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Piano Selling Lucrative for Young Men
(Continued from page 61
ing factory. In the latter part of 1906
he obtained a position as outside tuner
for the Geo. H. Champlin Co. which
later became the A. J. Jackson Co. He
held this position for fifteen years, at
which time he became a member of the
Sales Department and remained with
this company until 1935 when he had
the opportunity to join Chickering &
Sons where he has been ten years.
Started in 1906
Following close on the heels of Mr.
Rogers in length of experience is
Francis T. White who obtained a posi-
tion in the office of a Boston piano con-
cern in 1906. He, however, became
manager of the phonograph and record
department. But when the war came
on he commenced to sell pianos. Re-
garding his new experience he says:
"I have thoroughly enjoyed this new
venture and whatever success attained
can be attributed to my many years
of handling the better makes of radio-
phonographs. Of this much I am sure,
however, that this recent period of
piano selling as created a desire to
continue to try to sell my many radio
friends and customers pianos."
Cecil B. Hall who joined Chickering
& Sons at the time of their 100th
Anniversary believes that a good piano
salesman can probably do as well as
a salesman in any other line but con-
siders it important that a man should
be able to play at least a little and
also know something about piano con-
struction. During the past 18 years
Mr. Hall has devoted his time to edu-
cational and promotional work which
has brought him into contact with prof-
essional musicians and musical institu-
tions. "But," says Mr. Hall, "during
the past six years, I have devoted my-
self mostly to sales work which I have
found interesting and profitable."
In New York there are many retail
salesmen who have spent many years
s u c c e s s -
fully
selling
pianos and who
have found it
a most profit-
a b 1 e occupa-
t i o n. Among
these is M 1 . I.
F i n g e s, who
started
selling
for Sohmer &
Co. in 1917 lat-
er in 1934 join-
ing the sales
M. I. FINGER
force of the Ae-
olian Co. of which he was appointed
manager in August last year.
Mr. Finger, enthusiastic about music
whose wife is a music teacher, has
8
many an interesting anecdote to tell
regarding sales during his long career.
For many years he has interested ham-
self in summer camps through which
many sales have accrued and through
other channels which has ever kept
the business one of the most fascinat-
ing he says.
Such men as A. W. Wright now
sales manager of Wm. Knabe & Co.
who was also elected assistant treas-
urer
of
the
American
Pi-
ano Corp. last
year a n d
A.
J. A r c h a m-
bault one of his
staff who has
sold p i a n o s
since 1919 have
made a most
successful
c a-
reer in the re-
tail field.
Mr. Wright's
experience
i n
A w> W R I G H T
the piano busi-
-
ness dates back to 1915 when he joined
the music roll department of the
Aeolian Co. and traveled for that divi-
sion. During the first World W a r he
was a member of the Headquarters
Company a t F o r t Hancock where he or-
ganized bands for the army and put
on musical shows. It was at this time
that Fritfzi Scheff appeared and was
made an Honorary Lt. Colonel of the
Camp. In 1918 after the war he joined
the sales force of John Wanamaker in
New York where he stayed about a
year, after which he joined Wm. Knabe
& Co. where he has been steadily en-
gaged in selling pianos ever since.
Mr. Archambault has had a long
and valued experience in the piano
b u si n e s s. He
came to New
York in 1909
to study piano
with
Carl
V.
Lachmund, reg-
istered L i s z t
pupil and be-
c a m e member
of piano fac-
ulty of Lach-
mund School of
Music. L a t e r
A. J. ARCHAMBAULT
he studied with
Ernest Hutcheson, noted Australian
pianist and President of Juillard School
of music.
He left his piano studies to enlist
in the First World W a r as a member
of the 4th Division with 24 months in
service including 6 months in France
where he was in 3 major offensives,
and 8 months in Germany with the
Occupational Army.
After his discharge in 1919, he
joined the Mason & Hamlin Co., Bos-
ton, Mass., under A. M. Wright and
was there for many years. He was also
associated with M. Steinert & Sons
Co., Boston, Mass., and the Baldwin
Piano Co., in New York City.
In 1940 he came to R. H. Macy &
Co., New York as Associate Manager
of their new piano department and
remained in that capacity until 1943
when the department closed due to war
priorities. Recently he was with Jor-
dan Marsh Co., Boston, Mass., for the
past year but resigned to join Wm.
Knabe & Co., in New York City.
To be sure there are many, many
more whose successful careers in the
retail piano field have brought them a
substantial return for their labors not
only in substantial income but also
through the environment of culture
created through their numerous con-
tacts. The few experiences cited here-
with manifest conclusively that there
are, in the piano business, retail oppor-
tunities for young men who at the pres-
ent time are endeavoring to decide on a
future career.
New Corporation Buys
Greensboro Music Co.
The Greensboro Music Co. Inc., 207
W. Market St., was purchased last
month from the estate of the late J. L.
M. Smith, by a corporation whose
members include Walter E. Vassar,
President; Richard S. Jones, Vice-
President; C. B. Sloan, Viee-President
and Miss Ethel Ballard, Secretary-
Treasurer.
The officers, who are also directors
of the corporation, are well known in
local music circles. Mr. Vassar, for
nine years head of the voice depart-
ment of Greensboro College, now has
his private studios, and during the
war served as Music Chairman of
the Greensboro Planning Council.
Mr. Jones, who conducted his own
orchestra which he first organized at
the University of Tenneessee, and with
which he later toured Europe and the
United States, has been resident of
Greensboro for nine years and active
as an orchestra leader and teacher.
Mr. Sloan recently returned here
after serving since 1942 as a pilot
with the civil air patrol in anti-sub-
marine activities off the Atlantic coast.
Miss Ballard has been secretary-
treasurer of the Greensboro Music Co.
for the past ten years.
The management announced that
Mrs. C. B. Wagner, who for the past
twenty-one years has handled the firm's
sheet music department, will continue
in the same capacity.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, FEBRUARY, 1946