Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyses and Classifies
All American Pianos
and in Detail Tells of
Their Makers.
PRESTO
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THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Trade Lists
Three Uniform Book-
lets, the Only Complete
Directories of the Music
Industries.
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CHICAGO, SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1923
MASON & HAMLIN CO.
LEASES NEW BUILDING
Entire Four-Story Building in Boston Secured
by Famous Industry for Larger
Offices and Warerooms.
Another forward step in the career of the Mason
& Hamlin Co., of Boston, is the leasing by that
industry of the four-story and basement building at
146 Boylston street, Boston, to be used entirely for
executive and general offices, and also for the retail
warerooms. The building has been leased for the
term of twenty years.
The latest acquisition in the development of the
distinguished Boston industry here noted, speaks
conclusively of the substantial growth of the Mason
& Hamlin interests. It is a moderate statement to
say that no other piano industry has made greater
progress during the past ten years. The Mason &
Hamlin is the foremost instrument in many of the
most conspicuous piano houses of the country. It
has attained to a place among the very highest in-
struments the world over.
It is only a short time ago that particulars of the
new Mason & Hamlin factory in Boston were given
followed shortly after by further account of the
acquisition of a supplementary factory for special
branches of piano manufacture. And now we have
the word of the Mason & Hamlin Co. taking an en-
tire building on Boston's foremost street for dis-
play rooms and offices. It would be impossible to
produce better evidence of the power of the artistic
merit in pianos. And it is one of the genuinely en-
couraging proofs that the trade and public find a
power in what is called "quality" now, as scarcely
ever before.
ADAM SCHAAF NEW MODEL
UPRIGHT INTERESTS TRADE
Style 100, Recently Presented, Characterized by
Merit Associated with Products of Company.
The new Style 100 upright grand recently an-
nounced by the Adam Schaaf, Inc., Chicago, has won
favor, as is shown by the numerous orders for this
style, according to members of the firm. The Adam
Schaaf line has proved ever-popular during the half
century of the history of this company. The* thor-
oughness with which Adam Schaaf has explored the
possibilities of piano manufacturing is well illus-
trated in the perfection of the new styles.
The new Style 100 Adam Schaaf is another fulfill-
ment of ideals which have won appreciation in an un-
precedented degree; another addition to a line of in-
struments time-tested by thousands of satisfied and
enthusiastic owners.
STARTING PLACE OF PIANO
ASSOCIATIONS PASSES AWAY
Old Brighton Beach Hotel, Where First Organiza-
tion Was Formed, Will Soon Be No More.
The Brighton Beach Hotel and Music Hall adjoin-
ing, near New York City, have been sold to a real
estate syndicate, and the old structures will be
razed. The point of special interest, so far as the
music trade is concerned, is in the fact that the first
meeting of the National Piano Manufacturers' Asso-
ciation was held at the Brighton Beach Hotel. It
was there that the organization was formed, the first
dinner eaten, and the first fierce speeches delivered.
And that first meeting to form the association of
piano men was noted by the heated discourses by
the music trade editors. Talks were ma.de by the
late Marc Blumeberg, Wm. L. Thorns and E. Lyman
Bill. All of the trade editors still living also par-
ticipated.
The list of prominent piano men who were at that
time very active and who have since passed away
would fill a column of Presto. In fact, none of the
original workers in the organization are still active
in it.
The Brighton Beach Hotel was built in 1878 and
was one of the finest along the Atlantic Coast at that
time. Ten years after the hotel was built the ocean
had encroached on the beach to such an extent that
it was necessary to move the hotel back several
hundred feet.
BIG MAIL ORDER HOUSE
WILL JOB THE "CROWN'
Said that Sears, Roebuck Co. Will Undertake to
Distribute Quantities of Pianos.
It is now reported that the Chicago mail order
house of Sears, Roebuck & Co. will go largely into
jobbing the "Crown" piano. Several years ago the
concern named bought the Crown industry from Geo.
P. Bent, and later disposed of the factory at Wash-
ington boulevard and Sangamon street, Chicago.
Since that the once famous "Crown" piano has been
dormant. The report is that the mail order house,
which has long been selling popular pianos, will job
the pianos which are to bear the name made famous
by Mr. Bent.
RUNNING FULL CAPACITY
AT M. SCHULZ CO. FACTORY
Orders From Dealers and Roadmen for January and
February Show Increases Over 1922.
The factory of the M. Schulz Co., Chicago, is being
run to full capacity to keep up with the orders for
pianos. The salesmen are active, among them being
R. K. Maynard, who has been sending in a good
number of orders from the Pacific Coast, and Otto
M. Heintzman, who is finding a ready market in the
eastern states. "We have been doing a whale" of a
business," said Fred Bassett, vice-president of the
company. "The months of January and February
ran three times as heavy as the same two months of
last year."
But the efforts to supply the biggest and most urg-
ent demands do not embarrass department managers,
shipping room officials or the superintendent of a fac-
tory remarkable for its efficiency in every particular.
Known to the trade as one of the biggest producers
of pianos and player pianos, the M. Schulz Co. can
make its output equal any strain in the order depart-
ment.
GRANDS IN NEWARK, N. J.
