22
February 3, 1923
PRESTO
PHONOGRAPH RECORD BUYERS
Which Are the Better Customers, Old or Young, Is
Question Debated in Trade.
Which are the better talking machine record buy
ers—young folks or old folks. By young folks are
meant the young men and young women, the boys
and girls; by old folks are meant father and mother,
who in a great many instances would resent the ap-
pelation "old." In the answers of record department
heads their is no unanimity of thought. The answers,
in number, give the honor to the young people, but
in every case the answer receives a qualifying state-
ment from the observant managers.
But the bulk of the numbers in the bulletin of any
month appeals to the young people. Youth craves
music and the desire to dance provides the opportu-
nity for the dance record. Pa or ma may put up the
price but in the greatest number of instances it is the
son or daughter who makes the proposition for the
purchase of a new record.
While a great many parents purchase the phono-
graph for the entertainment of their children first
and their own pleasure in the machine as a secondary
consideration, quite a few of the old folk buy to
satisfy their own desires for the music they love.
That is why the bait of the monthly list of new num-
bers catches the old and the young. The dances
appeal almost exclusively to the young but the fine
things in vocal and instrumental music got the at-
tention of young and old. Many record department
managers declare that their most staple customers
HARP-O-GRAND
Small Keyless Piano
producing
Maximum Profits in Minimum Space
are people past their dancing days. And many oi
this class of customers have been educated by the
records into an appreciation and delight in the classi-
cal things that at one time they neither understood
nor cared for.
THE FOOLISH PRICE APPEAL
It Nullifies Effect of Good Arguments by Dealers of
Experience and Sanity.
A noticeable thing about the advertising of a great
number of talking machine dealers during the weeks
previous to Christmas was the price appeal. It was
noticeable because it was unwarranted at that par-
ticular time and also because it ran counter to the
nature of appeals by other dealers. In many cases
there was the pitiful suggestion, "Come in; name
your own terms." In the frantic holiday trade the
price appeal is an unforgivable offense because foolish
and unnecessary.
The appeal of cheapness in the talking machine
trade at Christmas or any other time is a sheer
waste of advertising effort. It is fruitless, too. The
advertisers of cheap prices nullify the effects of the
ethical dealers who concentrate their efforts on telling
about the merits of their machines and the joys of
owning one of them.
The talking machine dealers should profit by the
experiences of the piano trade with the plea of
cheapness. Whatever steady and profitable business
in talking machines is to come will be benefited by
the argument of what good they will do for the
purchaser not from how little they cost.
The creditable talking machines, the ones that ful-
fill the purposes of good reproduction, have survived
as commercial propositions; the spurious ones are no
longer considered by the sane dealers. Then why
neutralize the merits of the proved good machines
by presenting them in advertising with a begging
price appeal?
PLAY SAXOPHONE AND GROW FAT
President Duffy, of Band Instrument Association,
Has Better Cure Than Dr. Coue.
In the humble—and blatant—saxophone lies salva-
tion for those emaciated individuals whose figures,
when draped in evening clothes, suggest the lines of
a fountain pen, who view themselves in full length
mirrors with a shudder at the spectacle presented by
sharp angles where rounded curves should be, and
whose coat sleeves are perpetually shiny, it was re-
vealed yesterday.
For this revelation, the world is indebted to James
Duffy, vice president of the National Association of
Band Instrument Manufacturers, who is attending the
music trades commission meeting now in progress
here. The disclosure that thin unfortunates can de-
velop ranges of blubber by tooting the "sax" is ex-
pected to further increase the land office business of
the instrument stores, brought about by the universal
desire to play something, from the jewsharp to the
pipe organ.
,
Small in Size—Big in Results
Only 50 in. high; 35 in. wide.
A Triumph in Compactness and Efficiency;
Powerful as Full-sized Piano.
Plays Standard 65-note Music Rolls.
Large Coin Box; Harp Attachment; Beau-
tiful Cabinet.
Dealers Can Make Money Selling This Per-
fect Music-Maker for Small Theatres and
Other Public and Private Purposes.
Send for Descriptive Circular
NELSON-WIGGEN PIANO CO.
CHICAGO, ILL.
WOOD FOR PIANOS.
Ten of the softwoods used in the music industry
of the United States are natives of the United
States and not a foot of imported softwood except
a little spruce from Canada, according to the Ameri-
can Forestry Magazine. The total annual demand
for softwoods exceeds 43,000,000 feet, as follows:
Spruce, 29,144,150; white pine, 9,394,820; yellow pine,
2,107,994; sugar pine, 1,004,400; hemlock, 615,600;
Douglas fir, 480,400; redwood, 286,200; balsam fir,
101,400; cypress, 70,000; cedar, 17,500; total, 43,222,464
feet.
Every dealer, piano tuner and piano repairman
should have a copy of Circular No. 578 of Ham-
macher, Schlemmer & Co., New York. The booklet
contains lists of everything required in making, re-
pairing or tuning pianos.
C. G. CONN, Ltd., Elkhart, Ind.
C. D. GREENLEAF, Pries,
j . E . BOYER, Sec'y
World's largest manufacturers of High Grad* Band and Orchestra Instruments. Employs 1,000
expert workmen.
All of the most celebrated Artists use and endorse Conn Instruments.
Famous Bandmasters and Orchestra Directors highly endorse and recommend the us* of tka
Conn Instruments in their organizations.
Conn Instruments are noted for their ease of playing, light and reliable ralve or key action;
quick response, rich tonal quality, perfect intonation, tone carrying quality, artisticness of design,
beautiful finish and reliable construction.
Conn Instruments are sent to any point in th > U. S. subject to ten
or agencies will be found in all Urge cities. Write for catalogues, prices, etc.
C G. CONN, Ltd.
DEPT. MS.
ELKHART, JND.
The Background
A BUSY ROLL
DEPARTMENT
COLUMBIA
WORD ROLLS
Title
522
521
520
519
518
517
516
515
Down in Maryland
Fox-trot
Oh, What a Mother I Had...Waltz
Rocky Mountain Moon
Waltz
Flower of Araby
Fox-trot
Ivy
Fox-trot
Fate
Fox-trot
Whispering Pines
Fox-trot
Pack Up Your Sins, and Go
to the Devil
Fox-trot
514 Save the Last Waltz for Me. .Waltz
513 After You've Said Good-Bye Fox-trot
512 Boardwalk Blues .
Blues
511 I'm Through (Shedding
Tears Over You)
Fox-trot
510 That Da-Da Strain
Fox-trot
509 Carolina Home
Fox-trot
508 All Muddled Up
Fox-trot
507 Got to Cool My Doggies Now Blues
506 Lost (A Wonderful Girl) . . Fox-trot
To Retail at
Why Pay More?
None Better.
Made of the best materials
obtainable.
Will please your trade and
double your sales.
Quality and price make
Columbia rolls the deal-
er's best profit producer
in a roll department.
A trial order will con-
vince you.
Columbia Music Roll Co.
22 S. Peoria St.
CHICAGO
ILL.
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