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 Boak 1 -
lets, the Only Complete
Directories of the Music
Industries.
10 c.n», MM * i w
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1923
APPOINTMENTS BY
PRESIDENT WATKIN
New Committees for National Association of
Music Merchants for Current Year
Named in Completed List An-
nounced This Week.
DELEGATES TO CHAMBER
Alternates Also Appointed to Highly Important Unit
of Central Organization of the Music
Trade Bodies.
The following is the complete list of appointments
made by Robert N. Watkin, president of the National
Association of Music Merchants for the current year:
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce—Dele-
gates: J. Edwin Butler, Marion, Ind.; W. C. Hamil-
ton, Pittsburgh, Pa.; M. V. DeForeest, Sharon, Pa.;
Alex McDonald, New York City; E. Paul Hamilton,
Baltimore, Md.; P. E. Conroy, St. Louis, Mo.
Alternates, Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce: Parham Werlein, New Orleans, La.; Jas. F.
Bowers, Chicago, 111.; Jno. W. Booth, Los Angeles.
Cal.; Edmund Gram, Milwaukee, Wis.; Ed. H. Droop,
Washington, D. C ; Geo. R. Hughes, San Francisco,
Cal.; Henry E. Weisert, Chicago, 111.
An Important Part.
Membership Committee: M. J. Kennedy, chairman
ex-officio, 532 Republic Bldg., Chicago, HI.; A. H.
Howes, Grinnell Bros., 1515 Woodward avenue, De-
troit, Mich.; A. G. Farquharson, 317 Homer Laugh-
lin Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal.; E. G. Brown, E. G.
Brown Music Co., Bayonne, N. J.
Press Committee: Alex McDonald, Sohmer & Co.,
31 W. 57th street, New York City, Chairman; Chas.
H. Yahrling, Youngstown, Ohio; E. Paul Hamilton,
Baltimore, Md.; M. J. Kennedy (ex-officio), 532 Re-
public Bldg., Chicago, 111.
Resolutions Committee: C. A. Grinnell, 1515
Woodward avenue, Detroit, Mich, chairman; M. V.
DeForeest, De Foreest Pioneer Music Co., Sharon,
Pa.; Edmund Gram, Edmund Gram, Inc., Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
Legislative Committee: E. H. Droop, 1300 "G"
street, N. W., Washington, D. C, chairman; W. W.
Smith, J. W. Greene Co., 801 Jefferson avenue, To-
ledo, Ohio; Frank D. Darrow, Darrow Music Co.,
Denver, Colo.; Henry E. Weisert, Bissell-Weisert
Co., Chicago, 111.; Parker O. Griffith, Griffith Piano
Co., Newark, N. J.
• Activity Assured.
'Better Business Committee: P. E. Conroy, 1100
Olive street, St. Louis, Mo., chairman; Otto Grau,
Otto Grau Piano Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; E. P. An-
drews, The J. L. Hudson Co., Detroit, Mich.; Andrew
Meiklejohn, Meiklejohn & Co., Providence, R. I.;
Chas. E. Wells, 1624 California street, Denver, Colo.
Music Advancement Committee: M. V. DeForeest,
Sharon, Pa., chairman; Parham Werlein, New Or-
leans, La.; C. C. Miller, Fort Worth Tex.; R. A.
Tusting, Tusting- Piano Co., Asbury Park, N. J.; S. E.
Clark, 1515 Woodward avenue, Detroit, Mich.
Trade Service Committee: C. J. Roberts, 315 N.
Howard street, Baltimore, Md., chairman; Win. How-
ard Beasley, Dallas, Texas; Fred P. Watson, Mt.
Vernon, 111., R. W. E. Hunt, Portland, Me.; Wm. L.
Nutting, Nashua, N. H.
Committee on Code of Business Ethics: Jno. A.
Turner, Turner Music Co., Tampa, Fla., chairman;
J. Edwin Butler, Butler Music House, Marion, Ind.;
Frederick Barlow, Trenton, N. J.; H. C. Braden, care
Fitzgerald's, Los Angeles, Cal.
Mr. Watkin's Wisdom.
Every committee appointed by President Watkin
is important' and his choice of their personnel
judicious. The membership committee is particularly
important in Mr. Watkin's opinion and its activity
throughout the year and up to next convention is as-
sured by the character of the appointees. The chair-
man, Matt. J. Kennedy, finds his duties as chairman
the opportunity to carry out his big ambition. That
is to include in the membership of the National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants every retail music dealer
in the country.
The Right Man Chosen.
P. E. Conroy, of St. Louis, is another wise selec-
tion for chairman of an important committee, that of
the Better Business Bureau. Mr. Watkin knows that
Mr. Conroy will put into the work of that committee
the personal touch that has made his own business an
example of ethical methods in selling and advertising.
Other Wise Choices.
M. V. DeForeest as chairman of the Music Ad-
vancement Committee, assures active work for the
objects of that particular bureau of the association.
The Sharon, Pa., dealer is an enthusiast in the stimu-
lation of the music desire in his own fellow citizens
and works with untiring effort in that respect.
John A. Turner as chairman of the Committee on
Code of Business Ethics, and Alex McDonald as
chairman of the Press Committee are two more ap-
pointments which show Mr. Watkin's appreciation of
the fitness of the man to the job.
POPULAR JOSEPH KELLY,
PIANO MAN OF PITTSBURGH
Returns with Gladness to His Old Post with the
House of Frederick.
