Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1752

PRESTO
February 19, 1920.
the comfort of the dealers, until some returning whim of this restless
world brings back again the shining cases, the blue "smoke" and the
finger marks with which we have so long been familiar.
WOMEN PIANO WORKERS
There is a curious and characteristically English estimate of
women in the world of music—especially practical or industrial music
—in this issue. It is a dispatch from London, and it is so unfair as
to be worth while reproducing and contradicting.
While it is true that there is no woman's name among the great
inventors of piano improvements there have been many of them in
the lists of the smaller things that have helped to make the instru-
ment popular and, without the encouragement of music in the home
that comes from the women, there would be little demand for pianos
at all. In the ranks of pianists the women loom large. We have
had them from the very first. From Clara Schumann and Annette
Essipoff to Teresa Carreno, Julia Rive-King and Fannie Bloomfield
Zeisler, the list of women's names in concert programs has almost
equalled those of the men. And it was a woman who invented the
"silent piano," or practice clavier; it was a woman who wrote the
book of short sketches that, more than others, have lasted. And we
believe that Elise Polko was an English woman, at that. Amy Fay,
also a pianist, wrote the best book of foreign piano study, with Liszt
for her background. Women have been very prolific writers on the
piano and the latest novelty in piano practice is a color-note curricu-
lum by a woman.
As to the practical, or industrial, side of it, there are probably
twice as many women as men working in the London piano factories.
In the United States there are few piano factories in which there are
no women, and the player piano industry employs them in numbers
almost equalling the men. There have been piano industries con-
trolled, and personally conducted by women. In one of them two
sisters employed many men, among them being their paternal sire
himself. In several of the piano factories there are female executives,
one of the largest employing a woman as head of the advertising
department. In Chicago one of the oldest and largest of the piano
houses has a woman in charge, not only of the advertising department
but as principal advisor to the president of the concern.
It is said by at least one of the progressive piano manufacturers
that women make the best workers in some of the factory depart-
ments. In the Hobart M. Cable Co.'s factory, at La Porte, Ind., Mr.
Howard B. Morenus takes pride in the special apartment furnished for
his women workers in the stringing and other departments. He has a
complete rest room with every convenience for dining on the "light
housekeeping" plan. No doubt other American piano factories are
similarly equipped. And one of the largest wound string industries
in this country has, for many years, been under the direction of a
woman. She has carried forward the industry ever since the death of
her father who founded it.
The average Englishman doesn't seem to have much faith in the
capacity of his sisters. Some of the English writers have given em-
phasis to this fact. But, nevertheless, it was a woman who made the
best ruler the English people have had, and in music women have
been the queens, also, whether as pianists, violinists, vocalists or writ-
ers. And today they are becoming efficient in the practical matters of
piano building, promoting and selling. Perhaps the great war was
responsible for it, but the women have arrived, and it will be a long
time before the women again leave the piano to the men, if ever they
do.
of old industries, for young men may possess antiquated ideas and
notions. And the absolete men are often the ones who criticise without
thinking and condemn without reason. In that they are dishonest,
for they fool themselves while they try to hurt the objects of their
prejudice.
In the retail piano trade there are obsolete dealers, who fail to
see anything that is good in the methods of their competitors, and
cling to antiquated methods of selling, that long ago fell into disuse,
or even disrepute. They are obsolete in their advertising. They are
obsolete in their attitude toward their sources of supply. They are
obsolete in their ways of judging instruments, and they employ
obsolete systems in their collection departments.
But most pathetic is the obsolete piano, in which may be the
dormant and decaying power of a great name .and a one-time admir-
able ambition. This kind of piano may be found in the stores of man-
ufacturers who believe that they can "sell all they make," and do
not care what the other manufacturers are doing. They cling to the
old idea that a large retail profit, once in a while, is better than a
smaller wholesale profit many times multiplied by cumulative and
steadily increasing numbers. Unfortunately there are some very con-
spicuous examples of that kind of obsoletism. And the pianos that
are slowly dying under that sort of management are often of the kind
that in earlier days were filled with vigor and promise.
