Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1932 Vol. 91 N. 9

THE
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
November,
1932
JOHN W. JENKINS, NOTED KANSAS CITY
MUSIC MERCHANT, KILLED IN ACCIDENT
J
OHN W. JENKINS, SR., president of
the Jenkins Music Co., Kansas City, Mo.,
and one of the most widely known
music dealers in the country, was killed
Tuesday evening when his motor car skidded
on the ice on the state highway near Creigh-
ton, Mo., en route home from a duck hunting
trip. He was 68 years old.
A soft-spoken man who usually kept in
the background, John W. Jenkins was the
driving force behind the Jenkins Music Co.,
which grew from a little hole in the wall
to one of the three largest businesses of its
kind in the country.
He was essentially a business man, only
two or three little tunes were in his musical
education. The love of instruments, especial-
ly the piano, was one of the secrets of his
ability to sell musical instruments.
Mr. Jenkins first married Miss Alfreda
Reams, who died thirty-nine years ago.
About thirty-five years ago he was married
to Miss Edith Kanaga of Lawrence, Kas.,
who survives him.
One of his greatest activities outside his
business was his church. He was chairman
of the official board and a trustee of the
Trinity Methodist. Many years he had been
active in the support of missions in foreign
countries, and equally active in the support
of small, struggling churches in the United
States. His charities entered practically
every need. Although his specialty was re-
ligious giving, he refused no worthy cause.
The chain of music stores in growing to
an eight-million-dollar business came to in-
clude sixteen stores. Three are located in
Kansas City. Other stores are in Kansas
City, Kas.; Joplin, Mo.; St. Joseph, Mo.;
Topeka, Kas.; Salina, Kas.; Wichita, Kas.;
Leavenworth, Kas.; Tulsa, Okla.; Okla-
homa City, Okla.; Bartlesville, Okla.; Sem-
inole, Okla.; Amarillo, Texas, and Ft. Smith,
Ark.
BRADFORD'S, MILWAUKEE, TO SELL MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS EXCLUSIVELY IN NEW QUARTERS
A
FTER sixty-one years in the same
block on Broadway, and must of the
time in the same building at 715
North Broadway, Milwaukee, Wis., the J.
B. Bradford Piano Co. will soon move into
larger quarters. According to Hugh W.
Randall, president of Bradford's, announce-
ment of the new location will not be made
immediately, but will be on the east side of
Milwaukee's downtown business section. The
present building has been headquarters for
the music store through most of the years ii
has been in business, having been established
in 1872. The firm uses the slogan: "Brad-
ford's, Wisconsin's Oldest, Largest and Most
Complete Music House."
In announcing the removal of Bradfords,
Inc., Hugh W. Randall, president of the
company, has advised the public of his
faith in the future of the music business.
That his statements are not just conversation
is proven by the fact that the elaborate gift
studios conducted successfully by the com-
pany for some years past are being closed
out and in the future all efforts will be
directed to the handling of musical instru-
ments, of which the Bradford company car-
ries a notable line, including the Mason &
Hamlin, Steinway Duo-Art, Chickering,
Weber, Steck and Wheelock. In an inter-
view published in "Club Life," the official
organ of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, Mr.
Randall said, in part:
"There is a decided tendency these days
for the American family to once more turn
to the home for their entertainment as well
as for eating and sleeping.
"I base my opinion on the trend in sales
of pianos, music and phonograph records.
There was a time when every family had
its piano. The person who could play it
was always in demand to entertain guests.
If there was no piano player, the phono-
graph was called into service. That sort
of intimate amusement ceased when the
whole family, father and mother included,
started to seek thrills at the many roadhouses
that have sprung up at nearly every cross-
road. No one had time to play the piano
and if they ever did get that wild idea
they found the instrument out of tune.
"The depression of the last couple of
years has changed this picture. Money for
fast amusement is not so plentiful and so
you see the drift towards the home, as in-
dicated by the demand for music, which
down through the ages has always been our
one important source of enjoyment.
"People are once more having their
pianos tuned. They are buying sheet music,
so that they can gather around the piano
and sing the latest numbers. The move-
ment of records has increased tremendously.
One music house in New York recently sold
$250,000 worth of pianos in one month,
clearly showing that the east is already on
a home basis, and so will we be soon.
"I so firmly believe this to be the case,"
he concluded, "that I am having a removal
sale at Bradfords to clear out all of our
present stock so that I can get into the music
business, pianos and radios, stronger than
ever. We are not going out of business, but
in our new location, that we expect to move
into early next year, we are going to devote
our entire energies to music."
