Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1927 2137

July 16, 1927.
PRESTO-TIMES
CUBAN DEALER SELLS
THE SCHILLER LINE
Senor Luis Ruiz of Cardenas While Here for
Convention .Enjoys Automobile Ride to
Oregon, 111., Plant.
One of the interested visitors to the recent music
trade convention in Chicago was Luis Ruiz of Luis
& Antonio Ruiz, Cardenas, Cuba, who represents the
line of the Schiller Piano Co., Oregon, 111., in that
section of the island.
In addition to the important store at Cardenas, the
company operates successful branches at Matanzas,
Camaguey, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba.
Senor Ruiz is a native Argentinian but has lived
lanta office," said Mr. Fisher while visiting the com-
pany's headquarters in Chicago, "and assigning him
to the southwest territory, the company has taken
from me a warm personal friend as well as a valuable
assistant. However, in this case, what is a loss to
the southeast will prove a gain for the southwest."
"Through his earnest efforts," continued Mr.
Fisher, "Mr. Alexander has merited this advance-
ment, and I am sure that it will not be long before
he will have acquired as many warm friends among
piano dealers throughout his new area as he leaves
in the old."
Mr. Alexander looks upon his new field with antici-
pation, and there is no doubt that his experiences in
the past will prove of material benefit in enabling him
to become successfully established in the territory
quickly.
CROP CONDITIONS FAVOR
PIANO SALES IN SOUTHWEST
E. H. STORY TO SAIL
TO THE ANTIPODES
Head of Large Piano Industry Visits Chicago
Headquarters and Gives Advance Details
of Extensive Tour in Fall.
E. H. Story, president of the Story & Clark Piano
Co., Grand Haven, Mich., and with main offices at
174 North Michigan avenue, Chicago, arrived in the
latter city this week, where he will spend two or
three weeks among his many friends in the Chicago
trade before returning to his home in Pasadena, Cal.
While in Chicago Mr. Story made the announce-
ment of a tour of the antipodes, which will take
place early this fall. Mr. Story, who has traveled
European countries, South and Central America, Mex-
Elmon Armstrong, in His Keen Manner, Observes
the Prospects and Sees Them Promising.
"The general business conditions in Dallas, Tex.,
and a large portion of the southwest are quiet from
a buying standpoint," writes Elmon Armstrong in
a letter received this week. "Steadily the music mer-
chants are reducing their very large stocks. They
are making vigorous efforts to do this. Slowly but
surely this work is being accomplished by every
dealer. The general prospects are splendid. All the
crops are made except cotton, and it is very prom-
ising. Within sixty days that crop will be determined.
"From the foregoing I predict that of one accord
the dealers generally, about the middle of Septem-
ber, will all place orders with the piano factories.
It will be a concerted movement on the part of every
dealer. The result will be an Alpine avalanche of
orders that will swamp the factories. The manufac-
turer that has the courage and the vision to make
up a large supply of pianos and have them ready is
going to be a wise, far-seeing business concern. Cut
this out and paste it in your hat.
"At this writing the prediction may seem 'flighty.'
I have traveled over a great deal of territory, and
have come in contact with a great many music mer-
chants. I have studied the situation, and studiously
and logically come to the foregoing conclusion."
SKNOR LUIS RUIZ.
most of his life in Cuba, where his large commercial
enterprises are being forwarded. He is an active
promoter of the Schiller product in the field of his
successful activity.
An incident of his convention pleasures was an
automobile trip along the famous Rock River, ac-
companied by W. S. Lanz, the representative of the
Schiller Piano Co., who has had pleasant business
relations with Luis and Antonio Luiz for several
years.
The piano business continues good in a steady
way in Cuba, according to Senor Ruiz, although, he
stated, the present low price of sugar, from the pro-
ducing standpoint, is reflecting upon business con-
ditions there.
JESSE FRENCH & SONS PIANOS
IN REPUBLIC OF MEXICO
E. H. STORY.
Big Business in Instruments from New Castle Fac-
tory Built Up by Brothers Ramos.
ico, Alaska and the Orient, has long had his mind
set upon visiting Australia and New Zealand and
Casa Mexicana de Musica, Chihuahua, Mexico, is nearby islands. One of the reasons that has prompted
the largest distributor of the pianos and players of
this desire is the fact that the Story & Clark Piano
the Jesse French & Sons Piano Co., New Cas- Company has many enterprising dealers who are
tle, Ind., in that country. Founded in 1905 by doing an excellent business with its wide line of
Federico Ramos and J. M. Ramos, this company has instruments in that portion of the world.
been a leading purveyor of music for a long period.
