Music Trade Review

Issue: 1928 Vol. 87 N. 5

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
AUGUST 4, 1928
The Music Trade Review
Cincinnati Dealers Find
Sales Are Satisfactory
Some Even Report Dog-Day Business Above the Average—C. W.
Browne, of the Otto Grau Co., Is Father of a Boy—
Local Trade Preparing for Fall Campaigns
of business generally. Last week Philadelphia
saw the first showing of the new Hepplewhite
period grands made by Kranich & Bach as the
latest addition to the line and a richly designed
and truly authentic model of the Louis XV
period. Both are in the two-tone woods bor-
dering between mahogany and walnut and the
latter with the marquetry inlaid design.
The firm of G. Herzberg & Son, 2042 Chest-
nut street, one of the oldest high-class piano
firms in the city, has the representation ex-
clusively for these instruments in southern
Jersey, Delaware and Philadelphia and sur-
roundings. Harry Herzberg, head of the com-
pany, is much enthused over the excellent sales
made in the first showing and looks forward
to a prosperous Autumn with the new instru-
ments.
INCINNATI, July 30.—According to J. Fred VanCourt, secretary of the Otto Grau Piano
Co., business is holding up very well and the demand is considerably better than it was
at this time last year. C. W. Browne, who recently became general manager of the Grau
business, came to the store with a broad smile July 23 and immediately proceeded to broad-
cast perfectos, overlooking nobody. This was because he had just become the father of a fine,
Nutting Opens Addition
big boy—the first baby in his family. While the matter had not been decided, he stated that the
boy in all probability will be named Robert
NASHUA, N. H., July 30.—Formal opening of the
Christopher, because the former name was the tory demand for the season and that the local new addition to the William L. Nutting Music
choice of Mrs. Browne, and because the latter market is better than it was at this time last Salon was held in this city last week. The addi-
has been used in the family for many genera- year. A. W. Scheu, manager of the retail store, tion is fifty-five feet long by eighteen feet wide,
tions back. Mr. Grau and Mr. VanCourt are has just returned from Dover,. Ohio, his "home adjoining the main warerooms. The new dis-
making arrangements to motor to "somewhere town," where he and Mrs. Scheu and their play room is furnished along the lines of a
in Michigan," where they will take a short sum- daughter spent a short vacation. C. S. Brown- drawing-room in a private home and is devoted
mer vacation. A recent visitor at the Grau ing, of the retail sales department, is now on to the display of the pianos which the firm
establishment was Thomas Pritchett, of New a motor tour of the east, Mrs. Browning accom- carries, including the full American Piano Co.
panying him.
York, representative of the Aeolian Company.
line.
E. M. Abbott, of the E. M. Abbott Piano Co.,
Arthur Biddle, of Biddle Brothers Music
Store, in Reading, a suburb, has just returned who made a special effort to sell radio outfits
Join Knight-Campbell Co.
from a two-week vacation in Northern Michi- for use in hearing the broadcast of the Tunney-
Heeney
fight,
reports
that
sales
of
the
RCA,
on
gan. At the Biddle Brunswick Shop and Small
PUEBLO, COLO., July 28.—The branch store of the
Goods Store, operated in the store of the Starr which line he specializes, were very satisfac-
Knight-Campbell
Music Co., in this city, has
tory.
Piano Co. by Biddle Brothers, it was reported
added Benjamin H. Shields and Sherman Adams
by Richard Peavey, manager, that while there is
to its organization. Mr. Shields was formerly
at this time a business lull, there is a fair de- New Kranich & Bachs
with the Victor Talking Machine Co., and Mr.
mand and sales are at a satisfactory level for
Adams is widely known locally as an expert
Shown in Philadelphia window
the season.
dresser. In his new connection he
"Naturally, hot weather has caused a slow
will
have
charge of the Knight-Campbell win-
down in business, but considering the season First Showing of New Hepplewhite and Louis
XV Result in Immediate Sales for Local dows as well as supervise the record depart-
we are having a satisfactory volume of sales,"
ment.
Dealer in That City
explained G. E. Hunt, retail manager for the
Starr Piano Sales Corp. Harry Swinbrock, of
PHILADELPHIA, PA., July 30.—So highly attrac-
the retail department, has just returned from a
Hall Music Co. Opens
two-week vacation, spent in Palisades Park, tive are the newest instruments brought out
Mich. Charles J. Meinberg, general manager by Kranich & Bach, of New York, that since
FULTON, N. Y., July 31.—The Hall Music Co.,
of the local branch, has returned from com- their introduction to the Philadelphia trade last Inc., held the formal opening of its new ware-
pany headquarters in Richmond, Ind., where he week the Quaker City dealers in these pianos rooms here on Saturday, July 28. This concern
spent a week. He and his family will in a few already have disposed of several of the models succeeds the McComber Piano Co., of Oneida,
days leave for a short vacation, going by motor despite the dull Summer days and the slackness N. Y., and is located at 19 South First street.
to Palisades Park, and on their return Mr.
Hunt will go on a motor tour, accompanied by
his family.
"We are taking advantage of the opportunity
offered by the Summer lull to develop prospects
and make general arrangements for a vigorous
Fall campaign," explained George P. Gross,
president of the George P. Gross Co. "As a
part of our prospect-developing campaign we
are sending out letters each week, and by this
means we are securing the names of persons
who later will be in the market for a piano or
a talking machine. One of our lists contains
the names of persons who are building new
homes, and the indications are that consider-
able business will be developed fro/n this source.
The new Geneva Home Organ built by specialists of many years' experience,
As a matter of fact, we have just sold three
meets the demand of the professional musician in tone, quality, equipment and
grands which are to go in new homes just as
tone combinations.
soon as the houses are- ready for occupancy.
Each model is equipped with a 16-foot pedal organ.
As I see it, the prospects are fine for the Fall
C
A Real Pipe Organ
for the Home
At a Home Owner's Price
trade."
Friends of William R. Graul, head of the
