Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1924 1993

October 4, 1924.
PRESTO
CREATING
A
SENSATION
IN
THE PIANO
WORLD
Never has there been cre-
ated a line of automatic
pianos so e s p e c i a l l y
adapted for handling by
the regular piano trade
as the
SEEBURG
Pianos of genuine musical
merit, a pneumatic mech-
anism of exceptional reli-
ability and durability and
art case designs which
mark a new departure in
this class of instruments.
Style "K T" with its
many musical combina-
tions is meeting with
remarkable favor.
Let us give you par-
ticulars.
J. P. SEEBURG
PIANO CO.
CHICAGO
General Offices: 1510 Dayton St.
Factory 1508-16 Dayton St.
TELLS OF INFLUENCE OF
MUSIC MEN IN OLD CLUB
Razing of Union League Building, Chicago,
Prompts Speaker to Pay Tribute to
Former Members.
The famous old Union League Club building on
Jackson boulevard, Chicago, is to be torn down to
make place for a new and much more elaborate struc-
ture for the same purposes. On Tuesday night of
this week a notable address was made by Judge Cut-
ting, who discussed the career of the club and gave
reminiscences of some of the eminent Chicagoans
now gone who had helped to build it. What the
jurist said about the men of the music trade was of
special interest to Presto readers.
Among the tributes paid were those to the late
"Deacon" I .N. Camp, H. D. Cable, Col. E. S. Con-
way, and others. Judge Cutting also paid tribute
to music trade men who had been members of the
old Apollo Club of London, which had been started
by "rare" Ben Johnson. He said that Chicago piano
and organ men met at the old clubhouse on Jackson
boulevard, Chicago, for their annual banquets, and
took part in the deliberations which were carried on
in preparation for the World's Fair in 1893.
Judge Cutting's talk was of a kind to make his
hearers realize that the men of the music trade have
taken a good share in the progress of the great city
of the mid-west, as also elsewhere.
PRAISE FROM TUNERS
FOR F. RADLE PIANO
One More Interesting Tuner's Opinion of Fine
Old Piano Added to Numerous Prized
Letters on File.
The words of praise for a piano from the experi-
enced tuner or repairman are always appreciated by
the manufacturer of the instrument. They voice the
observations of long years perhaps and are the
more valuable in that they are definite in describing
merits.
The most valued collection of encomiums about the
F. Radle piano made by E. J. Radle, Inc., New
York, in the files of the manufacturers came from
piano tuners. And their commendatory value is in-
creased by the fact that in every instance the letters
from tuners are spontaneous. The industry goes
back to 1850 and the letters of praise from piano men
vitally interested in the merits of the instrument are
considered significant marks in a career of progres-
siveness in piano making and a firm persistence in
using best materials to make a dependable and tune-
ful piano.
J. F. Schofrstall, of Sunbury, Pa., is a tuner and
repairman who was recently repairing an F. Radle
playerpiano eight years old. Mr. Schoffstall needed
some bellows springs and wrote asking F. Radle,
Inc., to send them along to him. In the answer,
the New York manufacturers asked him just what he
thought of the F. Radle, and he wrote as follows:
"The tone quality of the Radle I think is very
good. The design is of the finest. I always liked
the Radle piano all the way through. I sold a great
many of them some years ago and found them to give
the very best of satisfaction."
STRAIGHTENING OUT AFFAIRS
OF THE BIDDLE PIANO CO.
Creditors' Committee Working on Bankrupt New
York Industry Is Making Good Progress.
In the matter of the Biddle Piano Company, of
New York, which failed recently, the Creditors' Com-
mittee reports progress in the following words:
"The committee has been very active in straight-
ening out the affairs of the two affiliated companies,
the Biddle Piano Company and the Biddle Manu-
facturing Company. Operating expenses have been
decreased to a large extent. The lease on the 59th
street store has been terminated in a very satisfac-
tory manner, all of the retail operations being con-
solidated at the 125th street store. Manufacturing
operations have been completed and the balance of
the inventory sold at a satisfactory figure. A large
number of second-hand pianos have also been sold.