SPINETGRAND FINDS WAY
INTO MANY FINE HOMES
The acceptance of the Mathushek Spinet-
Grand not only as an instrument of un-
usual and attractive design but also one of
decidedly acceptable quality from a musical
standpoint has been indicated in no uncertain
manner by the purchase of many of these
instruments for placement in fine homes
throughout the country. Originally designed
to fit into smaller homes and apartments
where space is at a premium, dealers report
that sales have been made to prominent own-
ers of large mansions not alone to carry out
authentic Colonial decorative treatments but,
with the introduction of a variety of period
styles, to provide an unusual touch to the
decorative scheme in general.
The interest shown in the SpinetGrand
can be emphasized no more strongly than
by referring to the fact that the retail price
of the instrument is considerably higher than
prices asked for a number of small grands
at present on the market, which is a tribute
not only to its structural qualities but also
to its tonal value and general appearance.
As a display feature the SpinetGrand has
proven the salvation of numerous dealers as
they are free to confess, for, being placed in
the show window in a proper setting, the
instrument invariably brings numerous pros-
pects into the wareroom. One dealer, who
has sold several, by the way, was frank to
confess that if he had not sold one, the sam-
ple instrument in the show window had
proven the cheapest advertising medium and
prospect getter he has used for many years.
As has already been announced in THE
REVIEW, the SpinetGrand originally produced
in a Colonial style is now available in a
variety of period models including Duncan
Phyfe and Italian designs, with others in
process. It has, in many respects, proven
the biggest surprise in the trade for many
years, for, being first regarded by many as
a novelty likely to prove of short duration,
it now appears to be recognized as a per-
manent factor in piano design.
P. H. BILHUBER CHAIRMAN
OF W O O D INDUSTRIES GROUP
Paul H. Bilhuber, assistant factory man-
ager of Steinway & Sons, played an impor-
tant part in the two-day convention of the
Wood Industries division of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, held at
Jamestown, N. Y., on November 15 and 16,
he being chairman of the veneer and ply-
wood session which occupied the entire eve-
ning of the second day. Mr. Bilhuber and
Dr. William Braid White, technical editor
of THE REVIEW, are associate members of the
executive committee of the Wood Industries
Division.
HARDMAN, PECK & Co.
Manufacturers of
Fine Pianos for 91 years
433 Fifth Avenue
13
New York
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
14
MUSIC
TRADE
other musical organizations. He is survived
by a son, Louis Richard Dressier.
OBITUARY
Walter A. Beedle
George W . Morgan
George Washbourne Morgan, one of the
best-known piano salesmen in the metro-
politan district of New York and who had
been connected with the piano department of
the Wanamaker store for over a quarter of
a century, died on October 24 at his home
on Staten Island after a short illness. He
is survived by his sister, Maude Morgan, a
well-known harpist.
Mr. Morgan, who was sixty-six years old,
was the son of George Washbourne Morgan,
a noted organist, and naturally received a
considerable music training in his youth. He
eventually became interested in piano selling
and during his career at Wanamaker's hung
up several records for individual piano sell-
ing over a year period. For several years
he was manager of the piano department of
Gimbel Brothers, in New York, but again
returned to the Wanamaker department,
where he was employed at the time of his
death.
Edward P. Little
Edward P. Little, for thirty-three years
head of the sheet music department of Sher-
man, Clay & Co., San Francisco, and a past-
president of the National Association of
Sheet Music Dealers, died recently in that
city of pneumonia. He was fifty-one years
old.
Mr. Little had a host of friends through-
out the music trade and was a frequent
visitor to the east, where he came to main-
tain trade contacts. Under his direction the
publishing department of Sherman, Clay &
Co. produced a number of outstanding song
hits, among them being the famous "Whisper-
ing." MT. Little is survived by his father,
Thomas Little, a brother, Sherman, and a
son, Carl.
The Boston piano trade was shocked to
learn of the death of Walter A. Beedle,
which occurred November 1 at the Palmer
Memorial Hospital in Boston. He had been
with the Ivers & Pond Piano Co. for up-
wards of thirty years. Mr. Beedle was sixty-
six years old and was born at Troy, O. Soon
after his marriage he went to Cleveland, O.,
where he engaged in the piano business.
Later he and his family came to Boston and
for some time resided in Newton, until tak-
ing up their residence in Brookline. Mr.
