Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1928 2188

July 7, 1928
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
QULBRANSEN COMPANY'S
SEMI-ANNUAL DIVIDEND
ENSEMBLE IDEA HELPS SALES
The Regular Seven Per Cent Dividend on Pre-
ferred Stock, Payable July 1, Represents
Unbroken Record of Payments.
The Gulbransen Company, Chicago, has declared
the regular semi-annual 7 per cent dividend on pre-
ferred stock, payable July 1, to stockholders of record.
This represents an unbroken record of payments on
the preferred stock.
From many sections of the country reports are
being received of a natural stimulus in piano interest
and sales. This, coming at this time of the year
particularly, augurs well for the earnings of the com-
pany during the balance of 1928.
Renewed interest in active piano selling is being
shown by many merchants from whom orders have
been very sparse during the past six or eight months.
Re-possessed instruments are being sold out and mer-
chants' stocks are in a healthier condition than in a
year.
While radio activities in the Gulbransen factory
are kept separate from piano activities, the radio pro-
duction is utilizing the capacity of the plant in excess
of normal piano production, and this should be re-
flected in increased earnings by the company and
greater values to dealers.
CHEERFUL ATTITUDE
OF HOWARD C. RICE
President of C. Kurtzmann & Co., Buffalo,
Says Consistently High Grade Piano Pro-
duction Is Assurance of Contin- -
uous Sales.
A Presto-Times Eastern correspondent made a call
last week upon Howard C. Rice, president of Kurtz-
mann & Co., Buffalo, N. Y. This is one of the few
piano factories in America that has not felt to any
great extent the sting of depression in business as
keenly as many others have. Mr. Rice has man-
aged his business carefully; his customers are men
of honor; his terms have been fair but not ruinous to
himself, and as for his goods they have been made in
the best possible manner, of the best of materials.
The most recent Kurtzmanns have been the best
the company ever turned out from the big plant, and
Mr. Rice says this high-grade standard of production
is to be kept up right along, for he believes there is
no future for cheap or trashy instruments. Kurtz-
manns have always been leaders, so the downfall
of the cheap instrument is no concern of the man-
agement of the Kurtzmann factory.
Mr. Rice says the trade of the Kurtzmann Piano
Company has kept right on in a remarkable manner,
considering what other manufacturers have been saying
about their various businesses. But he says he real-
izes that the company is one of a few that can truth-
fully make this favorable report. He attributes the
measure of success achieved in 1928 by the Kurtz-
mann concern to the merit of the goods and the
character of the men who are handling the instru-
ments of that make.
CHRISTMAN PIANO COMPANY
ISSUES VALUABLE LEAFLET
Good Advice Is Given to Parents to Continue Music
Studies Through the Summer Vacation.
"Vacation Time and Music" is the title of a very
instructive and suggestive leaflet by H. J. Bookman,
Studio of the Piano, 706 Riverside drive, New York
city and issued by the Christman Piano Co., 597 East
137th street, in the same city. This is said:
"The school vacation was adopted many years ago,
when most families grew and raised their own food.
The children were needed to assist in the fields during
harvest and were thus trained at an early age to
share the family responsibilities. This need no longer
exists in cosmopolitan life and the vacation has be-
come an established institution.
"Vacation is the ideal time to begin such studies
that could not be considered during the school term,
for the present school system cramps and crowds our
children so persistently that they are hard put to
undertake, or keep up progressively, with any subject
studied under private teachers. Wise parents will
map out a short constructive summer program, em-
bracing those school subjects that require further
study, and enroll their children in the summer schools
if available.
"The study of instrumental music cannot wait until
JESSE FRENCH & SONS' QUREN ANNE ENSEMBLE.
Progressive piano dealers for a long time have
provided suitable backgrounds when showing fine
pianos. Decorations and furnishings of warerooms
have been made appropriate as far as possible to the
character of the instruments shown. But the Jesse
French Piano Company, New Castle, Ind., has devel-
oped the idea in a way that provides a sensation in
piano presentation to the trade.
In its new scheme the Jesse French Piano Com-
pany goes further than merely providing accurate
Period models for exacting piano customers; it accom-
panies the correct styles with other artistic units of
furniture to make alluring ensembles. For instance
a Queen Anne grand -is part of an ensemble made up
of a bench, cabinet, chair and lamp.
