Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1942

Page 8 Text:

PRESTO
Presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 407 South Dearborn
Street, Old Colony Building, Chicago, 111.
C. A. DAN I ELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT •
• Editors
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 407 So.
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1923.
MADE PIANO HISTORY
Last week and this Chicago has been cele-
brating a great event of thirty years ago
which, more than anything else in the city's
history, gave it a name among the artistic
triumphs of the world. It was in October,
1893, that the Columbian Exposition closed its
doors and became a chapter in the eternal book
of progress. And the share of the music
industries in the six months of wonderment
was very considerable. The famous Section
I of the Manufacturers' Building was the cen-
ter of interest with the millions of visitors
who took part in an art which, more than any
other, spreads delight and helps to make life
worth while.
The Marshall Field stores in Chicago, pre-
sented a miniature reproduction of the expo-
sition all Jast week. Tt gave, of course, but a
vague idea of the splendors of the White
City, but the pictures called back again to
older visitors, many of the glories which made
Jackson Park famous and fastened the eyes
of the world upon the city which, but twenty
years before, had been almost literally a pile
of smoking ruins.
Eighteen months after the close of the
great Fair, Presto put forth the "Awards
Souvenir," giving the only complete history
of section I, in permanent form. The book
contained the separate stories of the triumphs
of the music industries, and gave illustrations
not only of the various booths in the piano de-
partment of the Manufacturers' Building, but
also copies of the awards won by the piano
manufacturers. There were a dozen success-
ful bidders for fame among the piano indus-
tries in the marvelous Section I. Even to-
day some of these award-getters are using
their victories with which to strengthen their
advertisements in current newspapers and
magazines.
On another page this week a short story of
Section I appears. It will interest younger
members of the trade as well as reawaken
pleasant memories in the older ones—the
piano men who shared in the inspiring days
of 1893.
THE TICKER SELLS
The stock market tickers tell a tale of
values. A few years ago almost any investor
would have smiled were he told that the ticker
had marked up a musical instrument stock far
above par—had indicated that the things oi
art, "non-essentials," perhaps—had registered
points above most of the other things of more
commonplace interest. But that day has
passed, and now it is quite customary to read
in the market reports of the rapid rise in the
stock of great musical instrument corpora-
tions.
Last week the financial news reports showed
the values placed by shrewd traders in "big
business" upon the stock of the American
Piano Company. The figures rose to $135.
When the New York amalgamation of several
great piano industries was first completed,
there were men in the music trade who shook
their heads. The piano wasn't ready for it, or
the capital must be too great and the divi-
dends of slow growth. A few years have
proved how wrong was such reasoning.
Today there are very few stocks in better
call than that of the American Piano Co. The
confidence of the public in the management
has become a positive factor. The solid char-
acter of the piano industry has been thor-
oughly demonstrated. And the fact that the
stock of the big combination of famous pianos
has touched a point which indicated great
profits for its fortunate, owners is one of the
best of indications of the same stability of
other piano industries, both individually
owned and incorporated. The active, hard
working piano dealer has reason to be proud
of his business, however small, or if large in
some great commercial center.
A GREAT "SPREAD"
It isn't too late to refer to the new proof,
which appeared in last week's Presto, of the
accuracy of the judges in the recent adver-
tising contest who awarded the prize to Mr.
E. L. Hadley, of the publicity department of
The Cable Company. If you have last week's
Presto handy, turn again to the "center
spread"—the two middle pages of the paper—
and study it closely.
Every man who has tried to produce good
"copy" will agree that the two pages possess
the chief points for which all advertisers
strive. The display is good. The choice of
expression is good. The placing (of every
word is just right, and there are not too matiy
of them. And the result of statement of facts
and display leaves the very impression of
strength and conviction by which desire to
know more, and inspiration to sell more, are
produced.
Add the convincing features of the practical
pianists and singers who have commended
the Cable line—especially the Cable Midget
piano—and the result of the copy-maker's
work becomes really fine and to the perfect
liking of any one who knows what it means
to prepare that kind of typographic display.
