Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1925 2019

PRESTO
STOP ALL SALES
UNTIL YOU READ
Here's a Promise Compared to Which. the
Shortest Installment Note You Get Is
of Small Value and May as Well
Be Extended.
ANNOUNCEMENT EXTRAORDINARY
George P. Bent Breaks Into Monotony of Pre-Con-
vention Plans with a Special Invitation Lim-
ited to Few in the Business.
If it proves possible to find any eligibles within the
very limited lines drawn by Geo. P. Bent, one of the
biggest events of the music trades convention in Chi-
cago next June will be a gathering of the experienced
young men of the industry and trade to do justice
to a dinner provided by the gentleman named. This
we know by reason of the following which must be
read carefully in order to avoid any invasion by
giddy old people upon a meeting of the Volstedian
assembly of antiques, whether thirty years old or
eighty years young. But read.
Mr. Bent's Invitation.
Los Angeles. Calif., March 28, 1925.
Messrs. Abbott and Daniell,
Presto Publishing Company,
417 South Dearborn street,
Chicago, 111.
Dear Friends: Am planning to, some night during
the coming Convention, give a dinner to old friends.
Do not know what night it will be; in fact, I have
not made any arrangements whatever, but I wish
you would make an announcement in Presto some-
thing after this style:
DINNER TO AND FOR THE AGED!
Of the Music Trade.
To be eligible for this dinner no one must be much
less than sixty years of age. Aiide from that, there
will be no age limit. The more decrepit and derelict
each one is, the better.
Those wearing false teeth, false hair, gray hair,
hair thin or absolutely gone, will be especially wel-
come, also those whose sight and hearing are fail-
ing, and those who must come on crutches or carry
canes.
I especially desire to have with me on this occa-
sion those who have, or can pretend to, an air of
doddering senility.
Some things I must know in advance, so as to pre-
pare for my guests. I must know whether you use
spoons exclusively, or other tools at table. All those
eligible to accept this invitation, ulease write me as
soon as possible, care of the Illinois Athletic Club,
where I shall be from April 13th until after the Con-
vention is over.
Various sizes of spoons will be provided for those
who subsist on liquid diet, and, of course, 1 nives and
forks will be provided for those who are still able to
masticate. There will be some poems and short
speeches by those who are still able to talk, for the
benefit of those who are still able to hear.
Hoping for early replies to this invitation, which is
cordially and sincerely extended, I am,
Very truly yours,
GEORGE P. BENT,
Illinois Athletic Club, Chicago.
Accompanying the foregoing invitation there came
also a personal communication which may or may not
have been designed to be of confidential character.
But, in the absence of any specific instructions to
the contrary, Presto presents some of that part of
Mr. Bent's personal communication which may serve
to explain what will also follow. Mr. Bent says:
''I want you to prepare a poem for the occasion,
and be on hand to deliver it. I am going to try to
get Robert O. Foster to come, with a poem, Col.
Payson with a speech, Jas. Bowers, Mr. Matchett
(and no doubt others) with a speech, also Jesse
French, with a poem, and I shall endeavor to get
Collins and Bush to entertain us, as both are gifted
in demonstrating the speech and actions of the aged!
Mr. Price is also expected to make a speech."
A "Pome" and Apology.
What Mr. Bent sets forth there is the cause of
Presto's I'oik presenting his "poem" at this time.
And more especially so in view of the large spoons
which are to be provided for such guests as may still
be able to swallow anything not too tough. Hence
this, with apologies to all of the cripples of what-
ever age:
The years roll on—or do they fly
In keeping with this rapid age,
When lightning's slow
and Ford.s whiz by,
And babes are w r ise as old-time sage?
Well, let the poets tell of that,
While we strum Time's old instrument,
And dream of Casey at the Bat
And sing the halt and blind—and Bent!
Of course we know that Time's a fake.
And has no power to make us old,
But still his custom 'tis to make
Us kids act strange and almost bold;
The recompense they tell about
That comes to all with lives half spent,
Is also ours, without a doubt—
Tf we know worry, care—and Bent.