The world—even the piano world—is forgetful. It will not be-
lieve that because a piano was a great one fifty years or less ago, it
must be a fine one today. Other pianos, into whose ambitions not
half that time has been invested, may have slipped past the one-time
specimens of distinction. And what was said and done fifty years ago
doesn't much interest the average piano buyers of today.
Don't permit yourself to become obsolete—disused. Never was
there such an opportunity for fine pianos as now. And the men are
easily at hand for the promotion of fine pianos. Look ahead in your
promotion, in your ambitions, and don't be satisfied with anything
you made in the past, or that you sold last year or even last week.
A NEW DAY
The spirit of competition gives zest to the business of selling
pianos. And that zest is not all due to the fact that the margin of
profit is enough to make battle of wits and skill worth while. It is
equally a matter of honest pride in the instrument to be sold. It is
faith in what is being sold, and admiration for the piano and the
name it bears.
That's the spirit of the "game." It's because all men possess in
seme degree the sporting instinct, and selling pianos is a species of
sport. It demands energy, alertness and diversified abilities. It isn't
like weighing sugar or potatoes, nor like fitting shoes or measuring
carpets.
No one will say that it is a source of enthusiasm to sell a really
poor piano. The size of the profit will not justify the discrepancy in
merit. The salesman with a fine piano to deliver will employ a bet-
ter enthusiasm, and more convincing argument than one who repre-
sents an indifferent or nondescript instrument. Isn't that true?
And that is one reason the piano man would not change his call-
ing. He likes to be in a business that affords scope for the exercise
of his personality, and his power, to send home conviction which may
be followed by the satisfaction of profiting his customer while he
profits also himself.
Equally comforting is it just now that selling pianos is no longer
a business of the coupon and guessfest, the stencil and false-pretense.
It is now, once more, the best business on earth, and one of the
cleanest.
OBSOLETE
There are men who find some sort of satisfaction in referring to
anything that fails to meet with their approval as belonging to things
obsolete. Not that the things that do not please them are really in
disuse, but that they are not in exact accord with the critical minds
of the people who do not, for some reason usually concealed, measure
up to expectations. Usually the critics of things that are good, but
unwelcome, are themselves "obsolete" because they can not lift
themselves above their own pet prejudices. They are everlastingly
looking back into the past and contrasting whatever may not tickle
their own vanity, or purposes, with something that has remained in
the days gone filled with suggestions of crudity or questionable
purpose. There are a few obsolete pianos in the sense alluded to. And
there are more than a few piano men who unfortunatelyi belong td
the same classification.
Of course, until perfection dawns there must remain piano details,
constructional and theoretical, that are in some sense obsolete. They
are the instruments made by men who can not progress because per-
sonal prejudice will not let them. They are the products not always
Piano men, who are heavy taxpayers in our great cities, ought to
take an interest in the waste of moneys by old-fashioned ways of doing
work on the streets. Many of those who went to New York last week
were astounded at the complete tie-up of that city by snow. They
were more surprised at the quaint, old-fashioned attempts at snow
removal, as practiced in New York. Some of the piano men say that
we might still learn some things from Europe. For instance, Liver-
pool, England, has practiced street flushing as a method of snow
removal. During the last twenty years not a cart has been used to
haul away snow that fell on Liverpool's streets; it is all washed into
the sewers. A Brooklynite estimates that New York City has wasted
$6,000,000 since 1915 in hauling away snow.
Probably the next show, in connection with) the piano trade con-
ventions, will be planned for the special, if not exclusive instruction
of the members of the trade. The big? New York event of two weeks
ago was a wonder. It was planned and executed by the best brains
and enthusiasm of the industry. It could not have been other than a
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FRESTO
8
popular success. But the next show will not be so popular in the
general sense, but it may be more directly useful in its influence upon
the affiliation of dealers and the sources of their supplies.
