Presto

PRESTO
presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
C. A. DANIEUL 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.
dreamed of in the interpretations of the mas-
ter minds of music, whose visions and tone-
pictures have been re-drawn and daubed so
deeply in colors of modernity that, like the
tinkle of the ancient instruments, they have
in many cases, faded out and become lost in
the immeasurable spaces of the past.
And will they ever come again in response
to the demand for something so new that it
must be very, very old?
A STOCK "DEAL"
A rather remarkable story appeared in last
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29. 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
week's Presto. It was remarkable because it
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
was, we believe, the first to be told of question-
Payable In advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
able transactions in the stock of a piano indus-
application.
try. And it came at a time when the financial
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if writers are devoting their space, in the daily
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen newspapers, to repeated warnings against "se-
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre- curities" which may have nothing behind them
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
more than the commendation of the salesman
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the or broker. Briefly, the story was that some-
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before one, whose identity is unknown to the owner
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon of the Smith & Nixon piano, had been attempt-
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current ing to create interest in shares of the Smith
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
& Nixon Piano Co. That alone- was enough
Wednesday noon.
to
awaken suspicion in the mind of anyone
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
familiar
with conditions in the piano industry.
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
The owner of the good will and trade name
SATURDAY, MARCH 15. 1924.
of Smith & Nixon is Mr. A. Goldsmith, one
of Chicago's enterprising manufacturers. Mr.
Goldsmith bought . the remains of the old
BARELY POSSIBLE
A few weeks ago an editorial in Presto Smith & Nixon Company at the time of that
suggested that should the piano ever lose its concern's last failure, and has been produc-
place in the people's musical affections, its ing Smith & Nixon pianos, which have a good
successor might prove a renaissance of one
or more of the older keyed instruments of
which the Reproducing Grand is the final re-
sult of evolution. It was intimated that the
Hot rolls for breakfast filled him up, ;
present-day revival of the spinet may hold the
For lunch more rolls and brisket;
secret of the instrument of the future; that,
At tea he said, o'er steaming cup,
"The player-roll's the biscuit."
•whereas the past century has witnessed a nev-
* * *
er-ceasing struggle to create tone-volume, the
'What does this piano sell for?"
study of the days to come may be to subdue
"You'll find the price marked in plain figures on
the sound and enhance the sweetness of it. every instrument."
"Ye?. I know, but 1 didn't ask for the price!"
It may be a period of quality versus quantity,
* * *
just as the commerce of the piano today pre-
At the Music Counter.
sents a reversal of that order.
"1 want a song about Kathleen, but don't recall the
But whether a return of the musical instru- title. Can you help me?"
"Sure," said the clerk. "We've 'I'll Take You
ments of antiquity awaits the coming genera- Home
Again, Kathleen,' and 'Kate O'Brien' and
tions or not, it is instructive to consider how 'Kitly McCree' and 'Katie, Darling, Come and Kiss
great was the variety of keyed instruments Me'—which is it?"
"You've said it! Give me 'Kathleen Mavourneen.'"
before Cristofori gave his piano action to the
* * *
world—and after.
A matchless song was in his heart.
In a recent book on "Shakespearean Music"
And joy had come to win him,
When faithless love's infernal dart
the author speaks of the skill of Queen Eliza-
Destroyed the song within him.
beth upon the virginal. He tells of the great
* * =s=
popularity of the "cittern" and the "pandora
The Wireless Age.
with its wire strings in pairs.'' The cittern
A few years back the tunerless piano appeared and
was the instrument that Samuel Pepys talked the tuneless song has been with us for ages. The
piano was created long ago and now the
about as being found in every London barber wireless
wireless radio is announced.
shop of his day. Then the "octavina," with
* * *
a "tinkle most delightful to the person- pro-
Seeing and Hearing.
Prospect: "If you knew a good thing when you
ducing it"—but inaudible across the room. The
it you'd take my offer. 1 '
author even tells that "one morning a music saw Salesman:
"If you knew a good thing when you
teacher wandered in and reproached me for heard it you'd take this piano."
wasting my time in the shadow of a perfectly
* * *
Were music surely food of love.
good Steinway. I resigned my place at the
As we in Shakespeare see,
octavina and presently it became a question of
How would you like chop suey jazz
the music teacher wasting time—she must
Or rag-time fricassee?
