Presto

PRESTO
REMARKABLE MOVING OF
STORY & CLARK STORE
Immense Stock of Instruments Changed, from
Old Location to New Between Sunday
Morning and Night.
It was in every way the best day in the week, for
it was Sunday—last Sunday. And on that quiet day,
when the crowds were missing on the Chicago
streets, a remarkable feat was performed by one of
the big piano houses. It was the removal of the
entire great stock of the Story & Clark Piano Co.,
from the old building, at 315-317 South Wabash ave-
nue, to the palatial new warerooms at 173' North
Michigan Boulevard, in the heart of Chicago's new
shopping center.
The task seemed Herculean. The number of in-
struments—uprights and grands—together with other
equipment of a big piano house, was staggeringly
large, to the mind of the average individual. But the
entire removal was made during the day. Several
hundred new pianos were taken from the old store
and safely landed in the new, nearly a mile north-
ward. The giant vans were kept moving steadily,
and the small army of husky movers were constantly
lifting the heavy instruments into the wheeled char-
iots and lifting them out again.
People who had business at the Story & Clark store
on Saturday and had occasion to call there again
on Monday were surprised to find that the pilgrimage
of the great stock of instruments could have been
accomplished so quietly and quickly. And the new
headquarters of the famous old Chicago piano indus-
try are as fine as any in the world, and constitute a
handsome addition to the most modern business
establishments of Chicago, as members of the trade
who pay a visit when next they come to Chicago, or
during the Convention next month, will agree.
DATE IS FIXED FOR
INTERESTING EVENT
Geo. P. Bent's Dinner to Many Friends Will
Take Place on Second Day of the June
Convention.
The dinner to be given by George P. Bent to his
numberless friends will take place right in the middle
of the June Convention in Chicago. The day is
Tuesday, June 9, and while only a small portion of
the friends of the host can hope to be present, for
they are widely scattered, it is certain that the crowd
will be numerous in keeping with its genial quality.
Mr. Bent has said that no "dressing up" is ex-
pected. It will be entirely informal and, while the
original invitation stipulated that cripples and rare
antiques would be given the front seats, it is now
understood that, largely because of the season and
the difficulty in telling a cripple from a golf player,
under June skies, all who want to may leave their
canes and crutches behind.
Poets will not be barred, though they are not ex-
pected to limp too much in their lines. Otherwise a
general good time will be the only aim, and to draw
together the friends who have a warm place in the
heart of one of the piano men who has made an
indelible mark in the history of the industry and
trade.
PLANS FOR WESTERN
GOLF TOURNAMENT
Prize Event of the Western Music Trade Con-
vention at Los Angeles, Cal., June
23 to 26.
The Golf Committee of the Western Music Trades
Convention has been very fortunate in securing the
Palos Verdes Golf Club in Santa Monica, where their
annual tournament will be held Friday, June 26th.
The Palos Verdes Club is a championship course,
very accessible from the convention headquarters at
the Biltmore, and the committee feels extremely for-
tunate in securing this famous club. The course is
6,100 yards long and is one of the best courses in
southern California.
The committee has to date secured over $500, which
will be devoted to prizes for the contestants. The
purchase price of any one prize will not exceed $25,
and this guarantees a sufficient number of prizes.
Anyone attending the convention is eligible for the
tournament and the committee urges all golfers to
bring their equipment to the convention and to plan
to enter the tournament. The 1924 tournament in
San Francisco had over sixty entries and the scores
ranged from 90 to 174.
The tournament will be so arranged that the poor
player will stand an equal chance with the good
player to secure a prize in the class in which he
should play. The tournament will be 18 holes match
play in the morning and the club will be the scene of
a famous stag dinner in the evening.
Entries for this tournament should be sent to B. P.
Sibley, 458 Phelan Building, San Francisco, Cal., and
the committee would appreciate it highly if contest-
ants would mail their entries immediately so that the
committee can be relieved of as much last minute de-
tail as possible.
The stag dinner in the evening will not be limited
to contestants. Anyone attending the convention is
cordially invited and it will be well worth your while
to plan to stay over for this evening, which is con-
sidered one of the high points of the convention.
Mail your entries now to B. P. Sibley, 458 Phelan
Buliding, San Francisco, Calif., together with your
last five scores of complete rounds, so that the com-
mittee may have some basis of handicap in classifying.
LIVE CHICAGO PIANO
INDUSTRY MOVES UP
P. A. Starck Piano Co. Will Push for Whole-
sale Trade, as Never Before, and
Will Get It.
After years of development, with a steadily grow-
ing demand from high-class dealers, for its instru-
ments, the P. A. Starck Piano Co., of Chicago, has
decided to broaden its productiveness and open the
way for the trade to take advantage of the opportuni-
ties offered by the substantial old Chicago industry.
All who have known of the Starck pianos, especially
the Grands, know that the line is one well worth the
attention of any ambitious dealer. The Starck line,
further, is now complete from upright to the most
artistic development of the modern Reproducing
piano. The Grands are already enjoying a sale, in
many places, which has at times reached the con-
servative limit of productiveness. But now, w T ith the
engagement of E. J. Fishbaugh, an acknowledged ex-
pert, to superintend the factory, the P. A. Starck
Piano Co. feels that the time has come for a larger
productiveness and a broadening of its wholesale lines
of trade.
The late styles of Starck pianos, players and Grands
present unusual opportunities for salesmen and deal-
ers who want a line of instruments that has never
been "spoiled" by unwise competition in their terri-
tories. They are advised to get in touch with the
Chicago industry.
