Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1931

July 28, 1923
PRESTO
NO IMPOSSIBLE
PIANO PROSPECTS
And the Correctness of the Statement Is
Borne Out by the Story Told This Week
by W. R. Oswald, the Spokane
Dealer.
There are some piano men so naturally courteous
and polite they hardly deserve credit for presenting
the suave and peaceful front on occasions which test
their serenity. On the other hand, are the unfor-
tunates who are so temperamentally equipped that
every hour of their lives has its moments when the
desire to flare up must be suppressed. To these spir-
ited, hair-trigger chaps belong the whitest wings and
brightest halos, for theirs is the eternal struggle to
keep the peace amid the vexations of the piano ware-
room or the strenuous stunts of the sales on the out-
side.
He Was Reminded.
W. R. Oswald, the Spokane, Wash., dealer was
thinking of the latter kind when talking with a
Presto man in Chicago this week, and the thought
suggested a story about an old friend of his named
Joe Avery, when Joe was a piano salesman in a New
England town. Joe got a keen salesman's ability
from his Yankee father and a red head and a dyna-
mite temper from the suffragette side of the house.
Joe's mother was Scotch-Irish and in Joe the Irish
combustibility far outweighed the Scotch canniness,
according to Mr. Oswald, who said:
Subduing His Wrath.
"As a matter of fact, the poor chap's life up to
manhood was one tireless struggle to acquire suav-
ity; to govern his ready and truthful tongue and to
master his features, which naturally strove to reflect
his emotions. But he had his reward at last and got
himself so well in hand that only his nearest friends
could tell what sleeping volcanoes of wrath lay lulled
within him.
'"He proved it, too, when he tackled old Archibald
Goddard, taking him up as a piano prospect when
all the other piano folks had passed him up as im-
possible. Archibald was the local rich man and was
so crusty he repelled all advances to conversation
that didn't concern his bank, paint works or tile
factory.
"That was the kind of a piano prospect Joe Avery
took up when all the others retired, baffled and
defeated at old Goddard's crabbedness and unwill-
ingness to hear even the preambles to the eloquent
piano pleas.
"Goddard and his meek little wife had lived their
lives in the grim brick house on Elm street; had
raised their one girl there until they sent her to a
fashionable finishing school in Boston. The unlovely
old square house Goddard continued to consider good
enough for him. The wife agreed with him through
habit; but the daughter, a dashing, spirited girl,
stormed the old Croesus into building a new, modern
house after a plan .of her own selection.
Then Daughter Returned.
"You see, at the end of her school days she re-
fused to return home until the house of her choice
was built. The old man sent her a sulphurous nega-
tive by telegraph. The old home was good enough
for him and she could stay away and be blankety-
blanked for all he cared. She repeated her ulti-
matum and took a job as secretary or something in
Boston.
"Meanwhile the mother fretted and pined for the
daughter and old Goddard fumed and invented new
cuss words directed at daughter by his private wire-
less. But the girl was firm. No new home accord-
ing to plans supplied; no beautiful twenty-year-old
daughter to grace the domestic hearth. Daughter
won. Goddard had the house built and Marie re-
turned.
Marie's Ultimatum.
"Then came the question of decorations and furni-
ture. Marie had appropriate plans in these matters,
too, and every painter's job and every set of furni-
ture was the subject of a battle royal. The girl got
everything until it came to the furnishing of the
music room. There she insisted on a harp and
grand piano at prices that threw old crusty into fits.
The old parlor organ, good enough for mother, was
good enough for her. Daughter laughed scornfully
and put on the screws of the 1900 flapper. She in-
stigated persistent attacks on papa by every piano
house in the town, but in vain. Not a salesman could
get a hearing. It was then Joe Avery essayed to
win where others failed.
Siege Begins.
"Time and again Joe tried for an interview, but
to no purpose. He was tireless in his efforts though.
In his calm, firm way Joe had anticipated success
for his purpose if he succeeded in getting his victim
cornered. But Goddard hedged himself around with
watchful employes, who panted to bounce piano
salesmen. Joe, however, eluded their vigilance one
day and cornered the old man in his office.
"Then came the tornado of wrath from the penned
prospect, all of which Joe calmly heard. He sat un-
moved until the storm sunk to mere sputtering gusts
and eddies of profanity. Then he began to state
his proposition. Goddard got his second wind and
interrupted with sulpherous refusals to listen. 'Get
out, d'ye hear, get out!' he bellowed with a threaten-
ing movement towards the placid piano salesman.
