Music Trade Review

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AUGUST 6, 1927
The Music Trade Review
New York Merchants Begin Melody Way
Campaign in Co-operation with World
First of Piano Instruction Lessons Began in That Paper on July 30—To Be Broad-
cast Over Station WRNY—Facilities for Class Lessons
COL-LOWING several months of careful
" preparation, the Melody Way Plan of sim-
plified piano instruction was formally launched
in New York City on last Saturday, July 30,
when the New York Evening World devoted a
full page to the first of the twelve lessons of
the series, while the facing page was taken up
with the announcements of a dozen or more
piano and music houses who have linked up
with the movement. Although the co-opera-
tion on the part of the local trade is far from
being 100 per cent perfect, despite the efforts
of those behind the movement to bring as many
as possible into line, a substantial number of
representative houses, including the members
of the New York Piano Merchants' Associa-
tion, is lending its support. The World's first
announcement is reproduced on pages 8 and 9
of this issue of The Review.
The committee in charge of the movement
considers the trade fortunate in securing the co-
operation of the Evening World for the reason
that it is a paper of large circulation and spe-
cializes in features that make it a strong home
paper. Prior to the opening of the Melody
Way Campaign the Evening World, together
with the Morning and Sunday World, carried
full-page announcements regarding the piano
lessons. The course will be presented in the
Evening World each Saturday for a period of
twelve weeks. In addition, the lesson as printed
on Saturday will be broadcast over the radio
through Station WRNY on the following Mon-
day afternoon from 4.15 to 5.15 p. m.
In both the Evening World articles and the
radio programs the public is urged to have the
children take advantage of the opportunity to
participate in the group instruction on the piano
under the Melody Way Plan, and a score of
piano houses in New York City proper, in
Brooklyn, the Bronx and sections of Queens
County, have arranged to hold classes under the
plan. These include the King-Slater Co., Inc.,
12 Union Square; Win. Knabe & Co., 637 Fifth
avenue; Kohler & Campbell, Inc., 601 West
Fifty-first street; Mason & Hamlin Co., 313
Fifth avenue; Mathushek Piano Co., 37 West
Thirty-seventh street, and 603 East One Hun-
dred and Thirty-third street; Pease-Behning
Co., 710 Lexington avenue; Allied Piano Manu-
facturers, Inc., 645 Fulton street, and 1128
Broadway, Brooklyn, and 146-01 Jamaica ave-
nue, Jamaica; Steinway & Sons, 109 West
Fifty-seventh street; Horace Waters & Co., 134
Fifth avenue, 164 West One Hundred and
Twenty-fifth street and 371 East One Hundred
and Forty-ninth street; O. W. Wuertz Co.,
1508 Third avenue and 2936 Third avenue; Al-
bemarle Music House, 961 Flatbush avenue,
Brooklyn; Anderson & Co., 170 Livingston
street, Brooklyn; Jacob Doll & Sons, One Hun-
dred and Thirty-fourth street and Cypress
avenue and 100 Southern boulevard, New York;
Baldwin Piano Co., 20 East Fifty-fourth street;
Landay Bros., 1328 Broadway, 104 West Forty-
second street, 427 Fifth avenue and 945 South-
ern boulevard, New York, and 161-05 Jamaica
avenue, Jamaica; Weser Bros., 67 Second ave-
nue and 131 West Twenty-third street, New
York, and 360 Livingston street and 922 Broad-
way, Brooklyn; Sohmer & Co., 31 West Fifty-
seventh street, New York, and Hardman-Peck
Co., 433 Fifth avenue, New York.
Not only have the concerns listed arranged
for facilities for teaching large groups under the
Melody Way Plan, but they have so designed
those facilities that they can be expanded to
take care of any rush of applicants.
The
launching of the movement reflects distinct
credit upon the members of the committee rep-
resenting the local association and particularly
upon Albert Behning, secretary of the associa-
tion, whose task it was to line up members of
the retail trade back of the movement, the ar-
rangement with the Evening World calling for
the use by the trade during the campaign of
some 50,000 lines of advertising in that news-
paper.