Mr. Thomas M. Pletcher, of the Q R S Company, is supposed to
be out duck shooting in the marshes of Louisiana. His last letter
from the Southland was written at New Orleans. In one of the late
O. Henry's short stories he told of a hunter who went out to shoot
rabbits, and every time he took aim he brought down a bear. It almost
seems that every time, perhaps or possibly, the energetic Q, R. S
president gets a bead on a duck he lands a big player roll factory.
* * *
An item about a Printer's Ink article which appears on another
page seems to prove that the piano industries have been leaders in
one form of advertising which is now strongly recommended. For it
has been the custom with the piano manufacturers, almost from the
beginning of the industry, to feature their factories. Scarcely an issue
of Presto has appeared, during the thirty-six years of its existence,
that has not contained at least one picture cf a piano factory.
The everlasting drowse of the proofreader again. In a discussion
last week of the effects of the increased wholesale prices of pianos, we
tried to say that the higher selling figures would present] elements of
betterment in the future. But the types made us say that the increase
"prevents the possibility of betterment." One little letter in one little
word often changes the meaning of a sentence and spoils the force of
an argument. But proof readers are human.
* * *
Automobile shows, cffice fixture shows, and some other shows,
are effective in their respective trades because they make the public
acquainted with the latest inventions, and the newest novelties, in
their lines. Pianos do not vary greatly, and they have no sensational
side by which the amusement loving public may be excited to hyster-
ical interest of the sporting kind.
How long will the present riot of piano demand continue? That's
a question many are asking and no one answers. It is certain that the
time is coming when at least a little effort will be required to do the
selling, and something like the old-time competition will return. So
much the better, because ambition always needs a spur.
* * *
The publicity papers have a good deal to say about the appeal
of art in advertising. We do not recall anything in the specimen
books better than the display of Steger & Sons Piano Mfg. Co. which
appears in this issue of Presto. To the point, striking and original,
the Steger page is a model for the ad-smiths.
* * *
It is evident that Mr. C. C. Conway has inherited his distinguished
father's gift of verbal expression. And in the exercise of it he has
equally the strength of reason and the attractive quality of inde-
pendence.
* * *
There isn't a piano unspoken for in all the factories. There
are not piano actions enough being made to supply the cases in sight.
And yet there are piano dealers who ask us when prices will come
down.
* * *
A veteran advertising man says that he used to make! his "copy"
conform to the notion that "the object of all advertising is to sell the
goods." He has changed his mind and now believes that the psy-
chology of publicity has more aims than one.
:|i
:j:
:•!
Modern advertising is cultural, an engine of civilization, broad-
ening the mind, increasing knowledge, informing the public of the
new necessities of refined life, and in short is a distinct mental and
moral uplift.
The Chicago Tribune estimates that there are 549,810 families in
the Interior Metropolis. How many of those more than a half-million
families have pianos? How many player-pianos?
* * *
No one doubts that the Music Show has done a great deal of
good to the exhibitors who have New York stores. The customary
avalanche of booklets and circulars, always distributed on such occa-
sions, must draw some sales and do some advertising. The New
York public responded.
THE NATIONAL MUSIC SHOW
FOR MUSIC TRADE PURPOSES
(Continued from page 5 )
to, and that in the interest of business transaction
the public be excluded.
TWO-FOLD PURPOSE FAILS.
The theory of a public show as a means of ex-
citing public interest in music and furthering the
business interests of the music trade at the same
time is, I am convinced, a mistaken one. To make
the show a public success means to make it a busi-
ness failure. To stage it on a scale of magnificence
that would compel the admiration and attendance
of the public in great numbers would require the
expenditure of vastly greater sums than we have
expended in the past; it would compel those who
have engaged in the undertaking on the most mod-
est lines to exceed what has been done by the most
lavish in order to bring the whole display up to the
standard of spectacularism required to throng the
show, and when this had been accomplished and the
public did swarm there in great numbers, it would
defeat the most important function of the show, by
hampering the transaction of actual, profitable busi-
ness.
In the miscellaneous crowds attending a music
show as now constituted the persons in charge of
the various displays are kept in a constant state of
uncertainty concerning the identity of visitors to
their booths. They may be manufacturers, jobbers,
retailers, salesmen, tuners, or just "plain people."