"The business of piano selling will receive a stim-
ulus when this advantageous style of piano merchan-
dising gets under way" is the assurance of the Jesse
French & Sons Piano Co., expressed in its message to
the trade.
The idea of selling furniture to match the piano
is another of the original ideas which characterizes
the selling aids to dealers of the Jesse French &
Sons Piano Co. Tts excellence is commended by
leading music merchants and interior decorators. The
innovation is the more valuable when backed by the
conservative reputation of the New Castle company.
The ensemble scheme increases the appeal of the
fine Period and other Art pianos of the company,
always notable for its artistic case designs. The
Jesse French & Sons pianos have had an equal appeal
to the fine musicians and the owners of fine homes.
The pianos with the name on the fallboard are artis-
tic productions, the culmination of years of experi-
ence in the production of high class pianos. The
ensemble feature in presenting the product is another
phase of the desire to further identify the line with
the idea of "Quality First and First Quality."
after the elementary school graduation. It must be
studied during the school period no matter how
heavily taxed the child may be with the regular
scholastic work. For it is what the young, fertile
and retentive mind absorbs willingly or unwillingly,
that is best remembered through life.
"If possible, the music student should not take a
vacation from music. It is an expensive departure,
not so much in money, as in time and patience. In
September, the studies at school will resume where
they left off. But a ten-week vacation from music
will result in a depreciation in the art and in a loss
of valuable time before confidence is regained.
"Parents are badly advised in waiting until the re-
opening of school to start their children in the study
of music. This refers, of course, to those whose
children will spend the entire, or most of the vaca-
tion, at home.
"For the beginner, the vacation offers an excellent
opportunity to establish a careful unhurried founda-
tion, for the child's mind is not then burdened with
numerous school duties. With twenty-four lessons
during the three months, and time for at least twice
as much study, not only can six months' progress be
accomplished in three, at a saving of 100 per cent,
but three additional months' time can be saved
through the earlier start.
"The point to bear in mind is that children can do
themselves far better justice when unhampered dur-
ing vacation, than in the fall in conjunction with the
full scholastic program when a greater effort is neces-
sary to obtain equal results. In September, when
time will be limited, they will be playing the kind of
music they enjoy and will therefore study willingly.
A good start is important and the vacation is the
logical time for it."
FEATURES THE ORCHESTROPE
IN SHEBOYGAN, WIS., STORE
BALDWIN FOR ORCHESTRA.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which has
chosen Baldwin as the official piano, was organized
in 1895, following years of artistic growth and devel-
opment of music in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Sym-
phony Orchestra stands today at the apex of achieve-
ment, many of the members being solo artists of note.
Wonderful Product of the Capehart Automatic Phono-
graph Corporation, Huntington, Ind.,
Interests the Public.
The Buchheim's Music Store has been appointed
dealer in Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, Wis., for the
new automatic phonograph, the Orchestrope. This
instrument, which is now on display at Buchheim's,
has been greeted with unusual enthusiasm by those
who have been privileged to view it in operation.
The Orchestrope is an amazing talking machine
for it plays a total of twenty-eight records without
attention. It plays the records, turns them and plays
the reverse side, operating continuously without the
slightest attention on the part of the owner. It is
entirely electrically equipped and providing a volume
in any desired quantity. Once it is loaded with a
magazine of records, it will play for hours without
attention or repeating, for one loading means fifty-six
selections.
This instrument is the masterpiece of the Cape-
hart Automatic Phonograph Corporation, and is the
result of a considerable engineering research.
THE U. S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Better teamwork among all phases of business as
the most effective means of maintaining local and
national prosperity will be the central theme of the
Sixteenth Annual meeting of the Chamber of Com-
merce of the United States to be held in Washing-
ton, May 7 to 11. More than 1,500 business organiza-
tions, representing all lines of industry, finance and
commerce, as well as every section of the country,
have been invited to send delegates. In addition, in-
vitations have been sent to several hundred of the
country's outstanding business leaders.
Samuel Adams' store has been moved to the Levy
& Sleeper block on Main street, Belfast, Maine.
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/
PREST0-T I M E S
July 7, 1928
MINNEAPOLIS PIANO MEN
WELCOME ROTARIANS
William H. Collins and Paul A. Schmitt
Active in Entertaining Visitors to Rotary
International Convention.
