Music Trade Review

Issue: 1927 Vol. 85 N. 6

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12
The Music Trade Review
Milwaukee Dealers Report
Good Summer Sales
Kesselman-O'Driscoll Co. States Present Is
One of Most Successful Summers in Firm's
History
MILWAUKEE, August 1.—One of the most suc-
cessful Summers in the history of the company
is reported by Henry M. Steussy, vice-president
and general manager of the Kesselman-O'Dris-
coll Co.
"It is only necessary to glance at our sales
records to show that business has been excep-
tional," said Mr. Steussy. "Pianos have been
especially good and many Ampicos have been
sold. Of course it has taken a lot of saleS
effort and our staff of salesmen has been on
the job continually working with prospects.
That is the only way to get business at any
time—by going out after it. I predict great
strides in piano activity next Fall. The Melody
Way lessons have been and, in my opinion, will
continue to be, a great factor in promoting this
activity. Sales effort and well-planned pro-
motional campaigns are other factors which
have made and which will continue to make
for good piano business."
Business conditions in local music circles are
above the average at this time, in the opinion
of Edward Herzog, of Edmund Gram, Inc., who
says that sales of Steinway pianos have been
especially good.
"The type of customer we appeal to is not
fickle in her taste or in her choice of an instru-
ment," said Mr. Herzog, "and we therefore find
a good steady market for pianos. Our Sum-
mer sales records have shown up especially
well this year and we are quite satisfied."
Eric S. Hafsoos, of Flanner-Hafsoos Music
House, Inc., says that while there has been no
startling movements of pianos, business has
been keeping up unusually well "We have made
some good sales on Kurtzmann grands and
have also done quite well on Brinkerhoff up-
rights," said Mr. Hafsoos.
All these representative merchants were of
the opinion that there will be increased action
when school opens and when the Wisconsin
Association of Music Merchants launches its
second Melody Way campaign.
Announcement has been made here that Sid-
ney Neu, who has been associated with Julius
Andrae & Sons Co., as manager of the radio de-
partment, has been made vice-president and
general manager of the Great Lakes Radio
Corp., 157 Sixteenth street.
One of the Popular
"ART LINE"
ROLL CABINETS
Capacity 96 Rolls
Write for Catalog
The Art Novelty Co.
Goshen, Ind.
STYLE NO. 171
A new music shop has opened up in Mil-
waukee by Joseph G. Seidl, at 788 Third street.
Mr. Seidl is an authorized Wurlitzer dealer and
he will feature this line together with Victrola
and band instruments.
The Leithold Piano Co., of La Crosse, Wis.,
recently tried a stunt which, in the opinion of
the owners, has done much to make for good
will among its customers and prospective cus-
tomers. On the night of the Dempsey-Sharkey
right the company arranged with the local board
of directors of Riverside Park to have direct
reception over the radio from the park stadium.
Two loud speakers were used and people were
thus enabled to get the first news of the fight
by coming into the store.
Martin A. Sigler Dies
at Home in Harrisburg
Head of C. M. Sigler, Inc., Prominent Penn-
sylvania Music Dealers, Passes Away, After
Long Illness, in Sixty-eighth Year
HAKRISBURG, PA V July 30.—Martin A. Sigler,
senior member of the firm of C. M. Sigler, Inc.,
Steinway and Victor dealers of Harrisburg,
died at his home here on July 23 after an ill-
ness of about three years. He was sixty-si^
years of age and came to this city thirty-eight
years ago from Burkittsville, Md., conducting a
dry goods store. Later he founded the music
house, of which he was the head until his death.
He is survived by his widow, one son, Howard
Sigler, and two daughters, Mrs. J. Miller Kar-
per, of Reading, and Miss Mary E. Sigler, at
home. He was music director of the First
Church of God, of Harrisburg, for more than
thirty years and was an official of the church.
The funeral, which was largely attended, was
held this afternoon with interment in the Har-
risburg Cemetery. Many of the local music
dealers were at the funeral services, Mr. Sigler
being held in high esteem by the entire trade.
AUGUST 6, 1927
tary Merrill who has been ably seconded by a.
group of the more enterprising members. Since
the last dinner at the Hotel Statler nineteen
new members have been added to the roll.
These are L. C Wagner, of Chickering & Sons;
Carl G. Erickson and Richard Montague, both
also of the Chickering house; Walter F. Lord,
of Lord & Co., Inc., of Lawrence; George R.
