Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1925 2022

Page 8 Text:

April 25, 1925.
PRESTO
8
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), "PRESTO," 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, 94.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United 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, APRIL 25; 1925.
A MUSIC SURFEIT
One of America's greatest music directors
made a strange statement in a recent inter-
view. It was when Mr. Walter Damrosch
said that there was a "surfeit" of music in this
country. He elaborated by adding that the
establishing of many symphony orchestras, in
the larger cities, and even the smaller ones,
may have beaten down the element of novelty
and supplied too much of the kind of music
that is supposed to be uplifting in the highest
sense—the so-called "classic" music, and the
compositions which it is customary to prac-
tice for public singing, as well as public per-
formances upon instruments.
If Mr. Damrosch is right, and he should
know, then is there any possibility of the great
thrill of "music week" and the other similar
upheavals working ill to the common cause
which is vital to the music industry and trade ?
In other words, do such widespread excitations
to serious musical effort stimulate the sale of
musical instruments—and most of all the piano
—or do they serve, as Mr. Damrosch says, to
"surfeit" the people with too much of a good
thing?
The subject is not a small one to the men
who have built up a great business in the man-
ufacture and sale of musical instruments. It
is nowhere claimed that the musical festivals
of popular kind have filled the people's homes
to overflowing with pianos. What it has done
for the smaller instruments may be a different
story. But it is certain that, in the opinion
of some well-informed piano manufacturers, it
would have been better had there been fewer
pianos made and often better ones distributed
by the dealers. The inroads of "commercial-
ism," while natural in a great industry of a
great country, has not helped either the manu-
facturers or the dealers. The tendency to cut
prices in keeping with quality is both natural
and proper. But it doesn't help along the char-
acter of either the industry or trade.
Perhaps Mr. Damrosch may have sounded a
warning. Music is too good and too absolutely
essential to life and happiness to suggest any
threat of banishment, no matter what the in-
strument or instruments. But, if it is at all
possible that there may be a surfeit of it there
can be little doubt about the kind of instru-
ments which must be first to suffer the conse-
quences. And they will include all such as
suggest any degree of effort, and concentra-
tion of study, or even in sustaining a popular
place in the homes of the people. There is
food enough for thought in what the great
symphony, opera and community singing di-
rector says.
TOO FEW PIANOS
If, as was disclosed in last week's Presto,
the city of Milwaukee is less than one-half
supplied with pianos, what is to be said of the
other great American cities and, still more,
of the smaller places and the rural districts?
It is not difficult to make a mental calculation
of what it means in the duty of the piano
manufacturers and dealers. Statistics such as
have been compiled by the Milwaukee Daily
Journal are enough to inspire the most apa-
thetic piano manufacturers and merchants to
renewed efforts. The figures are sufficient to
bring back any millionaire piano manufacturer
who may have concluded to retire and to cre-
ate a new ambition in any wealthy retailer
who may have contemplated suspending ef-
forts in favor of the golf links or the recrea-
tions of a tour of the world.
For here is business in the offing—plenty of
it. If Milwaukee, which is recognized as one
of the real "piano cities," has supplied her
people with only one-half the required number
of pianos, the other half will not forget the
local dealers and the distant factories if they
fail to rally to the rescue and help to keep
life worth living, especially since Blatz no
longer "makes Milwaukee famous," and the
signs in shop windows no longer read "hier
wirt English gesprochen."
And if Milwaukee is in such a plight in the
matter of pianos, what about the other cities
where piano factories also flourish. Still more,
what of the unhappy cities and towns that
never have known a piano factory. It is
natural to suppose that the places where piano
factories abide are better taken care of than
the others that are denied the opportunity to
"see how they are made."
Consequently if Milwaukee is only half sup-
plied, such places as Detroit, Cleveland, Los
Angeles, Calumet and Oshkosh must be almost
denied the joys of music. It is a serious
matter, and certainly the deficiencies pointed
out by the enterprising gatherer of statistics
of Milwaukee will be speedily supplied.
Dr. Latour, the French inventor, did enough
to the American radio industries. He kept
perfectly still until several thousand radio en-
terprises over here had gotten under way and
then came across with his little bill. Why
couldn't he have fixed it with the French gov-
ernment to pay him his royalties and let his
patents offset Uncle Sam's war claims?