"Much of the cash received from the above opera-
tions has necessarily been expended to meet matur-
ing obligations of secured creditors, but this in turn
has increased the equity in the security held by those
creditors. The committee is setting aside the paper
received from banks and others now being held as
security, as well as that supply of paper built up in
the regular course of business, and as this paper
matures the proceeds will be used to pay creditors.
"We anticipate making a substantial dividend pay-
ment, so that creditors can enter it upon this year's
business."
M. SCHULZ COMPANY PLANS
DISPLAY AT SPRINGFIELD
Reservations Made at Hotel Leland, Springfield, for
the Showing of Fine Line.
The announcement is made by the M. Schulz Co.,
711 Milwaukee avenue, Chicago, that one of its latest
and most beautiful creations in the wide line of in-
struments will be shown to the Illinois music mer-
chants, who convene in their annual convention, at
Hotel Leland, Springfield, 111., on October 6 and 7.
The display will be in charge of F. P. Bassett,
secretary and treasurer and Henry Hewitt, popular
M. Schulz traveler, who have made arrangements to
be on hand to greet their many friends among the
Illinois dealers and many of whom are already famil-
iar with the fine features and selling qualities of the
instruments of the Chicago industry.
The convention promises to be a lively affair and
merchants from every corner of the state are ex-
pected to be present in large numbers.
KRANICH & BACH'S LOCATION
AFFORDS ADVANTAGES
New Chicago Warerooms Are Easily Accessible; Is
Important to Its Retail Facilities.
The Kranich & Bach retail warerooms, which were
recently moved from a Wabash avenue location to the
present one in the Straus building at Michigan and
Jackson boulevards, are enjoying a fine trade since
opening their doors to business.
The new quarters provide much greater facilities
for showing off instruments, which is considered an
important item and is being done in impressive style
by the Kranich & Bach Co. The warerooms, which
face Jackson boulevard, have a big frontage and are
easily seen by all passers-by on that street. The
"Grandette" is prominently advertised by a large
electric sign in the window of evenings and the in-
strument is shown in the same window, and is a con-
vincing argument to sales.
The spacious quarters accommodate ten instru-
ments for display purposes, and the arrangement and
interior finish is above the ordinary.
DOLGEVILLE FELT MILLS
TO BE SOLD AT LAST
Mammoth Plant from Which Famous "Blue
Felt" Used to Come Will Be Property
of Garnetting Industry.
It is reported that negotiations are in progress with
the Merchants National Bank of Worcester, Mass.,
for the sale of the Dolge Felt Company plant at
Dolgeville, to a concern that will be known as the
Oxford Garnetting Company, Inc.
To members of the piano industry the report will
come like an echo from the hectic past. When the
late Alfred Dolge went up into the Adirondack Moun-
tains, seeking a suitable place for the manufacture
of piano felts, he fixed upon what was then known
as Brockett's Bridge. From a very small beginning
he developed the great mills at the town, which be-
came known as Dolgeville, and where today some
giant piano supply industries still flourish.
The failure of Alfred Dolge & Son took place in
April, 1898, and the great felt mill, which stretches
along the rapidly running mountain stream, has not
been in operation steadily since that time, though it
has been in control of another large piano felt and
supply company.
PUBLIC INVITED.
The Smith & Billings Music & Jewelry Co., Pitts-
field, 111., prints an invitation to the public to "look
over the biggest stock of musical instruments and
pianos in Pike county. You will be delighted with
the service we have to offer. We are exclusive agents
for the sale of Brunswick phonographs and records.
The New Edison machine and records are here.
Baldwin pianos, musical supplies of all kinds and the
latest in popular sheet music. Have you a piano or
phonograph to trade? Are you thinking of buying a
piano or phonograph? Take this opportunity to visit
this store and inspect the greatest values in beautiful
instruments in Pike county. Ask for our easy
terms."
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/
October 4, 1924.
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), " P R E S T O , " 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
in
United
j»j(- extra
— " - - - charge
-• -
•
—
• - - "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, OCTOBER 4, 1924.