Beedle is survived by his wife, a daughter,
two grandchildren and two half-sisters.
REVIEW,
November,
1932
later took charge of the routing of concert
pianos for all of the Steinway artists touring
the United States. She was so careful and exact
in her work that in all of the many years
during which she handled this difficult and
trying department no Steinway piano ever
missed its concert engagement with an artist,
a record of which she was particularly proud,
as was the Steinway house.
Peter McCormick
Peter McCormick, who operated the Mc-
Cormick Music Store on St. Clair street,
Toledo, for over 34 years, died at his home
in that city recently in his 80th year. He
had retired from active business about seven
years ago. He is survived by his widow
and a brother.
Thomas Lewis Powell
Frederick E. Weale
Thomas Lewis Powell, for a number of
years vice-president of the Cable-Nelson
Piano Co., Chicago, and president of that
company from 1921 to 1924, following the
death of Fayette S. Cable, died at his home
in Hinsdale, 111., on November 8, as the
result of an automobile accident.
Mr. Powell was sixty-three years old and
was born in Montgomery, Ala., where he
engaged in the piano business as a youth.
He came to Chicago in 1911 to join the
Cable-Nelson Co. He is survived by his
widow, two brothers and a sister.
Frederick E. Weale, of Weale & Sons,
music dealers of Port Jervis and Middletown,
N. Y., died in the former city late last month.
He was 62 years old and, in addition to his
music business, stood high as a music teacher
and band and orchestra leader.
George S. Cruger
Louis R. Dressier
George S. Cruger, for thirty years con-
nected with the music department of the
Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, died on No-
vember 1 as the result of a stroke. He was
fif'y-five years old. In addition to being
assistant manager of the music department,
Mr. Cruger had also been publicity manager
and announcer for the old Wanamaker sta-
tion WOO. He was a close friend of the
late Rodman Wanamaker and had charge
of the latter's collection of rare violins. He
is survived by his widow.
Louis Raphael Dressier, for over 40 years
associated with Charles H. Ditson & Co., the
prominent music publishers, long as head of
the company's department of religious music
and for a period in charge of the piano de-
partment, died at his home in Jersey City
on October 8 in his 71st year.
Mr. Dressier was well known as an organ-
ist and composer of church music. He was
organist for a number of prominent New
York churches at various times and in his
earlier days played accompaniments for many
prominent artists, among them Maud Powell,
Victor Herbert and Hans Kronold. He was
one of the founders of the American Guild
of Organists and was an active member of
Steinway & Sons have announced the re-
cent death of Miss Henrietta Kammerer, who
was in their employ for a period of thirty-
seven years. Her loss is greatly deplored
by them and her host of friends in their or-
ganization.
Miss Kammerer was a cousin of the late
Robert Kammerer, formerly of George Steck
& Co., and latterly of the Aeolian Co. She
entered the Steinway organization in 1896 at
the behest of the late William Steinway, for
whom sh^ did a great deal of secretarial
WOTL After his death she entered the
stenographic department of the house, and
Miss Henrietta Kammerer
STORY & CLARK PIANO COMPANY
Manufacturers
Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, a retired piano builder,
died November 8 at his home in Atlantic,
Mass. He was eighty-seven years of age.
He was born in South Boston, and had lived
in Atlantic for the past fifty years. He had
been a Mason for sixty years and is sur-
vived by two sons.
D. B. Sill
D. B. Sill, widely and affectionately
known as "Ted" throughout the music trade
in the middle west, passed away Sunday,
October 30, at Superior, Neb., after a brief
illness which developed into pneumonia. Mr.
Sill was a brother of James V. Sill, sales
manager for the W. W. Kimball Co.
Services were held in Chicago, November 2,
and interment was in Iron Mountain, Mich.
Of late he had been associated with the
Bankers' Commercial Security Co.; prior to
that, for many years with the W. W. Kim-
bal! Co. in various capacities, where he
made many friends in the trade.
WEAVER
Pianos of Quality.
Complete line of attractive and
up-to-date styles.
Liberal live and let-live financ-
ing plans.
Weaver Look & Play Plan for
Creating Prospects and Retail-
ing Pianos.
Quality and Reputation devel-
oped over a period of sixty-two
years.
The line that contributes to the
success and profits of progres-
sive dealers.
Investigate.
INSTRUMENTS OF QUALITY SINCE 1857
Office: Chicago, Illinois
Factory: Grand Haven, Mich.
Weaver Piano Co., Inc.
YORK, PA.

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