Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1932

PRESTO
BIG TIME PROMISED
TO OHIO TRADE
State Association of Music Merchants Meet-
ing at Hotel Gibson, Cincinnati, Sep-
tember 11 and 12 Will Celebrate
Fourteenth Annual Gathering.
The Retail Music Merchant is the name of the offi-
cial bulletin of the Music Merchants' Association of
Ohio, and in the issue of August 1 the plans of the
Fourteenth Annual Retail Music Dealers' Conven-
tion are set forth. The convention will be held at
the Hotel Gibson, Cincinnati, September 11 and 12,
and the main purpose of every member, stated in
print by the official bulletin, is to make the event a
historic one in numbers attending and in the impor-
tance of its business meetings.
Henry Dreher's Statement.
In a signed statement Henry Dreher, head of the
Dreher Piano Co., Cleveland, hits the nail on the
head when he says:
I will attend the Ohio Music Merchants' Associa-
tion convention this year at Cincinnati, Ohio, be-
cause:
Past history and increased attendance at piano con-
ventions proves the truth in the adage "In union there
is strength."
Without the friendly and uplifting influence exerted
through our getting together and discussing our
needs, helping each other solve our business prob-
lems, and suggesting ways and means for the better-
ment of our trade, we would stagnate and die.
It is the duty of-every dealer, large or small, to
imbibe enthusiasm, to "brush up" and to progress
and grow in a healthy, vigorous way.
Conventions assist greatly in spurring on your edu-
cation. Come along and have a good time.—Henry
Dreher.
Freedom of City.
A message (by leased piano wire) sent by R. E.
Porter to the Retail Music Merchants held very
joyous promises. Mr. Porter wired from Cincinnati
July 31:
The city council held a meeting tonight with all
the civic organizations of this city, to make arrange-
ments for the fourteenth annual meeting of the Music
Merchants' Association of Ohio, to be held here on
September 11 and 12, 1923, at Hotel Gibson. Various
city, county and federal officials were present. The
mayor has promised to keep all the jails locked tight
during these two days so no one can get in, and. the
chief of police promised to instruct all his officers to
refuse absolutely to arrest anyone wearing the official
badge of the convention.
May Be Damp.
A collection of several millions of German marks
was immediately taken up to provide an extended
vacation for the first two weeks in September of all
the federal, state and city prohibition agents. The
merchants generally agreed to extend unlimited credit
to the wives of all visiting members, and special sales
and cut prices are to be the vogue on September
11 and 12 next in Cincinnati.
Otto Grau presented the plans of the local enter-
tainment committee to the assemblage and they were
heartily approved and ratified. He told of the fund
being raised to provide a real time for the Ohio
dealers.
What Otto Grau Plans.
The first evening of the convention will be spent
in consuming a beefsteak dinner with all the trim-
mings at one of the "homes" that have made Cincin-
nati famous throughout the world. It probably will
August 4, 1923
be "Wiedeman's," as "Stroh, "Anheuser-Busch" and
"Pabst" have no "home" in the "Queen City."
Chairman Grau selected as his lieutenants in this par-
ticular undertaking, no other than those two "old-
timers," A. C. Dom and Philip Wyman.
Wednesday night's banquet is to be a gala affair.
During the meal entertainment of highest class is to
prevail. After the speakers dancing will follow. The
Cincinnati committee plans to bring one of the
famous "jazz" orchestras from Chicago for this event,
either Isham Jones or the Cotton Pickers. Music
and entertainment are to be interspersed during both
days of the convention.
Upon adjournment of the meeting, it was decided
by all present that everything was to be done to
make the social side of the convention so fine and
enjoyable that any Ohio music merchant that failed
to come would regret it to his dying day.
PRESTO CONSIDERED CURE
FOR BLUES BY FARGO MAN
And Glance Through Recent Number Made Him
Put Feelings Into Verse.
A correspondent in Fargo, N. D., is too modest to
sign his full name to the clever verses printed below.
Their merit is the greater in that they are sponta-
neous.
"I picked up the Presto of July 21 at my desk this
morning and it seemed so optimistic that I jotted
down the enclosed lines. If you can make use of it
publish it; if not throw it in the waste basket. If you
use it sign the name 'Dinnie,'" was the enclosure
with the verses, which follow:
T H E PRESTO CURE.