'Don't you see I'm busy?'
Goaded Him.
" 'Well, since you're so busy today,' said the ur-
bane Joe, 'will you kindly tell me where and when
we can talk over these pianos and things you want
to buy?'
"'Go to hell!' shouted Goddard on the verge of
apoplexy.
" 'Thanks. I'll consider that an appointment,' was
the smiling response.
"The magnate sank back in his chair gasping, his
face working with contradictory emotions.
The
rigid mouth at last relaxed into something like a
smile.
" 'You win,' he said resignedly. 'What fool music
fixin's does that girl want?'
" 'She wants a grand piano and harp. These are
the styles and the makes are the best in the market.
And she also wants a pipe organ,' added Joe, driving
while the driving was good. 'Something to cost
about—'
" 'Oh, go the limit. Get out. Don't you see I'm
busy,' was the final bark."
RENEWS ATLANTA LEASE.
The lease of the Cable Piano Co. on the Cable
Piano Co. building, Atlanta, Ga., has just been re-
newed for ten years. The building is owned by Mrs.
Junius Oglesby and Mrs. W. S. Witham, who re-
ceive $25,000 yearly from three tenants, the others
being the Atlanta Conservatory of Music and the
Pictorial Review.
OFFICIAL RECORD OF
TRAVELERS' COMMITTEES
Various Lists of New Appointments by Presi-
dent W .C. Heaton Sent Out
by Secretary.
The new committees of the National Piano Travel-
ers' Association for 1923-1924 appointed by Presi-
dent W. C. Heaton are printed on the new letter-
head prepared by Secretary Albert Behning. The
complete list of officers is also officially set forth on
the stationery. The complete names and addresses
of the officers are:
President—W. C. Heaton, Auto Pneumatic Co.,
653 West 51st street, N. Y.; first vice-president, Chas.
J. Cunningham, Foster-Armstrong Co., Rochester,
N. Y.; second vice-president, George E. Mansfield,
C. Kurtzmann & Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; third vice-presi-
dent, James T. Bristol, 25 East Jackson Blvd., Chi-
cago, 111.; treasurer, W. B. Williams, 130 West 42nd
street, N. Y.; secretary, Albert Behning, 105 West
40th street, N. Y.
The following are the various committees for the
new term:
i
Advisory committee: former Presidents W. S. Rich,
W. M. Plaisted, A. Dalrymple, J. H. Shale, W. J.
Keeley, C. T. Purdy, G. W. Allen, W. E. Hall, O. W.
Williams, F. E. Edgar, D. E. Fabyan, J. A. Krumme,
A. A. Mahan, A. S. Shoninger, G. H. Bliss.
Executive Committee: The President, Chairman;
ex-officio, first vice-president, second vice-president,
third vice-president, treasurer, secretary; M. J. Ken-
nedy, 532 Republic Bldg., Chicago, 111.; Gordon
Laughead, Apollo Piano Co., DeKalb, 111.
Grievance Committee: Roger S. Brown, chairman,
Henry F. Miller Piano Co., Boston, Mass.; Ralph H.
Day, Ivers & Pond, 114 Boylston street, Boston,
Mass.; Paul Fink, Aeolian Co., 29 West 42nd street,
New York City.
Hotel Committee: Geo. E. McNally, chairman,
Estey Piano Co., 297 East 133rd street, New York
City; A. B. Furlong, Vocalstyle Co., Cincinnati, Ohio;
Alexander McDonald, Sohmer Co., 31 West 57th
street, New York City.
Railroad and Water Ways Committee: Gust.
Adolph Anderson, chairman, Van Wert, Ohio;
Thomas J. Mercer, Gulbransen-Dickinson Co., Chi-
cago, 111.; B. P. Sibley, Kohler Industries, San Fran-
cisco, Cal.; Roy S. Dunn, Straube Piano Co., Ham-
mond, Ind.
Delegates to National Council of Traveling Sales-
men's Ass'n: W. C. Heaton, Geo. W. Allen, W. B.
Williams, Albert Behning, Chas. McConville.
Alternates: D. D. Luxton, Kenneth W. Curtis,
Raymond E. Briggs, F. E. Edgar.
Delegates to Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce: W. C. Heaton, F. E. Edgar, G. H. Bliss, M.
J. Kennedy, W. B. Williams.
STARR IN LOUISIANA.
