Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1928 2170

Page 5 Text:

PRESTO-TIMES
March 3, 1928
KREITER
The Leading and Most Popular
Pianos and Players
Grands, Players, Uprights and
Reproducing Pianos
The Results of Over Forty Years'
of Experience.
Kreiter Pianos Cover the Entire Line
and no Piano Dealer who tries these in-
struments would supplant them by any
others. A trial will convince.
Kreiter Mfg. Co., Inc.
310-312 W. Water St., Milwaukee, Wia.
Factory: Marinette, Wia.
E. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s .
Correspondence from Reliable
Dealers Incited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd St.
NEW YORK
The Heppe, Marcellus and Edouard Julea Piano
manufactured by the
HEPPE PIANO COMPANY
are the only pianos in the world with
Three Sounding Boards.
Patented in the United States. Oreat Britain,
France, Germany and Canada.
Liberal arrangements to responsible agentH only.
Main Office, 1117 Chestnut St.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
The LEADING LINE
WEAVER PIANOS
Qrand«, Upright* and Player*
Finest and most artistic
piano in design, tone and
construction that can be
made.
YORK PIANOS
Upright* ard Player Planoi
A high grade piano of great
value and with charming tone quality.
Livingston PUnoS— Uprlchta an<1 Player Piano*
A popular piano at a popular price.
Over 70,000 instruments made by thit company are sing-
ing their own praises in all parts of the civilised world.
Write toz catalogues and state on what terms you would
like to deal, and we will make you a proposition ii you are
located in open territory.
WEAVER PIANO CO., Inc.
Factory: TORK. PA.
Established 1870
CHRISTMAN
UPRIGHTS, GRANDS, PLAYERS
AND REPRODUCING PIANOS
THE FAMOUS "STUDIO GRAND"
"The First Touch Tells"
(Reg. U. S. Pat. OH.)
The Original Home of Studio Pianos,
Upright, Players and Grands.
CHRISTMAN PIANO CO., Inc.
597 East 137th Street,
NEW YORK
SIGNS OF SPRING
IN NEWY0RK CITY
Preparations of Retail Stores Include New
Settings for the Period Instruments
Whose Vogue Seems to Increase
with Advance of the Season.
GOOD FACTORY REPORTS
February Shipments and Orders Showed Increase
Over That of First Month of 1928 and Antici-
pations for March Are Good.
By HENRY-MAC MULLAN.
•
. . .
"Our trade in January was very satisfactory, and '.
February, while not quite as large as that of the
January business,- is going to make a fair showing,"'
said Walter C. Hepperla, president of the Premier
Grand Piano Corporation, 6 East 39th street, New
York, to; Presto-Times eastern correspondent on
Tuesday of this week.
"The decided tendency of the trade is the favor
shown for artistic instruments—beautiful designs and
highly artistic decorations in finishes, regardless of
price. The exterior, the appearance of the piano, as
well as its most pleasing and delighting music, count
for so much now in closing a sale. This is the change
in the piano business which any dealer must recog-
nize if he is to remain a piano man; he must sell
the beautiful piano, one that delights the eye and
suits the customer with plenty of money, either to
pay for his instrument in cash or put down a large
initial payment."
Mr. Hepperla Views.
Mr. Hepperla intimated that no cost is being
spared by piano manufacturers to cater to this
almost universal demand for greater beauty in the
piano from the customers of today—men and women
whose tastes differ very much from the customers
of ten or twenty years ago—a demand that is voiced
with the determination of knowing what they want,
insisting on nothing else, and backing up that in-
sistence with hard cash. Their education, he believes,
came not so much through the aipno manufacturers
themselves as through the period furniture design-
ers, who have managed to put American furniture
far to the front among the decorated utilities and
comforts of the home, the hotel, the boat, the theater
and the ten thousand and one other uses to which
furniture is put.
Piano Men, Get Some of This.
In a debate at South Orange, N. J., Monday night
of this week. Prof. Irving Fisher, Yale University
economist, said that the United States had gained
six billion dollars through the transfer and increaase
of energy effected by the Volstead Act. His opponent
was Capt. W. H. Stayton, president of the Asso-
ciation Against the Eighteenth Amendment. Now,
your correspondent suggests that even if one-sixth
of that money has been gained, isn't it about time
that piano men were rounding up their share of it?
Ludwig & Co. Trade Good.
"Our trade is good," said W. T. Brinkerhoff, gen-
eral manager of Ludwig & Company, East 135th
street and Southern boulevard, New York, this week.
