Presto

Issue: 1925 2048

October 24, 1925.
PRESTO
CHRISTMAN
"The First Touch Tells
9 >
That slogan has become familiar in the
trade the world over. It means that the
piano buyer who discriminates must at
once recognize the superior artistic excel-
lence of the
CHRISTMAN PIANO
and that excellence finds perfect expression
in the famous
Studio Grand
(only 5 ft. long)
This little Grand has no superior and it
presents the very qualities that win the
prospect and makes the sale.
CHRISTMAN
Grands, Players and Uprights
command the admiration of
the best class of music lovers.
The latest triumph is the
CHRISTMAN
Reproducing Grand
Equipped with
A marvel of tone and expressive
interpretation of all classes of com-
position, reproducing perfectly the
performances of the world's great-
est pianists.
tt
The First Touch Tells"
Reg.
U.
S. Pat.
Off.
Christman Piano Co.
597 East 137th St.
New York
E. R. JACOBSON REVIEWS
BUSINESS CONDITIONS
Addressing New York Piano Merchants' As-
sociation, Chamber President Tells His
Beliefs for Good Business for 1926.
E. R. Jacobson, president of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, was the principal speaker at
the meeting of the fall season of the New York Piano
Merchants' Association held at the Hotel Martinique,
New York, October IS, and made the conditions in
the music trade the topic of his talk. He warned his
hearers at the start that he was not an optimist.
"You all know of course that local or national
economic conditions govern the state of business, de-
termines the buying power of the peoples, and makes
business good or bad for you and for me according
to the way we are affected by the good or adverse
conditions," he said. "I am not going to tell you
anything new, but merely recall certain things so that
we might have a background for our present view-
point. This background is necessary, for we too
often forget that fundamentally these local condi-
tions—be they good or bad—are not wholly con-
trolled by local means—but are the direct result of
previous events."
Mr. Jacobson recalled conditions for a few years
back. The year 1921 and the greater part of 1922
spelled dull business and was a period of severe re-
adjustments, in the business structure of the country,
he pointed out.
"Taking the agricultural situation as a whole, the
farmer paid the last obligations that were pressing in
1924, and this year he is in the market for the first
time since 1920. To fully realize what this farmer
buying means to you here in New York as well as to
business men all over this land we must recognize
our absolute inter-dependence; the fact that we can
not live alone, that the business troubles of one is
directly or indirectly reflected in the business lives of
all, and by the same token the prosperity of one is
reflected in the prosperity of all. We cannot have
true prosperity without the combined buying power
of all our peoples.
"I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet, but I
do believe that as a nation after these years of 'find-
ing ourselves' we are due for a period of good busi-
ness on a much greater and larger scale than we have
ever before experienced."
NEW WISCONSIN
ASSOCIATION POSSIBLE
Meeting to Be Held This Month to Consider
Plans for Organization of a Unique
Kind.
A plan to form local associations of music dealers
in every town in Wisconsin in which every member
automatically would have membership in a state cen-
tral organization, has been proposed. The scheme
was presented in a tentative way at a recent meeting
of Milwaukee music dealers at the Association of
Commerce. The plan was considered feasible and
desirable by C. L. Dennis, secretary of the Music In-
dustries Chamber of Commerce, who addressed the
meeting.
The scheme is really a proposal to revive the de-
funct association of Milwaukee dealers and do so on
more enduring lines than those on which the old
organization was founded. It will be fully discussed
at a meeting of the trade to be called before Novem-
ber 1.
INDIANAPOLIS TO HAVE
NEW PIANO DEPARTMENT
Pearson and wife are at present in New York at-
tending the dedication of the new Steinway building.
Mr. Wilking, of the Wilking Music Company, is
much pleased over the sale of one of the Jesse French
grand pianos to one of the leading music teachers of
this city. The sale, said Mr. Wilking, will be a big
advertisement for this particular instrument, and we
expect some good results.
Rumors to the effect that one of the large and
leading furniture houses of this city would add a
piano department have been confirmed. Names must
be withheld until final arrangements are made. The
furniture house will carry a high-grade lines of in-
struments. When asked what line would be carried
the manager informed the writer that they were not
ready to make known the line as all arrangements
were not fully completed, but the instruments would
be among the leading instruments manufactured in
the country. "If we are fortunate enough to secure
the line of instruments we have in mind," said the
manager, "the stock will be a high-grade line and no
pains or expense will be spared to make it successful."
FIRST PRIZE FOR
WEAVER PIANO CO., INC.
Highest Honors for Piano Display Awarded
to Progressive Manufacturing Company
in Its Own Home Town.
The exhibit of the Weaver Piano Co., Inc., York,
Pa., at the York Fair last week was awarded first
prize for piano display. There were five other piano
displays in the main building. Yorkers were charac-
teristically proud of the triumph of the Weaver and
York pianos made right in York and which have won
triumph throughout the world as well as in the home
town.
The exhibit attracted a great deal of attention
among the 300,000 visitors to Pennsylvania's greatest
fair. More than 75,000 cars from nearly every state
in the Union, Canada and Hawaii were admitted to
the fair grounds during the week. The total attend-
ance was more than 300,000.
