Presto

PRESTO
October 20, 192.1
TESTIMONIAL FOR
LESTER DURABILITY
In Letter to Lester Piano Co., Philadelphia,
Gilbert Raynolds Combs, Head of Music
Conservatory, Gives Deserved Tribute.
The supreme test of piano endurance is constant
use by a large number of students in a conservatory
of music. Any piano that can stand up under such
a strain for a considerable period has one of the best
recommendations that can be given to any instru-
ment.
A remarkable testimonial of this character was re-
cently given to the Lester Piano Co., Philadelphia,
by Gilbert Raynolds Combs, director of the Combs
Broad Street Conservatory of Music, Philadelphia.
rally the company is very proud of the demand
among schools and colleges all over the country for
Lester pianos. It is not only a great tribute to the
instrument itself, but it is a wonderful help to Lester
dealers everywhere, proving a very strong argument
in their general sales talk.
THE WILEY B. ALLEN CO.'S
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
Well Known California Music House Commemorates
Silver Jubilee With Special Sale.
The first anniversary sale ever held by the Wiley
B. Allen Co., San Francisco, is now enjoying suc-
cessful inauguration in the main store and all the
branches of the firm. The sale is widely and force-
fully featured in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San
Diego, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, and
Portland, Ore.
The Wiley B. Allen Co. was established fifty years
ago when Wiley B. Allen opened a music store in
San Jose, Cal. Now there are seven stores in suc-
cessful operation in California and one in Portland,
Ore. It is recalled that Mr. Allen was born near the
latter city in a place called Silverton.
The progressiveness of the firm is shown in every
one of its stores. Apart from the size and diversity
of the line of instruments, the manner in which they
are presented is characteristic of the house. The
Wiley B. Allen Co.'s store everywhere is a model of
correctness in wareroom arrangement as well as
facilities generally.
STEINWAY ACTIVITIES IN
PORTLAND AND VICINITY
Equipped with Duo-Art, the Famous Instruments
Have Ready Demand in the West.
GILBERT RAYNOLDS COMBS.
Director of the Combs Broad Street Censervatory
of Music, Philadelphia.
This is one of the largest, best known and most effi-
cient institutions of its kind in the country. Its stu-
dents are from all parts of the United States, and a
number from other countries.
Mr. Combs is a very thorough and conscientious
director and his staff comprises a large number of
the best teachers of music in America. Their testi-
mony should be accepted without question. Writing
to the Lester Company, Mr. Combs says:
"Twenty years ago we purchased from you a
number of Lester pianos for use in our school. These
instruments have stood up so remarkably well under
the constant strain to which they are subjected under
our method oi individual instruction, day in and day
out, year after year, that we have decided to give
you the order for additional pianos which we are now
in need of. Our school has grown considerably dur-
ing the past few years and we need ten more pianos.
"Kindly, therefore, enter our order for ten of your
new style 40 Lester uprights, dull finish, brown
mahogany, and' deliver them at your earliest con-
venience."
This is only one of many such testimonials which
the Lester Piano Company has received, and natu-
The Portland, Ore., branch of Sherman, Clay &
Co. had a very artistic window display, the central
feature of which was a Steinway Duo-Art grand and
an interesting photograph of Paderewski and his wife
listening to a recording of the great Polish artist.
The whole idea of the window was a music room.
The Blue Mouse Theater, of Portland, Ore., has
purchased a Steinway grand for its house from the
local branch of Sherman, Clay & Co. Serge Halman,
in charge of the piano department, sees great possi-
bilities in Portland, and is very enthusiastic.
OPERA FOR SALT LAKE CITY.
Royal W. Daynes, manager of the Consolidated
Music Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, represented the
Musical Arts Society in the arrangements with
George D. Pyper representing the Chicago Grand
Opera Company in the plan to provide one perform-
ance of the opera company in the city during March
of next year. The board of governors of the Salt
Lake City Chamber of Commerce have approved of
the plan which involves $14,000 to be underwritten
by the Musical Arts Society.
MEYER & WEBER TO MOVE.
Meyer & Weber, music dealers, 120 S. Wabash
avenue, Chicago, will vacate that location about
February 1 and move to 174 North Michigan boule-
vard between Randolph and Lake streets. This will
give the firm much-needed additional room and a
building more adequate to the requirements.