When I feel blue and things go wrong,
And life just seems a minor song,
I hear that wheat is full of rust,
That farmers are all going bust.
And then the "Presto" comes to me,
And sings a brighter melody.
It brings an optimistic tone,
That urges me to hold my own,
I find that crops are pretty good,
And I can sing in major mood.
So if things seem discordant now,
To harmonize I'll tell you how,
Take "Presto" and thru it just range,
And then you'll see things "Presto Change."
DINNIE.
THE WORLD INVITED.
The programs covering the schedule of Broadcast-
ing Station WDT (405 meter length), beginning the
week of July 30th, at the Premier Grand Piano Cor-
poration, 510-532 West 23rd street, New York, oper-
ated by the Ship Owners Radio Service, Inc., have
been issued and as usual are delightfully varied and
diversified. The whole world is cordially invited to
listen in to Broadcasting Station W D T at the time
specified.
NAVY'S REQUEST TO
STORY & CLARK PIANO CO.
Special Treatment of Sounding Board Desired
in Piano Ordered for U. S. S. Quail,
Canal Zone.
On July 25 the Chicago office of the Story & Clark
Piano Company received an order for a "grand satin
finish mahogany piano," to be shipped to the U. S.
Submarine Base, Cristobal, Canal Zone, and from
there to be shipped to the U. S. S. Quail, Colo Solo,
Canal Zone.
The letter requests that the sounding board be
screwed in addition to glueing on account of the
dampness, and asks for any additional reinforcement
that is possible.
Such a letter and order testifies to the faith of the
U. S. Navy in the durability and lasting value of
Story & Clark instruments under the most adverse
conditions. And it is safe to say that the experts at
the perfectly equipped factory of the company in
Grand Haven, Mich., can devise the best ways to
nullify the hurtful effects of any kind of climate.
The trust of the U. S. Navy in the ability of the
Story & Clark Piano Co., to supply it with depend-
able instruments is natural. The Government has
been a customer of the company for a great many
years and the faith of the Navy in this particular in-
stance is an expression of Uncle Sam's dependence
on instruments proved right in every purchase.
EXPANSION IN ST. JOSEPH, MO.
The Mason & Hamlin piano and the Gulbransen
playerpiano are handled by Townsend, Wyatt &
Wahl, St. Joseph, Mo., which has a very successful
piano department in its general store. The company
has just purchased ground at Ninth street and Fred-
erick avenue and will immediately build a modern
six-story business structure. The ground area is
150x140 and plans call for one of the finest piano de-
partments in the West. Manager Fred Schneider is
planning to have exclusive showrooms for various in-
struments handled and separate rooms for rolls and
records.
DR. HENRY MILLER KILLED.
Dr. Henry Miller, who was run over by an auto-
mobile Monday last week at 11th and Michigan, was
taken to St. Luke's Hospital, and died there Wednes-
day. He was a brother of the late Mrs. Julius Bauer
and an uncle of William and Richard Bauer. The
peculiar incident in the death of Dr. Miller was the
fact that his relatives and friends were not notified
of the accident that befell him until his death at the
hospital Wednesday. Dr. Miller was once a promi-
nent musician and a teacher of harmony and
composition.
A CONVENTION FEATURE.
There is not much harmony in law suits. You
never heard a phonograph playing in a court room.
Yet there can be harmony in one's business on the
legal side, if he knows and avoids the pitfalls. Secre-
PLATT GIBBS GOES EAST.
tary Hyre, who practices law for a living, when not
Platt P. Gibbs, of the Chicago Music Co., Chi- working for the association, is going to give some
cago, and Mrs. Gibbs, left this week for a vacation
general free legal advice in Cincinnati during the
at Oswego, N. Y. This is convenient to some of the convention of the Ohio Music Dealers' Association,
best trout fishing streams that flow into Lake On- September 11 and 12, and answer questions if not too
tario, and Mr. Gibbs is promising himself a gay time complicated. This subject should prove of interest
with his trusty eight-ounce rod.
to Ohio dealers.