P. G. Mundorf, secretary of the Weaver Piano Co.,
Inc., and manager of its retail activities, is a firm
believer in aggressive sales methods backed by dis-
plays of county fairs and other gatherings. He takes
advantage of all such opportunities and has members
of his sales force with the exhibit to be on the alert
for prospects.
During the York fair, a Weaver grand piano was
sold to Harry Stahle, president of the Lions Club of
York. Last year a Weaver grand piano was sold to
Dr. Louis S. Weaver while he was president of the
Lions Club of York. A large number of pianos,
victrolas and radios were sold during the week. The
salesmen also found many live prospects that will
swell their sales during the balance of this year.
HAMILTON MUSIC STORE
OPENS IN GREENCASTLE, IND.
Pianos, Phonographs and Radios Carried by New
Firm in Lively Indiana Town.
The Hamilton Music Store was formally opened
last week in the new Alamo Building, Greencastle,
Ind. Special arrangements to accommodate crowds
of visitors that thronged the store were made. A
Brunswick phonograph or a Stewart-Warner radio
set was given away to the lucky one of those who
registered at the store during the opening.
A feature of the new store is a completely equipped
radio room, especially designed to accommodate those
interested and to offer facilities for demonstration of
the various radio lines handled by the store. It is on
the second floor of the Alamo.
The main floor of the store is given over to dis-
plays of Baldwin pianos and Brunswick phonographs
and records. A large show window encloses the front,
while the back of the room is devoted to a phono-
graph booth and an office.
The Largest Furniture House Will Carry Line
of High Grade Instruments in Charge
of Competent Manager.
NAMM STORE ADDS PIANOS.
The H. C. Bay Company, Miessner and Hazelton
pianos and the Autopiano are included in the presen-
Mr. Stockdale, of the Pearson Piano Company, is tations in the new music department of A. I. Namm
rather delighted with the way business has started & Son, 452 Fulton street, Brooklyn, N. Y. Maynard
off, and reports the Kurtzmann grand piano as one of L. Allen is piano department manager. * It is the pur-
the very best sellers at present. The Kurtzmann pose of the big department store to add musical mer-
has always given satisfaction and is an instrument chandise and phonographs.
that needs no introduction to the music loving public.
PLANS WINTER CAMPAIGN.
On October the 24th the Steinway concert grand
will be used at the Art Museum by Professor Cramer,
The new manager of the music store of the J. N.
of the College of Musical Arts, in one of the first con- Adam Company, Buffalo, is Harry G. Russell, a man
certs of the season. On the same day there will be of wide and long experience in the piano business.
a concert given at the new Columbia Club under the Mr. Russell has ambitious plans for a winter cam-
direction of the Ona B. Talbott enterprises, when paign which include active personal canvassing work
two Steinway concert grands will be used. John as well as strong use of the printed word.
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
THE SMALL TOWN
DEALER'S TASK
To Keep the Prospects Among His Neighbors
From Making Music Goods Purchases in
Nearby Big Cities Is His Difficult
and Continuous Job.
IT CAN BE DONE
But Dealer Must Realize the Various Factors That
Give Him an Advantage Over His Large
City Competitors.
By ELMER E. EVANS.
In this day of easy travel, when the automobile,
the railroad and the interurban electric roads provide
quick and ready means for the customer of the music
dealer in the country town to look at the goods in
the stores in larger places, the problem of keeping
the home trade is a perplexing one. Where a great
city is within easy distance the competitive factor is
a more acute one for the dealer in the town con-
sidered a suburb. The competitive problem means
not only constant thought on the part of the dealer,
but never-ceasing activity as well.
It is a plain matter of self-preservation for the
small town dealer to keep impressing on his prospec-
tive customers among his neighbors that his store is
as modern as the big places an easy ride away. And
this is what the successful country store keeper does.
His publicity is of the kind that appeals to the loyalty
of his neighbors to their home town. By inducing
them in one way and another to visit his store he
overcomes the effect that impressive stores in the big
city may have upon them.
His Special Advertising.
His day-in-and-day-out advertising job is to prove to
them that the pianos he sells are identically as good
as the same pianos handled by the big city music
merchant. Also that the prices are equally alluring
or even more so. When it comes to the purchase
of a piano, for instance, his sensible neighbor is easily
convinced that he can buy as cheaply at home as in
the big city. That is really the vital thought to be
QUALITY
in Name and in Fact
TONE. MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION,
WORKMANSHIP, DESIQN—all in ac-
cord with the broadest experience— are
the elements which give character to
Bush & Lane Products.
BUSH&LANE PIANOS
BUSH ft LANE CEC1UAN PLAYER PIANOS
take higfi 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
ana value.
• D M t LANE PIANO 00.
HtinfM. M U L
SPENCER
The Intrinsic Qualities of This
Piano Command Attention
A High Grade Instrument at a
Moderate Price
Fir** Class Factory and Equipment
Ample Production and Service
SPENCER PIANO COMPANY, Inc.