"We are busy in the factory, and the prospects grow
brighter for trade every day. In this respect we are
probably more fortunate than some, and we are duly
thankful." Mr. Brinkerhoff is going to Chicago,
where he intends to spend two weeks.
F. E. Edgar's Successful Trip.
Frank E. Edgar has just returned from a most suc-
cessful trip for Ludwig & Co. He made an extensive
trip into the West, and was given many orders for
pianos. He said he found conditions much better
than he had anticipated he would find them before
starting, and this was true not in a few localities but
in many states through which his journeyings took
him on this trip.
Charles Stanley Likes Place.
Charles Stanley, superintendent of Ludwig & Com-
pany's factory, the Bronx, New York, was encoun-
tered by the Presto-Times man this week when he
called there. Mr. Stanley is looking well, and declares
he enjoys putting his skill into the production of the
fine line of instruments that the factories he is in
charge of are producing.
Increase of 5 Per Cent.
"The trouble with some of our manufacturers of
pianos and retail men, too, is that they set their pro-
posed increase for the year too high; they do that
every year; you know, and then they are disappointed
if they do not reach their goal," said C. D. Pease,
manager of the Pease Piano Co.'s store at 128 W'est
42nd street, New York, one day this week. "This
year they set it at an expected increase of ten per
cent; they didn't get it, but they got 5 per cent, low,
what have they to kick about? There is always some
piano business to be had by going after it."
Doll Trade Good.
"Our trade has been good since January 1," said
Frederick Doll, of Jacob Doll & Sons, Southern
boulevard and Cypress avenue, New York, this week.
"We keep right on manufacturing and selling, and as
you know all of our goods are well made, and there-
fore reliable."
William Strich Sticks to It,
VViKiam Strich, of Strich & Zeidler, Southern boule-
vard and Cypress avenue, has become more of a desk
man lately that was his wont in his earlier career,
when he was known as a. long-distance traveler. "I
like traveling very much," he said to Presto-Times
correspondent on Thursday, "but it is very hard
work and tiresome. You are aware, I have no doubt,
that it takes more work to sel pianos now than it
did even in the days when I was on the .road so
much. They can.be sold, but if requires, more per-
sistent work to accomplish the sales than it Used to."
Mr. Strick is now sound and we!l aga'n. His friends
will be glad to read this, for Mr. Strick had a bad
ace'dent and was "laid up," to use his own words, for
thirteen months.
A. L. Bretzfelder, president of Krakauer Bros.,
136th street and Cypress avenue, said last week that
trade was improving, seemed to be getting better
gradually right along, and he thought that with the
nominations of candidates for president of the Linked
States out of the way, it would grow still more
brisk.
Arthur Halm, treasurer of Krakauer Bros., was out
of New York for a brief trip when a Presto-Times
representative called at the factory last week.
Speakers for New England Dinner.
Invitations to speak at the dinner and annual meet-
ing of the New England Music Trades Association,
which is to be held at the Hotel Statler, Boston, on
the night of March 6, has been received by C. J.
Roberts, of Baltimore, president of the National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants, and by Hermann Irion,
president of the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce and a member of Steinway & Sons, New York.
Preparing for June Convention.
Activepreparations for the June conventions in New
York are afoot already. President Roberts has ap-
pointed the committee of arrangements and Al Behn-
ing has appointed the banquet committee. A larger
attendance than usual is expected, as New York has
many new attractions to offer that were not in exist-
ence at the time of the last meeting in the metropolis.
Schmidt-Dauber Activities.
"Our trade is increasing," said Morris Dauber,
head of the Schmidt-Dauber Company, makers of
pianos and playerpianos at 406 West Fourteenth
street, to the Presto-Times man this week. Our crafts-
men are skilled—many of them have spent their en-
tire lives building line instruments. As you know, we
also manufacture the Newby & Evans pianos, an
instrument that comes down the line many years, the"
company having been established in 1884, nearly a
half-century ago."
A Call on an Importer.
A call was made this week on B. Hovenstein &
Sons, importers and distributors of small goods, 42
West 18th street, when B. Hovenstein said to the
Presto-Times man: Trade is picking up some during
the last three weeks. We handle mostly goods that
we import ourselves—harps, violins, band instruments,
etc.. and it is a line that steadily improves as spring
approaches.'
Schleicher & Sons Keep Busy.
