15
February 5, 1920.
PROGRESS OF THE PIANO
MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION
Secretary C. L. Dennis Submits Report Which
Shows that Earnest Work and Consider-
able Money Have Been Invested.
The first intimation that P. E. Conroy would not
open the 1920 convention of the National Associa-
tion of Music Merchants came to Presto from the
president of the association himself. The following
telegram received last Saturday said: "In the hos-
pital recovering from the flu and will be unable to
attend the convention. Wish to personally thank
you for the able assistance and publicity you have
given me as president of the National Association of
Music Merchants. Gratefully."
The effect of the news of Mr. Conroy's illness
was one of keen disappointment to his associates
among- the officials of the big national association
and to members generally. This week in New York
should be one of triumphant observation for the St.
Louis piano man. The successes of the great con-
vention would be a source of keen joy to a man of
his constructive mind.
The Piano Merchants' Association, displayed great
enthusiasm and the official business resulted in the
election of the following to control the association
for the ensuing year:
President, E. Paul Hamilton; first vice-president,
T. S. De Foreest, Sharon, Pa.; second vice-presi-
dent, J. E. Butler, Marion, Ind.; secretary, C. L.
Dennis, Milwaukee; treasurer, Carl Droop, Washing-
ton, D. C ; executive board: J. F. Bowers, Parnham
Werlein, Ed Droop.
Secretary C. L. Dennis's report was merely a brief
survey of the progress of the National Association
of Music Merchants from the last convention period
in Chicago in June, 1918. He discussed the meth-
ods employed to raise funds for carrying forward
the music "uplift" work, the official stamp sales by
which have been raised in the six months from
July 1 to January 1 a total revenue of $27,003.75,
or at the rate of more than $50,000 annually. There
are 113 piano manufacturers who are aiding in the
collection of the merchants' fund.
The membership work of the National Associa-
tion of Music Merchants has increased in total paid
membership from 686, reported June 1, 1919, to
1,138 on January 1, 1920. The present membership
of 1,138 includes 875 active and 263 associate mem-
bers.
The membership dues provide an annual revenue
of approximately $10,000 for strictly organization
work, to maintain the association activity, extend
the membership work and commission organization
and promote state and city associations which pro-
vide local contact for the advancement of music
trade interests.
Mr. Dennis speaks enthusiastically of the new
force of traveling commissioners created by Presi-
dent P. E. Conroy. He also recommends an annual
prize contest to stimulate the work. Of new influ-
ence in the trade and association Mr. Dennis says:
"Especially in the phonograph field is there great
opportunity for increasing our membership and in-
terest in the advancement work. The larger talking
machine manufacturers have joined hands in the
work through the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, and last June our national association
broadened the scope of its membership to include
the retail phonograph dealers."
In closing Secretary Dennis expresses the "appre-
ciation which must be felt by the entire trade of
the exceptional executive service rendered to this
association and the entire music industry by Presi-
dent P. E. Conroy."
The meetings were marked by a number of nov-
elties, and one of the special exhibits was that of
the trade service department of the Music Trades
Industry. It created a great interest, and as pro-
posed by President P. E. Conway, the many speci-
mens submitted by successful dealers of short-cut
bookkeeping and other modern methods for efficient
office work for the retailer certainly should be of
great benefit. There were also other advantages
offered by this service which should be adopted in
full.
The selection of Chicago as the place of the con-
ventions next year gave general satisfaction. It is,
of course, in keeping with the idea of alternating
between the two great cities of the nation. The
1921 meetings will be held between January 1 and
February 15. There was some talk about returning
to the summer season for the conventions, but it did
not develop into a formal proposition, and the first
winter sessions seem to have met with the approval
of most of the men of music. There was a good
deal of grumbling among the press representatives
this week, and the smooth running delivery of "flim-
sy" which marked some of the earlier conventions
was praised. The troubles of the trade paper rep-
resentatives were doubtless due to the special inter-
est—amounting to excitement—over the display at
Grand Central Palace, which to some seemed to
overshadow events at the Hotel Commodore.