It is the rare ability to pick something from
space, apply it to real things, find means for
giving expression to quality of the artisans'
skill and to fit the diction, appeal of word and
picture to the intelligence of the casual reader
October 13, 1923
as well as the critical expert. And that is
ability of a high order.
The Cable Midget spread of last week is so
good that it should find a frame and a place
upon the walls of many a piano ware-room.
TRADE VOLSTEAD ISM
It would be strange if the itch to reform
something which has taken hold of the law-
makers did not spread to the lesser industries
and trade in similar fashion. There are signs
of its breaking out in the matter of price-
marking on sheet music. A "trade practice
submittal"—ominous term—has been held to
start the investigation of figures placed upon
the innocent pieces of sheet music. And where
it is expected to end nobody can speculate.
There has never been a time when the ex-
act price indicated on the title pages has been
collected by the publishers any more than in
the book business. There have been times
when the retailers charged the full prices upon
single sales. The discounts to dealers have
always been based upon the retail prices, and
for many years they were pretty strictly ad-
hered to. If the figure 3 appeared in the star
upon the title page, thirty cents was the price,
and if a 6 was there the wholesale price was
just sixty cents less 10% with 5% extra on
small quantities.
To mark any figure upon the sheet of music
can have little to do with the selling price at
retail, further than to suggest what the pub-
lisher thinks he wants after the customary
discounts have been taken off. Put a price of
ten cents on the sheet and it will place an em-
bargo upon the sale, or will tempt retailers
to erase the figure as soon as the piece be-
comes popular. There has never been any
fixed price, some publishers marking in the
figure 4, 5, or 6, whereas another publisher
may put the figure 3 in the little star.
It doesn't seem a very large thing for any
trade commission to become deeply concerned
in. The sheet music business is not a vast
one, and there is no danger of financial panic
in it. But the sheet music business is a little
better than it has been, and perhaps it is able
to sustain a share of the lawmakers' tinkering,
even if it doesn't need it. '
TWENTY=THREE YEAR OLD
"TONK" HAS "SWEETEST TONE"
Pianist in Florida Writes Enthusiastically of Instru-
ment Which Has Had "Hard Treatment."
Clermont, Florida.
William Tonk & Bro., Inc.
Gentlemen: Please send me your present catalog,
price list, terms, etc.
Twenty-three years ago I
bought a second-hand Tonk piano and have given it
hard treatment, and today it is the sweetest piano in
our community.
Yours truly,
MRS. J. B. JONES.
MOVES TO BURLINGTON, N. C.
The Moore Music Co., which was established a
year ago in Burlington, N. C, recently moved to new
and more commodious quarters in the Cohn-Mazur
building. J. C. Moore, head of the firm, is well
known in the music trade of the South. He estab-
lished a vigorous sales policy at the start and the
business has grown with the passing of every month.
FRED LEHMAN'S PLANS.
Fred Lehman, for the past 35 years in the music
business in East St. Louis, 111., has returned from his
vacation spent in California, and, according to a local
newspaper, Mr. Lehman will soon embark in the
musical business in Los Angeles. He does not deny
the rumor and says it is possible he may do so.
The Baldwin line of pianos is now carried in Shel-
byville, Ind., by R. H. Wisker.
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/

Page 9 Text:

PRESTO
October 13, 1923
PIANO CLUB MEMBERS
EAT, DRINK AND LISTEN
Physical and Mental Sustenance Provided,
with Mark P. Campbell and W. L. Bush
as Dispensers of Latter.
RECEPTION FOR NEW MEMBERS
Occasion Also Made One of Congratulation for Win-
ning Teams in Recent Membership Drive.
At the meeting of the Piano Club of Chicago on
Monday of this week Taylor Holmes, star in "A Bit
of Dust," playing at the Cort Theater, who was to
have been a guest of honor and to have given the
club a talk in his inimitable manner of after dinner
entertainment, was unable to lie there, but an over-
flow of good speakers was on hand to make up the
hour.
