices for Records by Noted Artists
Arouse Much Favorable Comment and Stim-
ulate Sales of Such Records Materially
The rapidly increasing demand for Brunswick
records, particularly those of the better type of
music and by prominent artists, has reflected the
wisdom of the company's move on December 1
in adjusting its record prices to 75 cents for
all 10-inch records, and $1 for all 12-inch
records, some of them having formerly sold for
;is high as $2.
The new products have made available to the
public records by such artists as Onegin and
Chamlee of the Metropolitan Opera; Edith
Mason and Bonelli of the Chicago Civic Opera,
^nd Josef Hofmann, Leopold Godowsky, Albert
Spalding, and other famous concert artists, at
prices which formerly applied to popular records
only. Music appreciation organizations and
music students have been particularly enthusi-
astic over the opportunity for building up record
libraries of authoritative works for study pur-
poses.
The throwing open of the entire catalog
recorded by noted artists to the public at large,
so to speak, has brought forth much favorable
comment and many messages of appreciation to
the Brunswick Co. from dealers throughout the
country.
Cincinnati Starr Store
Resembles Art Gallery
CINCINNATI, O., December 24.—The store of
the Starr Piano Co. has with recent additions
been made most attractive, and it now re-
sembles a fine art gallery and bazaar. The
walls are covered with scores of fine paintings,
hung by the Cincinnati Art Center, and there
are on display in showcases many beautiful
articles of the Gift Shop. There is also a
handsome display of small goods, the mer-
chandise of the Biddle Co., and, of course,
there is a large and fine display of Starr pianos.
Brunswick talking machines are shown in the
Biddle department, in the front of the store,
and Gennett machines and records are to be
found in a large department at the roar. K. F.
Franklin, well-known Brunswick man, has been
made outside sales manager of the Biddle
Brunswick shop.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 31, 1927
The Music Trade Review
Platt Music Co., Los Angeles, to Move
Into Its New Building on January 1
company will be changed to cover the new
addition, and the company, it was stated by
Mr. Madsen, plans to construct a building of
its own "out of the high-rent district."
Structure, Located at Eighth and Ninth Streets and Broadway, That City, Is Thir-
teen Stories in Height—Marks Completion of Twenty-two Years
Baldwin Artists' Manager
at Frankfurt Festival
CAL., December 24.—The
L OS Platt ANGELES,
Music Co. announces that it will move
into its magnificent new building on Broadway
between Eighth and Ninth streets on January 1.
Few persons believed that the new building
would be ready for occupancy by January
whin it was recalled that this thirteen-story
structure—which is the limit height, according
to the City of Los Angeles ordinance—was
vertising department and the advertising man-
ager are also on this floor.
The fourth floor is devoted to an auditorium
with a remote control broadcasting installation;
lunch and rest rooms, finishing shops and pho-
nograph and radio repair departments. The
fifth floor is devoted entirely to the general
and executive offices.
The completion and occupation of this build-
ing marks the realization of the dream of Ben
Platt; namely, the ownership of its own build-
ing by the Platt Music Co. It is the culmina-
tion of a wonderful record of accomplishment
after twenty-two and a quarter years of hard
work and devotion, a small humble beginning
to a princely business of between $3,000,000
and $4,000,000 per annum.
This marks the third move of the Platt Music
Co., the quarters just vacated having been oc-
cupied since 1917. The officers of the com-
pany are Ben Platt, president; George B. Ep-
stein, vice-president; F. McL. Brinckerhoff, sec-
retary. Edwin Lester is general sales manager;
George Hall is assistant sales manager; J. G.
Venable is sales manager of the piano depart-
ment; Ralph Kenny, sales manager of the band
and orchestra and stringed instrument depart-
ment; Paul Lowry, sales manager of the pho-
nograph and radio departments; Miss Rakel
Johnsen, sales manager of the phonograph
record department; Miss Chauncey Nisbet,
player roll and piano scarf department.