So who wants youth, with all its cares
Of learning how and growing bald—
Bemoaning lack of lady fairs
Who never come when they are called!
'Tis better much to gather 'round
And hear Will's voice with Adam's blent,
While Platt plays on his Circus Grand,
And dance with cripples, old—and Bent.
They'll Get Here.
It is certain that when June "comes smiling up
this way" there will be a scampering of cripples, the
bald and toothless, to prepare themselves for the use
of any tools of whatsoever kind they may be in the
habit of employing in their Wrigley exercises. And,
having spoken with what may seem unbecoming
levity on a subject which will seriously interest a
large number of readers, it may be added that Mr.
Bent's invitation, aside from its characteristic and
distinctly witty style, will need no R.S.V.P., in large
capitals, to insure a hearty acceptance by every crip-
ple who can hire a Yellow, or otherwise get from
their confinement in the factory, office and store,
throughout the country, long enough to be in Chicago
for even one day during the convention.
OLD MUSIC STOCK SOLD.
April 4, 1925.
RADIO FANS HEAR THE
BRAMBACH EVERY NIGHT
New York Piano Broadcasts from Station
WGBF, of Evansville, Indiana, Six
Nights in the Week.
A Brambach Baby Grand has been chosen as the
official piano of Station WGBF, Evansville, Ind. The
Brambach is used in their studio for all concert work.
Through this station, music from the Brambach
reaches a tremendous audience every night in the
week. WGBF is one of the most powerful broadcast-
ing stations in the country and is heard throughout
the Middle West as well as in the Eastern and
Pacific Coast States by radio fans whose sets get the
more distant stations.
This is a tribute to the tonal qualities of the Bram-
bach, for only the clearest toned instruments are
acceptable for this kind of work. Of course, great
numbers of persons among the radio audience are
keen critics of music. The favorable comment re-
ceived on the musical qualities of the Brambach has
proved Station WGBF made a wise choice in choos-
ing the Brambach for this most exacting service.
The Brambach was chosen for this Station's broad-
casting through the efforts of Harding & Miller,
Brambach dealers in Evansville. Not only has
Harding & Miller's accomplishment increased Bram-
bach sales in their own territory but has impressed
a huge radio audience throughout the middle west
with Brambach's merits.
WESTERN PIANO CORP. NEW
NAME IN CALIFORNIA
Title Replaces Old One of Kohler & Campbell Piano
Industries of California.
The Western Piano Corp. is the new title of the
Kohler & Campbell Piano Industries of California,
a change that the company considers will obviate a
lot of confusion caused by the old company title.
No change of location is meditated, the offices on
the fourth floor of the Phelan Building continuing
to be Pacific Coast wholesale offices for the fol-
lowing: uprights, grands, players, and reproducing
pianos (Welte-Mignon Licensee):
Kohler & Campbell, Brambach, Autopiano, Daven-
port-Treacy, Behr Bros., Hazelton Bros., Kroeger,
Milton and Francis Bacon.
The Western Piano Corp. is also a service head-
quarters for the Standard Pneumatic Action Co.,
Auto Pneumatic Action Co., De Luxe Rolls, for
Welte Mignon (Licensee).
A full range of styles in all lines is on hand in
San Francisco for immediate delivery to Coast deal-
ers. B. P. Sibley is president of the Western Piano
Corp.
The building and music goods stock formerly
RECONSTRUCTION PLANS BEGIN.
owned by the Music Store, Fullerton, Nebr., has
passed into the ownership of W. B. Phillips of Col-
The Lang Piano Co., 2140 Ridge avenue, Philadel-
umbus. The store has been a matter of litigation for
phia, has begun reconstruction of its building, and
years and has been closed all that time. It was
when the work is completed, about May 1 the busi-
opened last week by the new owners and the stock is ness now at 1204 Columbia avenue, will be removed
now being sold. Friday and Saturday of this week
there. Two other stores are maintained by the com-
the remaining stock will be sold at auction. The new pany, that on Ridge avenue and at 1514 South street.
owners plan on remodeling the building and will offer
The branch stores also carry a line of musical
it for rent.
instruments.
