Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyzes and Classifies
All American Pianos
and in Detail Tells of
Their Makers.
PRESTO
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Trade Lists
Three Uniform Book-
lets, the Only Complete
Directories of the Music
Industries.
/• c m . , tun • i w
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1922
SMITH & NIXON CO. IS
BOUGHT BY A. GOLDSMITH
Head of the Weil-Established Goldsmith Piano
Co. Secures Name, Patterns, and Other
Effects of Old Cincinnati Industry.
The Smith & Nixon Piano Mfg. Co., which has for
the past year been conducted by S. O. Simon, at 1914
Carroll avenue, Chicago, was sold on Monday of this
week to A. Goldsmith, of the Goldsmith Piano Co.,
1223-1227 Miller street. And so another of the old-
time and famous pianos has changed from semi-
somnolence to promise of great activity. For, while
the Smith & Nixon has been for years moving slowly,
and under rather adverse circumstances, its new
owner is a man of progress, and one whose successes
have been marked.
The Smith & Nixon piano was established, as far
back as 1843, in Cincinnati. It was a small industry
for many years, and in Chicago a branch house was
established in the 70's. Smith & Nixon Hall, at
Clark and Washington streets, is still remembered by
many musical people and members of the Chicago
music trade.
The original owners of Smith & Nixon were W. K.
Nixon and James R. Smith, both of whom have long
been dead. In 1886 Henry W. Crawford, for years
a meteoric character in the piano world, became in-
terested in Smith & Nixon. Later he was joined by
J. G. Ebersole, and the Cincinnati industry, with fac-
tory at Columbia Heights, near Chicago, flourished.
There were branch houses in Louisville, Pittsburgh
and other cities.
A large factory was later erected at Norwood, Ohio,
in which the Smith & Nixon pianos were made until
the company became involved financially, and passed
to the ownership of the Knabe Bros. Co. That con-
cern continued until 1917, when the Smith & Nixon
Piano Mfg. Co. was reorganized with Waters &
Morrison in control. In 1921 another change took
place, and S. O. Simons, from New York, and Albert
W. Wade, a Chicago advertising man, gained control.
The factory was removed to Chicago, and continued
in a small way at 1914 Carroll avenue. The concern
failed and the assets were finally sold for the benefit
of creditors.
The latest change in the destinies of the famous
old piano promises to be permanent. Mr. Goldsmith
is a thoroughly expert and forceful piano manufac-
turer. W r ith so good a name, and one so well es-
tablish.ed, as that of Smith & Nixon, he will win new
successes. The Smith & Nixon has always been a
fine instrument, based upon scientific principles, and
sold by representative dealers everywhere. It will
now be produced at the large factory controlled by
Mr. Goldsmith, at 1223-27 Miller street, Chicago.
AMPICO AND ARTIST
IN LOS ANGELES CONCERT
Fitzgerald Music Co. Arranges Event of Great Im-
portance in Music Circles.
A concert recently given in the Philharmonic Audi-
torium, Los Angeles, Cal., by four Knabe artists and
the Ampico, was- attended by eighteen hundred peo-
ple. The Fitzgerald Music Company arranged this
large event, in which such conspicuous personalities
of the Pacific Coast music world as Brahm van den
Berg, pianist, Joseph Zoellner, 'cellist, Flora Myers
Engel, soprano, and Calmon-Luboviski, violinist, took
part.
The Y. M. I. of Los Angeles, an organization
which was eager to raise funds for a new club build-
ing, had been planning a benefit concert by ama-
teurs, with all the usual limitations and embarrass-
ments, when the Fitzgerald Music Company came
forward with the offer of well known professional
talent and the Ampico. This was eagerly agreed to,
and the pianist, the cellist, the soprano and the vio-
linist were engaged by the music house.
Tickets to the concert were sold on a two dollar
scale, and all concerned were delighted with the re-
sults. The audience was as enthusiastic as it was
large, and the promoters of the concert were wholly
gratified by the program, its quality, interest and
profit. Each of the artists was accompanied by the
Ampico in the Knabe, and Mr. Van den Berg gave a
highly effective demonstration of the Ampico itself.
ADAM SCHAAF PIANOS ARE
HOLDING THEIR BIG TRADE
Harry Sipe, Traveler, Has Entered Upon His Seven-
teenth Year with the Chicago Industry.
Harry T. Sipe, piano
traveler with a record for
friends in the trade, this
week started on a trip
through
the
Middle
West, which is the initial
one of the seventeenth
year of service for Adam
Schaaf, Inc., of Chicago.
And at the same time
Mr. Sipe celebrates, by
hard work, the attain-
ment of his "majority" as
a piano traveler. He has
been at it just twenty-
one years, all but four of
which have been devoted
to spreading the fame of,
and demand for, the
Adam
Schaaf
instru-
ments.
Mr. Sipe has put in a
HARRY T. SIPE.
brief resting period at his
home in Ridgeville, Indiana, one of the prettiest
places in the state. He will now spend several weeks
in Iowa, and then further westward. He is one of the
piano travelers whose loyalty to the trade press has
helped to win friends both for the Adam Schaaf line
and the publications whose duty it is to advance the
popularity of good pianos.
GERMAN INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY.
