Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1925 2019

April 4, 1925.
OAKLAND BRANCH WINS
URCHS' SILVER CUP
Second Series of Contests by Sherman, Clay &
Co.'s Branches Decided After Four Year's
Test of Selling Energy.
The Oakland store of Sherman, Clay & Co., San
Francisco, has won the second Urchs' cup put up by
Ernest Urchs, manager of the wholesale and artists'
department of Steinway & Sons, New York, for the
branch store of the San Francisco company having
the largest profit percentage in proportion to the in-
vestment. The cup becomes the property of a store
when won in three consecutive years.
The Urchs' cup contest dates back to 1913 and was
won by the Fresno branch after an exciting contest
for seven years. The cup of which the Oakland
branch has just been declared winner was put up by
Mr. Urchs in 1920, in which year and the following
the Fresno store achieved highest honors. Oakland
came out winner in 1922, 1923 and 1924 when it be-
came entitled to the cup.
SELLING AMERICAN GOODS
TO THE AUSTRALIAN TRADE
The Preference of Our Music Goods Exporters Is to
Sell to Dealer, Not Importing Agent.
The American manufacturer who wishes to sell his
product in Australia or New Zealand must, with few
exceptions, expect to deal directly with the dis-
tributor, says Emmett A. Chapman, in Commerce
Reports. Although some business is carried on
through general exporting houses, the larger part of
American exports to the Australia-New Zealand area
is shipped directly from the manufacturer. American
piano manufacturers sell direct to music dealers.
Most goods from the United States are subject to
a 10 to 15 per cent duty handicap when sold in com-
petition with similar products imported from Great
Britain, and the Australian "importer feels that by
dealing directly with the American manufacturer he
can offset this to some extent. He feels also that the
adjustment of any difficulty which may arise can be
better settled through direct dealing. Whether his
assumptions are correct or not, his wishes must be
catered to if the seller expects to do business with
him.
Our growing trade with Australia is proof enough
that American manufacturers have been and are com-
plying with the wishes of purchasers in this region.
However, some manufacturers who do a considerable
export trade do not care to be bothered with direct
KURTZMANN
Grands—Players
Manufactured by
C. KURTZMANN & CO.
exporting, preferring rather to deal through general
export merchandising houses.
Direct export to the antipodes is relatively simple
as compared with other areas where regulations are
numerous and trying, and where the differences in
language and customs present difficulties. The lan-
guage, of course, offers no problem in Australia and New Trend Is Towards the Grand Piano, the
New Zealand, and the customs are so nearly like
Bruce Co. of Springfield, 111.,
ours that, aside from the preparation of certain ex-
Points Out.
port documents, exporting to these countries is much
the same as selling in the domestic market.
"Styles as well as times are changing. The trend
now is toward the Grand Piano," says the Bruce Co.,
Springfield, 111., which points out that "grands are
priced equally as low as uprights." Continuing the
information in a strong newspaper ad in local papers
the Bruce Co. says:
"Today the Grand Piano is gradually replacing the
This Feature of Music Business Given More Atten- upright in most American homes. This is due to the
fact that a grand piano may now be had at practi-
tion Every Day by British Trade.
The remarkable renaissance in organ building is cally the same price as an upright. Too, the grand
affecting the British music trade as it is the music is now available in sizes that require no more space
trade of the United States. The rise in popularity than an upright. And, since its tone, lasting qualities
of the picture houses in every country has reacted and artistic beauty far surpass any other style instru-
very favorably on organ building. Instruments for ment, it is of course the most desirable. On our floors
providing high-class music for the motion picture right now you will find the newest style grands from
a number of America's best known makers. In fact,
houses are wanted everywhere.
stock was never more complete than at this
Besides the requirements of the new field for the our
time."
org'an builder, the improvements arid inventions of
experts in the organ plants have helped to produce
this favorable result in the organ field. Greater ease
in manipulation has helped to make the motion pic-
ture organs more available for the theaters. At the
big and prominent motion picture theaters in Ameri-
can cities the organ recitals are well advertised and
Leader of Famous Westminster Choir of Dayton, O.,
highly appreciated features of the programs.
