Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1761

PRESTO
PRESTO
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
A. DANIELL and TRANK D. ABBOTT
Editor*
Telephones: Chicago Tel. Co., Harrison 234; Auto. Tel. Co., Automatic 61-70S.
Private Phones to ail Departments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code).
"PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office, Chicago. Illinois,
%
under Act of March 3, 1S79.
S u b s c r i p t i o n , $2 a y e a r ; 6 m o n t h s , $ 1 ; F o r e i g n , $4. P a y a b l e I n a d v a n c e .
• u a r g e i n U . S. p o s s e s s i o n s , C a n a d a . C u b a a n d M e x i c o .
• - • • — -
'No «xtr»
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., Chicago, III.
Advertising Ratesi-Three dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Six dollars per inch per month, less twenty-five per cent on yearly contracts. Th«
Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment is not accepted for articles of de-
scriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Business notices
will be indicated by the word "advertisement' in accordance with the Act of August
24, 1912.
Rates for advertising in the Tear Book issue and Export Supplements of The
Presto will be made known upon application. The Presto Year Book and Export
Issues have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical
instrument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
The Presto Buyeis' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Musical
Instruments; it analyzes all Pianos and Player-Pianos, gives accurate estimates m
their values and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
2 Items of news, photographs and other matter of general Interest to the muH*
trades are invited and when accepted will be paid for. Address all communications to
Presto Publishing Co., Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1920.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE NEWS OF THE
TRADE—ALL KINDS OF NEWS EXCEPT PERSONAL SLANDER
AND STORIES OF PETTY MISDEEDS BY INDIVIDUALS. PRESTO
WILL PRINT THE NAMES OF CORRESPONDENTS WHO SEND IN
"GOOD STUFF" OR ARE ON THE REGULAR STAFF. DON'T SEND
ANY PRETTY SKETCHES, LITERARY ARTICLES OR "PEN-PIC-
TURES." JUST PLAIN NEWS ABOUT THE TRADE—NOT ABOUT
CONCERTS OR AMATEUR MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS, BUT
ABOUT THE MEN WHO MAKE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND
THOSE WHO SELL THEM. REPORTS OF NEW STORES AND
THE MEN WHO MAKE RECORDS AS SALESMEN ARE GOOD. OF-
TEN THE PIANO SALESMEN ARE THE BEST CORRESPONDENTS
BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE TO READ AND HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING OUT WHAT IS "DOING" IN
THE TRADE IN THEIR VICINITY. SEND IN THE N E W S -
ALL YOU CAN GET OF IT—ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
ALMOST THE LAST
When an automobile, last week Tuesday, ran down Hsnry
Lindeman, it crushed the useful life of almost the last of the old-
school New York piano makers. Mr. Lindeman was contemporaneous,
in his earlier activities, with such men as Henry Steinway, William
Knabe, Myron A. Decker, Henry Hazelton, C. Frank Chickering,
Albert Weber, Napoleon J. Haines, Ernest Gabler, George Steck,
Frederick Mathushek and the rest of the glorious list of old-time
creators and doers in the industry sixty years ago and more. Mr.
Lindeman was the youngest in the list and he survived to an age
corresponding to the eldest of them. In fact we believe he had more
years to his credit than any other in the list we have named.
It is a remarkable career that any biographer of Henry Lindeman
must relate. For in the entire history of the industry we do not recall
another that discloses such a long and unbroken ambition sustained
by so great energy and love of work. Within his years there were at
least three starting points. Born into the piano industry, and begin-
ning as his father's partner, when still very young, Henry Lindeman
seemed imbued with the enthusiasm of the inventor almost to his
last day. He established three successive industries, and when his first
passed from his control he displayed no least sign of discouragement,
but proceeded to lay the foundation for another. And when that, too,
fell from him, with the same energy he started a third. And he left
a name for what he actually accomplished, not in making a giant in-
dustry, but for what he did to improve the piano and to lift it away
from the; commonplace.
Perhaps not many in the trade of today can remember the
"Cycloid" piano, invented by Henry Lindeman. But during the Civil
war days that unique instrument bade fair to supplant the square and
even to challenge the grand. Even today it would win attention
though, because of the small grand, it could gain no permanent place.
April 24, 1920.
But even if Mr. Lindeman's pianos are not widely known today, his
influence in the industry still persists. And his personality will re-
main one of the best legacies that any man could bequeath to his
friends and associates.
Mr. Lindeman was an inspiration to younger men in the business
whose good fortune it was to know him well. A kindlier soul never
lived, and there was no limit to his patience and generosity. To the
writer of this article the influence of Mr. Lindeman's example and
counsel will continue to bless his memory. For there's never a greater
help to youth than the man of maturity who pauses in his busy work
to listen to the unripe questionings of the voice that seeks, more than
all, the encouragement of experience. And it was as long ago as 1884
that Henry Lindeman stood at his bench in his factory and told the
then youthful seeker after advice—and advertising—what he must
expect and how to realize those expectations.
