Presto

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«*., si.oo * r.«r
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1922
AT THE YEAR'S END
IN OLDJSEW YORK
Greater Activities in Factories and Warerooms
with Everything Set for a Big Year
Just Ahead in Which the Things
of Music Will Share.
[By a Staff Correspondent.]
Crowds everywhere; everywhere crowds! The old
town has been fairly bursting w r ith buying and sell-
ing. Never such a holiday season: never such gift-
making; never such prosperity—if appearances are
not deceiving.
And the music stores share -in it. The piano ware-
rooms have been well filled with prospects. May
they all have bought—and may the kind of instru-
ments the people were looking at as the passer-by
glanced through the Fifth avenue windows have been
chosen in great numbers!
A Publicity Man.
One of the men whose business it is to write about
pianos—write about them in large letters, and with
illustrations; one of the originators of real piano
literature, said that this year would make a record
at both ends—a double record, like those popular
with phonograph lovers.
At its beginning, dull—bad business and worried
manufacturers and merchants. At its close full and
overflowing orders, jamming the factories and ware-
rooms denuded of stock.
The writer of piano literature is the man who
makes the "displays' for the great Kohler Indus-
tries. He has written "Autopiano" and "Bacon" and
"Kohler" and "Milton" and "Brambach" more times
than the average teacher writes the letters of the
alphabet.
And he knows what the signs spell.
Therefore, we must feel that good times are ahead.
I sat in E. H.. Vogel's office, on Slst street, and
heard more good talk about pianos, and the way
they are promoted—in a large way—than I had sup-
posed had been learned even by the men experienced
in the promotion end of the business. It's often an
education to visit a real advertising man who has
access to the methods of trade, and reads volumi-
nously of the piano's progress and what is making
it move.
"Charlie" Jacob.
No man in the piano industry is more generally
known than "Charlie" Jacob. How the dignified
gentleman came to be addressed so familiarly is a
wonder, but he is geniality itself once the speaker
knows him. Mr. Jacob is one of the largely success-
ful members, too. He said that business is better
right now than ever before in his long experience.
Winfield Weser's Illness.
A great many members of the trade will regret
sincerely that Winfield Weser, of the old industry of
Weser Bros., continues ill. He is one of the men
who win friends on sight—always patient and ready
to listen to whatever the friend's tale may be. Mr.
Weser is the last of three brothers who builded the
great business on 43rd street.
The business of Weser Bros, is enormous this sea-
son—only a question of capacity, and not many in
New York have more of that. The company's sec-
retary, J. Rossner, is responsible for the alert adver-
tising of the Weser Bros. He is a firm believer in
the popular upright designs—and the trade will agree
with him that the grand can never largely interfere
with the demand for the attractive styles which have
made the money for them for so many years.
The Premier Grand.
A remarkable success in the New York piano field
is that of the Premier Grand Piano Corporation.
President W. C. Hepperla has more than realized his
expectations. He is one of New York's most active
piano men, and, when not closely engaged in his
office, he is as likely to be out among the dealers as
anywhere.
The Premier Grand factory is a marvel in size and
systematic enterprise, and the little grands are fast
winning their way in the favor of trade and public.
The Aeolian Company.
Of course the Aeolian Company is crowded with
business. This is a typical Aeolian season.
The
Weber, the Pianola and the Duo-Art—the whole
great line of fine instruments of the Aeolian Com-
pany—are commanding trade, both locally and gen-
erally. And the handsome wareroom on 42nd street
is a center of musical interest at all times.
Louis P. Bach.
A personality of metropolitan piano interest is
Louis P. Bach, of the fine old Kranisch & Bach in-
dustry.
No man in the piano business is more
widely known. Beginning as a youth to understand
music and the intricacies of piano manufacture, Mr.
Bach has lost none of the enthusiasm which was im-
parted to him by his father. And his father was rec-
ognized as one of the thorough experts in tone cre-
ation in his day. It would be a sorry time were such
instruments as the Kranisch & Bach, and the ideals
which the very name suggests, to be lost to the in-
dustry and trade.
The Fine Old "Hardman."
Isn't it a pleasure to any piano man, who has the
best of the industry at heart, to visit the Hardman,
Peck & Co. establishment? There the steady-going
determination to produce fine instruments, and to
sell them on principle as well as merit, maintains
through the years.
The spirit of Leopold Peck and of W. Dalliba Dut-
ton is felt there, as of old, when the two were in the
flesh, striving to do the very things they accom-
plished. "Hardman" is a name to conjure with, and
New Yorkers are moved by it musically.
The American Piano Co.
The great, really great, American Piano Co. moves
on sturdily, and steadily developing stronger. It is
a rare day that Managing Director Wm. B. Arm-
strong is not found figuratively with his sleeves rolled
up and at work. Always approachable and affable,
Mr. Armstrong is a power in the great aggregation
01 successful piano men. And the New York ware-
rooms, in the Knabe Building, Fifth avenue, are
about as busy as any place in New York, except the
department stores.