Within the last ten years in this country dead organ
Uses Instruments in School and Studio.
industries have been revived, sleepy ones vitalized,
new ones formed and old ones jolted into greater
energy by the spontaneous demand of the organ cus-
tomers. A similar condition is visible abroad. There
are at the present time in London alone over thirty
organ builders, besides many prominent firms in the
provinces, all turning out highly specialized work,
both for the home trade and the dominions.
PREFERENCES OF BUYERS
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
GROWTH OF PIPE ORGAN
BUSINESS WORLD WIDE
JOHN FINLEY WILLIAMSON
BUYS BALDWIN GRANDS
MORRIS PIANO PARLORS
CELEBRATES AN ANNIVERSARY
Firm Established a Year Ago Achieves Success with
Fine Uprights, Grands and Reproducing Pianos.
The Morris Piano Parlors, 316 South 36th street,
Omaha, Nebr., is celebrating the first anniversary of
its formation with congratulations to its own energy
in establishing itself on a firm and profitable basis.
The firm deals exclusively in pianos and reproducing
pianos and is unique in that it is the only piano house
in Omaha doing business in a residential district.
The grand and reproducing piano sales were the
most important features of the business during the
first year and henceforth the purpose of the company
is to centralize efforts on those types and the finer
types of uprights. The home showrooms are ar-
ranged to give the proper surroundings to the in-
struments shown. Mrs. Morris has announced a
series of recitals for Sunday afternoons, which she
believes will be productive of sales.
SELLS ESTEY ORGANS.
Lyon & Healy, Inc., Chicago, announces that Mr.
Damsel, head of the pipe organ department, recently
returned from a few days' trip and reports closing a
deal for a $20,000 Estey residence organ for the beau-
tiful home of Charles T. Fisher in Detroit; also a
$10,000 organ to be built in the St. Paul M. E. Church,
Celina, Ohio.
Factories and General Offices
OPENS NEW BRANCH.
526-536 Niagara Street
BUFFALO, N. Y.
E. H. Hegelman, Derry, Pa., dealer, has opened a
new music store in the Ratz and Gerber Building on
Main street, Portage, Pa. He handles pianos, play-
ers, small goods, band instruments, phonographs and
radio as well as maintaining a repair and tuning
department.
WILLIAMS
PIANOS
The policy of the Williams House is and always
has been to depend upon excellence of product
instead of alluring price. Such a policy does not
attraot bargain hunters. It does, however, win the
hearty approval and support of a very desirable
and substantial patronage.
WILLIAMS
TTILLI^ITI3
11
PRESTO
Make
"
Epworth
ot
Pianos,
p i William,
a n o 8 a f i d Ortfans
HIGH GRADE
Folding Organs
School Organs
Practice Keyboards
DaaluV Attention SoLidted
A- L. WHITE MFG. CO.
215 EngUwood Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
The
accompanying
cut shows the famous
Westminster Choir of
Dayton, Ohio, under
the able leadership of
John Finley William-
son, now recognized
one of the foremost
American choral con-
ductors. Mr. William-
son has purchased sev-
eral instruments from
the Baldwin factories
for his School of Music
and among them, for
his own studio, a style
K Baldwin Grand, "The
singing tone of which is
unequalled, according to
his enthusiastic com-
ment.
The fame of the
Westminster Choir of
Dayton has spread to
foreign
shores. So
much interest has been
aroused in England
and on the continent
that a European con-
cert tour has been ar-
ranged for 1925, and
thirty-seven
engage-
ments have already
been booked.
The William & Van Horn Music Store, Mt. Ver-
non, Wash., has moved to new quarters in the Pioneer
Building, handling a general line of music goods.