Whittier, of the Mason & Hamlin Co.; James
T. Gardner, of Gardner & McCauley, Inc., of
Newport, Vt.; A. L. Jewett, of the Starr Piano
Co.; John J. Kelley, of Lynn; William S. Parks,
manager of the Columbia Graphophone Co.;
James A. Frye, of the Victor Co. staff; Thomas
W. Lothrop, of the J. E. Lothrop Piano Co.,
of Dover, N. H.; H. W. Gardner, of Dodge &
Gardner, of Littleton, N. H.; Albert A. Bisson,
of the Charles F. Wing Co., of New Bedford;
Edward W. Peterson, of St. Johnsbury, Vt.;
Alfred Gardner, of Bailey's Music Store,
Plymouth, N. H.; I. F. Morin, of North Tiver-
ton, R. I.; C. J. Murphy, of Biddeford, Me.;
Arthur E. Gibbs, president of the Gibbs Piano
Co., of Springfield, and Herman Pruefer, of
the Pruefer Piano Co., of Providence, R. I.
A New Ellington Upright
The Baldwin Piano Co., Cincinnati, has just
placed on the market a new and attractive
model of Ellington upright to be known as
model 330. The instrument is finished in Eng-
lish Colonial period design, supplied in walnut
only, and is four feet one inch high. The use
of choice veneers and the new art finish add to
the general attractiveness of the case work.
tells you each month why the
New England Association
Shows Membership Growth
Close to a Score of New Members Added to
Roster of Association Since the Last Meeting
and Dinner
July 30.—The future of the New
England Music Trade Association looks promis-
ing and the encouraging spurt taken in mem-
bership is due to the persistent work of Secre-
BOSTON, MASS.,
DEALERS' OPPORTUNITY
USED PIANOS
$30 u p
401 West 28th St..
TAGGATZ CO. NEW YORK
FOR SALE
300 USED UPRIGHT PIANOS, ALL MAKES.
$300.00 per dozen, up.
PIANO
IS
(t
Built Like a Violin"
Clip and Mail This
for Further Particulars
SCHUMANN PIANO CO., Rockford, 111.
CHAFF
T A N D S FOR
E R V I C E
ATISFACTION
Established 1868
Pianos, Players, Reproducing Pianos
Any quantity shipptd mnywhert
SCHAFF BROS. CO.
SAMUEL ORR
Huntington, Ind.
390 Washington Street
Newark, N. J.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
AUGUST 6, 1927
Standard Pneumatic Player-Piano Contest
Big Feature of the Tuners' Convention
A. K. Gutsohn, Originator of Player-Piano Playing Contest, Reports Event This Year
'I
Will Ee the Largest That Has Thus Far Been Held
DLANS are in readiness by the Standard
Pneumatic Action Co., New York, for stag-
ing a player-piano-playing contest at the con-
vention of the National Association of Piano
Tuners at the Hotel Commodore during
•wr
i
?
The Cups That Are Offered
August 8-11. The company held its first con-
test of this kind at the national tuners' conven-
tion last year in Chicago and in view of the
Berthold Neuer Back
From European Trip
Among New Artists Secured Were Lubka
Kolessa and Alexander Tansman—Piano In-
dustry Abroad
Berthold Neuer, vice-president of the Wil-
liam Knabe Co., New York, and general man-
ager of the Knabe Warerooms, returned to the
city last Wednesday, July 27, on the French
liner "France," after spending two months in
Europe. One of the high points of Mr. Neuer's
trip was his visit to the musical exposition in
Frankfort, Germany. A most amazing display
of musical instruments from the earliest times
to the present day was shown there, and in ad-
dition original musical manuscripts of prac-
tically all the celebrated composers from Bach
to Richard Strauss. Mr. Neuer was commis-
sioned by C. Alfred Wagner, president of the
American Piano Co., to secure the two Chicker-
ing pianos, which were used by Franz Liszt in
his later days. They will be brought to New
York after the exposition is closed and will be
returned to the Royal Academy at Budapest by
January, 1928.
A great part of Mr. Neuer's time was spent
at the homes of celebrated Knabe artists as
Maria Jeritza, prima donna soprano of the Met-
ropolitan Opera House; and such pianists as
Moriz Rosenthal, Orloff, Munz, Goldsand, Don-
hanyi and others in various parts of the con-
tinent. Mr. Neuer also spent considerable time
in Paris with Edward Ziegler, assistant man-
ager of the Metropolitan Opera House.
Among the new Knabe artists secured by Mr.
Neuer was Lubka Kolessa, beautiful daughter
of the dean of the University of Prague, who
has been charming European audiences for sev-
eral seasons with the brilliance of her play-
ing and the magnetism of her personality. Mr.