The list of old time New York piano makers and experts has
been exhausted by the inexorable hand of death. But we have in their
place a newer generation, equally expert even if perhaps not quite so
kindly, because of their larger activities and greater responsibility.
HOUSE ORGANS
The "house organ" has come again. Far back in the history of
the music trade, the special publications designed to cement the
interests of workers in individual concerns, and to increase public
interest in the same concerns, were plentiful. But for nearly forty
years they had not been a part of the industrial life, to any great
extent, until a few years ago. Today they have become more numer-
ous than ever and, in some instances, they rise above the plane of the
old-time house organs and challenge the best work of the independent
magazines.
Today the house organs in the trade may be placed in three
classes. They are: first, educational; second, entertaining; third, ad-
vertising circulars. And in all of them is, back of all, the purpose of
bringing together the interest of the workers in the ranks of the
house organ publishers, cementing their ambitions and stimulating
their loyalty. The methods depended upon to attain results are clearly
shown in the manner in which the various house organs are con-
ducted. While some of them are given permanent value by articles
bordering upon the scientific or technical, others depend for their in-
fluence upon such matter as appeals to the trade, with special refer-
ence to customers of the publishers. Still others make themselves
readable particularly to workers in the factories by whose ingenuity
and watchfulness the publications are supplied with matter.
It would be worth while to name and classify all of the house
organs put forth in the music trade. There would be something to
say about them all, to show the diversity of subjects treated and the
versatility of the office and factory workers who do the planning and
editing. The house organ names alone indicate their purposes, and
often suggest their classification. Among the most conspicuous of
them at this time are the "Standard Player Monthly," one of the edu-
cational publications, in which everyone concerned in the construc-
tion and care of playerpianos must find invaluable information; the
"Packard Bulletin," which, for beauty of typography and entertaining
descriptive matter pertaining to retail stores, could not be better; the
"Simplex Unit," in which the inside workings of a great factory are
revealed, and the secrets of fine work discussed; the "Symphonola
News," edited by the Price & Teeple Piano Co. workers, for the pur-
pose of unification of factory interests. There are, too, the "Steger
Employes' Magazine," filled with sketches and miscellaneous reading
matter of a kind to interest and entertain, with just enough attention
to the big industries of Steger, 111., to serve the purposes of publicity
work; and the "Gulbransen-Dickinson Co.'s Bulletin" one of the
brainiest and snappiest publications put forth in any trade.
And there are several others equally as good and doing the work
impossible to the daily, weekly, or even the regular trade press. Read-
ers of Presto frequently find in this paper extracts from the house
organs, always credited plainly to the same. And we believe that the
space taken by the ideas and suggestions of the actual workers in the
industry is well invested.
The difference between the house organs of old and those of
today, at least in the music trade, is that, while once the publications
were the work of specialists whose business was editorial, now they
are written and made up by practical workers in the industry.. And
that is a very great difference. It is alcng the lines of just yy^at the
industrial world needs, and in fact must have. It suggests''-the out-
working of the educational side of the industries. It is common at this
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).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
PRESTO
April 24, 1920.
time to bewail the chaotic condition into which the world has be-
come entangled. The repeated cry to our own country is a question
as to "how is it to end?" The notion that things are bad and growing
worse has overshadowed the truth that, in a fundamental sense, things
are really better. When men who work find also the way by which
to rest and recreate themselves, the industries must prosper and busi-
ness of all kinds—all good kinds—develop. It is a matter of evolution,
not destruction. It is a change, and most changes create temporary
shocks and cause surprise. But a little time settles the disturbance
and the new world goes right on, better and more beautiful than the
old world ever was.
It is a matter of education. It breaks away social barriers and
levels the hills of prejudice. But it need not destroy anything of
value. When old Isaiah saw the threatened judgment of Jerusalem
he told of the vision of "a book that is sealed, which men deliver to
one that is learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee; and he saith I
cannot, for it is sealed. Another book is delivered to him that is not
learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not
learned."
He was enforcing the need of education, and the world has been
full of his prophecy ever since. To piano men it is as easy as any-
where else to measure what it may mean to the world of industry.
Trade is good. Only a lack of production prevents us from a period
of prosperity beyond anything in the past. Prices are better than
before since pianos became articles of real commerce. The public is
buying. The people who heretofore could not afford to buy now
have the means. The workers are getting a larger share in the results
of their work. When things settle down again the world will have
new views of the equality of man, and what Abraham Lincoln said
on that subject will have a larger meaning. There may come the
upheaval so confidently promised by the prophets of evil—and rea-
son, also. But the piano industry and trade will survive, will be
better and stronger than ever.
The house organs are doing their share to lift up the workers.
They are helping the factory toilers to find expression. They con-
tribute to the contentment of the ones who "produce the goods."
Therefore the house organs are good things.
