MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1881
Established
1884
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
10 Cents a Copy
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1927
ACTIVITIES IN THE
SEATTLE FIELD
Opening Recently of the New Knabe Studios
by H. M. Hueman Considered a Con-
venience for the Buyers of Wm.
Knabe & Co. Pianos.
ANOTHER OPENING
New Location for University Music Co. Is Signifi-
cant of Progress of Business Handled by
Experienced Piano Man.
Up to the present time it has been difficult for
Seattle musicians to obtain the Wm. Knabe & Co.
pianos, but with the opening of the new Knabe
Studios at 1519 Fifth avenue, the local teachers and
professionals will be able to secure that make quickly,
as well as the J. & C. Fischer and Armstrong pianos.
H. M. Huemann is proprietor of this new studio, and
he brought from California George C. Secoy, tech-
nical expert in the manufacture of musical instru-
ments, who has been made its manager.
The studios and salesrooms for the Wm. Knabe &
Co. and J. & C. Fischer and Armstrong pianos, also
feature the Ampico Re-enacting Piano, Orthophonic
and Electrola Victrolas, and R. C. A. Radio Com-
binations; also will be carried moderate stocks of
other merchandise. The studios have been delight-
fully and artistically outfitted with the latest in equip-
ment. All the Ampico rooms, phonograph, record
and radio rooms have been made absolutely sound-
proof by the use of celutex construction, which be-
ing laid in large brick-like sections, gives an unusual
and handsome effect to the walls. Victor phono-
graphs and the Radiola line of receiving sets will be
featured, as well as pianos from the American Piano
Company.
An Experienced Manager.
Mr. Secoy, manager of the store, comes from wide
experience in the music field. He resigned last fall
from the Kohler & Chase organization of California,
where he had been employed for several years as
manager of the Oakland store. He has also held
similar positions with the Sherman, Clay & Co.
organization in times past.
Serve Desirable Clientele.
Ned Douglas has opened his new store in the Uni-
versity district, and it is the handsomest of its kind
in the west. Under the name of "The University
Music Co." it has flourished for seven years in a block
further down the street. The University district is
one of the largest and most complete suburbs in
Seattle and boasts a business center of great dimen-
sions and activity. Mr. Douglas found last year that
his business had completely outgrown its old loca-
tion, and demanded much more space; therefore he
seized the opportunity to take the corner downstairs
location in a new two-story building that was about
to be erected, known as "The College Center." Here
lie opened his store last week.
Design Is Artistic.
A Spanish note has been selected for the interior
design, but so different from the usual accepted
Spanish that it delights the customer. It was de-
signed directly after a scene sketched by Mr. Douglas
while in Algiers during the World War. Back of
the main sales floor, where are featured small goods,
sheet music and display models of phonographs and
pianos, is a wide corridor, on each side of which are
located the record and phonograph rooms on one
side and the piano rooms on the other. Each of
these rooms has the appearance of a Spanish house,
with grilled windows and doors each with a separate
little awning, mounted on wrought iron fixtures. All
the woodwork is a soft stippled green, set on the
surface in the form of carved wound poles. The
interior of the rooms is in celutex, absolutely sound-
proof. The walls of the store and corridor are in
rough plaster effect done in soft shades of brown
over yellow. There are three piano rooms, one for
uprights, one for grands and one for the used instru-
ments. There arc seven record rooms and one phono-
graph room. Stairs, richly carpeted, curve up in the
rear to the balcony on which is housed the large radio
department.
The opening, which was held in the evening, fea-
tured a visible window broadcast in the corner win-
dow of the store, and by actual count it was found
that 7,500 attended the opening of the store. There
is no more popular figure in the University district
than Ned Douglas, and his host of friends all called
to pay their respects.
Dealers Plan Drive.
Piano dealers of Seattle have decided to launch a
Melody Way drive similar to that held in other cities
of the country, using W. Otto Miessner's celebrated
twelve lessons, and tying in with the Seattle Daily
Times, which will launch the drive in the near future.
All piano dealers in the city of any prominence have
gone in on it, providing teachers and rooms for the
training of the school children, some dealers, who
are out a ways, even opening up their homes, and
outfitting their garages for the reception of the chil-
dren. George Cain, representative of the Miessner
Institute in Milwaukee, spent some time in Seattle
selling the idea to the Seattle Radio and Music
Trades Association, and more especially to the piano
group. An attempt is being made to launch it
throughout the State of Washington, that it may
work more powerfully for the furtherance of the
piano industry.
POOLE PIANO CHOICE FOR
QUINCY HIGH SCHOOL
Style C Grand Purchased by School Board After
Rigid Comparative Tests by Experts.
The Quincy, Mass., Board of Education recently
paid a marked tribute to the Poole piano when it
purchased for use in the South Junior High School
a Poole Grand Style C. It was an open contest in
which a number of representative pianos were par-
ticipants.