THE BOWEN LOADER
makes of the Ford Roadster the Ideal piano truck,—most Convenient, most Economical and most Efficient.—Goes anywhere, over any
kind of roads, and distance makes no difference.
It will greatly assist any energetic Salesman, City or Country, but is indispensable for successful country work.
It's the best outfit for making collections and repossessions.
Our latest model is fool-proof and indestructible, and the price has been reduced to $95.00 including an extra good water-proof
moving cover. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded.
BOWEN PIANO LOADER CO.,
Winston-Salem, N. C.
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/
PRESTO
April 4, 1925.
Recognition
Precedes
Success
TUNERS SEND OUT
A QUESTIONNAIRE
New Form of Activity of National Association
of Piano Tuners, Inc., Strives to Interest
Music Teachers in Unselfish Purposes of
the Organization.
SHARED INTERESTS
Teachers Requested to Aid in Object of Tuners' As-
sociation by Supplying Answers to a Dozen
Important Questions.
SEEBURG
DEALERS
HAVE DISCOVERED
THE KEY TO
POSITIVE
PROFITS
There are many styles
in the
COMPLETE
SEEBURG LINE
to interest you
RELIABLE REPRE-
SENTATION INVITED
WRITE
J. P. SEEBURG
PIANO CO.
"Leaders in the
Automatic Field"
1508-1514 Dayton St.
CHICAGO
The National Association of Piano Tuners, Inc.,
with headquarters at 22 Quincy street, Chicago, is
constantly active in acquainting the music trade with
the purposes of the organization and piano owners
with the responsibilities of the piano tuner. The
keener interest of dealers and independent tuners in
the tuners' national association, consequent on the
publicity activities, is one result; more interest in
their pianos by owners is reflected in the increased
number of requests for tuners' services to representa-
tive music houses.
Now the National Association of Tuners, Inc., is
directing a special series of letters to music teachers
who should be the most potent aids towards more
tuneful pianos. The following letter to music schools
and individual teachers was mailed this week:
Addressing the Music Teacher.
With your varied and exacting duties it would be
an imposition, ordinarily, to intrude upon your time,
but when an opportunity presents itself to make a
helpful and timely contribution to the great cause
of music in which you are so vitally interested and in
which you have attained such signal honors we feel
that you will regard it as a privilege, as well as a
duty, to lend your efforts to the eradication of a long
standing evil with its demoralizing influence on the
devotees of music in general and the music student
in particular—the untuned piano.
You know what the services of the faithful piano
tuner have meant to you and your art. These same
efficient services will mean much in a musical way to
the vast army of piano owners, numbering approxi-
mately ten millions, in this country when they real-
ize how vital and important piano tuning is.
Appeal to Good Judges.
No one knows better than you that good music
when played on out-of-tune pianos ceases to be good
music. Don't you honestly believe that the first step
toward becoming a musical nation lies in educating
piano owners to the necessity of keeping their pianos
always in tune?
With these thoughts in mind, we are enclosing a
questionnaire which we trust you will be kind enough
to fill out and return. And will you not please make
your answers as full and as complete as possible?
If you do not care to reply to all of the questions in
the order given will you not kindly answer in detail
those which you regard as essential and fundamen-
tal?
We have no selfish motive in making this request.
It is not made with the idea of boosting the tuner's
or the piano merchant's game, but it is made with the
hope that it will help the common musical good.
Will you therefore please be kind enough to let us
hear from you just as soon as you conveniently can?
Thanking you for your generous co-operation,
The Questionnaire.
Accompanying the letter was the following ques-
tionnaire with a request for a return with answer
filled out:
1—Does not the teacher do himself and his pupil
an injustice if he fails to ascertain directly, or through
some one competent to judge, the condition of the
piano on which his pupil is to do his practicing?
Ans
2—Is a pupil not seriously handicapped if he
begins his studies on a piano out of tune, below pitch,
or in need of action regulation? Ans
3—If practice is continued for a considerable length
of time upon a piano out of tune, does the pupil not
become tone-deaf, that is, will not all sense and pro-
portion of tone value and appreciation be destroyed?
