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
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