The choice of the Poole piano for the Quincy
school only repeats an honor several times previously
accorded the fine instrument. Many other school
boards and college heads have attested to the special
merits of the Poole by selecting it for use in public
rooms and for class purposes. The Poole has long
occupied a place of distinction as a high grade in-
strument with the piano trade and the musical public.
In addition to the merit of fine tone the Poole piano
is reliable, durable and desirable where continuous
use is required. Musicians favor the Poole because
it possesses the rare singing quality of tone found
only in instruments of the highest grade.
SHOWS DUCO=FINISHED
GULBRANSEN PIANO AT SHOW
Instrument a Principal Feature at Du Pont Products
Exhibit at Atlantic City.
A baby grand piano finished in duco was one of
the principal features of the Du Pont Products
Exhibit, Atlantic City, during the week of August 29.
The instrument on display was made by the Gulbran-
sen Company of Chicago. It is modeled along lines
of Louis XVI period, with a carved border around
the case, and is finished in dark brown mahogany
duco.
The piano was exhibited in one of the Boardwalk
windows in a setting of palm trees, the setting giving
the effect of a corner in a music room. This display
created considerable interest on the part of visitors to
the exhibit.
PROGRESSIVE ARKANSAS FIRM.
The officers and employes of the Hollenberg Music
Co.'s stores in Little Rock, Hot Springs and Pine
Bluff, Aak., recently held a meeting at a dinner in
the Hotel LaFayette, Little Rock. The plans for
future expansion under the new consolidation of the
Richards-Bevill Music Co. and the Nowlin-Carr
Music Co. were discussed. A sales campaign will
be conducted in the various branches of the company
during the next few months in which all the salesmen
will compete for cash awards and prizes.
$2 The Year
ALL SET FOR TRADE
MEET IN CLEVELAND
Exhibits by Manufacturers a Foremost Fea-
ture of the Annual Convention of Music
Merchants' Association of Ohio at
Hotel Winton Next Week.
INTERESTING SCHEDULE
Every Hour of the Three-Day Convention Promises
a Business or Social Event Remarkable
for Attractiveness.
The Music Merchants' Association of Ohio will
hold its eighteenth annual convention at the Winton
Hotel, Cleveland, September 12, 13 and 14, and the
assurances are that the meeting will exceed all pre-
vious ones in attendance and tangible value to the
trade. The Ohio state organization of the music
trades has been remarkable for its realization of the
purposes of such a body and indeed has furnished an
example for other states to follow. The results have
been friendships between members of the trade and a
mutual understanding of local problems that facili-
tates the operation of the state body and assures
ethical observances.
The officers of the association elected at the con-
vention held in the Neil House, Columbus, Septem-
ber 13 to 15, 1926, are as follows: President, O. H.
Boyd; vice-president, C. M. Alford; treasurer, A. B.
Smith, Jr., and secretary, Rexford B. Hyre.
The Exhibits.
The exhibits will be a foremost feature of the
convention, and in recognition of their value to the
trade the forenoons on each day are given over to
them. No business or social event will be permitted
to interfere with this important feature of the annual
gathering.
Of equal importance as a convention feature is the
Musical Instrument Revue of 1927, which will take
place in the two ballrooms of the Winton Hotel at
8 p. m. on Tuesday, September 13. The Revue is
to be put on by the Cleveland Music Trade Associa-
tion in cooperation with the Cleveland News. The
show is for the public and at its conclusion those in
attendance will be invited to view the exhibits of the
manufacturers in the rooms of the Hotel Winton and
elsewhere.
Business Session.
The papers and discussions scheduled for the meet-
ing are particularly interesting from their timeliness
and the experience and prominence of the men named
for participation therein. The first discussion on
"Profitable Advertising," at the opening session on
the afternoon of Monday, is of wide interest and
the names of Edwin R. Mihm, of Cleveland and
Robert Jones of the same city, are assurances of the
proper treatment. Also at the Tuesday session the
paper, "The Promotion of the Piano Through the
Nation" by Edward C. Boykin, executive secretary
of the National Piano Manufacturers' Association,
will be a source of attraction.
At the Tuesday session E. A. Callander of Zanes-
ville will lead a discussion on "How Can Young Men
Be Interested in the Retail Music Business" and J. F.
Boyer of Elkhart, Ind., R. W. Jackson of Chicago
and E. S. Herschberger of Cleveland will participate
in the discussion, "What Outside Lines Should Be
Added by the Music Merchant to Strengthen His
Business." Features of the Wednesday session are
Otto B. Heaton's account of the promotion of the
piano in Ohio, and Charles H. Yahrling and W. Otto
Miessner will tell of the advantages of the Melody
Way.
Social Events.
The social events of the convention are many, be-
ginning with the moonlight boat ride on the "City
of Ignace" at 8:15 p. m. on Monday. A. L. Maresh,
president of the Cleveland Music Trade Association,
will preside at the official luncheon in the ball room
of the Hotel Winton at 11:30 on Tuesday and an
address of welcome will be delivered by Harry L.
Davis, former mayor of Cleveland, to which Presi-
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