A report submitted in Germany by the Industrial
Inspection Bureau sets forth that since 1920 the num-
ber of producing organizations engaged in German in-
dustry and employing more than 10 persons each, in-
creased by the end of 1920 from 300,434 to 324,169,
and that the number of workmen employed increased
from 6,967,000 to 7,461,407. There are more piano in-
dustries in bankrupt Germany than in the rich United
States.
BUILDS IN LOS ANGELES.
The new seven-story building of the Southern Cali-
fornia Music Co., Los Angeles, now under construc-
tion on Broadway, between Seventh and Eighth
streets, is fast approaching completion. The first
five floors and basement will be used by the company
for its various music goods departments. A large
auditorium will be located on the seventh. The
sixth floor will be given over to studios of music
teachers.
F. W. CARBERRY RESIGNS.
The next meeting of the Milwaukee Association of
Music Industry will be held November 2 when the
annual election of officers will take place. At the re-
cent meeting of the association held in the Wisconsin
Hotel, Hugh M. Holmes, who presided, tendered
the resignation of Frederick W. Carberry as presi-
dent. No action was taken and the successor of Mr.
Carberry will not be elected until the November
meeting.
TO FORM BUSINESS ETHICS CODE.
Initial steps toward the formation of a national
code of standard business practices and ethics for
the guidance of retailers, wholesalers and manufac-
turers will be taken at a meeting to be held on Mon-
day at the offices of the National Retail Dry Goods
Association in New York.
The Dubuque Music House, Dubuque, la., has
opened a branch in the Ruete Drug Store, where talk-
ing machines and records are featured.
PIANO CLUB TO ELECT
NEW OFFICERS MONDAY
James T. Bristol and Adam Schneider in Race
For President With Club Members Filled
With Expectations of Big Entertainment.
Spirited voting, after floods of oratory, is expected
for the annual meeting of the Piano Club of Chi-
cago, following one of the famous Drake dinners at
the Drake Hotel next Monday night at 6:30 o'clock,
to elect the officers for the coining year.
And since the coming year is predicted to be one
of the most important administrations in the history
of the club, the excitement of the election will be
even more than it has been at other annual meet-
ings.
.Three tickets of officers are in the field, Secretary
John McKenna announced after the time for filing
tickets had passed. One of these tickets was filed by
the nominating committee of the club, and the other
two were prepared and signed by ten members of
the club for each ticket.
James T. Bristol, of Price & Teeple, and Adam
Schneider, of J. Bauer & Co., are the two candidates,
Bristol being the choice of the nominating committee
and one independent ticket, and Schneider being the
preference of the other independent ticket. W. S.
Jenkins, present head of the club, is slated for a mem-
ber of board of governors, on all three tickets filed.
The tickets which will be presented next Monday,
Oct. 23, are: First, by the Nominating Committee:
President, James T. Bristol, of Price & Teeple;
vice-president, John McKenna, manager Columbia
Graphophone Co.; secretary, R. E. Davis, of the
Wickham Piano Plate Co.; treasurer, Thomas Hind-
ley of Mandel Bros. Vocalion department. Members
of Board of Governors: W. S. Jenkins, of the John
Church Co.; K. W. Curtis, of the Kohlcr-Campbell
Industries ; W. A. Stapleton, of Lyon & Healy;
Harry Schoenwald, of the Consolidated Talking Ma-
chine Co.; and Eugene Whelan, of the Kimball Co.
The second ticket is as follows: President, Adam
Schneider, of the J. Bauer & Co.; vice-president, Eu-
gene Whelan, of the Kimball Co.; secretary, Harry
Schoenwald, of the Consolidated Talking Machine
Co.; treasurer, Frank M. Hood, of the Schiller Piano
Co. Board of Governors: W. S. Jenkins, J. T. Bris-
tol, John McKenna, R. E. Davis, and Thomas W.
Hindley.
The third ticket, nominated by ten members of the
club, is the same as the ticket put forth by the nomi-
nating committee of the club, except that Harry
Schoenwald is nominated for treasurer instead of
Thomas Hindley, and Hindley for the board of gov-
ernors in place of Schoenwald.
The program for next Monday's meeting will be a
feature for everyone who has any interest in music
or the music trade. Practically all of the entertain-
ing will be done by members of the club. Will Col-
lins, of Lyon & Healy, will tell some of the stories
of his repertoire. Axel Christensen will play and give
some vaudeville selections. Latest selections will be
played to the club by a five piece orchestra which
has been engaged for the evening.
As for oratory, Frederick W. Carberry, president
of the Milwaukee Association of Music Industries,
will be present and make a talk concerning some
phase of work of interest to the trade.
On the strength of this program and the excite-
ment for the election, three hundred have made
reservations for the dinner. Others who intend to be
present are asked to communicate with the secretary
at once.
The officers who are elected at this year's election
will have a large share of the duties of the national
convention next June and for that reason, the incom-
ing administration will be an important one.
LITTLE SUSAN GAMBLE'S DEATH.
Friends of the family throughout the trade will
learn with deep regret of the passing away at Mem-
phis, Tennessee, on Wednesday morning, October 11,
1922, of little Susan Lang Gamble, age six years and
thirteen days, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred O.
Gamble and granddaughter of the late Emile
Witzmann.
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