piano company which bears his name, will be
glad to hear that he has almost regained his
health and soon will be able to return to busi-
ness. His nervous trouble, which made it
necessary for him to take a complete rest, has
almost altogether disappeared, but his return
to business has been delayed a short time by
an attack of sciatica. Frank Graul, a brother,
who is associated with the business, is still
hampered by the slow recovery of a broken
ankle, but he is now able to be at the office at
least a portion of each day.
At Steinway Hall it was reported by R. E.
Wells, district manager, that there is a satisfac-
The cost installed in the average home meets the average man's pocketbook.
And the piano merchant finds a handsome profit and a splendid sales field.
The new Geneva Home Organ can be played by manuals or by rolls, with
an unlimited roll library at command.
Ask for details
GENEVA ORGAN CO.
Builders of the highest grade pipe organs for
churches, theatres, public auditoriums and homes
GENEVA, ILLINOIS
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
8
The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
Out August 11
Monthly
Magazine Issue
of
AUGUST 4, 1928
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published Every Saturday by
Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secre-
tary and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Assistant Secretary, L. B. McDonald;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
B.
BRITTAIN WILSON,
CARLETOII CHACE, Business Manager
REVIEW
Haphazard Canvassing vs.
Outside Merchandising
E. H. Vogel, Sales Promotion Manager of the Kohler
Industries, New York, describes canvassing methods
that make sales as opposed to hit-or-miss canvassing
methods that miss out because intelligence and plan-
ning are not behind them. If your business in upright
pianos is not good, this article will tell you how to
make it good.
More Man Power to Make
Piano Sales Is Required
We hear a lot about there not being enough retail
piano salesmen. Here is a firm that tested this theory
and which found that those who held it were on the
right path. The San Antonio Music Co. made more
sales at no greater relative expense when it increased
its sales force.
Brin&infe the Prospective Piano
Buyer Into the Warerooms
The warerooms recital has always been a good means
of creating sales. Two examples of this work are
described in this article and both of them have been
successful.
The AC Radio Brings
The Radio Trade-In
You have the trade-in problem in your radio depart-
ment, especially since the advent of the AC Set. Here
is an article that tells how the leading music merchants
of Chicago are overcoming this difficulty.
The Girl Behind the Counter
Makes the Record Sales
The success of every talking machine record depart-
ment depends on the sales personnel. One of the girls
who make record success in selling records tells how
she does it.
Band Instrument Store and
Band Instrument School
A Milwaukee band instrument dealer who conducts
both of these simultaneously describes how their
proper co-ordination produces volume sales in these
instruments.
IN ADDITION
More merchandising articles on musical merchandise, and
the monthly technical department, an exclusive feature with
The Review.
Out August 11
Editor
W. H. MCCLEARY, Managing
RAY B i n , Associate Editor
F. L. AVERY, Circulation
E. B. MUNCH, Eastern Representative
WESTERN DIVISION:
FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
E. J. NEALY
333 No. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Telephone: State 1266
Telephone:
Vol. 87
I
Editor
Manager
BOSTON O F F I C E :
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone: Main 6950
Lexington 1760-71
Cable:
Elbill New York
August 4, 1928
No. 5
Death of Charles A, Haddorff
N the death last week of Charles A. Haddorff, vice-president
of the Haddorff Piano Co., the trade has lost another piano
maker of the old school, one of the type who not only grew
up with the business from boyhood, but was a constant student of
piano building to the end of incorporating in his instruments con-
stant tonal and structural improvement.
Mr. Haddorff first learned piano building in Sweden and then
took what might be called a post-graduate course in the technical
details of piano construction in Germany. He came to the United
States in 1893, worked with various piano companies in the East
and West for a period of nine years and then established the Had-
dorff Piano Co., the products of which company have consistently
emphasized his skill in all branches of piano construction, and par-
ticularly in the matter of tone development and scale design.
It is men of the type of Mr. Haddorff who have made the
American piano what it is, for they have consistently labored to
keep it in the forefront of instruments of that class. His work
was marked by a sincerity of purpose and a thorough understand-
ing of piano construction in all its phases. There was in it none
of that hit-or-miss tendency, that lack of scientific understanding
which has at times proven so detrimental to the progress of the
industry. He was a piano maker, which meant that he understood
his business with a thoroughness that might well be emulated.
R
Where the Sales Are Made
OBERT N. WATKIN, secretary of the Will A.
Watkin Co. and a past-president of the National
Association of Music Merchants, is of the opinion
that any efforts put forth by music merchants generally to
encourage the holding of musical evenings in the homes of the
country and the organization of groups of young people to sponsor
and take part in such evenings would be well rewarded in the mat-
ter of increased interest in musical instrument buying. These
evenings should not be devoted to listening to radio or phonograph
music, which of course has its definite place as an entertaining
factor, but should be given over to personal playing by the mem-
bers of families and their friends.
It is a thought that is well worth considering in connection
with the promotional work that is being carried in the interest of
the piano and other musical instruments. The encouragement of
self-expression and personal performance is calculated to create
a real desire for musical instrument ownership. The results are
logical and tangible, for they tend to promote music in the home

Download Page 7: PDF File | Image

Download Page 8 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.