FACTORY: Thirty-First St. and First ATC
OFFICES: 338 East 31st Strc-t, New York N. Y.
created and perpetuated in the minds of his pros-
pective customers among the home folk. Unfor-
tunately not every small town dealer attempts the
creation of that thought in the people at home. Only
occasionally does the local man continuously try to
make the desirable impression.
Transportation Phase.
New transportation conditions have affected the
business of the local store as it has that of the great
mail order houses. It is proved that the latter have
been the worst sufferers from the quicker and more
convenient methods of travel available to the aver-
age person in the small town. Observant and pro-
gressive music merchants in many so-called small
towns have found redemption from slow business in
their greater accessibility, due to the handy flivver
and the more pretentious car. It was a matter of
advertising locally in a new and more effective way.
They had to combat this fact: That the average
dweller in a small town finds a day in the city more
or less of an adventure. It is a glad change from
the everyday routine. For the women especially the
bigger city stores with their greater variety have an
appeal that cannot be disregarded. So the policy of
the home town dealer is to deliberately plan to meet
the natural appeal of the stores in the larger places.
The Dealer's Job.
How is the ambitious local music dealer to keep
the interest renewed in his store and his stock? The
men who are making good in the small places find
that big stocks are not a necessity in that happy con-
summation. But they must be of the kind to interest
the local music goods buyers, must be kept fresh and
must be well shown. And of course the demonstra-
tion is a potent aid to arousing interest in this and
that instrument and thereby leading up to sales.
A most important thing towards achieving success
in the local store is the element of good will. That
is induced by the feeling of confidence. The wise
music merchant in the small place is a mixer in musi-
cal affairs. He makes it his business to know the
people who love music; to belong to organizations of
a social kind where music is a part of the occasional
functions, and to take an active part in the promotion
of musical events. All the better if the local music
merchant is a musician, because he can better dem-
onstrate the instruments. He can doctor a sick fiddle
or banjo or knows where it can be skillfully brought
back to its original tunefulness.
Customers Are Friends.
It is possible for the local dealer to create the air
of old customer familiarity in the store that the
bigger city store cannot give the customer from the
small town. It is surprising how important is that
factor of the business. The people know the dealer
and all who work in the store and the personal
equation is an influential factor.
And their friend the dealer doesn't conceal the fact
that he can cut prices lower than the big city store
without cutting his own just proportion of profit. He
reminds his small town customer that the bigger
store in the bigger town must have proportionately
larger expenses. There are obvious advantages the
store in the small town can have and they are easily
made understood by the local prospect. It can have
a piano line for instance that fulfills every require-
ment as to degrees of quality and price. It is up to
the dealer to overcome the allurements of the bigger
places. It is a hard job, but it is being done. Among
the biggest distributors of pianos, fine ones among
them, are dealers in places you could hardly dignity
with the classification of village.
October 24, 1925.
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
Builders or Incomparable
[PIANOS, PLAYEI&NREPR0DUCING WANGS
THE BALDWIN
CO-OPERATIVE
PLAN
will increase your sales and
solve your financing problems.
Write to the nearest office
for prices.
CINCINNATI
INDIANAPOLIS
LOUISVILLE
INC ORPORATED
CHICAGO
DALLAS
ST. LOCIS
DENVEB
NEW YORK
8AN FRANCISCO
The Best Yet
Graceful lines, rugged construc-
tion, moderately priced. It's the
very best commercial piano from
every standpoint.
A TOPEKA PIANO PLANT.
According to the Topeka, Kans., Capital, arrange-
ments have been completed by the A. Weber & Sons
Co., of Lawrence, Kan., for establishing a piano man-
ufacturing plant in that city. W. M. Wilson, general
manager, has obtained the indorsement of the indus-
trial committee of the Chamber of Commerce. The
company was granted a charter last July. Officers
are: A. Weber, Lawrence, president; W. M. Wilson,
Kansas City, Mo., vice president and general man-
ager; H. C. Polamus, Lawrence, secretary; Henry Al-
baugh, Lawrence, treasurer; W. J. Rice, Lawrence,
treasurer; Paul Clayton, and J. C. Houk, directors.
SUPERINTENDENTS MEET.
The Superintendents' Club of the New York Manu-
facturers' Association, E. Voelckel, president, held
the first fall meeting of the club at the Building
Trades Employers' Association rooms, 34 West
Thirty-third street. New York, Wednesday evening,
October 21, following a dinner.
MANUFACTURERS MEET.
A meeting of the Musical Merchandise Manufac-
turers' Association (Eastern District) was held Oc-
tober 20 at the Hotel Brevoort, New York. Interest-
ing talks by experts on topics of vital interest to the
industry were given. The object of the officials of
the association is to make the meetings occasions for
the interchange of experience and information.
Style 32—4 ft. 4 in.
WESER
Pianos and Players
Sell Readily—Stay Sold
Send to-day for catalogue, prices and
details of our liberal financing plan
Weser Bros., Inc.
520 to 528 W . 43rd St., New York
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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