Vacations Mark Quiet Period with
the Music Trades of San Francisco
Another Steinway for Yosemite Valley Hotel—H. Emerson Yorke, of Brunswick, a
Visitor to Local Trade—Page Goes Back to Chicago
P A N F R A N C I S C O , CAL., July 29.—Follow-
^
ing the- activities of the W e s t e r n Music
T r a d e s Convention, m e m b e r s of the music
trades are t u r n i n g their t h o u g h t s to annual
vacations. T h e schools will not re-open till to-
w a r d the middle of August and so m a n y
families are out of town that retail business,
generally speaking, is very quiet. T h e Music
T r a d e s Association of N o r t h e r n California will
hold no m e e t i n g s d u r i n g August, in view of the
fact that m a n y of its m e m b e r s will be out of
town. Shirley W a l k e r , president of the Asso-
ciation, is leaving this week for a well-earned
two w e e k s ' vacation which he plans to spend in
one of the wildest parts of M a n n County.
Another Steinway for Y o s e m i t e Valley
H o t e l A h w a h n e e , the magnificent hotel just
opened in Y o s e m i t e Valley, has purchased an-
other Steinway grand piano, according to an-
n o u n c e m e n t just made by H a r a l d P r a c h t , piano
sales m a n a g e r for the retail store of S h e r m a n ,
Clay & Co. here. T h e Steinway grand, which
was a u t o g r a p h e d by the late Frederick T. Stein-
way, himself, has been installed in the main
lounge of the hotel. T h e hotel's latest Stein-
way purchase is for the roof garden of the
A h w a h n e e . In its advertising S h e r m a n , Clay &
Co., alluding t o : " I n Y o s e m i t e A n o t h e r Stein-
way," also state that from Del M o n t e to Y o -
semite, and at most great hotels between and be-
yond, the piano is generally the Steinway. Del
M o n t e has four Steinways and the new A h w a h -
nee now s t a r t s its career with two.
Beautiful Studios to Inspire A r t i s t s
O n e of the studios of the Pacific Division of
the National B r o a d c a s t i n g Co., Inc., is now
broadcasting, but there has been no formal
opening as yet and p r o b a b l y will not be till all
the work is completed. T h e studios are on the
twenty-second floor of the new office build-
ing at 111 S u t t e r street and when finished this
b r o a d c a s t i n g h e a d q u a r t e r s will be so beautiful
that it will be one of the s h o w places of the
city.
i'>
H . E m e r s o n Y o r k e , head of the Brunswick
recording l a b o r a t o r y in the East, is at present
in San F r a n c i s c o on a combined business and
pleasure trip. T h a t is to say, he is enjoying a
rest and is also looking a r o u n d and sizing up
the situation here. W . C. H u t c h i n s , assistant
general sales m a n a g e r of the Brunswick P a n a -
trope Division w h o was here for the conven-
tion, has been visiting L o s Angeles and is ex-
pected back h e r e this week.
H a n s o n H o u s e Features Buescher Players
Henry Santrey and his band are playing this
week at the Orpheum here and the H. C. Han-
son Music House has given them a special win-
dow display with the statement that Buescher
instruments are used. There are pictures of
Santrey and some of his artists and handsome
Buescher band instruments are shown.
Spent Vacation Developing Gold Mine
Ralph Stine, sales manager of the Union
Music Co., has returned from a two weeks'
vacation in the Trinity Mountains where he
and a group of practical miner friends are de-
veloping some quartz properties. They have
six claims altogether in a district in the Tuo-
lumne country that has produced much gold.
Like all tried and true miners, Mr. Stine has
a pocketful of bits of rich quartz, but he is not
yet a millionaire, even in his own imagination.
They are doing development work and have
struck a vein of some size that assays $400 to
the ton. Mr. Stine is as much interested in
selling Kimball pianos as ever, which shows
that the gold in his nuggets has not gone to
his head as so much glitter has been known to
do in mining circles.
Albert N. Page Returns to Chicago
After a brief visit of two days, Albert N.
Page, vice-president and treasurer of the Q R S
Music Co., has returned to Chicago. A. L.
Quinn, western manager for the company, is
taking his annual vacation, having left this
morning for the South.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Pratt Read
Products
KEYS
ACTIONS
PLAYERS
(or
Grand and
Upright Pianos
at the
Tuners' Convention
Room 744
Hotel Commodore
New York
PRATT, READ & CO.
Established 1806
The Pratt Read Player Action Co.
Deep River, Conn.