QUALITY
in Name and in Fact
TONE, MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION,
WORKMANSHIP, DESIGN—all In ac-
cord with the broadest experience—are
the elements which give character to
Bush & Lane Products.
BUSH&LANE PIANOS
BUSH & LANE CECILIAN PLAYER PIANOS
take high place, therefore, in any com-
parison of high grade pianos because of
the individuality of character which dis-
tinguishes them in all essentials of merit
and value.
BUSH & LANE PIANO 00.
Holland, Mieh.
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/
12
PRESTO
FREIGHT INCREASE
HEARING APRIL 7
Interstate Commerce Commission, Sitting in
Washington Next Week, Will Hear
Protesting Arguments of Music
Trade Organizations.
INJUSTICE OF INCREASES
In reporting to the Chamber on his work as a repre-
sentative of the Committee in the San Francisco hear-
ings Mr. Bates has written:
What It Means.
"Distributors buying direct from the factory must
pay freight charges from the Atlantic Coast to San
Francisco, on which we will say there is an increase
of fifty cents per set; he, in turn, sells his products
to a jobber in Portland, Ore., on which there is an
additional increase of perhaps twenty-five cents per
set. The jobber, in turn, sells his products to a retail
dealer at Salem, Ore., on which there is an additional
increase, and although the increase in freight charges
on the transcontinental movement really represents
an increase of fifty cents per set, by the time same
is delivered to the ultimate consumer, this increase
will not be 50c but more likely $1.50.
"As this particular case has brought to the writer's
mind more forcibly than anything else in the past the
need of some co-operative action in matters affecting
transportation costs to the Music Trades as a whole,
it would seem that the best method of creating some
interest or desire on the part of allied music interests
is through a campaign of education on traffic or trans-
portation matters."
Frank E. Bates, Traffic Manager for Sherman, Clay
& Co., San Francisco, Illustrates That Point
with Enlightening Array of Figures.
The hearings of the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion on the suspension of the new increases in rates
on phonographs and radio sets will be resumed in
Washington April 7 and it is very important that
the music dealers of this country realize the very vital
effect to them of the proposed increases in freight
rates which the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce, various associations in the music and radio
fields are strenuously opposing.
To Represent Music Trade.
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce will
be represented by R. H. Lockwood, traffic manager Hotel Holman, Athens, New Hostelry with 123
of Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company and W. F. Rooms Recently Equipped with Fine Instruments.
Varin of the Sonora Phonograph Company, who are
The accompanying cut shows the Holman Hotel,
members of the Chamber's Transportation Commit-
tee, and by Alfred L. Smith, secretary and general Athens, Ga., which has just been equipped with a
manager. The case will be handled for the Chamber
by Joseph C. Colquitt, traffic attorney of Washing-
ton.
Frank E. Bates, traffic manager of Sherman, Clay
& Co., of San Francisco, California, and a member
of the Transportation Committee of the Music Indus-
tries Chamber of Commerce, brought out a very im-
portant point of interest to the music trade in the
recent hearings in San Francisco on the matter of
the suspension of the new increases in rates on radio
sets and phonographs with radio installation.
Results Last Hearing.
The hearings were held in San Francisco because
of the protest of the Pacific Radio Trade Association,
the Music Trade Association of Southern California
and other associations in the various music fields who
are co-operating with the Music Industries Chamber
of Commerce in securing the rate suspension. At
these hearings it was apparent that representatives of
the railroad intended to show what a little percentage
the rate increase would have on the final cost of radio
sets and phonographs.
Mr. Bates, however, on cross examination clearly
showed the fallacy of this attitude, and in fact showed
that the proposed increases, which amount to fifty
THE HOTEL HOLMAN, ATHENS, GA.
per cent in many cases, are repeated several times
over before the product reaches the final consumer.
Gulbransen grand piano by P. H. Burden, the Gul-
bransen dealer in Athens.
The Holman Hotel is centrally located, and has 125
rooms. The Gulbransen grand piano is in a very fine
setting in an attractive location in the hotel building.