Several well known piano men of Minneapolis,
Minn., aided in welcoming the $15,000 delegates to
the Rotary International Convention held there re-
cently. Among those of the Rotary Club of Min-
neapolis who helped entertain the visitors were
William H. Collins, president of the Cable Piano
Company's branch, and one of the directors of the
local organization, and Paul A. Schmitt, president of
the Schmitt Music Co. Forty-four nations were rep-
resented at the convention and the various music
stores had their windows decorated with the Rotary
emblem.
Foster & Waldo, Inc., local piano and musical
company, has an attractive display in one of its win-
dows picturing a bit of the countryside about Min-
neapolis with miniature buildings, lakes, trees, etc.,
together with miniature billboards, all of which carry
the name of the Foster & Waldo company and adver-
tising their musical instruments and radios. The
display is very cleverly done and at night is lighted
up so that it has been attracting considerable atten-
tion. Foster & W r aldo, Inc., are located on 820 Nic-
ollette avenue.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS SHOW OF
EASTERN STATES DIVISION
Musical Instruments to Have Place in Display of
American Made Goods.
Musical instruments will be featured prominently
in the Industrial Arts Show of the Eastern States
Exposition, to be held in Springfield, Mass., from
September 16 to 22 inclusive, the display being one
of the major divisions of this national exhibition which
reaches annually approximately 300,000 people.
Included in the list of lines that will be shown at
the 1928 exposition are ceramics, furniture and home
furnishings, house furnishings, musical instruments,
including pianos and player pianos, radio, draperies,
heating, plumbing and supply systems, refrigeration,
office equipment and talking machines and phono-
graphs. In each of these general sections there will
be individual displays of trade marked goods in in-
finite variety. In fact, there are more nationally
advertised products displayed at this show than at
any similar exhibition in America.
One of the outstanding characteristics of the East-
ern States Exposition Industrial Arts show is that it
presents an actual picture of American industrial life.
From small beginnings twelve years ago, it has grown
to such an extent that last year it occupied 25 acres of
exhibit space, five acres of which was under roof in
permanent buildings. Three general classes of ex-
hibits comprise the Eastern States Industrial Arts
show. Merchandising exhibits provide for direct
sales, deliveries or laying the foundation for future
selling. Good will exhibits, shown chiefly by public
utilities, financial and insurance companies and large
manufacturers whose displays are in the form of
dealer helps, and concerns desiring to keep their name
and trade mark before the public and educational
exhibits designed to be informative, to develop good
will and increase the prestige of the organization.
The exposition plant covers a tract of 172 acres
in West Springfield, five minutes from the business
center of Springfield, has eleven permanent brick,
steel and concrete buildings, including a coliseum with
seating capacity of 5,600.
PRAISE FOR BUSH & LANE
A letter written by Chester L. Beach, of the Bush
& Lane Piano Co., Holland, Mich., has a quotation
from a letter from Fred Steller, dealer, Ottumwa,
Iowa, on the Bush & Lane upright grand, which
reads as follows: "I just wanted to write you this
letter to tell you that I consider your little upright
grand the most outstanding piano value I know of
in pianodom. It was the writer's pleasure to test
this instrument in every manner, and as I play a
piano some and feel that I am in some small way
able to judge an instrument as to its qualities, I
consider this little upright grand a wonderful piano."
A KRANICH & BACH DISPLAY.
During this week Kranich & Bach, New York, had
an unique and novel display of all materials and
processes used in the making of a Kranich & Bach
grand piano. This exhibition was held in the factory,
offering visitors an opportunity to visualize the mak-
ing of all the constituent parts of a strictly high-
grade grand piano. Exhibition hours were from 10
a. m. to 4 p. m.
STRAUBE IS WINDOW FEATURE
MUNICIPAL MUSIC IN
CITY OF BALTIMORE
Progressive Maryland City's Achievements in
Providing Music for Its Population Are
Told by Its Municipal Music Director.
"No branch of art in Baltimore has progressed so
rapidly as that of music, and this progress is undoubt-
edly due to its sponsorship by the city," said Fred-
erick R. Huber, municipal director of music of the
city of Baltimore, Md., this week. "Ten years ago
the municipality became active in its musical prop-
aganda and immediately the tide of good fortune
turned to its advantage.