ASSERTING THEMSELVES
Every reader of the trade papers has noticed the great change
that has taken place in the methods of publicity employed by some
of the foremost piano industries. A few weeks ago Mr. Robert
Howard, of New York, told of the beginning of the "full page dis-
plays" in the trade papers. He dated the beginning of that kind of
printer's ink enterprise at about the year 1882. At that time it was
a very rare circumstance to find a piano advertisement occupying
more than a few inches of space in the trade papers. And in the
newspapers it was just as uncommon to find a piano advertisement
of more than an inch space. During the Civil war days Harper's
Weekly carried just two piano cards. One was that of the Steinway
and the other of the now extinct Dunham & Son pianos. Each of the
advertisements occupied one inch of space, and both carried a few
lines of type with small cuts of square pianos. See how different
today!
In every city's newspapers the piano houses use as much adver-
tising space as any other line of business, except the big department
stores. And usually the piano advertisements are dignified, clean and
free from any of the objectionable characteristics for the correction
of which the Better Business Bureau was largely organized.
And the trade papers of today fairly set the pace for advertisers
in many other lines of large business. In evidence we offer this issue
of Presto It would be impossible to find a mere attractive lot of
"full pages" than this paper contains. Nowhere is there better evi-
dence of careful publicity work, of forceful commercial art, or of
greater general attractiveness. Beginning with the artistic page of
the Rythmodik to the equally fine Apollo-phone page, the Ampico
pictorial, the gracefully designed and forceful Simplex page, and the
clean-cut page of the Cable-Nelson Piano Co., we do not see how a
better appeal could be made in any industry.
The contrast afforded by this week's Presto advertising and the
publicity work of the piano manufacturers a few years back, is the
best possible proof of progress. It tells of the development, from
comparatively small things to the unfolding of what was once
regarded as a non-essential, to the importance of an indispensable
adjunct of the intelligent life of today. The printed page is accepted
everywhere as the mirror of progress in any business. And the large-
ness of the piano advertising has become a sign of enterprise befitting
the emulation of other departments of industry and trade.
To some of us, who have known the piano in its industrial aspects
for a long time, it isn't easy to realize that in the present-day activi-
ties of the publicity departments there is a new development in one
of the oldest of the industries. And to many who know the piano only
by what it is now doing, and has been growing up to during the past
quarter-century, it still seems that it is the basis of an almost new
business. And in its later phases of development, the piano business
really is a new one. In fact, it dates back only about twenty years.
And in the next ten years it will make more progress than ever before
in the nearly-a-century since it had birth in this country. Printer's
ink will do it. And the full page display will play a larger part in
what printer's ink will do.
Unlike some other things, pianos have been sold so much too
low that the public expects an increase and pays it cheerfully. Things
of common consumption, the prices of which are subjects of every day
discussion, find it more difficult to rise to the point made necessary
by conditions. They suggest substitutes and depreciation. That is not
possible with pianos, nor is it of course desirable from the standpoint
of either manufacturer or consumer.
* * *
Remarkable acknowledgment of good enterprise in printer's ink
is shown in the article this week on the Dictaphone advertisement, the
basis of which is the Q R S Music Roll Company and its activities.
The advertisement has appeared in thirty of the large newspapers, in
every one of which has been illustrated the factory of the great music
roll industry. That is a form of indirect advertising, the power of
which must be instantly recognized.
* * *
A bright advertisement of the Grinnell Bros.' Pontiac store starts
with: "This Spring a Steinway or other high grade piano." And it
ends with: "Don't put off giving the sunshine and cheer of music a
place in your home longer than this spring." We call that timely
advertising, and so suggestive of the season that it must start the
longing for companionship with the birds and music. It should also
sell pianos.
* # *
It would be difficult to present more conclusive proof of the kind
of trade paper influence that tells of its purpose-or popularity than
Presto's "Where Doubts Are Dispelled" department. We have had
letters from as many as twenty states in a single issue. Not half of
the inquiries received every week are published because many of
them are either "confidential" or lack general interest.
There is a shortage of piano tuners. Every issue of Presto shows
it in the want advertisements. The tuning schools should be over-
crowded with pupils. But they aren't. Why? Don't the young men
know a good thing when it is shown to them? Let your young sales-
man equip himself to be more useful to you. Write to Mr. C. C. Polk,
Valparaiso, Ind., about it.
Twenty, or even ten—perhaps five—years ago, it seemed neces-
sary to admonish the retail piano dealers to "collect, collect" and then
collect some more. Today there is not so much trouble under that
head. Most piano buyers today are either paying the cash or making
settlements which obviate the necessity of the everlasting dun. Busi-
ness is better.
* * *
Well, if the workers who are worrying about better wages get
what they too often unreasonably demand, there will be a lot of new
prospects for the piano dealers. It isn't all evil that's in the world.
In time things will settle down again and we'll all be happy—if we
can hold out that long.
* * *
The metropolitan newspapers are conducting a campaign of
print-paper economy. If some of the trade papers would follow suit
it might be a good idea. Fewer well-filled pages are better than more
padded ones, in the opinion of the trade generally.
Piano merchants throughout the country took hold of the Player-
piano week with enthusiasm. In a number of cities the dealers made
the week the basis of their local advertising. No doubt many sales
resulted.
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).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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