GULBRANSEN GRAND PIANO
FOR BIG GEORGIA HOTEL
There's Money
for the Dealer in
Automatic Pianos
Fine Electric Self-Players of eye-
catching design and perfect perform-
ance. Also
COIN OPERATED
for places of entertainment, Theatres,
Movies, Ice Cream Parlors, Etc., Etc.
The best line including die famous
"PIAN-O-GRAND"
"BANJ-O-GRAND"
and "HARP-O-GRAND"
Wide-awake Piano D e a l e r s find
them easy sellers in every community.
Send for illustrated
descriptive circulars.
Nelson -Wiggen Piano Co.
1731 Belmont Ave.,
CHICAGO
SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISER
MUST KNOW HIS TRADE
Publicity Expert Warns Manufacturers There Is No
Cure-All for Their Troubles.
The greatest danger that advertising faces is the
fact that too much is expected of it, according to
Albert D. Lasker, President of Lord & Thomas, one
of Chicago's largest advertising agencies and formerly
Chairman of the United States Shipping Board, who
spoke last week at a luncheon given at the Advertis-
ing Club. Manufacturers have grown to think of it
as a cure-all for their troubles, he said.
"Advertising is the greatest force that has come to
the aid of the distribution of goods in the past twenty
years," he said, "but it cannot accomplish every-
thing. It cannot do much for merchandise that is
not good enough to sell without advertising. No
man can do anything for an advertiser who does not
understand his own business."
According to Mr. Lasker the latest methods in ad-
vertising have been learned from the old advertisers
of quack patent medicines.
"In those days the advertisers used to make use
of testimonials from unknown persons," he said.
"Modern advertising tries to get testimonials from
celebrities. The theory is exactly the same. The only
difference is that the modern application of it is
sound."
A branch of the A. I. Ross Music Store has been
opened at 333 Steinway avenue, Astoria, L. I.
April 4, 1925.
TEN PER CENT FOR
BELL COMPANY CREDITORS
Decision by Superior Court Judge Concludes Affairs
of Muncie, Ind., Company.
Creditors of the Bell Piano Co., Muncie, Ind., will
receive 10 per cent of the amount of their claims.
This was determined by Judge Robert Murray in
superior court last week. The concern has been in-
solvent and in the hands of a receiver for some time.
Several weeks ago, the Bell company brought suit
to set aside the sale of its factory buildings by the
receiver, but the court decided that the sale was valid.
The decision by Judge Murray last week will prac-
tically bring to a conclusion the affairs of the Bell
Piano Company which have attracted much attention
in local courts during the past few years.
Nevertheless Olin Bell, former head of the Muncie
industry, was in Chicago last week and said to a
Presto reporter that he had no thought of relinquish-
ing his purpose of forcing a rehearing in the case of
this factory sale. Mr. Bell declares that the sum
accepted by the receiver was many thousands of dol-
lars less than had been offered by another party.
NEW KENTUCKY STORE.
A new music store has been opened up in the
Brunswick Hotel building, Louisa, Ky. The name of
the new firm is The Rose Music Shop and is in
charge of Milton Rose. He is carrying a full and
complete line of musical instruments, including radios.
E. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s .
Correspondence from Reliable
Dealers Invited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd Si
NEW YORK
KREITER
The Leading and Most Popular
Pianos and Players
Grands, Players, Uprights and
Reproducing Pianos
The Results of Over Forty Years'
of Experience.
Kreiter Pianos Cover the Entire Line
and no Piano Dealer who tries these in-
struments would supplant them by any
others. A trial will convince.
Kreiter Mfg. Co., Inc.
310-312 W. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.
Factory: Marinette, Wis.
The Lyon & Healy
Reproducing Piano
A moderate priced reproducing piano,
beautiful in design and rich in tone.
Write for our new explanatory Chart,
the most complete and simple treat-
ment of the reproducing action.
Wabash at Jackson - - - Chicago
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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