Mr. Story, accompanied by his wife, will sail from
It occupies magnificent quarters which are a model San Francisco September 7, on the S.S. Makura, for
of comfort and convenience for customers.
the port of Suva, Fiji Islands. The next stop will
The two brothers started in a small way featuring be New Zealand, where at least two weeks will be
only the highest grade of merchandise; since which spent in viewing the natural wonders and visiting
time their company has shown rapid and increasing the important trade centers of this island. The itin-
growth until the company is now considered Chihua- erary next calls for Australia, where considerable
hua's most successful purveyors of music goods. A time will be spent. Sydney, Melbourne and the
large and varied line of instruments, pianos, player new Australian capital—Canberra—will be visited,
pianos, grand pianos, Victrolas, band instruments, while many other cities are on Mr. Story's big list
harps, and a full library of sheet music is carried. of calls.
J. A. Alexander Goes to Dallas to Cover South- Some twelve months ago J. M. Ramos visited the
Mr. Story had to get a renewal of his present
Jesse French & Sons factory and was so enthused passport made five years ago, and which has been
west Territory, Including Texas, Louis-
over the advantages of the line in general, that he vised by no less than a dozen consuls of different
iana and Mississippi.
decided to feature the Jesse French & Sons and countries. He got a new passport this year for his
J. A. Alexander, for the past nineteen years assist- Lagonda instruments exclusively, and today this trip to Australia.
ant manager of M. Schulz Co.'s southeastern whole- company is one of the largest distributors of these
After leaving Australia he will stop over in
sale division, is to represent M. Schulz Co. in Texas, instruments in the Republic of Mexico.
Hawaii en route to Los Angeles. At these islands
Louisiana and Mississippi and assumed his new duties
the many popular resorts and other scenic spots will
July IS.
be visited. Mr. Story will sail direct to Los Angeles
WILL L. COLLINS IN CHICAGO.
His years of experience in the piano industry have
Will L. Collins, who recently retired as sales man- from Honolulu.
equipped Mr. Alexander with a thorough knowledge
In Chicago, Mr. Story stated that he is in the best
ager
of the J. P. Seeberg Piano Company, was in
of the retailers' requirements and their problems. In
of health and in his cheerful way remarked that he
the south and southeast sections Mr. Alexander has Chicago this week after a short visit to his former was glad to see his friends and also get in touch
made and retained many personal friendships among home in central Illinois. Mr. Collins, up to Monday with the big activities of the Story & Clark organi-
the trade, because of his sincerity and through his last, had made no plans for a connection in the music zation. In his talk with a Presto-Times representa-
trades. As already stated, Mr. Collins prefers to
whole-hearted cooperation with dealers.
connect up with the regular piano business rather tive he told of the fine progress made by the Pacific
In assuming the Texas territory Mr. Alexander is than with the automatic phase of the trade.
Coast, and particularly Los Angeles, of which he
to make his headquarters at Dallas. This central
is a great booster. When Mr. Story made his home
location will make him easily accessible, and place
at Pasadena, Los Angeles was a comparatively small
him in a position where he may quickly render service
JAY SHERWOOD GLEN DIES.
town. It now has more than a million people and is
to the many M. Schulz Co.'s dealers now established
Jay Sherwood Glen, vice-president of the Glen a great shipping center. It boasts second place in
throughout that territory and with whom he intends Bros.-Roberts Piano Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, died tonnage, as enormous quantities of oil and lumber
to cooperate in the selling of Schulz products.
last week following a long illness. Mr. Glen was are shipped by boat to all parts of the world.