* * *
It would be interesting to know to what de-
gree the manufacturers of and dealers in play-
erpianos appreciate the influence and enter-
prise of the music roll industries. For some
time past the leading music roll makers have
been investing in a kind of publicity that must
be of immense value to the playerpiano in its
every contact with trade and public. In some
instances this music roll enterprise exceeds
the best that the piano makers themselves have
done, with a few exceptions.
* * *
Can a piano show be made profitable to the
manufacturers who participate? At the time
of the second exhibition in the Chicago Coli-
seum, five years ago, the Packard Piano Co.
devised a plan which netted more than 200
straight sales and a large number of regular
customers. With a fine piano and the right
kind of enterprise, the exposition can be made
to pay in almost any place.
*
•-!=
*
There is an unmistakable call for reed
organs again. One of the largest music houses
in the world this week called upon Presto for
a list of makers of that type of instrument.
And it was possible to offer the addresses of
only three of them remaining. Will the mirror-
tops and vox humana stops ever return again?
* * *
If you intend to have? any part in the big
June Convention in Chicago it's time to begin
to get ready.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
(April 25, 1895.)
With Paderewski, Scharwenka, Joseffy, De Pach-
mann, Rive, Sherwood, Mine. Fanny Zeisler, and
others, the great charm lies in the fact that they im-
part to the music they make something of soul or
emotion. Having mastered the technical require-
ments they understand that music is not technique,
though it is impossible for the one to exist without
the other.
The future of the organ trade—what is it to be?
Has the reed organ "had its day," and will the de-
mand for it grow "beautifully less" until it ceases
altogether? Is this the end implied by the number
of organ manufacturers who are gradually trans-
ferring their best energies to paino manufacture?
There seems to be a warning to the trade in the
report from Russia concerning the warring piano
manufacturers. They have cut and slashed prices
over there until there is no profit in the business,
and now they are struggling to ruin one another.
Interest in the "Awards Souvenir," now nearly
ready, continues unabated. Our amiable music trade
contemporaries are helping to "push it along," which
is very proper in the case of so good a thing.
Chas. H. Badlam, whose arrest at Niagara Falls
was noted in Presto two weeks ago, has been for
many years a resident of St. Lawrence county, New
York, and has been well (but not favorably) known
for a long time.
20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(From Presto, April 27, 1905.)
The survival of the fittest is illustrated by the
pianos that are old in years of reputation and grow-
ing more famous every year. Among such pianos
may be mentioned the Chickering, Steinway, Chase
Bros., Emerson, Gabler, Hazelton Bros., James &
Holmstrom, Kimball, Knabe, Kroeger, Kurtzmann,
Mason & Hamlin, Mathusek, Henry F. Miller, Ray-
mond, Smith & Nixon, Steck, Vose, and Weber.
Nineteen of the best known music publishing firms
have decided for the present not to publish any new
music, not to make fresh contracts with artists and
singers and not to advertise. This action is taken as
a protest against the lack of protection afforded the
publishers against music piracies.
J. C. Acton, of Fremont, Neb., advertises exten-
sively. In one of Mr. Acton's recent advertisements
he refers to the Hobart M. Cable piano as being
"like a soldier on the field of battle, ever ready to
respond to every call and always the soul of honor."
Last Sunday's Buffalo Express contained an inter-
esting half tone illustration, extending across a full
page, in which the new era of the Kurtzmann piano
was proclaimed. The picture presented a full train
of Kurtzmann "carload lots." There were ten cars.
The Cable-Nelson Piano Company has formally
accepted the new factory building from the South
Haven board of trade, and the manufacturer of
pianos in South Haven is expected to commence
soon.
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/

Page 9 Text:

April 25, 1925.
HUMAN INTEREST
IN WINDOW SHOWS
Potent Means Used by Ad Writer in Arousing
Interest in Music Goods Cleverly Adopted
by Window Dressing Artists in Lead-
ing Retail Stores Everywhere.
HOME SURROUNDINGS HELP
The Joys Possible From Use of the Instruments
Under All Conditions Forcibly Impressed by
Ingenious Window Dressers.
By RAY McKINNEY.
No music dealer today denies the effectiveness of
window displays in making sales, although not all
dealers use their window spaces to good advantage.