Six other stores of the Platt Music Co. are
located respectively in Long Beach, Hunting-
ton Park, Western avenue, Hollywood, Brook-
lyn avenue and Vermont. Among the numer-
ous lines of musical instruments carried by the
Platt Music Co. are Kranich & Bach, Kimball,
Everett and Straube pianos; Victor, Brunswick,
Columbia phonographs; Grebe, Freshman,
Radiola, Atwater Kent radios; Holton band
and Gibson stringed instruments and New
National silver guitar.
Frank Dorian Suffers
Painful Injury to Foot
New Platt Building
commenced only in May of this year. How-
ever, careful supervision and persistent atten-
tion by President Platt and Vice-president Ep-
stein insured unusual expedition and prevented
incidental checks or delays.
The exterior of the building has been de-
signed on beautiful lines, dignified and inspira-
tional. The interior also reveals an artistic
conception, harmonious and impressive. Fin-
ished in Tobasco mahogany, the style main-
tained in the six floors to be occupied by the
company is Gothic. The first floor consists of
a lofty reception lobby with the record depart-
ment and its well-appointed record rooms, the
small goods and sheet music counters. The
mezzanine galleries, overlooking the main floor,
are occupied by the player-roll department
and the musical accessories display rooms, con-
sisting of bench cushions, scarfs, shawls, etc.;
the wholesale sheet music department, ladies'
rest room and a public lounge.
The second floor contains the phonograph
and radio departments as well as displays of
band and orchestra instruments and elaborate
Iry-out rooms for these different instruments.
The piano department occupies the third
lour with an area of between 8,000 and 9,000
square feet. The offices of the general sales
manager, the assistant sales manager, the ad-
Veteran Columbia Executive Fractures Heel
on Alighting From Bus, but Appears on
Crutches After a Rest of Few Days at Home
Frank Dorian, assistant to the president of
the Columbia Phonograph Co., and one of the
veterans of the organization, suffered an un-
usual and painful injury recently as he stepped
from a bus near the company's offices. Mr.
Dorian was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where
an examination showed that his heel was frac-
tured, but after receiving treatment he was
home only two days before the confinement
became irksome and he appeared in the Colum-
bia offices on crutches.
Mr. Dorian first became associated with the
Columbia Co. as private secretary to its first
president, E. D. Easton. He wrote the com-
pany's first advertisement which appeared in the
Washington papers, had charge of the first re-
tail store in Washington, and was first Euro-
pean general manager.
Adds Line of Furniture
December 24.—The Lyric Music
Co., of which C. L. Madsen, well-known Utah
music salesman, is president, has decided to en-
ter the furniture business, combining it with
his music business. Mr. Madsen said he be-
lieved furniture would go well with pianos,
phonographs, radios, etc. The namp nf the
Wm. B. Murray Visits Continental Musical
Center in the Interests of the Baldwin Dur-
ing the Summer Season
William B. Murray, who spent the past Sum-
mer touring Continental Europe in connection
with the exploitation of the Baldwin piano, was
among those who attended the annual musical
festival at Frankfurt, Germany, and was en-
thusiastic over the character of the meeting to
which flocked artists from all parts of the world
for the purpose of renewing old acquaintances,
making new acquaintances and listening to mu-
sical compositions of merit. Mr. Murray is in
charge of the artists' department of the Bald-
win Piano Co., and makes his headquarters in
New York.
Mickel Go. Reorganization
OMAHA, NEB., December 24.—The business of
the Mickel Music House has been purchased by
a syndicate consisting of Will E. Mickel and
Clyde T. Mickel with their father T. E. MickeJ.
The firm is being reorganized under the name
of the Will E. Mickel Music Co., and tentative
plans call for the extensive remodeling.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review.
Pratt Read
Products
have stood for years
as an asset of
incalculable value
to the piano industry.
Know Our
PIANO KEYS
PIANO ACTIONS
PLAYER ACTIONS
and Our Service
Write us at the
first opportunity
PRATT, READ & CO.
OC;IIEN, UTAH,
Established in 1806
The PRATT READ PLAYER ACTION CO
Deep River, Conn.

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