PRESTO
Presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
C. A. DANIELL 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., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1923.
407 TO 417.
The offices of Presto Publishing Co. have been re-
moved just one door south of former location on
South Dearborn street, Chicago. The new number
is 417 South Dearborn street, and only change of the
0 to 1 is required to have it correct. Presto has been
within fifty feet of its present location for nearly
thirty-five years. In its new and larger quarters it
will be better than ever equipped to meet the require-
ments of a steadily increasing business. Remember
to change your records to—
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.,
417 South Dearborn Street, Chicago.
FLOOR SPACE
A prominent New York piano manufacturer
presents a rather singular argument against
the heretofore unheard of popularity of the
Grand piano. His idea is that even the small
Grand can not continue to grow in demand
because of a familiar item in the domestic
economy to which probably no retail piano
dealer has given even a thought.
The manufacturer's notion is that the great,
and still swelling rentals asked for homes and
apartments in the cities, make every square
foot of floor space so costly that the resting-
place of the larger piano becomes a consider-
able item in the household expenditure. It
reads strangely, doesn't it ? But the New
York piano manufacturer fc was in earnest, and
he indulged in a few figures to give emphasis
to his argument.
He said that, inasmuch as the smallest
Grand must have about 25 square feet of floor
space, its cost in rent will be approximately
from $100 to $200 a year. And that may seem
a good deal to many people. Of course such
a rental implies that the home must be in a
first class apartment building in a full grown
city. And even the cost of housing the beau-
tiful little Grand piano may not really mean
anything so serious as the piano manufacturer
intimates. As often as otherwise, the floor
space needs just such a decorating center-
piece. But that doesn't change the manu-
facturer's careful estimates, considered from a
purely business, or "overhead," point of view.
December 8, 1923.
do not get enough profit from what they sell,
anyway.
Just now we have the singular condition of
a small Grand demand exceeding the possi-
bility of supply. This applies to the lower
priced small Grands because the salesmen who
wholesale are crowding the dealers, and the
dealers are willing to fill up with the beautiful
little Grands if they think they are getting
them at prices below what they really ought
to pay. They find in the Grand a lure that is
too great for a good many people to resist.
They buy as cheaply as possible, without con-
sidering that the Grand piano should be the
source of profit, and they sell at prices pro-
portionate to what they pay. It's a mistake.
It gets the dealer nowhere. It cuts his own
possibilities.
The small Grand should open the way for
MUSICAL MARVELS
a return to fair profits to the dealer. But it
Just as the world begins to think the won- won't do that if the dealer adopts the same
ders of music and the instruments that make it cut-throat methods of retail that afflicted the
have all been explored, proof to the contrary upright and attached itself to the playerpiano,
floods the newspapers. Recently Presto had in turn. The demand for small Grands should
a story about a playerpiano with mechanism not be in excess of the possibility of supply.
so refined that a cat amused herself pressing And it wouldn't be if the retailers conducted
their business upon sound principles.
the pedals and producing nocturnal music.
As the story went it seemed to alter the old
saw so as to declare that "when the mice are
away the cat will play.'' For pussy had hunted CHANGE IN NEW YORK
mousie in vain and during an investigation of
INDUSTRY OF WINTER & CO.
the player she ran upon the pedals, which,
yielding to the velvety touch actuated the Founder of the House Retires and Is Succeeded by
pneumatics and music roll. Result: The
W. G. Heller, Long Associated With the Business.
weird midnight music which at first frigrhtened
W. G. Heller, of Winter & Co., confirms the resig-
the householders and then lulled them to sleep. nation of Julius Winter, who organized the business
One result may be a line of advertising of the of Winter & Co., and who has heen its active manag-
"Have you a little pussy in the house? Then ing head since its establishment a good many years
ago.
Mr. Winter is in poor health.
buy a playerpiano and have music while you
G. Heller, who established the firm of Heller
sleep."
& Co., which business was later merged with that of
& Co., will continue to supervise the manufac-
But a still later story which appears this Winter
turing and technical activities of the industry and
week seems to discount the pussy performance. the general policy of the house will not be changed.
W. G. Heller, who has been associated with the
It adds the touch of life-saving assurance and
firm for the past eighteen years, during which time
comfort. It tells of a playerpiano that served he
has worked through all the various departments
as a fire alarm by being set going when the of the business, and of late years has been closely
electric control was made by the creeping associated with Mr. Winter, now takes over the
of the office, financial and selling activi-
flames. The sleeping family was aroused by management
ties of the house of Winter & Co.
the pealing forth of a jazzy "blue," and, rush-
ing to safety, they watched the practical appli-
cation of the ancient joke of the firemen play- CONSOLIDATION AND OTHER
ing upon the piano while the playerpiano
CHANGES IN MADISON, WIS.
played.
These little marvel stories are all right even Hook Bros. Piano Co. and Albert Smith Music Co.
Join Under Former Corporate Name.
if not always absolutely true. They help to
The Hook Bros. Piano Co., and the Albert K.
advertise the instrument and none of them
Smith Music Co., of Madison, Wis., have consolidated
can be one-half as wonderful as the player- and
will be known in the future as the Hook Bros.
piano itself.
Piano Co. Mr. Smith will occupy an official position
On the other hand, the argument, if it can
be dignified by the term, may seem to add to
the advantages of the small Grand for the
rural trade, where the floor space is not meas-
ured and calculated upon the square foot basis.
Anyway the New York piano manufac-
turer's idea is interesting. It will not mean
anything to the demand for small Grands. It
may not influence the demand for uprights.
But, just the same, it is safe to say that this
article will be seized upon by more than one
energetic salesman who has no small Grands
on hand, as a help to closing the sales of the
uprights. And, even so, no harm can be done.
Everything that is suggested by a New York
manufacturer is well worth while discussing
in a live trade paper.
SMALL GRAND PRICES
When there is a demand for anything not
eatable, there seems to be a temptation to sell
it at as low a price as possible. Just why this
is so, when the reverse should apply, is not
easy to understand. It is probably a result of
the desire to crowd the distribution and to
sell as much, or as many, of the thing in de-
mand as possible.
The disposition alluded to is one of the very
worst in the piano trade. The Grand piano
should not be cheapened. It is, in a sense, the
last line of defence in the business. The
Grand piano has always been regarded as the
expression of elegance in musical instru-
ments. It is not commonplace and never
should be made so. The people who will buy
Grand pianos will pay for them, and will value
them in proportion to what they pay for
them. And heaven knows the piano dealers
with the company, possibly vice president.
This consolidation reduces the number of piano
stores in this thriving Wisconsin capital city to only
two. There were eight or more a few years ago.
Forbes-Meagher Music Co., one of the largest con-
cerns in the state, have bought the building they
occupied a few years ago and have recently enlarged
and increased their capacity.
SHREIBER IS WANTED.
A reward of $100 is offered by the Chief of Police
of Madison, Wis., for information concerning the
whereabouts of Frank Shreiber, wanted there on a
charge of embezzlement. Shreiber is alleged to have
embezzled a small sum from a Madison music store.
He is described as being about 45, weighing 200
pounds and is more than six feet tall. He is dark
complexioned and well dressed. He formerly lived
in Lima, la., and is a musical instrument salesman.
HONOR FOR JAMES & HOLMSTROM.
A James & Holmstrom upright piano in special
finish has been selected for use in the auditorium of
the Roosevelt House, 28 East 20th street, New York
City. This was the birthplace of Theodore Roose-
velt, and its restoration has been completed by the
Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association.
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