Everybody was found busy at the factory, store
and offices of George Schleicher, manufacturer of
Schleicher & Sons grand, upright and playerpianos,
37 West 14th streets, when a Presto-Times man
called. Julius Kallman, the manager, who has been
there for twenty-seven years, said: "W r e notice that
our trade has been getting a little better of late. This
company has been manufacturing pianos since 1864;
it started manufacturing in Mount Vernon, N. Y.,
sixty-four years ago, and has been at it ever since.
We make nothing but high-grade instruments, and
our customers include people of the very best classes."
Mr. Schleicher did not happen to be in. He has a
beautiful home with spacious grounds at Stamford,
Conn., and he makes the round trip daily between
Stamford and his factory at store at 37 West 14th
street.
A Long Distance Commuter.
Charles Jacob, head of the Jacob Bros. Co., was
leaving New York for Baltimore, Md., on Tuesday
afternoon last week to spend Washington's birthday
in the Maryland metropolis. After his departure one
of his lieutenants remarked to Presto-Times corre-
spondent: "The chief cal!s that commuting. He
thinks no more of taking regular trips to Baltimore
than we lesser lights do of our regular commutation
rides in the rapid shuttles of transit between New
York and our homes in New Jersey, Long Island,
(Continued on page 17)
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).
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Page 6 Text:

March 3, 1928
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
dustry and figures such as these might quite
properly be called to the attention of bankers
bv members of the retail trade."
The American Music Trade Weekly
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
THE SMALL PIANO
The vagaries of piano demand now accord
PRESTO P U B L I S H I N G CO., Publishers.
strong favor for the small instruments in both
F R A N K D. A B B O T T
- - - - - - - - -
Editor
upright and grand styles. And in the advan-
( (C. A. DAN I ELL—1904-1927.) )
J. FERGUS O
O'RYAN
'Y
M
Managing Editor
tages claimed for the small piano the old
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
theories of the relation of size to volume of
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
tone have been considerably qualified. Many
makers of small pianos claim that the power
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, 111., under Act of March 3, 1879.
of sound in their pianos is something out of
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1.25; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States proportion to their dimensions. Factory ex-
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
perts have g-iven their attention to the small
application.
pianos, and extremely small ones, with the
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if of
result that buyers are presented with little
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in the
instruments of ample tone volume and fine
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
musical effects. And so marked is the diver-
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
gence
in size and so strange are the modes
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
of
finishing
them, the small pianos today seem
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
like
an
entirely
new variety of instrument.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their subjects and senders be carefully indi-
It is a fact that the small piano has claimed
cated.
the
attention of a public distracted by novelties
Forms close at noon on Thursday. Late news matter
should be in not later than 11 o'clock on that day. Ad-
in
other
lines. The element of small size has
vertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, 5 p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy
increased
the possibilities of sales by dealers,
should be in hand by Tuesday noon preceding publication
day. Want advertisements for current week, to insure
who
are
enabled
to find a place for it in apart-
classification, should be in by Wednesday noon.
ments which may be inadequate for the use of
Address all communications for the editorial or business
instruments of larger dimensions. It is not
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
D e a r b o r n Street, C h i c a g o , III.
surprising that in the lines of the manufactur-
ers are little pianos whose names suggest their
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1928.
small size. The small pianos so perfectly adapt
themselves to the rooms of modern apartment
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press building's, hotels and small bungalows, spe-
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur- cially in the larger cities, that they have given
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that a new impetus to the demand for instruments
is not strictly news of importance can have for the home.
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they
concern the interests of manufacturers or
PIANO PLAYING CONTESTS
dealers such items will appear the week follow-
Sponsored by the Piano Club of Chicago and
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the
current issue must reach the office not later the Chicago Piano and Organ Association, and
ably aided by the Chicago Herald and Exam-
iner, the Chicago Second Annual Children's
Piano Playing Tournament has got a lively
MONEY FOR MUSIC
start
that assures a climax even more success-
President C. J. Roberts of the National As-
ful
than
that of last year. The inducements to
sociation of Music Merchants calls the atten-
enter
have
an appeal for boys and girls from
tion of the music trade to an interview by
the
elementary
grades to the fourth year in
George Engles, concert manager for Paderew-
high
school
and
the
enrollments at the opening
ski and other prominent artists, which was
are
far
ahead
of
the
number of entrants at the
published recently in the New York World and
start
of
promotional
work
last year. Although
other daily newspapers. Mr. Engles stated
the
publicity
for
the
tournament
is only in its
the heartening fact that twenty million dollars
preliminary
stages,
over
a
thousand
boys and
is spent annually by the American people for
girls
already
have
entered
the
lists.
the highest type of concert and operatic music.