Naturally to the trade paper man, seeking either
business or information, the advertising department
is a point of special interest. And there is no disap-
pointment if one happens to find Publicity Director
F. H. B. Burns so far above his piles of work as to
be able to say a word. Mr. Byrne has the credit of
having originated as many ideas and good "copy"
for the printed page as any man associated with the
industry. He, too, it is said, created the descriptive
verb "re-enact" applied to reproducing pianos. But
you won't get him to talk long, if at all.
Decker & Son.
Up in the Bronx—that section of New York
skirted by Southern boulevard, where the piano activ-
ities used to be intense—are still some notable in-
dustries. And there are notable men, too. It is his-
tory in the piano trade to drop in at the factory of
Decker & Son on any day when Mr. Frank C.
Decker is not too busy, and feels inclined to be "in-
terviewed." For here is one of the "characters" of
the New York piano industry, and the son of one of
the pioneers whose name is blessed by many who
have followed him.
No one ever questioned the standing, morally or in-
dustrially, of a Decker. This branch of Deckers is
in no way related to the one-time Decker Bros,
house which went out when Charles Decker died.
All that remains of that house today is the old
Decker Building, on Union square. Still, there have
been people, even piano men, who believed that the
now long defunct house of Decker Bros, was the
"original" Decker. But that was an error.
The present fine old industry of Decker & Son is
the original. It was established in 1856, by the late
Myron A. Decker, and the first firm style was Decker
& Barnes. And the Decker & Son instrument is
the best "Decker" that ever existed.
"Billy" Strich's Mishap.
All piano manufacturers, and hundreds of piano
dealers, know William Strich, of the.house of Strich
& Zeidler. And it was with universal regret that
news came of the misfortune which befell "Billy"
Strich when that gentleman, some time back, slipped
and broke a leg. He has been confined to his home
for several months, though he pluckily keeps right
on doing business, in, which he is assisted in the office
work by his wife. Mr. Strich has kept the Strich &
Zeidler piano prominently before the trade and pub-
CHARGES ARE BROUGHT
AGAINST HY J. EILERS
Piano Man From the Pacific Coast Apparently
Not Aware of the Latest Turn In His
Affairs at Portland.
C. M. Hodges, attorney, acting for twenty-nine
creditors of Oregon Eilers' Music House, petitioned
Federal Judge Wolferton to intervene and stop the
receiver's sale of the assets of the firm, which sale,
ordered by A. M. Cannon, referee in bankruptcy, is
now going on. The federal judge refused to inter-
fere as the sale had been ordered by the referee. Mr.
Hodges stated that his clients represented $40,000,
while the six petitioners who forced the sale totaled
a little over $500 of debts. Eilers is out of the city
and it was not given out as to his possible where-
abouts until December 19, at which time he was in
Chicago.
The case took on a new angle December 19, when
it developed that Hy J. Eilers, president of the music
house, was subject to grand jury action in at least
two Pacific Coast states.
Hy Eilers has for many years been a prominent
figure in Portland business circles, and Thomas Man-
nix, who was formerly his attorney, said that he had
last heard of him about a week ago in Chicago, but
he understood that he was now in New York. [Mr.
Eilers has been in Chicago for two weeks, looking
his customary cheerful self and greeting friends in
the trade.—Ed. Presto.]
The grand jury of San Francisco voted a true bill
against Mr. Eilers on a charge of conspiracy in cir-
culating spurious checks bearing his signature to the
amount of $3,300.
Stanley Myers, district attorney of Multnomah
county, when approached, said that "several local
matters" involving both Eilers and worthless checks
will be placed before the Multnomah grand jury.
It is alleged that the accusation behind the offense
charged to Eilers is that, before his financial diffi-
culties led creditors to file an involuntary bankruptcy
petition against him, he arranged with an employe to
go out on a business trip and cash all checks pos-
sible during his itinerancy.
The San Francisco case against Eilers is the out-
come of the arrest of Gus R. Smith, his alleged
agent, who is now under arrest on the charge of
passing $3,300 of checks signed by Eilers. Smith
was before the grand jury and stated that the checks
were given him by Eilers signed in blank and in-
structed to use them on the trip. Smith made the
trip down the Willamette valley, stopping at all of
the towns enroute and cashing checks in the towns
along the route. The $3,300 is said to represent only
the checks cashed in San Francisco.
HARRY SCHAAF'S HOME ROBBED.
The home of Harry Schaaf, president of the Adam
Schaaf Piano Company, at 4334 Drexel boulevard,
Chicago, was invaded by burglars early last week
Thursday and robbed of jewels valued at $9,600.
After attempting to chloroform Mrs. Schaaf, the in-
truders set about rifling the place in a leisurely, thor-
ough manner, first opening every door to provide
them with easy egress should they be apprehended.
SHORT BUSINESS TRIP.
E. W. Furbush, manager of the Chicago branch
and retail office of the Haddorff Piano Co., Rock-
ford, 111., made a short business trip last week to
make some final arrangements before Christmas Day.
There was indication of general prosperity wherever
he went, Mr. Furbush found.
lie. His former partner, Paul Zeidler is now in the
scientific department of another New York industry.
Good Trade Ahead.
It is certain that the New York music industries
are looking for a good year just ahead. The factories
are busy, and the retailers have had a good holiday
season. There is nothing at present to offer anything
but a cheerful outlook. And as New York goes, so
goes the nation.
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