The favor for grands noticed by the Griffith Piano
Co., 60S Broad street, Newark, N. J., is in a great
measure a response to lively grand advertising. The
claim of the grand piano is one continuously made
by the Griffith Piano Co. in its admirable newspaper
displays. This was said in a recent issue of the local
papers: "If every home could have a grand piano to
beautiful its living room or parlor and to glorify the
spirits of those who dwell therein, the effect would
be far-reaching. Nearly every home can now have a
grand or reproducing grand piano under our con-
venient payment plan of selling the illustrious in-
struments that are gathered together in our ware-
rooms."
CLEVER AD WRITER.
Miss Lucile McNaughton is the clever young lady
who manages the advertising department of the J. W.
Jenkins Sons' Music Co., Kansas City, Mo., and pro-
duces most of the forceful copy that makes sales.
She is well known in advertising circles in that city,
and was vice-president of the Kansas City Ad Club
last year.
AMPICO IN WATERBURY.
The Ampico demonstrations in the store of Mc-
Coy's, Inc., Waterbury, Conn., are attractive musical
features in that city. The demonstrations are of an
educational quality that Franklin V. McCoy believes
conducive to a keener interest in playerpianos by
the public.
RESULTS ANNOUNCED IN
KRAKAUER BROS. CONTEST
C. R. Stone, Fargo, N. D., Dealer, Wins
Krakauer Grand Style 16 for Best Essay
on Given Topic.
C. R. Stone, of the Stone Piano Co., Fargo, N. D.,
has been declared winner of the first prize in a contest
promoted by Krakauer Bros., New York, and which
invited essays on "How I Sell the Krakauer Piano."
Mr. Stone's reward is a Krakauer Style 16 grand
piano.
The second prize, fifty dollars in gold, was won by
E. B. Worden, of Earl B. Worden & Co., Utica,
N. Y., and the third prize, twenty-five dollars in
gold, by R. G. Ehman, of the D. I. Lerch Co.,
Canton, O.
The contest was promoted to celebrate the com-
pletion of the 50,000th piano by Krakauer Bros., and
the piano won by Mr. Stone bore the proud serial
number 50,000. The judges' committee consisted of
Don M. Parker of the "Century Magazine"; Louis C.
Brockway, of "Scribner's Magazine," and George W.
Bricka, of the Bricka-Ford-Paris Advertising Agency,
New York.
The great number of essays submitted in the con-
test and the high character of the contributions were
notable facts in the event. It was no small task for
the judges to declare a result of the contest,'which
closed December 31, 1922.
The following contestants were awarded honorable
mention and ten dollars in gold: A. H. Marchant,
Marchant Music Co., Inc., Orangeburg, S. C.; L. B.
Harding, Dunham's Music House, Asheville, N. C ;
S. F. Lundberg, B. Dreher & Sons Co., Cleveland, O.;
J. E. Sipprell, Kinney Bros. & Sipprell, Everett,
Wash.; C. E. Richardson, Kneupfer & Dimmick,
Lawrence, Mass.; C. A. Pinson, O. K. Houck Piano
Co., Memphis, Tcnn.; W. C. Wright, Sherman, Clay
& Co., Portland, Ore.; J. A. Hodges, Sherman, Clay
& Co., Vallejo, Cal.; A. B. Clinton, A. B. Clinton Co.,
New Haven, Conn.; Robert Jones, B. Dreher's Sons
Co., Cleveland, Ohio; H. H. Drummond, Denton,
Cottier & Daniels, Buffalo, N. Y.; G. Vargas, Sher-
man, Clay & Co., San Francisco, Cal.; H. J. McDade,
Knuepfer & Dimmock, Lawrence, Mass.; F. Schock,
Miller Music Co., Lebanon, Pa.; S. D. Forward, Den-
ver Music Co., Denver, Colo.; J. H. Ling, Ling Piano
House, Detroit, Mich.; H. A. Bruggeman, Jacobs
Music House, Fort Wayne, Ind.; O. G. Robertson,
Benjamin Temple of Music, Danville, 111.; Ewing W.
Bonnell, Davis, Burkham & Tyler Co., Wheeling, W.
Va.; L. E. Fetter, Denver Music Co., Lamar, Colo.
BUSY IN MUSCATINE, IA.
W. J. Burnett, manager of the Muscatine Music
House, recently opened in Muscatine, la., reports a
lively response to the newspaper advertising of the
firm. The musical public of Muscatine and sur-
rounding country is well served in the handsome
warerooms at 210 Iowa avenue. Mr. Burnett is a
piano man of wide experience in the Iowa trade. On
his sales staff is Miss Mabel Appel, who has achieved
a very creditable piano sales record.
PREPARATIONS IN GEORGIA.
D. A. Ahlers, manager of the store of the Phillips
& Crew Co., Atlanta, Ga., is confident of a good
spring business in pianos and playerpianos. That
section of Georgia is assured of trade activity owing
to the confidence arising from stable agricultural con-
ditions. Mr. Ahlers has shown his trust in prosper-
ous conditions in 1923 by preparing for a big piano
business by providing a big stock of alluring instru-
ments.
STEINWAY IN HARTFORD.
Steinway advertising is a notable feature of Wat-
kins Brothers, Inc., 241 Asylum street, Hartford,
Conn. The house is known as "the home of the
Steinway piano and the Steinway Duo-Art Repro-
ducing Piano." The firm alludes to the leader of
the line as the "Thorough-bred Steinway Piano,
Thorough in Every Detail."
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