AN ANOMALY
A recent item about the advertising of the
Griffith Piano Co., in Newark, N. J., called
forth a vigorous protest. The item suggested
that the otherwise fine newspaper publicity
of the Newark house was weakened by in-
serting in the list of famous instruments the
name of the concern itself in such a way as
to infer that it was also manufacturing pianos.
There arose the ghost of the old "stencil
racket," by which local competition is afforded
the opportunity to play unfairly.
In the item which drew criticism there was
not a word that bore upon the character of
the Newark house or the quality of the "Grif-
fith" piano. It was only a question of judg-
ment so far as it concerned the effect upon the
otherwise unusually fine list of pianos. As a
matter of fact, the "Griffith" piano is a dis-
tinctly good one. Bearing its real name—the
name by which it is everywhere recognized-
it is an instrument of such character that no
one would challenge its quality.
The case is one that seems to emphasize the
need of some other way than the so-called
"stencil." If the "Griffith" piano were sold
bearing its own name to several dealers in
Newark, it would have ^multiplied local in-
fluence and it would be proof against the kind
of competition that may be experienced under
the reputable name of even the most respons-
ible of retail houses that is known not to be
in the manufacturing business.
In another line of merchandising, within a
month past, the Federal Trade Commission
ordered a retail house to desist from having
its name placed on goods in such way as to
imply that it was the maker of the goods sold.
It is probable that most piano manufacturers,
and many dealers, would like to see that rul-
ing applied to their trade also.
And yet, as showing the difficulty of regu-
lating the use of piano names, years ago
Judge Kohlsaat, in Chicago, ruled that a piano
might bear a proper name as that of the manu-
facturer, but not as the distinctive name of
the piano itself. A sane legal opinion, pos-
sibly, but in piano vernacular an absurdity.
Returning for a moment to the Griffith ad-
vertisement, and the good piano in local dis-
guise, somewhere in "Presto Buyers' Guide"
it is stated that a piano that bears a name
other than that of its maker's may be safely
judged by the character of the house that
sells it. If the house is a reliable one, the
buyer of the piano is as secure as if he had the
guarantee of the actual manufacturer, in some
cases even more so. And that applies, of
course, to the case of Griffith. And in the
item to which protest was raised, there was
no challenge of the piano itself, even if there
was a mild criticism of the ancient, and now
respectable, because accepted, custom of sell-
ing "stencil" pianos. Perhaps no sane trade
paper should any longer mention the habit in
anything like a critical tone.
Sixty years of continuous business, in a
comparatively new city, is the great record
of the house of Lyon & Healy. The very
name of Healy is an inspiration in the music
business. Starting as an offshoot of the Bos-
ton house of Oliver Ditson, two young clerks
of that house opened a store on Washington
street, Chicago, in the troubled year of 1864.
No man with less courage and determination
than the late P. J. Healy could have brought
the business through the trials which have
beset the mid-west metropolis since that
time. And today the sixty-year-old house of
Lyon & Healy is as vigorous and progressive
as ever in its career. It is still the "greatest
music store in the world."
that are so radical as to necessitate a change
in the education of the pianist, or to render
obsolete the characteristics of the instrument
itself are not wanted. Better struggle to cre-
ate something entirely new if the piano needs
a complete revolution.
* * *
There is marked activity in the pipe organ de-
mand and indeed in the demand for organs of all
kinds such as for public places. The organ de-
partment is no longer a sideline with a large num-
ber of houses.
;k
:'c
s!;
Take advantage of the demand for small grands
which is now at its height. If you don't know
what particular grands may meet your trade with
profit to yourself, let us advise you.
-!=
*
*
The piano action manufacturers report a
marked increase in orders and output. Nothing
could more positively tell of a general advance in
the piano itself.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
October 6, 1894.
Kohler & Campbell are doing a big business. Over
four hundred pianos have been shipped from the
factory during the past four weeks. The player busi-
ness is also growing at a surprising rate.
The opening of the new Straube factory at Ham-
mond, Ind., is set for next Tuesday, tbe 11th. A first-
class caterer will set out a delectable spread and it
goes without saying that wit and good cheer will
abound.