Why any merchant should neglect this valuable
means of advertising is surprising. Not utilizing the
show window property is like paying for space in
the local newspapers and leaving it blank. Neglect
of the window show is a waste of opportunities. That
is such a self-evident fact that it seems a useless
task to point it out.
Every progressive music house makes good use of
its show window spaces, and in many instances the
displays are manifest evidences of advertising genius
in the window dressers. The notable window dis-
plays are not so remarkable for beauty of furnishing
and arrangement as for the "selling point" made plain
in the instrument or instruments shown or in the en-
semble. Something is presented in the most alluring
way.
The Obvious Necessity.
Like the story, the incident of history or the printed
advertisement, the window display must have its
element of human interest. Just a piano, a phono-
graph, a radio set, a brass instrument or something
out of the musical merchandise stock, is nothing
of absorbing interest in itself. But the passing of
thousands will be attracted to the window by adding
human appeal in the placing of the particular com-
modity. It is the "life" of the window.
Boxes containing music rolls readily lend them-
selves to effective arrangements in show windows but
of themselves the boxes do not impress upon the
beholder the merits of the contents. But take the
boxes and add a setting of human interest and you
create something that appeals with force. The Lyric
Music Co., Milwaukee, recently had a display of
Q R S music rolls that proved an amazing sales
maker according to the company's report. The win-
dow, a cut of which was printed in Presto of last
week, associated the Q R S rolls with memories of
college life.
Recalled Old Songs.
It was a good example of the opportunities of the
window dresser of imagination and feeling. Every
college man and college woman is sensitive to any-
thing that awakens recollections of the joyous college
days. And no feelings are so long sustained as those
which may be awakened by songs that yank men and
women back to college days. The objects required
for the setting of the window of the Lyric Music Co.
were easily obtainable. A playerpiano, collection of
college flags, a plainly printed list of old favorites of
class, campus and college and a cut-out of the pleas-
ant-looking Q R S girl were all the window dresser
made use of to associate old memories with the
Q R S rolls. Of course the big list of recorded songs
and music generally contained in the special bulletin
of the Q R S Music Co. increased the interest cre-
ated by the window display.
Displays Increase Sales.
Playerpianos and music rolls are both aided in sales
by the show window displays with a strong human
interest feature. The happy family life of which the
center is the playerpiano is easily suggested in a
window setting. Many fine magazine displays of the
Story & Clark Piano Co., with this motif have been
used with advantage by window dressers in music
stores. Music is associated with the calm joys of
home and the ease with which it may be brought to
every family circle is suggested by the playerpiano
as the central object of the family group.
A playerpiano may be beautiful in form and finish
and its merit may be obvious to piano men or to
musical people more or less acquainted with the in-
struments, but create no emotion in the minds of the
crowds passing the window. The piano men noting
the name are impressed; the musical people see the
playerpiano as something of great possibilities for
producing pleasure. But to the average member of
PRESTO
the well known public it does not of itself suggest
an increase in the pleasures of home.
But supply the home surroundings; father and
mother in comfortable chairs and the kiddies grouped
about the player, singing and some of the smaller
ones dancing, a scene ably depicted in forceful piano
ads, and you have the human appeal that creates the
buying desire in susceptible observers.
The Camp Suggestion.
A portable phonograph is not an impressive object.
It is necessarily made small and ordinarily is taken as
a machine made in small dimensions for economy in
manufacturing or convenience in carrying. Unless
pointed out its most important merits are not discov-
ered. But for years music dealers in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Denver have
enjoyed big sales of portable phonographs because
they presented them in show windows with the proper
human interest surroundings.
Suggestive of Joys.
The portable phonographs are given an out-of-door
setting with all the suggested pleasures of a clean,
sanitary camp. A clean cloth is spread on the grass
or folding table. Good food is suggested by the
vacuum jars and cool drinks by the vacuum bottles.
Cots are visible under the tents and lay figures in
out-of-door costumes give the human touch to the
picture. Everything is there to conjure up the pleas-
ures of the vacation; the woods, the river, the moun-
tain background and in the center of the scene is the
great accessory of the daytime and evening pleasures
—the portable phonograph.
The scene suggests the dependability for pleasure
on the little machine—the song record by day and
the dance music for the young people when evening
falls. The western houses have not monopolized the
method of featuring the portable phonograph de-
scribed above. Every year at the approach of the
outing season, Lyon & Healy, Chicago, the Dreher
Piano Co., Cleveland, Grinnell Bros, Detroit, and
other progressive houses in the middle west and east
have suggested the augmenting of camp life pleas-
ures, boating, yachting and touring, by means of
the human interest show window.