Albert T. Thompson, representative in New Or-
leans for the Starr Piano Co., Richmond, recently
established three new out-of-town agencies, all in the
interior of Louisiana, and is fairly positive that grati-
fying results will be obtained from them as soon as
they get well under way. The first of these is the
Stewart Drug Co., at Amite, La.; the second the
Port Allen Music Co., Port Allen, La., and E. J.
Thoman, at Hammond, La. They will also handle
Starr phonographs and Gennett records.
LOGIC vs. ADVICE
If a Ford Roadster equipped with a Loader enables one man to do the work of two, enables the
salesman to sell at least 50 per cent more pianos than he can any other way, at a small expense,
then, isn't it Logical that it would pay you to have, one, or more, in your business? May we have
your answer?
BOWEN PIANO LOADER CO.,
Winston-Salem, N. C.
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
July 28, 1923
The
Dominant
Line
J. P. SEEBURG PIANO GO.
A full and complete
line of better coin
operated pianos and
orchestrions.
14 Styles
from the smallest to the largest
14 Styles
from the largest to the smallest
Sold on a protected
territory system that
will interest you.
Write for Details
J. P. SEEBURG PIANO CO.
1510 Dayton Street
CHICAGO
STATUS OF RADIO
IN MUSIC TRADE
In Which Mr. Fegen, Presenting No Refuta-
tion of Comments in a Presto Article, Re-
affirms That Nothing Can Stop Radio
From Getting Into Music Trade.
Chicago, July 18th, 1923.
Editor Presto:—Your editorial comment on my
"come back" to a recent utterance of Mr. Schaad,
of the Aeolian Company, is quite interesting for its
candor, its sincerity of purpose, and its devotion to a
mutual friend, the piano. I should expect you, as a
dyed-in-the-wool piano man, to write as you did.
Having been brought up in the piano business I
feel as you do, that nothing on the market today will
displace the piano, and I have never said or intimated
anything to the contrary. After all, it is a friendly
exchange of ideas that has been started, which may
shed some light to help the music merchant decide
the question of whether or not radio is something he
should espouse as an incident to his regular business.
Radio and the Piano.
If I have correctly analyzed your comments, the
central idea is that radio does not measure up to the
piano as a musical instrument. I grant that you are
right in the sense that you describe the nature of
both articles. You state that radio "will never so far
conflict with the instruments of music as to seriously
interfere with the sale of pianos." In the main I
conform with this view. It is fair to state, however,
that within the last year owing to the immense tide
of radio advertising there were no doubt many who,
choosing between the piano and radio, preferred the
latter. These same people, however, will buy a pjano
sooner or later.
For the time being radio, as admitted by many
music merchants, has interfered with the piano and
talking machine business. There is so much about
radio to appeal to the average individual that it has
proven itself a comparatively "easy seller," and one
may safely say that sooner or later no home will be
without it. It will take its place with the piano and
talking machine. Now that it is just entering its
vogue, pianos and talking machines offer more sales
resistance for obvious reasons.
I had hoped that aside from indulging yourself in
a generalization on radio you would advert to the
cardinal idea of my observations. Mr. Schaad stated,
in part: "If the situation became severe enough the
entire phonograph industry would unite in righting
any menace that radio would develop. They might
even bring the matter to the attention of the authori-
ties in Washington, because, of course, no industry
can be allowed to put another industry out of busi-
ness."
Mr. Schaad's Point of View.
To which I replied in substance, that should things
come to that pass, I could not see where recourse
could be had of either Federal or State Government.
I also stated that the public would be the sole judge
of whether the talking machine or the radio would
prevail, if that issue really arose. Confining yourself
to the subject matter brought up for debate, what is
your view? Do you think Mr. Schaad is right in
what he says?
One of your confreres—a trade paper man with
well ballasted judgment and broad experience, whose
opinion on trade subjects I highly respect, wrote to
me as follows on the selfsame question:
"Your position, of course, is impregnable. The
radio is not going to put any other instrument or
any other business out of business, except insofar
as the natural law of selection on the part of the
public causes the public to turn to the radio to the
exclusion of certain other instruments or businesses.
No one can deny the right of manufacturers of radio
receiving sets to endeavor to sell all of them that
it is possible for the public to purchase.
"If the radio supplants other music instruments,
that is certainly not the funeral of the radio people.