AT THE MUSIC SHOW
The National Music Show opened Tuesday at the
Grand Central Palace with ringing of chimes, a
miniature of those proposed for a Victory memorial
at Washington, to which each state would contribute
a bell. Geraldine Farrar pressed an electric button
releasing the chimes, and Gutzon Borglum, the sculp-
tor, read a telegram from Governor Smith:
The first day's events at the music show included
Mrs. Harriet A. Seymour's talk on "Musical Re-
Education." The Music School Settlement's stu-
dent orchestra played at 3, while at 8 p. m. there
was a program of Russian music arranged by Minna
Kaufmann and Lazar Samoiloff.
The Music Show itself made a fine appearance
The exhibits of the Kohler Industries, the American
Piano Co., the Simplex Co., and others were espe-
cially fine. From the West there were the displays
of the H. C. Bay Co., which was in charge of Mr.
Bay himself, assisted by Superintendent Settergren
of the Bluffton factory, and others. The Chute &
Butler Co. of Peru, Ind., also made a good showing,
and the Story & Clark Piano Co. was the third of
the exhibits from the West.
At the beginning of the Music Show Grand Cen-
tral Palace was not well filled, but the crowd in-
creases every day and before the show ends there
will be throngs. It is too late for the detailed re-
port of the affair this week, but H. S. Newman,
Presto's representative in New York, will have
something to say in detail next week.
SOME CONVENTION NOTES
A. S. Bond, president of the Packard Piano Com-
pany, Fort Wayne, Ind., was in Chicago on Thurs-
day of last week. He went on to Kansas City where
he gave an address to the Optimists' Club of that
city. On Friday night he left Kansas City for New
York, heading a Kansas City and western delega-
tion of Packard people. This special coach was
made to stop over at Fort Wayne where a factory
meeting was held on Saturday, and then the party
continued the journey to New York Saturday night.
Cable Company Well Represented.
George J. Dowling, president of The Cable Com-
pany, is in attendance at the convention in New
York. C. E. Jackson, manager of the wholesale de-
partment, and Vice-President W. E. Guylee were
the first of The Cable Company's officers to arrive at
the scene. Others from The Cable Company head-
quarters are Earl Billings and T. E. Kavanaugh, gen-
eral manager of the Imperial Roll Company.
George Q. Chase Went Through.
George Q. Chase, of Kohler & Chase, San Fran-
cisco, Cal., arrived in Chicago on Saturday and
stopped at the Blackstone Hotel. Mr. Chase, like
other westerners, will keep a sharp lookout for
goods, particularly those of the higher grades, while
in the eastern parts of the United States.
Fegen and Henderson.
N. A. Fegen, head of the wholesale piano depart-
ment of Lyon & Healy, Chicago, was on hand at
New York on Tuesday morning. J. C. Hender-
son, eastern representative of Lyon & Healy, was
on hand several days earlier, and these two are rep-
resenting Lyon & Healy at the show and conven-
tions during the week. Mr. Henderson found the
house he was living in at Allenhurst, N. J., too cold
for a winter habitation, so he moved to 1800 Nine-
teenth street, N. W., Washington, D. C. The good
schools of Washington for the younger Hendersons
was another compelling reason for the removal.
Vice-President of Piano Club.
M. J. Kennedy, vice-president of the Chicago
Piano Club, was among the early arrivals at the
New York convention, having left Chicago on Sat-
urday. Mr. Kennedy has been doing a good busi-
ness in the W. P. Haines & Co. pianos on the fifth
floor of the Republic building, Chicago.
Four from H. C. Bay Company.
President H. C. Bay and I. S. Purcell from the
H. C. Bay Company's offices, 806 Republic building,
Chicago, and B. K. Settergren and Gus Kling from
the Bay company's factories are in attendance at
the New York conventions and music show this
week.
Gulbransen Representation.