Joseph B. Kelly, popular, affable, debonair and
magnanimous to a fault, has returned to "The House
of Frederick," also known as The W. F. Frederick
Piano Company, and located at No. 635 Smithfield
street, Pittsburgh, Pa.
As indicated in the foregoing paragraph, "Joe"
formerly sold pianos for The House of Frederick,
and only left it in response to the alluring beck of
the apocryphal office of "sales manager" for the
Pittsburgh branch store of the Rudolph Wurlitzer
Company.
Joe says, "There is a foreboding uncertainty in
the vicissitudes of the piano salesman's life that
makes one agree with Shakespeare, when he has the
irrepressible Hamlet ejaculate: 'To be or not to be,
that is the question.' "
NELSON=WIGGEN CO. EXPANDS
TO KEEP PACE WITH ORDERS
Need of More Space Is Attributed to Active Business
Experienced During Summer Months.
The Nelson-Wiggen Piano Co., 224 N. Sheldon St.,
Chicago, recently took possession of three additional
floors in the building in which it is now located.
This expansion is attributed to the active business
conditions experienced during the summer and still
existing. The fall outlook is brighter and the sales
are expected to increase over that of any previous
year.
The new addition will add about 7,500 feet of floor
space to their business, and will furnish ample ac-
commodations for the active business anticipated.
A HONEYMOON VISIT.
Roy E. Sauer, music dealer, of Collinsville, Illinois,
and his bride are spending their honeymoon in Chi-
cago. The wedding of this happy young couple took
place in Collinsville on August 30th, the bride being
Miss Marie Bozzardi.
The Sauers will spend a
couple of weeks in the big city, and on one of the
first days here went through the Gulbransen factory.
Mr. Sauer handles the nationally advertised Gulbran-
sen in his territory. The slogan of Mr. Sauer's store
is "See Sauer for Sweet Music."
MERGER IN SENECA FALLS, N. Y.
The store and business of Fred Teller, Seneca
Falls, N. Y., have been purchased by E. J. Ryan,
who owns a furniture and music business at 27 State
street. The building on Falls street secured by Mr.
Ryan will be remodeled and occupied by the merged
businesses.
DEATH OF CHAS. N. POST,
ONCE LYON & HEALY HEAD
For Forty-five Years Prominently Connected
With the Big Chicago Music House, Ris-
ing from Bookkeeper to President.
HAD ACQUIRED WEALTH
Second Oldest Employee, Having Begun Two Years
After P. J. Healy Started the
Business.
Charles N. Post, for
forty-five years prominently
connected with the house of
Lyon & Healy in Chicago,
died suddenly last Saturday,
September 1st, at his sum-
mer home at Lake Geneva,
Wis.
Until his retirement Mr.
Post had held virtually
every position with the
house of Lyon & Healy.
Starting in a minor capacity
in 1866, he arose rapidly,
and at the first incorpora-
CHAS. N. POST.
t i o n o f L y o n & Healy, in
1890, Mr. Post became vice-president. In 1905, at
the death of P. J. Healy, he became president. This
position he held for six years, until his retirement in
1911 as the result of a misunderstanding with Paul
Healy, who was at the time president of the company.
Mr. Post was born in Cambridge, Wis., in 1849.
Shortly after his retirement he removed to Pasadena,
Cal., where he was made a member of the city com-
mission. He also was interested in banking, and at
one time was vice-president of the First National
Bank of Pasadena. Later he purchased a part inter-
est in the Security Savings Bank of Los Angeles.
Mr. Post was not what is commonly called a
"mixer." He was quiet, dignified and a hard worker.
He entered the employ of the late P. J. Healy just
two years after the house of Lyon & Healy had been
formed. The store w T as at Clark and Washington
streets, iii the old Smith & Nixon building, on the
site of the present Conway skyscraper. He remained
with the house through the vicissitudes of four fires,
two of which completely wiped out the business.
Mr. Post was, from the first, a favorite with Mr.
Healy. He began in the office and not, as has been
stated in the newspapers, in the small goods depart-
ment. He was the second of the real "veterans" who
began shortly after Oliver Ditson, of Boston, had
started his two ex-employes, Geo. W. Lyon and
P. J. Healy, in business in Chicago. The only one
of the veterans who remained longer than Mr. Post
was the late Robert B. Gregory, who had been with
Mr. Healy a few months when Post entered the
house.
Mr. Post had a great many friends in the Chicago
trade, but he was not generally known away from the
scene of his early work until he went to California.
That move was his first since leaving his home in
early boyhood. He was a conscientious worker who
never lost sight of the best interests of the house for
which he worked. He had the confidence of Mr.
Healy, and, together with "Bob" Gregory, he attained
to places of responsibility in the great music house.
After retiring from the music trade, Mr. Post made
fortunate investments and, at the time of his death,
he was reputed a wealthy man. The body was taken
back to Pasadena for burial.
Mr. Post left, besides his widow, two daughters
and a son.
NEW GULBRANSEN BABY.
A new Gulbransen baby has come into being.
Monday night a baby boy was born to Mr. and Mrs.
C. R. Gulbransen, at West Suburban Hospital, Chi-
cago. The child, who will bear the name of his
father, Capron, junior, weighed seven pounds and is
getting along splendidly as is also the mother. C. R.
Gulbransen is in charge of the Service Promotion
Department of the Gulbransen-Dickinson Co.
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