The M. Schulz Co.'s southeastern office will con- born in Plainwell, Mich., in 1874 and came to Utah
tinue under active management of F. B. Fisher who twenty years ago. With his brother, George S. Glen,
An additional floor space of 600 feet is being pro-
has successfully conducted that office for twenty-two now president of the company, he opened a music
vided by the Williams Music House, 1818 Third Ave-
years.
store in Ogden. The deceased is survived by his nue, Birmingham, Ala., to accommodate an increase
"In relieving Mr. Alexander from duty in the At- widow, two daughters and two sons.
of business.
THE M. SCHULZ CO. IN
SOUTHWEST FIELD
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/
Ju!y 16, 1927.
PRESTO-TIMES
room—as a pine board would be just as useful—but
I am afraid the good wife would object to any such
argument.
We have to deal today with a luxurious age and
a modernized woman—with a women who has rolled
fifteen to twenty years from her shoulders by short-
ening her skirts and bobbing her hair. She is think-
ing and acting in terms of style and beauty, in her
President of Cable-Nelson Co., South Haven, person, in the color and upholstery of her car, in
the taste displayed in the building and furnishing, or
Mich., Gives Illuminating Talk on Art
refurnishing of her home. We insult her intelli-
and Period Models and Condi-
gence by trying to sell her an upright or grand piano
that is practically the same as her grandmother
tions Calling for Them.
bought. Make no mistake, the average American
woman hasn't one "thin dime" to spend for any-
thing that is ugly or out of style, but she can always
raise the money to buy something smart and beau-
tiful for herself or for her home, and it is our job
to show her that to own a beautiful period model
Dealers Should Realize That the Woman Buyer
piano will not only add the one distinctive touch of
Today Is Exacting in Her Artistic
beauty to the living room, but that to own such an
instrument is the vogue in smart and stylish homes.
Requirements, He Said.
Desire for Style General.
(The following address by John Parnham, president of
I do not want to give the impression that I am
the Cable-Nelson Piano Co., South Haven, Mich., with
Chicago offices in the Kimball building, made at
speaking of the families who have a lot of money to
the convention this week in San Francisco of the
Western Music Trades Association, was timely in its spend. In talking with an interior decorator just
the other day, he made a remark that very much
topic, "Period Model Tendencies in Pianos," and filled
with enlightenment for piano manufacturer and piano
impressed me. He said that taste and style are no
dealer.)
My having been asked by your distinguished presi-
dent to talk to you on the subject of "Period Model
Tendencies in Pianos" is assuredly not due to any
reputation I have acquired as a speaker. I take it
that it is because Mr. Clay and his co-officers in your
association feel that we have made some strides in
the period model piano art, especially those of mod-
erate price, and while I perhaps cannot present the
subject to you in as lucid a way as many others, yet
I do welcome the opportunity to talk to you for a
few minutes as one business man to another on a
subject that undoubtedly deserves the attention and
study of every manufacturer, piano merchant and
salesman in our trade.
In business today it is style and beauty that rule in
practically every commodity of every-day life and the
biggest single style influence in the country is that of
its women, and we must not overlook the fact that it
is the woman who influences and controls, to a large
extent, the family purse strings—especially when it
comes to buying anything for the home. I have a
full page newspaper advertisement before me of a
well-known magazine. It is headed:
"Style—that makes and breaks everything from
hearts to pocketbooks"—and the first lines of the
ad itself read:
"In business today it is style all the while. Wise
manufacturers have sensed this fact—others have
had it thrust upon them."
You will all agree that the sale of shoes, hats and
clothing is affected by style and beauty, and it cer-
tainly is equally true that the sale of furniture, house
decorations and the building of the home itself, is
affected by them also.
Cites Evidence.
In Grand Rapids, just about sixty-five miles from
the small city in which I live, a large proportion of
JOHN PARNHAM.
the furniture manufactured in the country is pro-
duced. A few years ago the companies paid very longer confined to the homes of the rich and well-
little attention to the designs of their products and
to-do—that one could go into modest little homes
the furniture business went along very much the same
costing from $7,000 to $10,000, and be amazed at the
as the piano business. Today it is entirely different good
taste displayed in the furnishings and decor-
—there is not a single furniture concern in Grand
schemes.