STEINWAY & SONS MOVE
TO NEW BUILDING
Leave Fourteenth Street Home of Half Cen-
tury for New Music Center of New
York on 57th Street.
Steinway & Sons, New York, this week moved to
their new building from the old Steinway Hall on
Fourteenth street, where they have been located for
over half a century. The new executive offices in the
just completed Steinway Building at 109 to 113' West
Fifty-seventh street will surpass any similar estab-
lishment in elegance of its appointments.
The new Steinway Building opens with a large list
of tenants, including many musicians and artists of
international prominence, and several musical so-
cieties—the Philharmonic Society, the American Or-
chestral Society, the Studio Guild, National Music
League of America, the American Music Guild and
the Oratorio Society of New York. Mrs. E. H. Har-
riman and Mrs. Otto Kahn are among those identi-
fied with some of these societies. Several publishing
houses have taken offices, including the English firm
of Boosey & Co. and Harold Flammer, Inc.
The upper portion of the building arranged in
offices is leased in large part to attorneys, real estate
firms, public accountants, advertisers and publishers.
CANADIAN FIRM .ELECTS.
At the annual meeting of C. W. Lindsay, Ltd.,
Montreal, Can., recently, the old board of directors
was re-elected as follows: C. W. Lindsay, A.
McDiarmid, A. E. Brock, J. A. Hebert, E. Hamilton,
B. A. Edward and W. A. H. Robinson. At a subse-
quent meeting of the directors the following officers
were appointed: C. W. Lindsay, president and gen-
eral manager; B. A. Edward, secretary, and W. A. H.
Robinson, treasurer.
May 9, 1925.
GOLDEN JUBILEE
OF BIG INDUSTRY
Story of the Start and Fifty Years' Growth
of the C. G. Conn, Ltd., of Elkhart, Ind.,
with Some Particulars of Forthcom-
ing Event.
PROGRESSIVENESS THE KEY
A Point of Special Interest to Every Music Dealer
Who May Attend the Trades Convention
in Chicago Next Month.
In celebration of its golden jubilee year, the fiftieth
anniversary of the founding of the business which has
become the largest of its kind in the world, C. G.
Conn, Lt., will hold "open house" to its dealers,
representatives and friends on June 4, 5 and 6. The
dates have been arranged immediately preceding the
music trades convention to be held in Chicago the
week of June 7, so that those intending to attend the
conventions can conveniently stop in Elkhart, Indiana,
the home of the great Conn factories, before going
to Chicago, Elkhart being only about two hours'
ride from Chicago.
The program being arranged by Conn officials
promises to be both entertaining and interesting. It
is expected that many of the famous artists who
use Conn instruments will be at the factory during
open house, to take part in the programs. A trip
through the factory, which is not only the largest
of its kind but also contains much exclusive equip-
ment and machinery, will be one of the interesting
features. The social side will not be neglected, plans
for the entertainment of visitors are being made.
1875-1925.
Two score and ten years ago—in 1875—C. G. Conn
turned out his first cornet. It was built in a tiny
shack, a story and a half high, and hardly twenty
feet square. That first instrument was made of
brass, unplated, unadorned with the slightest hint
of engraving. It was sold by the maker to a local
musician who came to the factory and bought it.
This year—1925—on the basis of past records,
C. G. Conn, Ltd., -will turn out upwards of forty
thousand instruments, ranging in size from the
diminutive piccolo to the gigantic bb flat bass, and
in a multitude of finishes ranging from plain brass on
through sterling silver and up to burnished gold,
ornately engraved and set with pearls and other
jewels. These instruments w r ill be built in a factory
with an area of more than 180,000 square feet, and
some thousand men and women will be engaged in
making them. They will be sold throughout the
world by means of a distribution system which in-
cludes nearly 1,600 authorized dealers and agents, and
which covers not only the United States, but most
of the civilized world.
This contrast, like the picture of the baby printed
beside that of the full-grown man, makes it difficult
to realize that the two are one and the same insti-
tution. And while it tells a story of growth, it does
not tell all of the hardships, the slow but constant
expansion, the ceaseless struggle toward an ideal.
Fifty Years of Effort.
It is not out of place at this time to look back, not
upon the remarkable record itself, but upon the
causes of that record. The student of business and
the musician alike are interested in those causes, be-
cause each may learn a valuable lesson from them.
Success, as the world sees it, may be achieved in
many ways, but the members of the Conn organiza-
tion of today are proud that the success which has
come to C. G. Conn, Ltd., has been earned—earned
through fifty years of constant effort.
The visitor coming to the Conn factories today
is struck first of all by the air of progressiveness
which is everywhere apparent. And probably this
factor, more than any other single cause, explains
why Conn is today the largest organization of its
kind in the world. The methods of yesterday are not
found in the Conn factories; newer, more efficient
ways to build instruments and to handle the immense
amount of material in process have been perfected
by Conn engineers. It was progressiveness that led
Conn to build the first saxophone ever constructed in
America, and it was this same quality that caused
Conn to turn quickly to the Boehm system flute when
it appeared, despite the fact that at that time the
Meyer system, through long use, was generally sup-
posed to be superior. Progressiveness in the Conn
factories brought about the first Sousaphone ever
built, and also caused the manufacture of the first
American "Sarrusophone.
Change and Progress.
Besides these developments, and a host of other
improvements to instruments, Conn progressiveness
(Continued on page 23.)
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/