January 21, 1928
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
G. E. CLARK TRAVELS
IN EAST FOR LUDWIQ
New Ludwig Traveler, Experienced in Road
Work for Representative Houses, Cites
Merits of Ludwig Grand Line.
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
A BULL-BAITED AD.
" 'Tis up to me," said Dealer Whce,
''Some bargains to provide;
Pianos fairly hacked in price
To bring the folks inside.
And in the weekly Bugle
A page I'll flood with slush,
A lurid type description of
The bargain-hunting rush.
"I'll take my famous style O, Gee,
The Fencewyre Grand de Luxe,
And cut in half the well-known price,
Make it one hundred bucks.
The town I'll flood with dodger dope,
My windows I will fill
With poster piffle to evoke
The bargain-chasing thrill.
'"And frenzied easy marks will rush
When, given free away,
Are stool, and tuning service free,
And free lunch every day.
Free dentistry and corn cure,
Free bath and perfume sprinkle,
Free treatment for each fat one in
A sure reducing wrinkle.
"Free glass eyes and free wooden legs,
Free gargle when you're hoarse.
A special Cupid service free,
Free marriage and divorce.
Free treatment from the doctor man,
Free coffin, if you die,
A passage free to Paradise,
Free harp and wings on high.
"And gleefully will salesmen spiel
The tone stuff and the like,
And call the Fencewyre Grand the best
That e'er came down the pike.
And foxily with gab and gift
They'll garner cash and note.
And fascinate each prospect till
Each one becomes a goat.
"A bargain fever will pervade,
Competitors will gnash
Their teeth in vain, impotent rage,
While I absorb the cash.
And when the buyers discover I'm
No better than a bandit,
The Fencewyres dear at thirty cents,
'Tis up to them to stand it."
* * *
A PIANO
COLLECTOR
One Missourian of the notorious Jesse James gang,
which sacked Kansas villages and farms in the forays
against the jayhawkers in the early sixties, had a
piano collecting complex. According to the Jesse
James historian now writing in Collier's, this forager
collected eleven pianos from Kansas homesteaders
in one year. As pianos in homes at that time were
not remarkable for their numbers it is evident the
range of operations of the gang was extensive.
Whether the swiped pianos were used in piano en-
sembles at concerts in the cultural hours at head-
quarters in the intervals between bloodletting, or
were intended for a rousing wartime sale of used
pianos, is not told by the narrator.
* * *
Salesmanship is the sale of goods for profit. That's
a definition, but it is incomplete. Better say sales-
manship is the use of science and blarney to change
the desire to have into the desire to buy.
* * *
The high-priced advertising space is the mother of
brevity.
* * *
PIANO TOO WELL
KNOWN.
Elmon Armstrong, the piano traveler, is known as
"good company" to the roadmen on their railroad
trips. He exhibits a quaint humor when he is drawn
into an opinion concerning the weaknesses of the
trade. That is not often. But when he does express
himself, his opinion is usually in the form or an
anecdote that illuminates the subject like a search-
light.
While en route from Dallas to Fort Worth he
told a story to a few piano trade acquaintances en-
countered on the train. It concerned a competition
by two piano houses in a Texas town to supply a
piano to the school. While the trustees were in ses-
sion the two competing dealers met and began dis-
cussing the chances of the rival pianos for selection.
There was more at stake than the mere profits
from the sale. The discussion was growing warmer
when a third dealer, one not competing, joined them.
"It will be a close contest between the Balewire
piano and the Tinpanelo," was the opinion of the un-
prejudiced non-competitor.
"Is that so? How is it that in a full board of
seventeen votes it should be nip and tuck between my
Balewire and the Tinpanelo?" scomngly asked the
Balewire dealer.
"How do you dream of a close contest between
my Tinpanelo and a false alarm like the Balewire?"
was the hot demand of the Tinpanelo backer.
"Well, I'll tell you," calmly responded the third
party. "It's like this: They're both of them very
unpopular pianos. If you knew one you'd be cer-
tain to vote for the other and both of them are
toodamwell known."
* * *
What's become of that grand little Monroe doc-
trine, the piano dealers' territorial rights?
* * *
There comes a psychological moment in the piano
sale when the salesman should use his soft pedal.
BOWEN PIANO LOADER
George E. Clark, piano traveler, will attend to the
eastern trade of Ludwig & Co., according to an an-
nouncement made last week by Frank E. Edgar, gen-
eral sales manager. Mr. Clark, who set out on a
trip through his territory this week, is a roadman of
wide experience.
Mr. Clark is delighted with his new connection
with a piano line of such distinction. Ludwig in-
struments, he is proud to state, have the merits of
tone and style in appearance that should interest deal-
ers keen for association with the best. The interest
throughout the trade in the line of Ludwig grands is
a hopeful augury for his own successes in securing
orders. The Ludwig grand line is a wide one pre-
senting all sizes and a variety of case designs notable
for their high artistic character.
NEWS NOTES FROM THE
WISCONSIN TRADE FIELD
Extension of Its Mason & Hamlin Territory in State
Acquired by Forbes-Meagher Co., Madison.
The year 1927 was a noteworthy one for the
Forbes-Meagher Music Company at Madison, Wis.,
for it marked a distinct extension of the territory
assigned the store by the Mason & Hamlin Company
for the exclusive representation of the Mason &
Hamlin pianos. J. E. Meagher is president and J. H.
Forbes, secretary and treasurer of the music house
which bears their names and was formed in 1916
For several years previous to that time, Mr. Forbes
had been a stockholder and manager of the W. H.
Aton Piano Company of Madison, while Mr. Meagher
had been associated with Lyon & Healy of Chicago.
The progress of the company has represented a
consistent growth from the year of the concern's
founding. By 1924 the store had practically tripled
the business of the old Aton company. To assure
the continued existence of the music house on the
site at 27 West Main, the entire building was pur-
chased and part of it is still occupied by this store.
H. H. Swan, one of the oldest business men of
Stoughton, who has conducted a music store in
Stoughton for more than fifty years, recently cele-
brated his eighty-eighth birthday.
BUFFALO DEALER OFF FOR EUROPE.
Mr. and Mrs. L. F. Ellison, of the L. F. Ellison
Piano House at Buffalo, N. Y., have just sailed for
Europe to spend a few weeks' vacation in the Riviera.
Mr. Ellison is one of the most extensive piano dealers
in the East, with his headquarters in Buffalo and
branch stores in Pittsburgh, Erie, Rochester, Syra-
cuse and Albany.
A DIMINUTIVE PUBLICATION.
Volume 1, No. 1, of "Piano Care," which as the
subtitle reads, is "a diminutive monthly paper," is
well described by that phrase, for it has only one
sheet. This little folder contains paragraphs of mat-
ters of interest to tuners and their patrons.
.PS SALESMEN
Outside Salesmen must be equipped so as to "show the goods." The season for country piano selling is approaching. Help your sales-
men by furnishing them with the New Bowen Piano Loader, which serves as a wareroom far from the store. Tt is the only safe
delivery system for dealers, either in city or country. It costs little. Write for particulars.
BOWEN PIANO LOADER CO.,
Winston-Salem, N. C.
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