It is, of course, very foolish for the music trade to
attempt to kill the radio on the theory that its growth
will stunt the growth of the musical instrument busi-
ness. One might as well say that the automobile
dealers should endeavor to kill the sale of the Durant-
Star automobile on the ground that it might hurt
the sale of Ford. Personally I do not believe that
the radio is going to hurt the musical instrument
business. But if I am wrong in this, it is all the
more reason why music dealers should handle the
radio."
Is Talking Machine Threatened?
Of course, it was your privilege to make editorial
comment upon any collateral consideration that the
discussion might suggest. Your views on radio are
interesting, but time and space do not permit com-
menting upon them. But whether I agree or dis-
agree with you makes no difference so far as con-
cerns the heart and core of my reply to Mr. Schaad.
I rather regret that Mr. Schaad even thinks there
is a possibility of radio interfering with the talking
machine business. By reason of the difference in
nature of both, there should be no clashing of inter-
est. A statement, however, such as Mr. Schaad's,
especially coming from him, is in my judgment apt to
have the effect of instilling a feeling of hostility
towards radio in the breast of the music merchant,
whose business perhaps has fallen off in the last year,
and who is well aware of the sudden and pronounced
popularity of radio.
If radio is cutting into the talking machine and
piano business for the time being, the wise thing for
the music merchant is not to shortcircuit his efforts
in behalf of piano and talking machines. He should
continue resolutely in the sale of both, but at the
same time hold out a hand of welcome to radio. A
Radio Department properly conducted is quite a
profitable undertaking.
N. E. FEGEN.
BALDWIN REPRODUCING
PIANOS ARE DESCRIBED
Handsome Folder of Baldwin Piano Co. Effectively
Used by Dealers.
A new folder of the Baldwin Piano Co., Cincinnati,
is devoted to the Baldwin reproducing piano and is
designed for distribution to the public by the dealers.
The Baldwin Welte-Mignon (Licensee) reproducing
piano is pictured on the outside page of the folder
and also shown in fine halftones are:
The Baldwin reproducing grand, Style R; Baldwin
reproducing grand, Style M; the Ellington, Hamil-
ton, and Howard reproducing grands and the Bald-
win Ellington and Hamilton upright reproducing
pianos.
"There is a Baldwin reproducing piano to meet
your requirements," is the announcement directed to
the prospective buyers. This is added:
"A Baldwin reproducing piano in your living-room
will bring to you the music of the immortals, inter-
preted by the great pianists of past and present gen-
erations.
"Imagine the delight of having in your home the
unforgetable genius of Paderewski, DePachmann,
Hofmann and Greig, ready, with a host of others, to
entertain your guests at your command."
NEW TRAVELER FOR THE
UNITED PIANO CORPORATION
J. E. Corrigan and Orville P. Settle Now Actively
Representing Fine Line.
Joseph McMann, who is re-entering the retail piano
business in Susquehanna, Pa., has been given the
representation of the line of the United Piano Cor-
poration, New York, including the Celco reproducing
medium which Mr. McMann will feature in a partic-
ularly strong way. The account was opened by J. E.
Corrigan, traveler for the United Piano Corporation
in New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan states.
Another new traveler of the United Piano Corpora-
tion is Orville P. Settle, who will travel in New
England.
Among new accounts opened by Mr.
Settle are: Lord & Co., Lawrence, Mass., Emerson
pianos; L. G. Bedell, Lewiston, Me., Lindeman &
Sons; Frank Blanchard, Watervillc, Me., both Emer-
son and Lindeman & Sons lines.
"JUMBO" MODEL SELLS WELL.
The R. S. Howard "Jumbo Model" is one of the
excellent sellers of the Howard-Stowers Co., 132nd
street and Brown place, New York. It is four feet
nine inches high and is made in both upright and
playerpiano models and has a very massive case. It
is furnished in mahogany and walnut and has not
only been found to be much in demand in the domes-
tic trade, but very popular with the Latin-Americans.
The case design of this instrument is somewhat un-
usual, its sides being curved while the pilasters are
round, giving a very substantial look to the
instrument.
NATIONALIZED PIANOS.
Pianos in Russia are nationalized, according to a
statement by B. B. Krassin, head of the department
for musical research attached to the Commissariat
for Education of the Soviet Government. Krassin
recently told an American correspondent that a mu-
sical society has been formed which leases pianos
to their users. Students are given a 50 per cent re-
duction in the rates and gifted students pay only a
nominal fee. With the proceeds derived from the
renting of the pianos the society has established a
piano factory, where new instruments now are being
made.
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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