Elias Day, Mark P. Campbell, New York, presi-
dent of the National Piano Manufacturers' Associa-
tion; C. L. Smith, manager of the same body, and
William L. Bush, president of the Bush & Gerts
Piano Co., talked in the characteristically lively man-
ner that has made them welcome everywhere as post-
prandial speakers.
Mr. Campbell gave a clean-cut business talk on
conditions present and prospective as he saw them;
encouraging for the worker, but discouraging and
disheartening for the laggard. Mr. Campbell is on
his way to the Pacific coast, where he believes he is
going to carry back some good contracts for 1924
trade.
"Piano men who may be inclined to draw invidious
comparisons between the dimensions of the piano
trade and the automobile trade should credit the latter
with its big job of opportunity making," said Mr.
Campbell.
"The automobile business didn't 'jest
grow' like Topsy, but was made to grow when given
the means.
"Without good roads everywhere the opportunity
for automobile sales would be small. But the auto-
mobile folk didn't stop at wishing for good roads.
They set about creating the good roads spirit and
prompting action for good road making through
clubs and other organizations. Local, county, state
and national aid was evoked by strong and constant
propaganda.
The automobile business got its
opportunity.
"The music business should continue to show equal
vigilance in creating the desire for pianos and the
other aids to culture and joy. We have the machin-
ery for activity and it is our duty to keep it working
in an efficient way. The smooth paved road to piano
prosperity is something of our own making."
Mr. Bush cited his adopted state of Texas as an
admirable example of self-help in creating piano
prospects.
"In Texas we begin at the cradle, so to speak, in
transforming ordinary folk into fortunate piano and
playerpiano owners," said Mr. Bush. "Music is made
a part in the life of the child from the beginning.
The kindergarten is an important music course even
if the processes are simple. The plan of music edu-
cation in Texas is to create the music habit. The
natural thing is for the grown person to become a
piano owner. The registering of every birth is really
an addition to the state's futurity piano prospect list."
The meeting was in the nature of a special recep-
tion for new members, and an opportunity to con-
gratulate the winners of the membership drive. Here
are the winners in the order of merit;
Team No, 14—Jas. T. Bristol, Capt.; Adam
Schneider, Gene Whelan, Jas. V. Sill, B. J. Hening.
Team No. 10—R. E. Davis, Capt.; Matt J. Ken-
nedy, John McKenna, Gordon Laughead, Eugene F.
Carey.
Team No. 18— E. V. Galloway, Capt.; Ed. Wall-
dren, Frank M. Hood, Chas. Klauber, Walter Kiehn.
DEALER AT FRESNO, CAL,
WRITES ABOUT THE "POOLE"
An Expression from J. J. Falkenstein, an Enthusiastic
Representative for Nearly Thirty Years.
It is not often that the Poole Piano Company
authorizes the reprint of complimentary letters re-
ceived from the dealers who handle the Poole. The
letters that reach the Boston industry unsolicited,
testifying to the good qualities and satisfaction that
instruments of their make have and are giving, pre-
sent a tribute to the Poole that is very gratifying to
the makers.
The letter reprinted herewith is illustrative of the
high regard that both the dealer and his customer
have for the Poole.
Mr. Falkenstein is a dealer of the old school—a
practical piano man who has for over forty years
been in the piano business in the State of California.
The customer is one who has been the owner of a
Poole upright for many years, and finding it so pleas-
ing in every respect during that long period of time,
decided in favor of a grand of the same make. The
letter follows:
Fresno, Cal., September 20, 1923.
Poole Piano Company,
Boston, Mass.
Gentlemen: The Style S grand arrived September
18th. I delivered it yesterday, and my customer was
very much pleased with it. You certainly have a
marvelous small grand. The tone is superior to any
small grand I have tried, and the evenness through-
out the entire scale is particularly noticeable.
My only criticism is that you did not have Style S
thirty years ago, that I could have had the pleasure
of selling many of them.
Yours very truly,
" J. J. FALKENSTEIN.
A FIRE-WEEK REMINDER.
