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CHICAGO AND THE MIDDLE WEST
Frank W. Kirk, Manager, 333 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago
The Accomplishments of the
Baldwin Radio Campaign
Produces Vast Amount of Valuable Publicity
and Arouses Enthusiasm of Dealers in AH
Sections of Country
The Baldwin Piano Co. has issued an impres-
sive broadside setting forth what the Baldwin
radio campaign is accomplishing, and judging
from the material presented, the whole move-
ment has been an outstanding success. Dealers
all over the country have taken occasion to
write to Baldwin headquarters telling of sales
that have actually been developed through the
medium of the radio concerts, to say nothing
of the cumulative effect of the constant repeti-
tion of the name Baldwin on the public.
The programs offered during the "At the
Baldwin" hour over WJZ, New York, and the
National Broadcasting Co. network have been
of a caliber to attract wide attention both in the
radio and musical section of the daily news-
papers, and no better evidence of their success
could be asked than is found in the request?
that have come in for second appearances of
featured artists before the microphone. It was
in response to these requests that Gieseking
will appear on a second program in the series
in the near future, and will play a number of
the lighter classics.
The program goes on the air at a particularly
favorable hour, namely, from 7.30 to 8 o'clock
on Sunday night, and in the amount of general
publicity accorded it regularly, and the enthu-
siasm and co-operation offered by the dealers
for whose benefit it is particularly designed, the
Baldwin Hour has proven an outstanding suc-
cess. The results have been due in no small
part to the manner in which the company itself
has backed up the campaign with proper pub-
licity, such as special programs, announcement
post cards, and other material to be sent direct
to prospects by dealers, and thus call their
attention to what Baldwin is doing.
"Personal Attention" Is a
Factor in Modern Selling
MILWAUKEE, WIS., April 2.—Music dealers be-
longing to the Credit Men's Association and
the Sales Managers' Association of Milwaukee
heard James O. McKinsey, professor of busi-
ness administration at Chicago University, point
out to them that "personal attention is a neces-
sary feature of the small independent business
if it is to compete with the chain stores."
"Chain stores are successful because they are
efficient, not because they are able to buy on
a large scale," said Mr. McKinsey. "The inde-
pendent store must do its own advertising, its
own planning and manage its own finances,
whereas the chain store has well-trained men
at the head of the organization to direct its
activities. The merger, however, cannot give
individual and specialized service to the small
customer that an independent concern can.
Therefore the small merchant should aim to
give personal attention in his store.'
Home From Coast Trip
A. C. Beckman, who was recently appointed
Pacific Coast representative for the M. Schulz
Co., returned to Chicago last week from his
initial trip. Mr. Beckman has been associated
with the company for the past five years and
was formerly superintendent of one of the
piano divisions.
Plans Are Being Rapidly Pushed
for Chicago's World Fair in 1933
f
HICAGO, III., April 1.—Although definite
plans are well under way for the Chicago
World's Fair Centennial Celebration in 1933,
they relate chiefly to site, style of architecture,
grouping of buildings, illumination, handling
of crowds that are expected to attend, etc.
The main or general theme of the Fair, too.
has been determined upon, and it is doubtful
if there will be any departure therefrom.
It is the purpose of the Chicago World's Fair
sponsors to make the exposition truly an ex-
pression of the modern spirit as it applies to
all forms of industry—including the arts. More
especially, it will dramatize the part that science
has played in the advancement of all effort.
The sponsors of the Fair propose to build
an exposition on a different pattern than that
which heretofore has been the approved one
for the World's fairs. In other words, the
Fair of 1933 will not be a trade fair in which
are displayed miles and miles of competitive
products.
No longer do competitors hide their con-
structive ideas from each other. They have
learned that the advancement of any one phase of
the industry works to the general advancement
of the industry as a whole. They now know
that the spirit of co-operation, based upon the
common use of all the available accumulated
knowledge, works for better public service all
around.
Therefore, the exhibits at the 1933 World's
Fair will be collective exhibits, displaying in
graphic and entertaining fashion, the accumu-
lative results of at least one hundred years of
progress in the respective industries.
Production of instruments whereby musical
inspiration and the reading of music are trans-
lated into sound, will not be an exception to
the rule. Just as the making of musical in-
struments is a branch of industry, so will the
achievements of a century or more in the me-
chanical interpretation of music have its im-
portant part in Fair's ensemble.
It is too early to -predict exactly what form
such an exhibition will take, but it requires no
stretch of imagination to picture a display of
the world's first-known musical instruments,
supplemented with those exemplifying succes-
sive steps leading toward the present stage of
perfection in both string and wind instruments.
It would be more than a museum of musical
instrument curiosities. Each step of develop-
ment would be graphically depicted and en-
tertainingly presented. It would be an instruc-
tive, panoramic visualization of the whole in-
dustry of producing and reproducing music with
the aid of mechanical devices, from earliest times
to the most modern piano, organ, other instru-
ments, the phonograph and the radio—although
it is possible that radio may be given individual
exhibition space, as a separate industry.
In such an exhibit, it is probable that piano
manufacturers will be invited to display what
their accumulated and collective knowledge has
L U
D
contributed toward the perfection of the piano.
It is even possible that each may be asked to
show his latest masterpiece. In any event,
however, there is no likelihood that there will
be aisles and aisles lined with booths in which
competing manufacturers will show their products,
as in previous World's Fairs.
For musical programs for entertainment, a
great auditorium, Festival Hall, is already pro-
jected. It will be one of the first buildings
erected, and may become a permanent structure
as one of the present Grant Park group. It
is possible that Festival Hall may be opened
a year or two in advance of the Fair, and that
big musical and other festivals will be held
there as a sort of preliminary, leading up to
the main events. At present, however, such
plans are in an embryonic state.
Piano-Playing Contest
Starting in Madison
MADISON, Wis., April 1.—The Forbes-Meaghcr
Music Co., of this city, is co-operating with the
Wheeler Conservatory of Music and a local
paper in sponsoring a contest among piano
students, both young and advanced, the contest
culminating in an award of a one-year scholar-
ship under Max Von Schuldt, of the Wheeler
Conservatory staff. The scholarship will be
awarded to the performer who plays a com-
position of his own selection in a manner that
indicates the most promising degree of musical
feeling, and three capable Madison critics will
judge the playing. In addition to instruction
from Mr. Von Schuldt, the Forbes-Meaghcr
Co. has offered free rental of a new piano to
the winner of the contest for the duration of
the scholarship.
Visit to the Convention
in the Light of Vacation
With a view to emphasizing the value of a
trip to the convention in Chicago in June, as a
vacation from business cares, the executive
office of the National Association of Music
Merchants has sent out post cards showing the
Drake Hotel, the convention headquarters, in
actual colors against a background of central
Chicago with the Lake Shore in front of the
hotel plainly visible. A hand written message
on the face of the card tells of the vacation ad-
vantages.
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