March 15, 1929
13
P R E S T O-T I M E S
NEW AMPICO HALLS
RECENTLY OPENED
Lionel Tompkins, Manager of Beautiful Head-
quarters in Atlanta—Elmer C. Hill,
Milwaukee Manager.
Ampico Hall, located at Atlanta, Ga., was recently
opened at 193 Peachtree street. It was constructed
as a headquarters for music lovers in the Atlanta
territory.
The entrance lobby was designed by R. S. Mon-
day of Atlanta and the J. H. Valiant Company of
The American Piano Company opened Ampico
Hall in Milwaukee March 6, in Kesselman Building,
445 Broadway. Elmer C. Hill, former sales manager
of Chicago Ampico Hall, is manager.
In the store is a recital hall seating three hundred
and fifty people, where Mr. Hill will conduct a series
of promotion concerts for the Ampico and other
leading instruments of the American Piano Com-
pany's line.
The decision to distribute its own products in Mil-
waukee at retail was arrived at by the officials of the
American Piano Company after the Kesselman-
O'Driscoll Company, former American Piano Com-
pany representatives in Milwaukee, retired from the
piano business some months ago. The operation of
the American Piano Company's retail store in Chi-
cago under Mr. Hill's management was marked by
the high character of its advertising and merchandis-
ing which has had an invigorating effect on the retail
business in the city. Mr. Hill will be actuated by
the same ideals in Milwaukee that marked his sales
activities in Chicago, under L. Schoenewakl.
CHASE-EMERSON CORP.
MOVES IN NEW YORK
At 11 West 42nd Street, Spacious and Desir-
able Offices and Showrooms Have
Been Occupied by Energetic Force.
ELMER C. HILT..
Baltimore provided the furnishings. The main sales-
room alone contains 10,000 square feet, making it
large enough for musical gatherings of importance
to pianists, teachers and pupils. Five beautifully fur-
nished studios for music teachers, a large drawing
room for exclusive social and musical events and a
ladies' lounge fitted in rose and green are among the
attractive features of the new Ampico Hall.
Lionel Tompkins is general manager of this new
branch of the American Piano Company. On his
staff at the new Ampico Hall in Atlanta are: Gor-
don L. Richardson, formerly of the Cable Piano Com-
pany, and probably the best known Mason & Hamlin
salesman in the south; S. M. Frankel, formerly with
Luddcn & Bates, Atlanta; W. P. Clement, office and
collection manager, and T. L. Rainwater and J. R.
Durden, who are in charge of the Service Department.
The A. B. Chase-Emerson Corporation has moved
its offices from 546 Salmon Tower Building, No. 11
West 42nd street, New York, to Suite 284 in the
same building. This Suite 284, on the second floor,
is a spacious and desirable place. Three of their
styles of motor boats will be on exhibit there before
the end of the week. Already they have samples of
grand pianos on show r there.
Charles McConville is on a trip for the company,
covering the states of Ohio and Michigan, while
Stuart A. Perry, western sales manager for the com-
pany, is in Texas, calling on the dealers.
The rush in the boat business at the factory will be
over by July and then several of the mechanics will
have their activities diverted to the resumption of
piano manufacture. In this way Mr. Shale's plan-
ning has enabled the men to have steady work the
year around. He says the demand from all water-
front cities for the boats has been very gratifying.
In analyzing the piano business he says it is not
so much the effects of radio as defection on the part
of dealers. Some dealers who switched to radio have
given that up, too, because the service ate up more
than the profits, not to speak of the annoyance.
Some of these dealers may swing back to the piano,
while probably a few will seek other fields of profit
wholly unrelated to music.
DEATH TAKES JOHN D.
MARTIN, LOS ANGELES
Prominent Figure in Music Business in Cali-
fornia and Known Throughout the Coun-
try, Succumbs to Heart Attack.
John D. Martin, president of the Mart : n Music
Company, Los Angeles, died unexpectedly March 4
from heart attack at the home of his brother-in-law,
J. O. Adams of 632 Highland avenue.
Mr. Martin broke his leg about ten days previously
while trying to escape being run down by an auto-
mobile. He had been in the hospital until Saturday
when he was removed to the Adams home.
Apparently he was in good health generally, so
much so that just prior to being stricken he had
talked to his office over the telephone. When he
was stricken his relatives were summoned quickly.
His wife and his brother, M. F. Martin, and the
latter's wife, arrived at his bedside just before he died.
Mr. Martin was a well-known figure in the business
world of music and in addition was prominent as a
musician, being an accomplished pianist. He was
heard frequently over the radio. He was born in"
Jefferson county, Kansas, in 1879.
When a youth he went to work for J. W. Jenkins
& Sons, Kansas City, Mo., the piano concern. Later
he opened a general music store of his own in Wich-
ita. After selling out that business, he traveled for
the Gulbransen Piano Company, Chicago, and became
known all over the country.
About nine years ago he came to Los Angeles and
with his brother and L. E. Fontron, now secretary
and treasurer of the company, organized the Martin
Music Company at 734 South Hill street. Although
it first was intended to do only a wholesale business,
the company now also handles retail trade.
GEORGE D. TURNER CELEBRATES
The felicitations of the trade are assured for George
D. Turner and Mrs. Turner on the fiftieth anniversary
of their marriage. The following invitation has been
sent out to the wide c'rcle of their friends:
"Mr. and Mrs. George D. Turner request the pleas-
ure of your company at a dinner in commemoration
of the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage Wednes-
day, March 27, 1929, Wade Park Manor, Cleveland.
Seven o'clock.—R. S. V. P.
"T. A. Davies, 2699 St. James Parkway, Cleveland."
Few men in the piano supply field have such a
large number of friends as Mr. Turner. He has the
facility of making acquaintances into friends of the
enduring k'nd. He was with the Superior Plate
Company up to the time of its retirement from the
plate-making industry. With the Paragon Plate Com-
pany, Oregon, 111., he is extending his circle of busi-
ness acquaintances and friends.
A BRUNSWICK DIVIDEND.
The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., Chicago, has
announced that the directors of this company have
authorized a dividend of 1>^%, payable April 1, 1929,
Figures were compiled to show that radio manu-
on the outstanding preferred stock of this company, facturing soon will be a billion dollar industry in the
as of record March 20, 1929.
United States.
JACOB BROS. CO.
Manufacturers of "Pianos of Quality
Established 1878
We have a financing proposition worthy
of vour investigation.
JACOB BROS. CO.
3O6 East 1 3 3 r d St.
NEW YORK
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