T. B. Thompson, H. A. Stewart and George Me-
Dermott, purchasing agent, are at the convention in
New York from the Gulbransen-Dickinson Com-
pany's factory office, Chicago. This is Mr. Stew-
art's first trip to New York, although he has trav-
eled extensively over most of the other parts of
this vast nation, and he is enjoying the sights and
CONVENTION EVENT WAS
CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT
Comparison Recital by Five Great Artists with
the Ampico on Tuesday Afternoon Marks
New Epoch in Pianistic Progress.
From the purely artistic standpoint the most im-
portant event of convention week in New York was
the Comparison recital at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday
afternoon, Feb. 3. It was an event which will take
permanent place in the annals of pianism. The
joint appearance of Levitzki, Moiseiwitch, Ornstein,
Arthur Rubenstein and Godowsky, with the Ampico
Reproducing Piano, marked a new point in the
progress of the instrument by which the finest re-
sults of skill in pianism is made permanent and
possible to even musical capacity of ordinary kind.
The concert was well attended and many piano
merchants were in the audience. The de luxe pro-
gram gave the purpose of the event in these words:
This concert is given to prove that the Am-
pico is supreme in the field of producing music
by scientific means. It is probably unique in
the annals of musical history in that it offers
the joint appearance of five of the greatest
pianists in the world. They will each be heard
in person and immediately afterward the same
piece will be repeated by the Ampico from the
record of the artist's playing made at our re-
cording studios.
It will be seen that there is no difference be-
tween the playing of the living pianist, and his
playing, preserved for all time by the Ampico.
This afternoon you are hearing these great
artists just as posterity will hear them—just
as they will be heard and known by millions
of music lovers far distant from metropolitan
centers where their concerts are given.
It is impossible to estimate the value of the
Ampico as a means of making music, and that
is because the Ampico's playing is not an imi-
tation but is the actual performance by the
artist himself, as surely as though his fingers
were touching the keys. True, it is secured
through a different medium—the roll—but it
is his actual performance, nevertheless.
There is no necessity of any review of the re-
markable performances of the artists themselves.
The wonder is that their effects were reproduced
perfectly by the Ampico. As a matter of record the
program follows:
Played by Benno Moiseiwitsch: Refrain de Ber-
ceau, Palmgren; Jeux d'Eau, Ravel. Mr. Moisei-
witsch's playing of "Jeux d'Eau" will be repeated
by the Ampico.
Played by Leo Ornstein: Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2,
F sharp major, Chopin (Mr. Ornstein's playing of
the "Noctrune" will be repeated by the Ampico):
Impressions of Chinatown, Ornstein.
Played by Leopold Godowsky: From "Triakon-
tameron"—A Watteau Passage, Old Vienna, Resig-
nation, Quixotic Erranty—Godowsky; Etude de Con-
cert, No. 2, Liszt. Mr. Godowsky's playing of the
"Etude" will be repeated by the Ampico.
Played by Mischa Levitzki: Valse "Danse Hu-
moresque," Stojowsky (Mr. Levitzki's playing of
the "Valse" will be repeated by the Ampico); Hun-
garian Rhapsody, No. 6, Liszt (portions of the
Rhapsody will be played by Mr. Levitzki and por-
tions by the Ampico).
Played by Arthur Rubinstein: Triana, Albeniz.
Air. Rubinstein's playing of "Triana" will be re-
peated by the Ampico.
scenes on the Island of Manhattan immensely.
Meantime, with Mr. Gulbransen, Mr. Peterson and
Mr. Bless at the office, work goes right on. And
not the least part of the work at Gulbransen's today
is the erection of the great concrete new factory
building, which is to be six stories high and is now
up to the third story.
W. L. Bush's Regrets.
B. W. Gratigny, vice-president and manager of
the Bush & Gerts Piano Co., of Texas, was one of
the representatives of the Dallas trade at the trade
convention in New York this week. Mr. Gratigny
took the place of W. L. Bush, on the program of
one of the business sessions of the music merchants
and delivered a short talk on "Local Associations."
Many piano men, manufacturers and dealers alike,
were disappointed at W. L. Bush's failure to at-
tend the conventions this year. Mr. Bush regretted
the fact himself but explained that he is busy pre-
paring a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the
Bush & Gerts Piano Co., in the state of Texas, which
occurs this month.
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