Rapids producing the old box-like furniture; each ative
Now, gentlemen, it is in such homes—homes of
company is vieing with the others to turn out attrac-
the great middle class—that we must place pianos,
tive furniture that will appeal to the eye and beau- and
I should like to point out to you that practically
tify the home. And they are searching the world
no appeal has been made to this class of customers
for new designs, new woods and veneers to use in for
a number of years. The higher class pianos, both
their product. The designer, or designers, occupy straight
and art models, have been extensively ad-
very important positions in these factories—I say de- vertised
and sales energy put behind them, with the
signers, because one factory I know of employs fif- result that
the sales have increased, and about the
teen artists in this department, and this company only other publicity
and sales energy in the trade,
(and this applies to practically all the other com- with a few exceptions,
has been along the lines of
panies in Grand Rapids), changes its styles four cheap upright, player or
grand, advertised at $285,
times a year. In the piano business there have been $385, or $425, as the case may
be, with the lamp and
changes about twice in forty years. The efforts of
other catch-can thrown in.
the furniture companies have borne fruit, as evidenced every
No appeal, or at most very little and spasmodic
by the greatly increased sales of their products in appeal,
has been made to the great intelligent middle
the last five years.
people, with the result that the mortality among
Let us touch on the automobile trade for a minute. class
class of piano manufacturers has been large in
In reading the Chicago Tribune a few days ago, I this last
few years, and the piano merchant, generally
ran across an article on the automobile business, and the
speaking, has suffered a loss in sales and profits. If
at the end of it this comment was made:
to increase our piano sales, we must make
"There seems to be no limit to the number of cars we are effort
to interest this class, both from the
the public will take so long as the cars are new every
standpoint of the use of the piano as a musical in-
models."
strument and, also, as a piece of furniture that will
Points to Lesson.
add dignity and beauty to the home. And certainly
We all know what has happened to the sales of no article in the home, with all the artistic and
one automobile manufacturer because he continued to musical atmosphere surrounding it, better deserves a
make the same old car in the same old style, relying beautiful encasement than the piano.
entirely on price appeal to sell his product. We know,
A Modern Trend.
also, in this same field, where another manufacturer
The
art
and
period
piano, both upright and
of a small car, made a special appeal to the eye in grand, is here, and its model
sale will increase and continue
design of bodies and selection of colors, advertising to grow, provided both
the manufacturer and the
his product with the picture of a peacock, surround- piano merchant line up their
and sell-
ing it with the impression of beauty. We know that ing policies in keeping with manufacturing
the modern trend and
the sales of this car have, in contrast with the other existing conditions.
car mentioned, increased by leaps and bounds—and
We must be honest with the public by making and
at higher prices.
selling
instruments that are designed properly and
In talking with some piano merchants I have gath- in keeping
with the styles of the different periods.
ered the impression that there is a feeling that be- The manufacturer
cannot turn some sticks of lum-
cause the piano is a musical instrument, no other ber on a lathe and
them under a grand piano
appeal is necessary—or is very secondary. This ap- case, call it a period put
model
and get away with it.
pears to me to be a great mistake. One might just Not only is the general public
greatly interested in
as well say that because we eat on a dining room home furnishings and decorations,
but practically
table, there is no need to pay any attention to its
(Continued on page 17)
design and beauty or how it fits into the rest of the
JOHN PARNHAM ON
PIANO TENDENCIES
RESPONSE TO DEMAND
TonkMfgCc
Lower Priced
Periods
Here is our answer to the demand for
dependable Period Style Piano Benches at
reasonable prices.
Here's a chance for you to dress up your
medium priced Pianos with better looking
Benches.
Here are styles which can be used sue'
cessfully as special inducements to purchase.
Number 744OK, as illustrated, is 1S}4 inches high,
has a 35 x 14>2 inch top, a Music Compartment and
Player Lifts.
It may be ordered in dull or polished; varnish or
lacquer finish, in either mahogany or walnut.
The Price Is
$6.75
Offered also with fluted legs as No. 8440y 2 at $7.
Order your immediate or future require
ments now. Consider carefully the possi'
bility of offering these patterns in place of
the usual square leg Benches; and take full
advantage of this unusual value, made pos'
sible by mass production of models which
will meet the average demand for Period
Style Piano Seats.
P. S.—For your lower priced and rebuilt regular
upright models we offer 'The Cortland, a sensational
value—"Set-Up" or "K. D."—at $5.50.
Lnng
1912 Lewis St.
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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