Presto

PRESTO
presto
meet a small army o-f other members of your
business, from whom you may learn much by
which to improve your own affairs when you
return to home and the familiar store again.
ADVERTISING BY RADIO
Abuse of radio, by turning it into an adver-
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY. tising medium, threatens to kill its popularity.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn When a family head invests in a radio re-
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
ceiver, and has it nicely installed in the living
Editors
C. A. D A N I E L L and F R A N K D. ABBOTT
room of his home, he expects to afford edu-
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234.
cational advantages, as well as entertainment,
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
for his family. And when he takes up the re-
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29. 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879. ceiver, after a hard day's work, he expects to
listen to a good speech or a good song, or
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable In advance. No extra charge in United States
something equally edifying.
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
But if he hears the blah-blah of some
Items cf news and other matter
are solicited and if
apostle
of ward politics he is justified in rip-
:
<-f Tere~al interact to the mus c trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen ping out an arpeggio of profanity not alto-
in the smaller cites are the best occasional corre- gether ennobling to the juvenile members of
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
the family. Or, if instead of the sweet song,
r,r~r- -•-,;« at nr^n every Thursday. News mat- he hears some bull-throated announcer tell of
ter shor.1.1 be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
s?me day Advertising copy should be in hand before the beauties of some beautiful bun, or the
Tuesday five p. m.. to insure preferred position. Full
waterproof qualities of some particular brand
d'srilay copy phould be in hand by Monday noon
ing r publicpt'cn day Want advs. for current
of shoe leather, or of the latest wear-proof
veek to nsure classlf.cat-'on, must not be later than automobile tire, he is fairly right in damning-
Vv>c'n;sday nccn.
radio in general, and resorting again to the
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
funny pictures in the morning newspapers.
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising has for all time been classified,
as
a "good thing." And, as a rule, so it is.
SATURDAY. APRIL 12, 1924.
But it is as sure to kill public taste for radio as
it is certain to sell pianos for the manufac-
NEW YORK IN JUNE
turers who know how to use the trade papers,
Less than two months now to convention
It's a good thing for radio that some of the
time. Every music man should arrange to men who, in a degree, control it, are seeing
go to New York for the meeting in June. where the broadcasting- of bald-headed adver-
Especially the piano dealers in the smaller tising is leading. Only the prompt suppressing
cities and towns should make- it their busi- of anything and everything that suggests ad-
ness to get there and to enjoy a week in their vertising can keep radio on the track of pub-
nation's greatest city.
lic, interest.
Aside from the interest and instruction cer-
tain to follow a visit to Xew York at conven-
THE BEST CITIZEN
tion time, the sights of the metropolis never
The automobile is following, in some re-
lose their excitement. The remembrances of
a June week in New York will live long there- spects, the selling experience of the piano.
after and the peace of home will be a double According to a recent circular letter ot The
delight to many who attend the June conven- Reuben Donnelley Company, "one our of ev-
ery seven people is an automobile owner.''
tion.
Piano dealers who have been talking up the That is a larger proportion than applies to
merits of famous pianos, and selling them to piano owners, but it may be correct, never-
their friends and neighbors, need the inspira- theless. And the Donnelley letter also says:
"The automobile owner is the most pro-
tion of personal contact with the makers of
those instruments. It's a fine thing to know gressive individual of a community—the man
the traveling salesmen who represent the who has the ability to buy the necessities and
piano manufacturers. But that is only hal r ". luxuries of life."
Does that mean anything to you? That is,
It is often even better to know personally the
heads of the industries. In some cases it is if you are a piano merchant and know- how
still possible to meet the men whose names closely the automobile business in its methods
shine in golden letters on the piano's fall- resembles that of piano selling. At first the
boards. That is worth a trip to New York, for possession of an automobile implied owner-
when telling the prospects about the piano's ship. In the early days of the piano the sound
excellence it is much to feel that the piano's of music in a house was evidence of some
name recalls the face and figure of the man degree of wealth more than common The
or men who designed it and brought it to its possessor of a piano was almost certain to
be the owner, of it.
place of approximate perfection.
And then the long-time plan attached itself
And then New York itself—its wonders that
tower in brick and stone into the very skies to piano selling, and a piano in the home may
—and its rumbling trains that roll beneath, tlie. mean ownership or it may imply a chattel
surface of the earth and rivers. Its wonderful mortgage. So it is, today, with the automo-
bile business. Many a car that speeds along
avenues and its art treasures everywhere.