SPECIOUS LURE OF THE
PIANO HOUSE SALE
Herman Koelbel, Piano - Politico Expert,
Shocked at Commercial Decadencs of
Old Friend and Fellow Voter.
EASY MONEY POISONS
Vollinsky Quits Honorable Manufacture of Cloth-
ing Essential to Sell Piano Discards in His
Furnished Apartment.
Herman Koelbel, who successfully mixes pianos
and politics in the Thirty-fourth ward of Chicago is,
in the nature of things, considerable of a mixer. He
knows everybody and is as popular as a bootlegger
with a bundle in a country club. He admits that his
knowledge of the circumstances of his neighbors in
the ward is a necessity of his position as political
highcockleorum and deems it a duty to add to the
sum of personal facts in his teeming memory.
"Well, Volinsky, how's the knee pants business?"
he asked by the way of greeting when he met an old
friend on Roosevelt Road one day this week.
r
'Oh, knee bants I've qvit it and gave up mein
fectory and store."
"Tncleed. Congratulations Volinsky. Glad to hear
of industrious old friends retiring to enjoy the ripe
fruits," said Herman pumphandling the stiff arm of
his friend.
"Retired, ha, ha! Some jokes, yes. A music busi-
ness I got it now like yourseluf. Such a fine business,
too," explained Volinsky proudly.
"Music business, eh? I thought you said you gave
up your store?"
"Sure I have. What for I keep a store for my
music business. My music business is different yet
from knee pants, y' unerstand."
"Some, but I don't get you," queried the puzzled
searcher for personal facts about his political flock.
"Well, I go by the biano store and buy a biano for
ten, fifteen maybe twenty dollar. Get it moved by
mein vurnished apartment and then maybe sell it
mit signs by the vront windows. Velvet!"
'"Oh, lure of the house sale! Oh, discredited fake!
Oh, slush!!'' disgustedly shouted Herman Koelbel.
"Back to the knee pants, Volinsky! I'm surprised
you should quit an honorable business for that house
sales con."
"Oi! Oi! What for con? Ain't my biano business
regular as knee bants?"
"Nix, nix, Volinsky. No live or ten dollar piano
is regular. Funny piano you can pick up at that
price."
"So? Well, I got one now by mein vurnished
apartment which I paid for four dollars and fifty
cents yesterday and sold today for fifty dollars
already. A regular biano y' unerstand."
"Wow! Regular? You make me laugh."
"Ya, Herman, regular. Mit four legs and by it you
can play music like a provessor yet."
"Good night Volinsky. Back to the honorable knee
pants!" was the parting admonishion of the Thirty-
fourth ward piano prospect finder and political shep-
herd.
The University of California has opened a course
in orchestra instrumentation which has increased the
business in musical instruments in San Francisco and
the Bav cities.
PENALTIES OF THE PUT-OFF HABIT
With a good many piano dealers there is a scramble for stock.
The time for holiday sales is nearly here and not many retail stores
have a fair supply of pianos on their floors. As is usual with most
piano dealers, the matter of holiday supplies has not been consid-
ered. This is because it has been tacitly agreed that pianos are not
holiday articles in any special sense.
But pianos are holiday articles. Few things are so well suited
to the gift season. Dealers who make ready for the Christmas time
with any enthusiasm usually clean up their stock by the beginning of
the new year. If no effort is made to do a special holiday business,
little will be done. But if plans are made for ?i reasonable showing
the result is sure to be good.
In ev«ry community there* are many people who are everlastingly
"thinking about" baying pianos. It doesn't often occur to them that
the instrument would make the ideal present for the whole family
and so clear away long-drawn perplexity. A little special effort by
the local dealer is all that is needed to stir such people and cause
them to act. And this is the time of year to do the stirring.
There are many piano merchants who are now too late for much
special business this year. They have neglected to get their orders in
and the factories are much busier than has been customary for
several years past. Stores that have good stocks on hand are in
luck. They will do business. The others will lose a large share of
the holiday trade they might have had. They may profit by it in the
old lesson, however—the lesson that procrastination doesn't pay. And
it'especially doesn't pay in the piano business. Few other lines de-
mand so much attention to doing it now, and the putting-off habit
is nowhere else more fatal to success.
But dealers who are short of supplies may yet retrieve, in mam-
cases, if they act at once. Perhaps your source of supplies can help
you out by letting you have some share of the instruments which,
if you continue to put it off, will soon be shipped to more alert cus-
tomers. Make it a piano-holiday season!
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