Piano factories as well as factories of other indus-
tries in Chicago have received copies of a circular
with practical suggestions for preventions of fire,
prepared by Chicago's civic and welfare organiza-
tions in connection with the annual observance of
Fire Prevention Week from October 6 to 13. "The
best way to. cut down the fire hazard in factories,
not only on the occasion of the fire prevention anni-
versary, but all year round, is to see that plants are
clean and in order and that the dangers in connec-
tion w T ith the heating, lighting and electrical equip-
ment are taken care of by careful inspectors," the
circular warns.
NEW PASADENA HOUSE.
The Rust Music Co., which recently opened a store
at 424 East Colorado street, Pasadena, Cal., has been
incorporated. Edward O. Schroeder, former secre-
tary of Richardson's, Inc., is associated with Russell
L. Rust in the new company. Pianos, players, phono-
graphs and everything that constitutes a general
music goods line will be handled.
RAIN STIMULATES
PORTLAND, ORE., TRADE
Notable Display of Duo-Art by Sherman,
Clay & Co. Proves Great Window At-
traction Leading to Sales.
Sherman, Clay & Co., Portland, Ore., had a win-
dow display of the Duo-Art last week which attracted
a great deal of attention. The interior of the instru-
ment was shown and ribbons attached to the various
parts led to cards which explained the working de-
tail. It was noticeable that the display attracted
many men who stood for a long time studying it
and many personal inquiries were made concerning it.
J. J. Collins has opened up a piano department in
conjunction with the Hyatt Talking Machine Co.,
Portland, Ore. The new store is known as the J. J.
Collins Piano Co. Mr. Collins was for fourteen years
vice-president of the Reed, French Piano Co., retiring
from the firm about a year ago. He has a large
circle of friends both in and out of the trade. At
present Mr. Collins will handle the Bradbury and the
National Piano Company's line. On the opening day
the front of the store and thereon was a handsome
floral offering and congratulations from H. G. Reed,
president of the Reed, French Piano Co.
Rain has brought out the Oregon buyers and the
Portland music merchants are getting their share of
the business. At the G. F. Johnson Company the
week started in with the sale of a $4,000 Chickering
Ampico grand to a prominent Portlander, and Jess
Major, a salesman, who returned from a vacation
trip in eastern Oregon, tells wonderful fish stories, but
he also brought back with him orders for ten pianos,
among them a Chickering Ampico grand.
At the McCormick Music Company, Portland, the
first rain of the season brought customers, among
them buyers for a Period model Strand phonograph,
a Kimball grand and two Victrolas to the Dominican
Sisters' High School, with sets of Walter Camp's
"Daily Dozen" and Victor exercise records.
NEW BRANCH MUSIC STORE
OPENED IN CAMBRIDGE, 0 .
Davis, Burkham & Tyler Co. Adds to Long Chain
of Stores in Two States.
The Davis, Burkham & Tyler Co. added another
link to its chain of stores in West Virginia and Ohio
when a branch was opened in Cambridge, O., last
week. The new store, at 843 Wheeling avenue, is
spacious and well equipped, and the fine lines that
distinguish the business of the company elsewhere
are shown in a suitable manner.
The piano department is on the main floor and its
extent shows the purposes of the managemnt to
make the department of the new branch a leading
one. The Hardman, Knabe, Krakauer, M. Schulz,
Milton and Price & Teeple pianos are carried.
The manager of the new branch in Cambridge is
E. M. Bonnell who is ably assisted by a force of
salesmen and saleswomen selected by himself. The
officers of the Davis, Burkham & Tyler Co. are: W.
F. Frederick, president; E. B. Heyser, vice-president;
.\. E. Davis, vice-president; C. G. Hugus, secretary;
and F. Snvder, treasurer.
THE LOADER A GREAT HELP TO SALESMEN
"Normalcy" in the piano business will return when prices are reduced, when we have good crops or prospects of good crops, and
when Salesmen, (The men who actually sell the piano to the user), get to work.
The Bovven Loader will greatly aid any energetic salesman. For Country work there's nothing like it,—for City work it's a help.
$110.00 for the Loader complete, including springs and cover. >
Shipped on approval to responsible dealers.
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/

Download Page 8: 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.