"Progressive municipal authorities realize that a
city is measured largely by its attitude toward the
arts and that while fine paving, impressive buildings,
and beautiful parks are things to be desired, unless
the administration develops the aesthetic as well as
the physical side of the city and leaves its residents
better citizens with higher ideals of intellectual en-
joyment, it has labored in vain.
"In Baltimore, the Municipal Department of Music
takes charge of the various band concerts, the sym-
phonic performances, and arranges other civic musical
events as the occasion might call for them.
"This department has no duplicate among the city
governments of the country. The concerts given
under its auspices are really an open door to anyone
who has a love for music of the highest type or talent
and ambition in the field of musical literature, for the
programs present music of the finest sort, covering a
vast field of compositions.
"The music world has been watching with much
interest the growth of municipal music in Baltimore,
for it has been the pioneer in many musical move-
ments. It blazed the trail for out-door community
singing under municipal auspices, which is given in
connection with the Municipal Band concerts, and
stepped into the musical limelight when it was able
to gather together as many as 4,000 to 5,000 persons
to sing patriotic songs and old familiar songs of the
hearth.
"While these activities brought Baltimore prom-
inently before the musical fraternity, it was the Sym-
phony Orchestra that made it the cynosure of the
musical world. The establishment and maintenance
of this organization from the tax appropriation of
the city was a distinct municipal activity. Monthly
concerts are given by the Symphony Orchestra with
soloists of national and international reputations, and
for the first time the doors of high-class music were
opened to the music-lover with a slender purse. One
of the most recent and interesting musical innovations
is the inauguration of concerts for children.
"In connection with the Municipal Band and the
City Park Band, it is not generally known that the
Municipal Department conducts a city colored band,
which gives weekly concerts during the summer in
the colored sections of the city. Community singing
plays a large part in the programs of these concerts
and the words of popular and patriotic songs are
thrown on a screen, so that everybody may join in
the singing. In giving these concerts, Baltimore occu-
pies a unique position and again takes the lead in
providing music for its population."
GREENCASTLE, IND., MUSIC
STORE CHANGES HANDS
The Bradshaw Music Company, Fitzgerald, Ga.,
one of the prominent music houses of the south,
reports excellent results in the sale of pianos through
the medium of a Straube piano window display. The
arrangement, as shown in the cut printed herewith,
combines simplicity with unusual attractiveness.
O. L. Bradshaw states that the Straube grand is a
piano possessing many unusual characteristics highly
appropriate for window display. The favorable im-
pression which the Straube makes upon the public
who view the instrument through the window leads
people into the store to make inquiry.
"A good many of our people," stated Mr. Brad-
shaw, "read about the Straube in the Good House-
keeping Magazine, Ladies Home Journal and other
national publications, and placing a Straube in the
window gives even the timid ones an opportunity to
see the piano before they enter the store."
"Both the Straube piano and the Bradshaw Music
Company are very well and favorably known through-
out the south. Recently the Bradshaw Music Com-
pany placed a Straube grand in the Fitzgerald High
School, an institution of considerable note, because
of the thoroughness of its instruction and the high
standing of the faculty. The piano in the photograph
is an Artist Model Straube.
Cartwright Music Shop Sold by John Cartwright to
J. E. Cash, Local Business Man.
In a business transaction completed last week the
Cartwright Music Shop in the Glascock building,
Greencastle, Ind., was sold by John Cartwright to
J. E. Cash, a local real estate man. Mr. Cash, the
new owner, will be in charge of the Music Shop and
also conduct his real estate business in the same loca-
tion. Miss Marjorie Williamson, who has been em-
ployed in the Music Shop, will continue in her pres-
ent position.
Mr. Cartwright said this week that he had not
sold his radio or piano stock to Mr. Cash and would
probably remain in the shop for a month until he
disposes of the radios and pianos on hand. Mr.
Cartwright had been owner of the Music Shop for
the past five years and is a popular business man,
taking an active part in all local civic projects.
STEINWAY PIANO USED.
In Vassar Institute, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., June 21,
Winifred Kenner presented Fred Parker, Jr., in piano
recital, assisted by Frances Halloran, soprano, and
David R. Walsh, accompanist. The Steinway piano
was furnished by the Hickok Music Co., Inc., exclu-
sive Steinway distributors in that city.
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/

Download Page 6: PDF File | Image

Download Page 7 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.