To the dweller in a small city or town there the boulevards doesn't belong to the care-free
is no other "show" like a great cosmopolitan driver, and the ladies in the rear seat know
city ; no other thrill like a walk up Fifth Ave- it well enough. But they enjoy the air, and
nue, or down the old Bowery into Chinatown, the special rate-broker,-who holds the install-
or the narrow streets of New Amsterdam; ment paper, is satisfied because the limousine
or, by the elevated, far north to the open is fully insured.
spaces of the Bronx where so many of Xew
This is an installment age. The signs of
York's piano factories are.
the special automobile brokers can not go far
Anyway, make your plans for a trip to New- between, and the cars are sold more readily
York and the June convention, where you will because it is possible to negotiate the paper
April 12, 1924.
and keep the showrooms and factories going
full tilt. So is it a sure sign of the "most pro-
gressive individual" that he rides in a car?
Or is it possibly true that the one who walks,
or takes the street car, and has a piano in his
parlor for his family to enjoy, may be just
as progressive and useful as a citizen?
You can't judge by appearances—not al-
ways. The ways to an end are manifold in
this advanced day. Every honest man is the
best citizen, and the "most progressive" is the
one who, whether he can really afford to buy,
or just strains a point or two, and, withotit
neglecting his life insurance, puts a piano in
his home, or a car in his garage, on the easy
payment plan.
OHIO ASSOCIATION PAPER
DISCUSSES CONVENTION SHOWS
Periodical of State Association Says Organization
Waits New York Results With Open Mind.
The official attitude of the Music Merchants Asso-
ciation of Ohio on the question of piano exhibits at
convention is not clearly stated in.the current num-
ber of the Retail Music Merchant, the association's
publication, which says: "The Ohio organization of
music merchants awaits with open mind the experi-
ment of the decision to bar all exhibits of musical
merchandise, and confine the gathering to one of asso-
ciation business only."
But the feeling of individuals making up the state
association may he gauged by what follows:
"Ohio state gatherings from the beginning have
encouraged exhibits, with the feeling that a successful
convention or gathering of music merchants is
brought about through various attractions. Some re-
tailers come to discuss the problems of their business
on the floor of the meetings. Others attend to see
what is new in the trade and talk over proposed
agencies and connections. Whatever legitimate at-
tractions can be offered to bring the dealers together
and get all acquainted, has been adopted and encour-
aged in Ohio, because the main object of association
work is to create fraternalism and through the ac-
quaintanceship and brotherly regard created thereby,
do and accomplish good things for all.
"A recent questionnaire sent out to the manufac-
turers, shows they are overwhelmingly opposed to
exhibits at conventions. Whether this is a selfish
opposition, in order to save the expense of hotel space
for the same, remains to be seen. The apparent ob-
ject of the abolition of exhibits is to prevent detrac-
tion from the business meetings, so that all will at-
tend and take part. New York is a good city to try
it out. Those manufacturers who do not have their
factories in the metropolis, practically all have whole-
sale display rooms. If we find our good friends, the
travelers and their bosses, refusing to talk business
or show prospective dealer customers their latest
creations during the convention, there is no one but
what will admit that the manufacturers have lived up
to the spirit of their decision not to exhibit.
"New York is, perhaps, one of three large manufac-
turing centers in the country where the musical in-
strument wholesalers have, not an exhibit, but their
entire factories. The spirit as well as the letter of the
recent mandate to the trade, requires that no effort be
made to induce dealers to visit these New York fac-
tories while at the convention."
WINS SELLING PLAN PRIZE.
A prize of a twenty dollar gold piece offered by
Lyon & Healy, Chicago., for the best plan of in-
creasing the sale of the new Lyon & Healy small
grand piano, was won by Mr. Stiver of the piano de-
partment. Honorable mention was awarded to the
plans submitted by Messrs. Walsh and Wales. Out
of the plans submitted, 14 were endorsed as practical
and will be duly put into operation.
FEATURES A. B. CHASE.
In a strong display in the newspapers this week,
the Moist Piano Co., 309 South Wabash avenue,
Chicago, calls the A. B. Chase Reproducing Grand
"the wonder artist piano of the world." The ener-
getic firm always prints the subtitle, "World's Larg-
est Exclusive Reproducing and Artist Grand Piano
House."
JOINS ST. LOUIS STAFF.
Athol Odell left Quincy, 111., for St. Louis last,
week to assist in the opening of the new Chickering
agency of Scrugg, Vandervoort & Barny. Mr.
Odell spent a good part of last year at the Boston
factory studying piano construction.
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