Neuer also secured Alexander Tansman as an
Ampico recording artist. The latter has been
invited to visit America during the coming
season by Sergei Koussevitzki, conductor of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Tansman
has won distinction as a composer as well as a
pianist and has recently performed his piano
enthusiasm displayed by contestants and the
members of the association it was decided to
repeat the event this year.
During the elimination trials contestants will
be required to play any of the three com-
positions: "Rustle of Spring," by Sinding;
"Liebestraum," by Liszt, and "Minute Waltz,"
Valse Op. 64, No. 1, by Chopin. The rolls
will be played from the Q R S recordings and
are numbered 12,655, 11,479 and 80,941, respec-
tively. One of the three numbers will be
played in the finals, depending upon the selec-
tion of the judges.
A. K. Gutsohn, secretary of the Standard
Pneumatic Action Co., who conceived the
idea of the player-piano contest and directed
the affair in Chicago last year, reports that it
will be one of the biggest things at this year's
convention. The idea has spread until it
promises soon to be a national event and will
also be featured in the sectional meetings of
the piano tuners.
The judges of the contest are as follows:
C. D. Bond, of the Weaver Piano Co., York,
Pa.; Walter Lund, De Luxe Reproducing Roll
Corp., New York; W. T. Sigley, Ampico Corp.,
New York, and William Braid White, technical
editor of The Music Trade Review.
concerto with a European orchestra. In addi-
tion he has written an opera, "La Nuit de
Kurde," and numerous chamber music pieces.
Mr. Neuer visited the Gaveau and Pleyl fac-
tories in Paris and the Boesendorfer plant in
Germany and noted an increased activity as
compared to recent years. The Gaveau house
has been extending its influence lately in the
South American countries and is doing well on
the continent as well. The Pleyl .company has
recently completed a new concert hall in Paris,
adjoining its warerooms, with a seating capacity
exceeding that of Carnegie Hall in New York.
In general Europeans are coming to respect
American business methods and are endeavor-
ing to learn as much as possible of them.
13
wide
European Interest
in G o l u n b l a Go Offer
l
-
Official Support Given Abroad to Move to
Secure Satisfactory Completion of Schubert's
Unfinished Symphony—Committees Are Ap-
pointed
The recent announcement by the Columbia
I'honograph Co. of international prizes totaling
$20,000 for the best completion of Schubert's
famous Unfinished Symphony has aroused wide
interest abroad, where both the people and the
Governments take music seriously. Recent
cables from Europe report that the Govern-
ments of France, Italy, Germany, Austria and
Czecho-Slovakia have granted cordial official
recognition to the contest.
Simultaneously, announcement is made of the
contest juries for France and Italy, containing
celebrated musical names in both countries.
France's chairman is Henri Rabaud, noted
composer and former conductor of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. His colleagues will be
Charpentier, Ravel, D'Indy, Messager and
Dukas, the jury to meet at the National Con-
servatory of Music.
Italy's chairmen are U. S. Ambassador
Fletcher and the Count di San Martino, indus-
trial magnate and lavish patron of music. Their
associates will be Pizzetti, Cassella and
Molinari, the jury to meet at the Academy
Saint Cecilia, founded by Palestrina in 1572.
The German jury, already announced, con-
tains Richard Strauss, by many held to be the
world's chief living composer, and the famous
conductors, Furtwaengler, Busch, Klemperer
and Bruno Walter.
Austria's jury includes Guido Adler, the
world's greatest musical scholar.
To Record for Columbia
The Columbia Phonograph Co. has made a
contract with Gerald Marks and His Hotel Tul-
ler Orchestra, of Detroit, whereby that organ-
ization will make its first records for ^Columbia.
The orchestra is particularly popular in Detroit
and in addition to playing at the Hotel Tuller
has been presented at theatres and over the
radio so that its work is familiar to a large
audience.
You Will Be Interested
in Ludwig Period Qrands
UDWIG Period Grands have won
unstinted praise from dealers and
L
music lovers alike. The famed Ludwig
tone finds a fitting complement in case
work of surpassing beauty.
True to
period, expressive of the highest skill of
Ludwig Grand
cabinet craftsmen, Ludwig Period
Style S
Grands carry an ever-inspiring message
to both eye and ear. You'll be interested
in these grands because your customers will be even more in-
terested. To show a Ludwig Period Grand is to create in the
mind ot your prospect an unforgettable impression.
Ludwig & Co*
Willow Ave. and 136th Street
New York

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