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
August 4, 1923
CHRISTMAN
SELLING PLAYERS
BY HORSE SENSE
Long Talk Nullifies Plea and Instinct Should
Prompt Use of Word Muffler at Crucial
Moment in the Sales
Events.
Grand
The gift of conversation, the ability to talk well
and profusely on a given subject is a wonderful aid
to success in any line. The adman is a good talker
on paper; the successful piano salesman is usually
one blessed with the power of using words with
meaning. But the successful piano salesman knows
that the fine art of talking lays as much in knowing
when to put on the muffler as in the ability to voice
your thoughts. The rule applies to the piano plea
just as well as to the general line of talk. Almost as
many piano sales have been lost through too much
talking as through lack of ability to think or talk.
when embodied with
Has The Appeal That
WINS THE BEST TRADE
The Summer Season is Made
Profitable to Dealers who
Sell this Remarkable Instru-
ment, for it has many Points
that no Other can claim.
YOU ARE LOSING SALES
Every day you are without
the influence of the
CHRISTMAN
Studio Grand
A WONDERFUL SMALL GRAND
cnly five feet long which embodies all
the advantages of the larger grands
and possessing a tone volume and
renge of expression surprisingly broad.
Musicians quickly recognize the
characteristic tone qualities of the
CHRISTMAN GRAND
SEEING IS BELIEVING
"The First Touch
Tells"
Re*. U S. Pat Off.
Christman Piano Co.
597 East 137th St.
New York
When to Shut Up.
The gift of talk is a valuable one. But the gift
ungoverned by the when-to-stop sense is really an
unfortunate possession.
There are piano salesmen
who are blessed with persuasive eloquence.
They
can, in a charming way, convince a customer of the
merits of an instrument—and then keep on talking
until the prospect yawns, then doubts. Pooh! The
sale is killed, temporarily, at least.
The knowledge of the proper time to close the
argument is an important one with the lawyer who
addresses a jury. He marshals his arguments, effects
his climax and then shuts up. The rule is good in
talking to piano prospects.
You take the man who tackles a playerpiano cus-
tomer. In particular instances the personal equation
is important. But there is a general route to the
consummation and this the wise ones follow. The
wise chap keeps in mind the fact that he is selling a
playerpiano, not lecturing on the science of player
construction or the art of playing. He knows it is
possible to demonstrate too well.
The Sufficiency.
Give one of the expert salesmen three rolls and
with these and a convincing running talk and in gen-
eral he leads the customer like a lamb to the cashier's
desk. Of course, the rolls are selected with a view
to display the possibilities of the instrument to inter-
pret all kinds of music. With three rolls and his
just-sufficient talk and the finale comes before the
prospect becomes distracted. Try to put the seal
of finality on the deal before the prospect loses inter-
est.
The customer who listens to a playerpiano demon-
strated by a salesman for an hour, with the accom-
panying drone of the spiel, becomes somewhat tired.
The attention is too easily distracted and the force of
the delayed climax to the piano plea is lost.
Noting the Mood.
The prospect should be made convinced of the
playerpiano's value while he or she is in the mood to
hear the music. That is why three, or at most four,
rolls should be the limit. Of course it is hard to put
a meter on the salesman's w r ords. Warnings are of
little avail if he hasn't the sense to emulate the lowly
clam and shut up when the bell of instinct rings.
It is unfortunately true that many salesmen have
the ability to get their prospects into a mood of
interest and then spoil all by the long unnecessary
plea that so often kills the strong desire to buy. The
occasion doesn't call for a free concert. A sample to
whet the appetite given as an illustration of the
words that describe the instrument is enough.
HENRY G. JOHNSON & SONS
PIANO MFG. CO. PLANS
Organization Approved for New Ottumwa Industry
by State Executive Council.
The plan of organization and procedure of the
Johnson & Sons Piano Manufacturing Company of
Ottumwa, la., was approved in a special session of
the state executive council called in Des Moines re-
cently by Governor Kendall.
The company will begin operations in the old Bell
Truck factory property at Madison avenue and Mary
street. H. G. Johnson intends to move to Ottumwa
within a short time and devote his entire attention
to the local plant.