*
-i--
*
have wasted $100 worth before she got thru."
A letter addressed to "The Presto Pad Co." came
There were, in the old times, a dozen wire to tliis office on Tuesday and the mail carrier sur-
strung instruments played with keys, all of mised it was from a subscriber who thought he had
which have been forgotten and, in some cases, a kick coming.
* * *
seemingly without leaving any records even
The Popular Song.
in the museums. The "bandore," shaped like
The ditty which achieves success
a large mandolin, was one that held popularity
Is but a jingling sham,
Which everybody learns to sing
and sounded forth the gavottes and gigues of
And no one fails to slam.
the days centuries before electricity had been
—Boston Transcript.
PRESTOLAFS AND PARAGRAFS
March 15, 1924.
demand not only because of their attractive
qualities but also because the old name of
Smith & Nixon is a familiar one in the trade
and with the musical public.
In an effort to discover the holder of any
Smith & Nixon stock which might be "on th'.-
market," whether of any value or not. it was
found that two Chicago brokers had been in-
teresting themselves. Rut they were not will-
ing to give out any information by which to
find the principal. Mr. Goldsmith certainly
has no Smith & Nixon stock for sale. He is
the owner of the Smith & Nixon piano. No
other asset could possibly be disclosed, for the
old Cincinnati industry faded out long ago.
Only a retail store bearing the name remains
in the Ohio city.
So that, after all, the most interesting fea-
ture of the story of the Smith & Nixon stock
is in the fact that investors may have reason
to investigate piano slock as carefully as oil
stock, or any other of the bucket shop offer-
ings, and to know all about their nature and
probable value before putting any signs on
the "dotted line," bv which thev may be
mulcted of their money. It's a new alarm in
connection with the music business.
MANY TWISTS GIVEN TO
FAMILIAR TRADE NAME
Variations in Name of American Music
Weekly, as Shown in Daily Mail.
Trade
It is interesting to note the many combinations into
which the name of i'resto and its secondary title may
be twisted—in fact are twisted. "Presto, the Ameri-
can Music Trade Weekly," is, of course, the title,
but it is of daily occurrence that letters come ad-
dressed merely to the "American Music Trade Week-
ly," and as if by way of variation, it often happens
that correspondence comes addressed to "the Ameri-
can Music Trade a Paper." It always reaches the
proper office.
Also occasionally other variations are noticeable.
This week a letter from Peru came addressed to
"The Prestopaper of American Piano," and another
from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, just transposed the titles
to read, "American Music Trade Presto." But they
all know where to find Presto, and, with all of the
word's multiplicity of adaptations to different lines of
business, every one associated with the music trade
knows what "Presto" signifies, and the post offices
do not fail to find it.
PROGRESSIVE CALIFORNIA FIRM.
The Wood Piano House, of Eureka, Cal., has
moved from the corner of Fifth and B streets to its
new location at Sixth. The company has the oldest
musical business in the city. F. Wood, the proprie-
tor, started with a small piano room e'even years ago
and has gradually built u;> the business until today
it is one of the best known music bouses in the
county. He intends as in the past, to carry musical
instruments exclusively, of which he has a full line.
EXPANDS IN HARLAN, KY.
The Cumberland Music Co . Harlan, Ky.. is ready
for business in the new additions to the old building.
The owners are A. M. Gregory and George Gregory.
New sound proof booths have been added on the
first floor and on the second floor a display room has
been beautifully furnished. There is also a com-
fortable parlor and rest room. A line of standard
pianos and phonographs is handled.
PIANO MEN HEAR BANKER.
Eugene M. Stevens, vice president of the Illinois
Merchants Trust Company, Chicago, was the speaker
at the weekly luncheon of The Piano Club of Chi-
cago, at the Chicago Athletic Club on Monday of
this week. The Ceske Trio provided a treat in
chamber music, the promise of which brought a rec-
ord attendance.
E. E. FORBES' MOTHER DIES.
Mrs. S. E. Forbes, 84 years old, mother of E. E.
Forbes, president of the E. E. Forbes Piano Co., Bir-
mingham, Ala., died at her home in Anniston, Ala .
last week, after an illness of three months. Funeral
services were held at the residence. Six grandsons
of Birmingham were active pallbearers.
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