No piano trade organization or individual
The nine and a half millions spent to hear
piano man doubts the efficacy of the piano
the thirteen major symphony orchestras and
playing contest in the scheme of piano sales
the Metropolitan Opera Company and the Chi-
promotion. For every boy and girl the contest
cago Civic Opera Company together with the
is the exhibition of results in piano lessons so
sum of ten and a half millions paid individual
that the school piano classes and group piano
artists, summer orchestras and minor opera
classes in dealers' stores are phases in the joint
companies, indirectly help the music merchants
piano promotion scheme. National, state and
in proportion to the extent of the interest in
local piano trade associations and the Music
music the attractions create. There is no doubt
Supervisors' National Conference have put the
that first rank box office attractions like
seal of approval on the classes and in many
Paderewski, Rachmaninoff and Hofmann, play-
other places as well as Chicago the organized
ing the Steinway, not only demonstrate the
piano classes will have a spirited climax in a
artistic character of that instrument but en-
piano playing tournament.
courage practical interest in piano music as
well.
More than ever before, the National Music
In commenting upon this statement, Presi-
dent Roberts said: "Music merchants should
remember, however, that while this figure of
twenty millions of dollars is large, it repre-
sents really only a very small part of the
amount of money which is spent for music
taken as a whole and for the purchase of
musical instruments of all kinds. This figure,
however, should give an indication of the sta-
bility not only of music but of the music in-
\\ eek of May 6-12 is expected to be observed
in the home and community life of the rural
districts. This is partly due to the practical
suggestions furnished to farm folk by the Na-
tional Music Week Committee in its new
pamphlet, "Home Night in National Music
Week." More than 400.000 farm families will
receive the Music Week message through an
article published by the American Farm Bu-
reau Federation in its official organ, The Bu-
real Farmer. The United States Department
of Agriculture has also taken a practical step
toward acquainting rural workers with the
Music Week through an article entitled,
"Music Week Material Available," which oc-
cupied a prominent position in the February
22 issue of its Official Record, which is pub-
lished as a means of communication with
workers and co-operators of the Department.
* * *
The Packard Piano House, Fort Wayne,
Ind., has developed a forceful agency in piano
promotion in its system of group piano classes
in the schools. The system assures piano sales
in the opinion of Mr. C. R. Moores, of the sales
department of the Packard Piano Company,
who says it is the best merchandising policy
ever presented to the piano dealers operating
in a large or small way. But the very success
of the plan creates problems—getting group
piano class teachers and piano salesmen oper-
ating with the scheme. The piano salesman
who has practiced the old method of appealing
to prospects must wrench himself loose from
them and make himself adaptable to the ex-
igencies of a new day.
The crooked puzzle schemes of the piano
trade advertisers can be broken up—if the
other piano merchants want it, so President
Roberts of the National Association of Music
Merchants says in an article in another part of
Presto-Times this week.
But he differ-
entiates between the crooked puzzle and the
innocent one. There are such things, he says,
but they usually are ineffective because they
don't offer something for nothing in a plaus-
ible way. A dealer may consider his puzzle
allurement quite honest while the special sale
is on but convincing the department of justice
that it is so, is often difficult.
>£
•
H 5
Presto-Times takes great pleasure in com-
plimenting the London Music Trade Review
on its Golden Jubilee Number and in congratu-
lation for its honored position in the field of
music trade journalism. The London Music
Trade Review counts fifty years of sustained
efforts in the music field in which it has been
unswerving in the cause of industrial and
commercial righteousness. The title page of
the first number is reproduced in the jubilee
number and "A Backward Look" reviews the
changes in conditions since 1877.
=£
*
+
The salesman with the suggestive sense, for
instance, will not use the word "cheap" in re-
lation to his own goods. Not even when allud-
ing to a used piano. Even though the term
applies to price it has a bad mental effect and
connection of the word with the quality of the
good unconsciously made. "Used" instead of
"second-hand" and "moderate price" instead of
"cheap" are the preferably suggestive words.
There are dealers and salesmen who eschew
the word "contract" and use "agreement" in-
stead. To the customer unversed in the tech-
nicalities of business contract has a terrifying
legal sound.
* * *
A lot is said about the salesman's person-
ality. Indeed so much has been said about it
that the novice endeavors to develop his per-
sonality as he would his voice or his muscle.
In a piano deal his personality expands until
it obscures everything, whereas it should be
made to take modest proportions. Instead of
suggesting in an incisive way his wonderful
ego, he does a distracting fox trot about the
wareroom floor.
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).
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