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10 Year Old Accordionist
Also Stars on Hammond Organ
For many months and pratically since
William Knabe & Co. have been located
at 536 Fifth Ave., New York, Collins
Driggs during the noon hour has played
spotted the organ he sat down to give
it a whirl. Without batting an eye or
missing a note, he played Leccuona's
Malaguena.
So interested did he become in play-
ing the organ that his parents purchased
a Hammond instrument for him.
GLENN DERRINGER, 10 YEAR OLD ORGANIST, AND AS HE HLAYED WITH
ROBIN DELL ORCHESTRA
the Hammond Organ just within the
show window of the store, much to the
delight of many New Yorkers during
their lunch hour. Recently, however,
Mr. Driggs has made way for a 10-year
old genius named Glenn Derringer of
Philadelphia. Originally an accordion
player, he, after twenty lessons on the
organ, made his debut as the featured
organist in the Robin Hood Dell's final
children's concert for the 1954 season.
The youngster's aptitude was discov-
ered last summer when he accompanied
his father, who is a sound engineer, to
a repair assignment in a Camden, New
Jersey movie house. The minute Glenn
The result of this has been that the
director of the Philadelphia Orchestra
has chosen Glenn as an accordion and
organ soloist in the Philadelphia Or-
chestra's Childrens Concert. He also
won first prize last month on the Paul
Whiteman TV Show at Atlantic City,
where he played both the organ and the
accordion. He is attending the F. S.
Edmund's Public School in Philadel-
phia where he is a student of the Sixth
Grade, and was elected to the Student
Council last year. In order to further
improve his technique on the Hammond,
he is now taking lessons from Collins
Driggs in New York City.
Five Music Stores to Gel
Brand Name Retailer Awards
presentation of manufacturers' adver-
tised brands during 1954.
An all-retail panel of twenty-five
judges will pick the 1954 winners. Mem-
bers of the panel will include represen-
tatives of twenty-five retail firms which
won top Brand Name Retailer-of-the
Year plaques at the last Brand Names
dinner. Among them will be C. H.
Stephenson, Jr., treasurer of Stephen-
son Music Co.. Raleigh. N. C. Stephen-
son Music Co. was named Brand Name
Retailer-of-the-Year for ]953 in the mu-
sic store field.
This year, a Brand Name Retailer-of-
the-Year plaque and up to four Certifi-
cates of Distinction will be awarded to
firms in each of twenty-five classifica-
tions. The awards wil be presented be-
Five retail music dealers will be
among the one hundred and twenty-five
firms to receive Brand Name Retailer-
of-the-Year awards at next April's
Brand Names Day dinner to be held in
the Grand Ballroom of New York City's
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, according to
Henry E. Abt. president of Brand
Names Foundation, Inc.
The annual competition sponsored by
the Foundation is expected to attract en-
tries from retailers located in all parts
of the United States as well as Canada.
Mexico and U. S. possessions. The
awards will honor merchants in twenty-
five fields of retailing for outstanding
12
fore more than 1,700 leaders in manu-
facturing, advertising and distribution
attending the annual Brand Names Day
dinner.
There is no cost or fee for a retail
firm to file an entry. All that is neces-
sary is the filing of a completed entry
form on which the firm describes its
past, current and future advertising and
promotion on brand themes. No sam-
ples, tearsheets, scripts or window
photos are required with the entry form.
Deadline for entries is December 3,
1954.
According to the Foundation, judges
will consider the following in making
their selections:
1. The manner in which trade-marked
merchandise is featured in advertising,
merchandising, display and direct mail.
2. How the firm is educating cus-
tomers to the fact that branded products
made by reputable manufacturers re-
present best buys.
3. The way in which sales personnel
is given the facts about brand named
merchandise.
4. Other ways in which the firm is
building its reputation as a local center
for reputation brand name products.
In the short six-year history of the
competition, the Brand Name Retailer-
of-the-Year awards have become among
the most coveted honors open to retail-
ers. In addition to the actual plaque or
Certificate, winners get international
newspaper and trade paper publicity,
and a domestic theme for year-round
advertising. These two benefits bring
others, in the form of new prestige with
customers and sales personnel, and
recognition with suppliers. According to
one past winner, "an award brings you
the kind of prestige and renown you
can't buy with a million dollars.
After they reach New York next
April, the winners and their wives will
be royally entertained during the three
day period preceding Brand Names
Day. Last year's "Champs" were re-
ceived at an official reception at City
Hall by the Mayor of New York City;
toured advertising agencies, newspapers
and top retail stores; were guests of na-
tional magazines at cocktail parties; and
attended a series of lunches sponsored
by sixteen top manufacturers, trade
magazines and trade associations. A
comparable program is being planned
for the 1954 winners.
In announcing the 1954 competition,
the Foundation has again stressed that
size of store and advertising budget are
unimportant. According to Henry E.
Abt, Foundation president, "it's not how
much it cost, but what you do that
counts."
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, SEPTEMBER, 1954