How is one to know? How is one to approach
them? It is obvious that the same line of conversa-
tion is not adaptable to all of these diversified char-
acters of visitors. So in every instance, all day long,
it becomes a sort of "guessing out" problem for the
music man to ascertain the character of visitor who
enters his booth before he can begin intelligently
to enter upon the display and discussion of his
wares.
If the show were confined to the music trades the
exhibitor would have at least one assurance, that
his visitor was in some way connected with the
trade, and it would -be no incivility to inquire in just
February 19, 1920.
what way he was interested, and thus establish at
the start an intelligent and mutual basis of discus-
sion.
TRADE SHOW WOULD BE BETTER.
And again: With a show devoted exclusively to
the interests of the trade, we could engage, say the
main ballroom of the hotel in which we established
cur headquarters. It could be suitably apportioned,
lighted and arranged for a compact, but quite ade-
quate display of the products of the various ex-
hibitors. It would be right at hand for the men and
women who were directly interested and who for
the most part would be quartered in the hotel. They
could get together, exchange ideas, examine mer-
chandise, compare notes, consummate deals and
really "get somewhere," with no confusion or em-
barrassment due to the presence of crowds of sight-
seers.
And this at a cost that would be trifling as com-
pared with present outlays incidental to the show.
As for the entertainment and interest of the pub-
lic, as noted above, there are other and better means
than the show. For those who desire to mingle the
entertainment of the public with the display of their
wares, many have the special facilities in their own
establishments for that purpose, such as audito-
riums, recital halls, etc., and they will probably ac-
complish the end in view a great deal more directly
and effectively by individual efforts than through
similar functions at the show, for they achieve the
double purpose of quickening the general interest
in music and of bringing the public to their own
places of business.
And. as before noted, the National Bureau for
the Advancement cf Music has, through its Music
Week achievements and its diversified music prop-
aganda during the past, amply demonstrated that it
can be trusted to find adequate means to keep the
public on the tiptoe of active interest in musical
matters quite aside from any participation by the
National Music Show.
CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS
DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEMS
Many of Them Are Similar to Those of Piano Men
at This Side of the Line.
An export business has recently been taken up
by the Martin-Orme Piano Co., Ltd., Ottawa,
Canada, which is shipping pianos to Great Britain,
France. Belgium. New Zealand and West Indies,
according to a statement in Industrial Canada, the
official organ of the Canadian Manufacturers' As-
sociation. In ah interview Owain Martin, president
of the company, said that the company's produc-
tion will average 50 per cent increase over last year,
but that at the present time the factory finds it hard
to get stock promptly, especially in metal goods.
According to W. N. Manning, of the Sherlock-
Manning Piano & Organ Co., London, Ont., their
ouput has increased 25 per cent over a year ago.
In a statement in Industrial Canada Mr. Manning
said: "This year's output, we believe, will be be-
tween 20 and 25 per cent more than last year's; in
fact, we are now about normal. The tendency of
the Canadian customer is to buy the high-grade
piano. The Canadian public is becoming more ar-
tistic in its tastes, and is demanding quality in both
tone and design. And marketing conditions were
never better."
The difficulty of getting raw materials was com-
mented upon by Henry W. Mason, of Mason &
Risch, Ltd., Toronto, but the chief problem was
and still is that of getting a sufficient number of
first-class mechanics to permit of a really satisfac-
tory output. But Mr. Mason hopefully thinks the
situation in that respect is improving.
EMPLOYEES' CLUB OPENS.
The Employees' Club which includes every mem-
ber of the sales and office staffs of W. J. Dyer
& Bros.. St. Paul, Minn., met last week for the first
time in the new suite of clubrooms presented to the
club by W. J. Dyer, founder and president of the
firm. The room includes a men's room, ladies'
room, general clubroom and dance hall, and will
be open to members every business day of the year.
The rooms are made available for special evening
gatherings. The function at the formal opening
was attended by 250 employees and their friends,
The club numbers 150 members,
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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