CONVENTION OF TEXAS
TRADE MAY 8 AND 9
Gathering of Music Merchants of Lone Star
State in Austin to Hear Notable Men
on Various Topics.
May 8 and 9 are the days set by the Texas Music
Merchants' Association for the sixth annual conven-
tion to be held in Austin. J. R. Reed, president of
the association calls on the membership to make a
good numerical showing and promises that a pro-
gram of great variety will fully reward visitors to
Austin for the convention days. Only a small per-
centage of Texas music merchants are now outside
of the association and these will join the organiza-
tion during the annual meeting, according to Mr.
Reed.
''The benefits of a trade organization are evident
to all observing men of the music trade today and
apart from the fraternal feeling in the trade, the
methods of the retail body show a desirable improve-
ment compared to ways of other days," said Mr.
Reed who is president of the Texas Music Merchants'
Association. Other officers are: T. J. York, Corsi-
cana, first vice-president; Lester Burchfield, Dallas,
second vice-president; and V. B. Callaway, Houston,
secretary-treasurer. The board of directors is com-
prised of W. H. Humpries, Dallas; J. O. Elliott,
Dallas; A. T. Beyer, San Antonio; Oscar Springer,
Galveston; G. H. Beasley, Texarcana, and H. P.
Mayer, Paris.
The list of speakers for the various occasions is
long and includes prominent men outside of the
music industry. President Splawn, of the University
of Texas, will speak of the "The Place of Music in
Education." Other speakers and their topics are:
Charles E. Byrne, vice-president of the Steger &
Sons Piano Mfg. Co., Chicago, "Advertising;" M. C.
L. Gary, Radio Corp. of America, "Radio and Music
Merchant;" Prof. Max S. Handman, University of
Texas, ''Some Common Economic Fallacies;" Charles
E. Boggs, Austin, "High Lights on the Balance
Sheets;" Sam Sparks, "Business Makes the Banker;"
John Keen, "Creating a Desire for Music;" Rev.
L. II. Wharton, "Inspirational Talk on Music;" and
Mrs. Skiles, president of the Texas Federated Music
Clubs, "Encouragement of Music Study."
STORY & CLARK PIANO CO.
IN NEW HOME MAY 1
Plan to Clear Old Warerooms of Many Instru-
ments in Big Removal Sale
Recently Launched.
The beautiful new home of the Story & Clark
Piano Co., 170 N. Michigan avenue, Chicago, will be
ocupied on May 1. The present home of the com-
pany is a scene of unusual activity, as all departments
are preparing to make the change.
The retail department, desiring to move as little
of its stock as possible, has launched a big removal
sale which has resulted in a heavy trade.
Large cards in the show windows, at 315 S. Wa-
bash avenue, announce the move to the new home,
and also the removal sale. They read: "We will
occupy our new home at 170 N. Michigan avenue on
or about May 1; help us move our stock."
How the Meissner
fits in with
Commencement
Good music! Few things play
such an important part in gradua-
tion exercises and commencement
programs—few people realize this
as keenly as school officials them-
selves.
Take advantage of Commence-
ment to sell more Miessner Pianos.
No ordinary piano can take the place
of the Miessner for school use. It is
the ideal school piano—low, light,
portable. Easily moved to any
room, or carried out on the lawn
for folk dancing.
Particularly
adapted to Class Piano Instruction,
which is increasing in popularity
day by day.
SEVEN BIG MARKETS
There are Seven Big Markets for
the Miessner—unlimited possibili-
ties for profit for Miessner dealers.
Free booklet, "How to Get Business
in New and Untouched Fields With
the Miessner," fully explains. Send
for this booklet at once and see how
many Miessners you can sell before
Commencement.
Miessner Piano Co.
126 Reed Street
Milwaukee, Wis.
THE LITTLE PIANO WITH THE BIG TONE
Miesmier Piano Co.
12« Reed St., Milwaukee, Wis.
Gentlemen: Please send me the free booklet. "How
to Get Business in New and Untouched Fields With
the Mil ssner." and complete information about the
Miessner Sales Plan.
Same
Name of Store
Street and Number
City
State
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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