President Calvin Whitney, of the A. B. Chase Com-
pany, received a large sized check on Saturday last.
It was handed to Mr. Whitney in the office of the
piano factory, in Norwalk, Ohio, by C. P. Venus,
representing the New York Life Insurance Company,
the amount being $24,263.
Col. E. S. Conway, secretary of the W. W. Kim-
ball Company, Chicago, called at the sick room of
the esteemed president of that great house on
Wednesday to see his chief. Mr. Conway carried
with him a bunch of roses which he presented to
Mr. Kimball as a token to celebrate that he had
been with Mr. Kimball just one-third of a century
on that day.
To show the extent of The Cable Co.'s representa-
tion at the St. Louis Exposition in the state and for-
eign buildings the Conover uprights are to be seen
in the following buildings: Indian Territory, Utah,
Oklahoma, Iowa, Virginia. Nevada, Illinois, Idaho.
North Dakota (Agricultural Building), Temple of
Fraternity (2), Alaska, Washington, New Hamp-
shire, Georgia, Texas, Rhode Island, South Dakota,
Oregon, Minnesota, while the Conover grands are
found in this list: Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Mex-
ico, Temple of Fraternity (2), Alaska, New Hamp-
shire, House of Hoo Hoo, Iowa, Italy, Indian Terri-
tory, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Arizona, and New
Mexico have the Kingsbury pianos.
The pathetic death of Ernest Knabe, Jr.,
bore traces of tragedy. It is probable that
no keener scientific mind has engaged in the
piano industry, and never a more gentlemanly
personality ever engaged in the work of de-
veloping the household and concert room in-
strument. Mr. Knabe was an all-around man,
who could discuss all phases of art and whose
only lack seems to have been that of acquis-
itiveness, from which great "business men"
are believed to evolve. Starting with every
promise of a great career in the piano indus-
try, Mr. Knabe experienced bitter disappoint-
ments and lived to see a priceless inheritance
pass from him. But he left many warm
friends and admirers.
* * *
Trade papers with a penchant for political
discussion should try not to forget, in their
20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
fervid discussion of candidates, that their
adult readers are fairly well informed in ad-
From Presto, October 6, 1904.
ministrative affairs. Unlike the political news-
The factory of the Weaver Organ and Piano Co.,
papers, the journals of industry cannot pass York, Pa., is now running eleven hours a day. A
along advice with such good results as they pretty good indication that business is brisk.
Newman, the well known organ manufacturer
can by telling about the business in whose in- and John
member of Newman Bros. Co., this city, died at
terests they are supposed to exist. It's a case, his home, 529 Orchard street (Lake View) on Sun-
last.
perhaps, of where the shoemaker "should day Mr. night
H. D. Cable, the president of the Chicago
stick to his last." Nevertheless we, of course, Cottage Organ Co., spent a couple of days in Ohio
this week, and Mr. F. S. Cable, the Secretary, is in
also know the name of the next president.
St. Paul
today.
* * *
W r e understand that the Mason & Hamlin opening
at their new Boylston street store on Monday of this
Radio has at last found its place in trade. week was an elaborate and very interesting event.
Wm, Knabe, Jr., or Willie Knabe, as he is known
It belongs in the music stores, not as a com-
J)y everybody in and about the great Wm. Knabe &
petitor of the piano, which it isn't, but as a * Co.'s establishment, is expected in Chicago today
subsidiary or comrade and an addition to the en route westward.
Everywhere exhibited the Story & Clark organs
home equipment. Piano owners are the secure
first prizes. They get in "on the ground floor"
logical radio prospects. Consequently the at international expositions and at state and county
the Story & Clark instruments carry off the best
established piano store is the ready-made fairs
honors.
The trade and public in Chicago and elsewhere
radio station.
where the Chickering-Chase Bros. Co. do business,
* * *
have noticed that for some little time past they have
The trouble with genius that aches to "im- been advertising over their corporate name, and also
the name Chase Bros. Piano Co. It has natur-
prove" the piano is that it aims to transform over
ally been assumed that this style of advertising is but
the instrument into something else. Changes a step to dropping the name of Chickering altogether.
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/

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