Ans
4—Can good technic be developed on a piano the
action of which is out of adjustment, badly worn
or unresponsive ? Ans
5—Do not the parents make a grave mistake in as-
suming, as many of them do, that any sort of piano,
in any sort of condition, is good enough for the child
to begin his musical studies on? Ans
6—Should not the teacher protest against a pupil
using a piano of this kind? Should he not insist upon
the piano being put in good condition? If the piano
cannot be restored to a satisfactory condition should
he not insist, then, upon the purchase of a new one?
Ans
Tuneless Pianos and Decadence.
7—Can we become a musical people by playing on
or listening to pianos habitually out of tune? Can
there fail to be a decadence of music in general as
the result of pianos in the home being maintained in
an out-of-tune condition? It is estimated that sev-
enty-five per cent of the teachers of the younger
pupils pay no attention to ear training. Can such
teachers be classed as competent if no attention is
paid to developing a musical spirit in their pupils?
Ans
8—The violin teacher will not permit his pupil to
take a lesson on an instrument which is out of tune.
Isn't it equally as important that a piano student
should use only instruments that are always in tune?
Ans
9—If the voice student has a defect or impediment
in his vocal apparatus, the teacher sends him to a
throat specialist for treatment. If the piano is "ail-
ing" and unable to function properly, should not the
piano doctor, in the person of the piano tuner, be sent
for to administer proper treatment? Ans
10—As a pupil does not always know when
his piano is out of tune, should the teacher not
insist upon him having it tuned every four or six
months? Ans
11—As the teacher has not the time, and seldom the
opportunity, for knowing the condition of his pupil's
piano, should he not, therefore, appoint an official
censor whose business it would be to inspect the
pupil's piano and report to him its condition, with
recommendations as to what should be done? Nat-
urally, this person would be the piano tuner. In
doing this, would not the teacher be protecting him-
self and accelerating the progress of his pupil? A n s . . .
12—Do you not think that if there were some edu-
cational propaganda along the lines indicated above
among the teaching profession and the musical press
that the great cause of music would benefit very ma-
terially? Ans
ONE OF THE PIANO MEN
YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
Si. Popplar, of Grand Forks, Real He-Man of
Out-of-Doors, Who Is Also at Home
in Busy Store.
Know Si. Popplar of Grand Forks, North Dakota?
No? Well, you should. He's one of the young men
who can shoot, run, play ball or handle the "mits"
with the best of 'em. He is, in fact, a sort of rough-
rider, all 'round piano man. He has built up a large
business, with headquarters in Grand Forks, by rea-
"SI" POPPLAR.
son of his versatility, good judgment and that, as yet,
unsolved factor known as "personality."
Mr. Popplar is known to his friends and neighbors
as "Si."—just that, and he's the only one within miles,
even when there's a crowd around. He is the head
of the Popplar Piano Co., and the store in Grand
Forks is one that would do justice to any other city
anywhere. There is a story, well worth repeating, in
which Mr. Popplar figures in connection with an-
other popular piano man and personal friend.
It appears that the Grand Forks house sells The
Cable Company line. And in the Northwest that
means that Geo. W. Slawson covers the trail in that
country. One day a young traveller for an eastern
piano house stepped into the Popplar store. Looking
around he, of course, saw the Cable-made pianos.
Just to show that he was wise he remarked: "Well,
I see that you know Mr. Slawson."
"Know him? Rather!" replied Mr. Popplar, "George
Slawson has been travelling through the small sticks
of this country ever since Adam was a child and I
don't know when I haven't known him."
The remark, by Mr. Popplar, goes to show that a
man who sticks to a thing must become well known,
and that is one reason why The Cable line is im-
movably popular in the northwest, where the "small
sticks" have grown into great forests. The Popplar
Piano Co. is an active concern, and the all-round
athletic life of its head accounts for much of its
activity, for he sells pianos just as easily as he tosses
the ball.
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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