The output of the local factory will be baby grand
pianos. The Bell Truck building has 20 000 square
feet of space. It is the company's early intention to
build a large dry kiln as the first unit of expansion.
After it is erected it will be possible for Mr. Johnson
to begin operating at once, as the remainder of the
building is easily adaptable for the use of the plant.
Mr. Johnson in Ottumwa last week expressed his be-
lief that the factory there can be turning out pianos
by Christmas.
The plan of procedure and organization was ap-
proved by the state executive council, completely, as
submitted, with no changes. The company, an Iowa
incorporated firm, has a capital stock of $500,000, all
common stock, $200,000 of which has been pur-
chased by Mr. Johnson. He is the owner of the
Henry G. Johnson Piano Manufacturing Company
of Bellevue, la.
GERMAN PIANO DEALERS 1
ASSOCIATION'S BIG GROWTH
Other Interesting Fact in Report Concerns the
Amazing Prices in Marks.
The German Union of Piano Dealers increased in
membership for the year closing the last report. The
organization grew from 799 to 1,020 in a year the
report alludes to as "troubled, stormy and dark."
Many new branches have been opened over the
country.
According to the report, the Union had been suc-
cessful in obtaining a more satisfactory complexion
for the luxury duties or taxes; but an effort to have
an allowance made for goods already stocked failed.
Success did not attend the efforts of the Union to
have the decree forbidding the export of second-hand
pianos mitigated.
The following statement on piano manufacturing
and retailing is interesting. In peace time the cheap-
est piano cost the dealer 300 marks; the price today
is 3,350,000 marks—an increase of 11,166 fold. A
good worker in the piano industry earned 50 pfenning
per hour in peace time; now he gets 1,900 marks—
increase 3,800 fold. In peace time the piano hire rent
was 7 marks a month, now it is 20,000 marks, an in-
crease of only 2,857 fold. That is an increase of
2,857 fold for hire, against 11.166 fold for cost price.
In peace time the piano hand had to work 14 hours
in order to earn a month's piano hire; today he need
only work 10 T /2 hours to attain the same end.
"GYP" DEALER WORRIES
BRITISH PIANO TRADE
Prominent Trade Journal Comments on Number of
Complaints About Evil.
The private house dealer, or, as he or she is called by
the trade here, the gyp dealer, is creating worry among
the British piano dealers. The Music Trades Review of
London says: "Complaints reach us from dealers
who are being badly hit by the man who, with little
or no expenses, in his spare time inserts wilfully
mis'eading advertisements, particularly in the provin-
cial press, from which the unwary public is led to
conclude that wonderful bargains in pianos are to
be had at prices which bona fide dealers are pre-
cluded from selling," and adds:
"We cannot too strongly reiterate the exhortations,
many times given in our columns, to dealers to get
together and by concerted action fight this curse of
the trade. Most of the reputable manufacturers to-
day, in their own interests, refuse to supply any but
those dealers whom they know to be legitimate
traders, and it is up to the dealers also, and if pos-
sible more strongly, to take uniform action and wipe
out the bogus dealer."
COMMENT BY W. L. BUSH.
In Dallas, Tex., last week W. L. Bush, president of
the Bush & Gerts Piano Co., commenting on his ap-
pointment as chairman of the committee for the ad-
vancement of music of the National Association of
Piano Manufacturers, said: "I consider the honor
which conies with such an office is one that comes to
the city of Dallas and not to myself, because it was
undoubtedly given to me in consideration of the
recognized activities of this community in music.
Nearly all the piano manufacturers are grouped fairly
close together in the east and it would be natural for
this chairmanship to go to one closer to the center of
things, were it not for the reputation Dallas has at-
tained nationally."
FINAL DIVIDEND DECLARED.
The following notice has been mailed to creditors
of the National Piano Co., Boston, under date of
July 24: "In the District Court of the United States
for the District of Massachusetts, in the matter of
N'ational Piano Co., bankrupt.
Notice is hereby
given that a final dividend of 8 l / 3 per cent has been
declared upon all claims proved and allowed against
the estate of the above named bankrupt payable after
ten days from date.—Arthur Black, Referee in Bank-
ruptcy."
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/

Download Page 4: PDF File | Image

Download Page 5 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.